It’s now around 6:00 pm. The stage was set. The lights were bright. Clouds of Sour Diesel and O.G. Kush is permeating throughout the Citizens Business Bank Arena, in Ontario, CA Accompanied by the clouds inside the venue and outside on this gloomy grey day in the Inland Empire were rainfalls of dollar bills courtesy of Nipsey Hussle and his Marathon family while sounds from Victory Lap boom out of every speaker in the building. It was a fitting and climactic end to a day full of West Coast up and comers and undisputed Music Legends.
The 1st Annual Welcome To The West Music Festival kicked off with spirited performances from new mostly regional acts (you know the type of performers who end up becoming a T. I. or Kendrick Lamar, so pay close attention to show openers during future concerts).
The evening really got going after a Slim400 and All Money In affiliate J Stone rang off a few of their SoCal bangers to a now growing crowd of fans consisting of music fans from San Diego, Sacramento Los Angeles, Inland Empire and neighboring states, but some of the loudest applause of the show came when Pomona natives Young Drummer Boy and YungBlu hit the stage. The former performed his “No Fly Zone” hit while the crowd joined in with F… 69 chants. Young Drummer Boy presented one of the best sets of the whole event with his instant classics “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and “Gangster Nation”.
Another outstanding performance was brought by Sucio Representative and South Los Angeles very own King Lil G. He had control over the thousands in attendance from the start of his set, rapping and smoking a very long joint all the while a huge projection of the Sucio delighted the concert goers of a largely Hispanic and Mexican descent. On top of the quick breaks between songs when KLG would lead the crowd in Sucio chants he also showed a somewhat humanitarian glimpse as he repeatedly spoke on the need for Black and Brown communities to unify, a feeling echoed by many of the nights’ performers host and DJs.
The second best performance of the Fest came from Mr.LA aka RJ. His energy put the those in attendance in a trance (the abundance of newly legal marijuana might have also had something to do with it). Songs like Flex and Get Rich were easily recited word for word by nearly every person there leaving Mr.LA time to flex and dance across the stage on all his haters and even left him with enough energy to literally dive in the crowd with security bewildered and close behind. If that wasn’t exciting enough RJ had more in store performing and dashing through the audience from the front row to the back of the arena floor giving fans the type of performance you tell your friends in years to come. If the show had ended with RJ, fans would have left completely satisfied, but thanks to the good people at #westfest the night was only getting started with legendary hash clouded sets from The Outlaws, Mack 10, The Eastsidaz, The Dogg Pound, The Luniz and The King of Pomona Suga Free. Free showed the younger performers that he still had stage presence and surprising stamina running across the stage and back area for nearly his entire act, killing with classic west coast hits “Why You Bullsh! ttin”, “I’d Rather Give You My “ and many others .
