Halloween is one of my favorite times of year. There is just something about the smell in the air, like delinquents and chocolate, that really get the blood pumping. Its the time of year when you can get away with adding liquor to your coffee, when you can hide under layers of clothes and eat without people seeing the weight gain, and when amazing acts like Hopsin grace the stages of the Hawthorne Theater for an amazing night like no other seen before.
When Thrasher first emailed me about the show, he asked me if I knew who Hopsin was and if I thought he would sell at all in Portland. I was so excited to get this email and I knew this would be an amazing opportunity for all of Portland to see the genius that my closest friend, Joe, has been shoving down my throat for months now. I responded to Thrasher that yes, I knew about Hopsin, that he was amazing, and that I would sell the show out and that we would love to play the show. So the deal was made and history was in the making for Portland. This would be Hopsin's first time ever here and I was going to be a part of this incredible event.
Eventually Hopsin did get going and started off with Ruthless Records in 2009, but Hopsin eventually left Ruthless Records due disagreements with the record label. His debut album, Gazing at the Moonlight was dropped in 2009, but without a lot of backing it only sold 42 copies. After that Hopsin decided to do what many intelligent artists do, who see that the money is in the production, he started his own independent label, Funk Volume.
Presently Funk Volume consists of Swizz, Hopsin, Dizzy Wright, DJ Hoppa, and Jarren Benton. Together these guys heading, like a tornado, to Portland. Leaving a path of hung over partiers, broken relationship (fans), and exhausted venue owners behind. The fans of Portland counted down the days to the show, watching Funk Volume's Facebook posts about previous shows anxiously, and waited to see what they had in store for us. What we were to see would surpass my expectations by far and I would experience a moment during Hopsin's set that I had never witnessed by any other artist before him. The first artist of the night was a local group. We sat diligently through the group waiting for the artists of the night and getting drinks and food out of the way.
Next up was Tragedy 503, a local favorite. With Tragedy tonight was fan favorite Knothead, Art Hardy (the amazing voice all over Tragedy's album), and Merax. Merax treated us to an amazing dance and some very special Halloween pop and locking, for an 8 year old he is truly an amazing talent. Tragedy had the crowd jumping and we even got to see a crazy mosh pit erupt in the middle of the venue.
As the show progressed we got amazing songs from Swizz, a very funny joke from Hoppa about Justin Beiber coming out to do a song with him, and incredible tracks by Dizzy and Jarren. I thought it was amazing for Hopsin to come out before his set and grace the stage with other artists for collaboration songs, which many artists won't do before their set.
Finally the lights went down, and Hopsin appeared on the stage. He sang out hit after hit and the crowd was jumping, singing, screaming, and girls were taking their tops off. Hopsin was having some great banter with the front row and really bringing the crowd in. Then Hopsin backed up on the stage and we could all tell what he was going to do, stage dive. One of the crowd favorites and a change for people to reach out and touch the star that they so idolize. What happened next no one would have guessed. During Hopsin's crowd surfing event, he rolled over, got the crowd to support him by the knees, slowly stood up, and finished his song..on the top of the screaming fans, in an almost super hero pose, and to everyone's excitment and enormous applause.
In my 13 years of working in music and doing shows, I have honestly never seen an artist do this and I was genuinely happy to have witnessed it. I know you may say that his is not a diffficult feet, but think about it. These fans were not prepped before hand. This was completely spontanious. These people held him strong, stable, and he gave an ultimate showmanship by giving the audience something to go home and talk about for years to come. I guarentee that next time Hopsin comes to town, the show will sell out twice as fast and people trying to get on it will flood the promotors email box. Just know Hopsin, I was the first to give ya a chance and I won't be the last. Keep selling out shows and keep doing what you do best, entertaining.
