In an act of unholy triumph, Yung Gravy and bbno$ conquered the Hollywood Palladium, where they performed a “Baby Gravy” extravaganza for the LA crowd this past December. All sorts of explicit paraphernalia would be raining on the crowd and stage that night, but none harder than the beats of this duo.
When Yung Gravy and bbno$ combined their exponentially rising forces to launch a 28-city Live Nation-produced tour, it followed an incredibly successful year for the duo. With multiple noteworthy moments in popular media and songs reaching for the top of the charts, the two artists seemed to be building up to something greater than the sum of their parts. Would this duo be able to pull off a show as much of a hit as their chart-toppers?
Crowd members who hadn’t done their research beforehand would’ve been surprised to know that there would be three openers, and they would be even more surprised when one of these turned out to be the legendary Soulja Boy. At exactly 8 p.m., DJ Tiiiiiiiiiip began the opening sets with an eclectic Google Slides presentation outlining the concert rules, ultimately setting the night’s tone: this show would be an outlandish one.
Following an energetic series of songs from Freddie Dredd, the crowd condensed towards the front of the stage, awaiting Soulja Boy’s entrance. When the esteemed artist stepped into the spotlight, the crowd roared its welcome. With Hot 100 entries like 2007′s “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” and 2008′s “Kiss Me Thru The Phone,” he brought not only his greatest hits but also his own DJ and entourage. This special appearance seemed to be a gesture of passing the torch from an industry old-timer to newer players of the game.
Surprisingly, all three openers finished in the span of an hour. This would be the last of any thought toward time constraints for the rest of the concert.
The “Baby Gravy” portion of the show began with a Rubber Hose-inspired cartoon that depicted the origin story of Yung Gravy and bbno$’s partnership. This would be a sporadic visual motif that would be referenced several times throughout the night.
With a quick-fire run of songs like “Welcome to Chilis,” “touch grass” and “Rotisserie,” Yung Gravy and bbno$ drove the crowd wild, enough so that they began throwing their undergarments at the performers. Throughout the night, these flying projectiles would be strung from the top of the DJ booth: an unholy altar of the brassiere. They were later donated to I Support The Girls, a non-profit organization that distributes essential items to people experiencing homelessness.
The offbeat and polarizing nature of both Yung Gravy and bbno$’s music proved to be an effective dopamine rush for the crowd. Many of the audience shouted obscenities and held signs that would play off of Yung Gravy’s obsession with “MILFs.”
The format of the show had the two performers split into their own personal sets, alternating every 5 or 6 songs with transitions that would often be marked by animated intermissions or interactive gimmicks. One of these would be a wavering rendition of Jesse McCartney’s “Beautiful Soul” featuring the artist himself. McCartney, who released the song in 2014, was a perfect surprise guest for the demographic of the crowd, which consisted mainly of older Gen-Z and younger millennials.
For the audience, it was an arm day at the Baby Gravy gym. Each song would begin with the performers asking for the audience to raise their hands, and after the first few songs, this would be more laborious than facing the painfully blinding screens on stage.
With a pristine performance of “Mr. Clean,” Yung Gravy was a charismatic force on the stage that made the most of his crooning, half-absent demeanor. Between catching bras mid-air and spraying water on the front of the crowd, he performed much like the studio version.
However, by the time that Yung Gravy and bbno$ started their seventh act, the crowd had grown weary. Despite finally playing chart-topping entries such as “edamame” and “Betty (Get Money),” the show had literally entered the eleventh hour. The duo’s set had begun to roam closer to the length of a legacy act the nearer they drew to midnight.
It’s hard to imagine just how many combinations of rhythms an 808 machine could produce, and yet every single one seemed to be present at the show. The respective discographies of the duo shouldn’t be faulted; the real culprit was whoever allowed the two artists to play as many songs as possible before curfew. Redundancy became the word of the night as the bass began to resemble a low drone. A total of 36 songs, not counting that of the openers, were played over three hours.
If not for the sheer relief the audience felt at the breaks between the sets to interact with the audience, this concert would’ve had an even larger population of people leaving early. For a genre of music that centers around having good flow, there was a lack of natural progression in the structure of the show. For a tour that boasts Live Nation as a producer, it was a disappointing aspect amid some very unique and successful concert planning.
Yung Gravy and bbno$’s LA tour date was a success, but this may be attributed to factors that were not necessarily the duo’s music. For two artists that have just as many catchy hooks as their less-appealing releases, the attention is all on Live Nation for what direction they take on the next tour. A show like this brings up a juxtaposition of what is in store for the future. While nods and collaborations from industry old-timers pointing to the duo’s acceptance into the community, the reliance on spectacle isn’t one that gives way to longevity. As stars who found their footing with TikTok fame, it’s a question of whether they’ll be able to last longer than the platform with its oncoming ban.
Will the next Yung Gravy and bbno$ tours be able to maintain the amazing trajectories of “Baby Gravy” or will this mission be aborted? Only time will tell.