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In an interview with The Daily Orange before his Saturday performance, Teezo Touchdown said Lil Yachty was a source of encouragement for him in his career. During his brief stint in college, he remembered borrowing videos of one of Lil Yachty’s first press runs from the library to watch.

“To watch that, and then him being one of the first people to pour into me and to share the stage with him tonight, I’m honored to open up for him,” Touchdown said. “We’re gonna get the crowd right for him because he deserves it.”

On April 28, over 4,000 students came to JMA Wireless Dome to round out the end of the semester with University Union’s annual Block Party. This year’s artists were Lil Yachty, Teezo Touchdown, KARRAHBOOO and isoXO, with student DJ group FEƎM opening the event. The crowd was lively for the duration of the event, but it wasn’t until Lil Yachty took the stage that they went loose.

Before Block Party, UU kicked the day off with their second annual Block Darty on the quad. The event included free food, merchandise and live performances from Dreamer Isioma, renforshort and DWLLRS.

In a new move for UU events, students from other schools in New York including Le Moyne College, New York University and Ithaca College also came to take in the night of music alongside Syracuse University and SUNY ESF students.

FEƎM opened the event in the Dome. While the group of SU seniors recognized plenty of familiar faces in the crowd from shows on campus, this was the biggest set up the house collective has had the opportunity to participate in.

“It felt like we were people that snuck on stage,” said Dominic Brancoli, SU senior and member of FEƎM.

KARRAHBOO took the stage next. The Concrete Boys — Lil Yachty’s label — signee kept the crowd engaged while performing tracks including “Running Late.”

Along with songs from his discography like “how2fly,” Isoxo kept the crowd’s energy up by playing mixes of songs including “FE!N” by Travis Scott featuring Playboi Carti as well as “GATTI” by JACKBOYS.

As students waited for Teezo Touchdown to land on stage, “RUNITUP,” a song from Tyler The Creator’s album “Call Me if You Get Lost” featuring Teezo Touchdown, started playing.

As the chorus of the song kicked in, Teezo Touchdown, dressed in spiked shoulder pads and leather, ran onto the stage and started rapping along into his Morrisey-inspired microphone of roses.

After rapping over a portion of the song, he asked the crowd if he could play some new songs from his latest album “How Do You Sleep At Night?” and opened with “OK,” the first song from the album.

Through the rest of his set, he stomped on stage with his padded boots and interacted with the crowd as he performed more songs including “UUHH” and “5 O’Clock.”

“Syracuse, do you wanna dance?” he asked the audience before performing “MODERN JAM,” a song from Scott’s “UTOPIA” featuring Touchdown.

After Touchdown left the stage, the audience of thousands chanted “Yachty,” eager for him to make his arrival. At 9:50 p.m., the lights dimmed and members of the audience quickly took their phones out to record Lil Boat as “WE SAW THE SUN” from Lil Yachty’s 2023 album “Let’s Start Here.” played.

As the song transitioned into “drive ME crazy!,” which follows it on the album, the rapper, dressed in a white and black Yamaha jacket, approached the stage to a wave of cheers.

After he performed “A Cold Sunday,” Lil Yachty reminded the crowd that the night was just getting started.

“I’m trying to get y’all nice and toasty,” he said.

To create more activity during his set, he called for mosh pits multiple times, where students would come together for songs like “Flex Up,” “Pardon Me” and “Ice Tray”

Along with playing newer songs like “Slide” and “SOLO STEPPIN CRETE” through the night, Lil Yachty took the time to play his classics, including “Broccoli” and “I Spy.”

“I wanna hear you sing this sh*t if you remember it from day one,” he said before singing “One Night.”

After proclaiming that he wanted to end his set with a “bang,” Lil Yachty played “Poland” and “66.” Before leaving the stage, he thanked everyone for coming and wished students luck with finals.

“Syracuse, y’all gave me 1000% energy tonight,” he said. “Love y’all. I will be back.”

Disclaimer: Anish Vasudevan is the editor-in-chief for The Daily Orange and a member of FEƎM. He did not influence the editorial content of this story.

Published on April 27, 2024 at 10:40 am

Contact Siron: sthoma10@syr.edu | @sironthomas