On the 17th night of January, a petite concert venue, Chop Suey, put on a night of dope hip hop, and fans were very entertained. Leading off the show was vocalist Correy C, a Crenshaw, CA native, who said he was unable to make his tour stop in Vancouver, BC, because of his criminal records. Welp, their loss. Being relatively unknown, his time was limited, but there was plenty of applause and fans vibing, and that’s the job of an opener: put your name on the map, but also build crowd engagement for the next artist.

With the conclusion of Correy C, Rexx Life Raj took the main stage. A football player in his past life, he commanded attention with his large stature, but also with his charisma. A product of Berkeley, CA, Raj rapped and sang with many audibles of bay slang like, “yeeeee” or “yadadamean.” As much of a performer as he was, you could tell he still feels like an underdog. Directly after his time, Raj beelined straight to the bar and mingled with the patrons. I caught a quick dap as he walked by, to congratulate him on the performance. Then came the main attraction: Bas.

In my personal, top 10 album rankings of 2018, a dark horse contender slid under the radar to make a name for itself at #7. That album was Milky Way, a polished piece of work created by French-Sudanese — by way of Jamaica, Queens — rapper, Bas. A traveling merchant, collecting a bag in any city that boasts the biggest Bas fans, he’s riding this new wave. The project was the perfect hip-hop travelogue, mixing the finest sounds from all corners of the world: Boca Raton, Sudan, Japan, London, France. A seasoned grinder for the J. Cole label, Dreamville Records, Bas popped off at the right time. Hip hop recently has been oversaturated with triplet-verses, trap beats, and auto-tuned IceJJFishes, and Bas used his redshirt year to release a diamond in the rough. Modesty is common among the Dreamville artists, so it takes stans and hip-hop enthusiasts to echo the dope projects and quality music coming out of this hive. Milky Way is a really good album, and his show proved why.

Chop Suey — a 550-person venue — was filled to capacity, selling out days before the show, and the creative-hip-hop-loving audience showed a massive amount of energy for each performer. I hate to be redundant in my use of creative, but Bas pulled it off. His bars seem like a product of his multi-lingual abilities, his cultural experiences that he draws on from all around the world, and, of course, shadowing hip hop’s black Jesus, J. Cole. But bars will only get you so far in the hottest albums of 2018, so Bas got into his melodic bag when necessary. When he performed “Designer,” he rapped his verse with ease and gave his best live vocal performance. It sounded good; it got people jumping; there were good vibes; it was fun. Bas is off to a fruitful 2019.