As I pulled up to the Showbox SoDo, I was quickly immersed in a sea of freezing, angsty teenagers stoked to enter the venue. On this cold December night, there were girls in shorts and tour t-shirts and dudes in jerseys with their dreadlocks waving in the wind — overzealous in style, yet fitting for the type of show this headliner had grafted for his TOURPOINTFIVE tour. Aminé, a 24-year old Portland rapper, stopped by his fellow PNW state to give fans a nostalgic, playful, and uplifting musical experience.

Before the “yellow-mellow-fellow” took the stage, Kayo Genesis warmed up the crowd with pizzazz. Dripped in a gridlocked sweatsuit and a white headband, the Palmdale, CA rapper bounced around to his latest effort, Bad Sushi. Admittedly, I wasn’t aware of Genesis, so I kept my distance in fear of the novice sound of an opener, but that wasn’t the case. The vibes outshined his rookie status, and he adopted the stage as his own with headliner qualities, if you will. “Edible” had me on my feet, singing along with my sparse recollection of the song’s first repetitive hook. Only given a short glimpse of Genesis, it was enough to win me over.

Compton rapper Buddy was next to grace the stage. His initial energy seamlessly picked up where Genesis left off. His ragtag outfit and bald head strikingly popped as he jumped from side to side. Buddy first catapulted onto the scene with his groovy EP, Ocean & Montana, produced by the Montreal DJ and producer Kaytranada. The rapper showed up in full force. Performing songs off his older EPs and his debut full-length album, Harlan & Alondra, Buddy showcased his talents flawlessly. As the sophomore opener to the main attraction, he sparked a vibrant feel in the crowd in anticipation of Aminé.

The official DJ of the CLBN rapper, Madison LST, fulfilled his disc jockey duties and played a catalog of snippets from popular hip-hop songs. Everything from Drake to Sheck Wes was used to refine the crowd’s palates and build hype. Right on cue, the comedian and Instagram star Rickey Thompson popped up on the video screen backdrop with a PSA introduction of sorts, signaling the incoming of the track “Dr. Whoever,” off Aminé’s latest project, ONEPOINTFIVE, an LP/EP/Mixtape/Album. Dressed in all-white and sporting a black durag and a bulletproof vest reminiscent of 50 Cent circa 2003, Aminé took the mic stand, and patrons greeted the rapper with a massive roar.

A part of his idiosyncratic style, Aminé has a tradition of wearing the same white pants to every tour stop. Unhygienic yet creative, he invites a fan on stage to help sew on a patch of their respective city, with an insignia that represents the city’s culture. This type of crowd engagement is just a piece of the characteristics that separate Aminé’s artistry from his peers. Running through tracks off his latest project and his 2017 debut album, Good for You, the Shakespearean-bred idiom of time passing quickly while you’re having fun accurately summarizes the performance. Whether Aminé was paying homage by interpolating The Spice Girls’s iconic song, “Wannabe,” into his own track, “Spice Girl,” inserting lyrical visual aids for fans in a sing-a-long fashion, or uplifting the venue’s spirits with a call and response of “you’re beautiful” followed by an echoed reply of “I know,” it was lively.

As the emotional tension in the show ebbed and flowed from solemn to jolly, Aminé gracefully pranced around, parading his blithe attitude but also revealing his vulnerability. Mental health is essential to the artist, so it was a priority to create a safe, inviting environment for everyone to enjoy themselves and have fun.