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Review: J. Cole leaves London in a Dreamville

If Born Sinner was evidence of J. Cole’s progression as an artist, then the What Dreams May Come tour is definitely evidence of his progression as a performer.

If Born Sinner was evidence of J. Cole’s progression as an artist, then the What Dreams May Come tour is definitely evidence of his progression as a performer. A tremendous lightshow, mixed with the brashness of one of Hip Hop’s young kings and the artistic value from him and his band that set it apart from any average rap show.

Picture Kanye West’s Glow In The Dark extravaganza but add a bit of humility to it and you have a new kind of performance, one which, for three days straight, London stood up for and applauded…endlessly.

Born Sinner

With his Sophomore album, Born Sinner, debuting at number 7 in the UK Charts and already going gold, selling over half million in the United States and exceeding Kanye West’s Yeezus on the way, Cole has established himself as a ‘new legend,’ to the current crop of hip hop fans.

With the smash single Power Trip reaching platinum, Cole’s global fan base has gone sky high and London in particular has always been a favourite for the Carolina native, something that was reflected during all three shows at the Apollo.

Live Band

This was no one man show. Cole could hardly of made half the impact he did without the help of his live band. With his fellow musicians, Cole turned songs from his album, such as Trouble, Land of the Snakes, Runaway and Rich N****z, into more powerful and hard hitting performances. Of course, this was still met with the masses of Cole World veterans serenading the Roc Nation star with every word.

Dreamville Cameos

The crowd, already pumped up by legendary DJ Westwood, were greeted by performances from two of Cole’s Dreamville affiliates Omen and Bas, with the latter signed to Cole’s Dreamville records. In an eerily similar fashion to when Cole first performed in London at Wireless in 2010, Bas was greeted with a subdued applause from a crowd that hardly knew him.

Yet, when he was done performing hits such as Cousins off his mixtape Quarter Water Raised Me Vol. 2 and finished a Saturday Night Live inspired skit with the song Lit with Cole, ‘Fiends’ as he likes to call his fans, were all over the place with many purchasing his merchandise.

London’s Cole World

After performing, at a fans request, the classic Back to the Topic off the Friday Night Lights mixtape at the Sunday show and then, for the very first time, performing joint She Gon’ Pop on Monday(off the recently released Truly Yours 3), Cole gave the attendees of the third and final show an amazing spectacle. When he brought out Rapper French Montana to perform his smash single Ain’t Worried Bout’ Nuthin the crowd’s response grew even louder.

London were swept off their feet for three nights straight and Cole’s team even claimed that their London appearance could possibly be the best show they’ve ever been involved in. It truly is now ‘Cole World’ in London.

Were you at the show? Have your say in the comments section below.

Image: HDShootsPhotos