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Music Music Features

The New King of Memphis

Yo Gotti gave local hip-hop fans the concert they deserved this past Sunday night at his annual birthday celebration. Known for guest appearances and multiple surprises, Yo Gotti and Friends Birthday Bash at Mud Island Amphitheater didn’t disappoint, with Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, O.T. Genasis, Dej Loaf, Shy Glizzy, Snootie Wild, Wave Chappelle, Zed Zilla, and Monica making guest appearances, in addition to DJ Paul and La Chat of Da Mafia 6ix joining forces with Yo Gotti on stage for the first time. Those following the Memphis rap game know that DJ Paul and Yo Gotti were once considered enemies, with Yo Gotti calling out Three 6 Mafia on his smash hit “That’s What’s Up” from the 2006 album Back 2 Da Basics. All beef seemed to be squashed when DJ Paul appeared on stage to do the classic Three 6 Mafia club jam “Who Run It,” alongside Yo Gotti, as confetti shot out of cannons and fireworks exploded over the Mississippi River. Later, Yo Gotti called the on-stage performance “a victory for the whole city,” and residents of every section of Memphis cheered loudly in appreciation of the unity the performance symbolized between two of the biggest rappers the city has ever produced.

Cole Wheeler

DJ Paul

When asked about holding the event at Mud Island, Yo Gotti (whose real name is Mario Mims,) said that a much larger venue was mandatory for this year’s bash.

“We’ve done the Orpheum and the Cannon Center, and we sold them out so quick that I knew I had to go somewhere bigger,” Mims said.

“I felt like there were thousands of people who were getting left out, and if you looked around tonight, you saw that we were top-to-bottom, and this place is twice as big as the other venues.”

The rapper also acknowledged that he’s come a long way since his days of playing all-ages clubs and places like the Plush Club.

“When I was coming up, I just wanted to perform anywhere. When I first heard my music in Denim & Diamonds, I was really excited about it,” Mims said.

“The first time I ever performed at Cactus Jacks or The Premier was very special to me. I have always loved to get on the stage. It seems like Memphis rappers have to work twice as hard as everyone else to get some recognition, but if you keep grinding, it will happen for you.”

Lil Boosie received one of the strongest receptions of the night (along with Monica), and after a few songs, Yo Gotti (who calls himself the King of Memphis), joked that Memphis might actually belong to Louisiana-based Lil Boosie. Other highlights included O.T. Genasis doing his mega-hit “CoCo,” Monica’s amazing vocals, and Nicki Minaj appearing on stage seemingly only to take selfies and wave to her fans, who were all collectively losing their minds. Backstage at Mud Island, Cîroc and Patrón seemed to be the drink of choice, along with enough blunt smoke to choke Snoop Dogg. Each rapper had an extensive entourage, who seemed to each have their own separate mini-entourages as well.

Lil Boosie might have had the biggest entourage of them all, with 30 or so people pouring out of a tiny dressing room before joining him on stage for multiple songs. Behind the stage sat Yo Gotti’s white Lamborghini, though sadly it did not become a part of his performance in the same way it did at his Cannon Center Birthday Bash the year before. When asked how he will manage to top this year’s festivities, Mims said he’s already started planning.

“Im just going to keep grinding, keep trying to make it bigger than it was the year before. We don’t have Summer Jam in Memphis anymore, so this is the new Summer Jam.”

Cole Wheeler

Dej Loaf

Writers Notebook:

• O.T. Genasis had the best style of the evening, rocking a Day-Glo motorcycle jacket and at least three seriously impressive gold chains.

• Rappers really do drink as much Patrón as they say they do.

•Monica might have reached the peak of her career in the ’90s with hits like “The Boy is Mine” and “For You I Will,” but her vocal performance Saturday night was spine-tingling. She’s also sold over 10 million records, so there’s that, too.

•Yo Gotti’s hype men deserve a bonus for keeping the crowd thoroughly crunk throughout the evening, as they rarely stopped moving during the show’s five-hour duration.

• After the show, Nicki Minaj went to Blues City Cafe to pick up a to-go order, and was immediately swarmed by fans. Minaj handled the fanfare with ease, taking selfies with her fans and posing for multiple photos before getting back in her SUV.

• Memphis showed that it could hang with the big dogs in terms of getting premier hip-hop talent, which is amazing for our city’s entertainment industry. Don’t be surprised if Yo Gotti’s next birthday bash is in the FedExForum, or better yet, the Mid-South Coliseum.

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Music Music Blog

Slideshow: Yo Gotti’s Birthday Bash at Mud Island

Cole Wheeler

Yo Gotti thanking the crowd at Mud Island Amphitheater.

Yo Gotti celebrated his birthday this past sunday at Mud Island Amphitheater with five thousand of his closest friends. Flyer Photographer Cole Wheeler covered the night from start to finish, capturing shots backstage and of all the performers. Be sure to check out our review of the show in tomorrow’s edition of The Memphis Flyer.

[slideshow-1]

Categories
Opinion The Last Word

The Rant (October 30, 2014)

Mario Anzuoni | Reuters

Renée Zellweger

Every day when I wake up, I go look in the bathroom mirror and say, “Hello, Dad.” I no longer, however, stand and stare wondering, “What the hell happened?” because I’ve come to embrace the situation at hand. I just ain’t young no more. Believe me, I understand wanting to maintain a youthful appearance for as long as possible, and I’m not opposed to a nip or tuck here and there. In full disclosure, I had excess fat surgically removed from my eyelids not too many years ago. It wasn’t for vanity’s sake; it had become a vision problem, unlike when I freaked out about my hair falling out in my teens and underwent a botched transplant that I’ve regretted ever since. So, I get it. Anything that can make you feel better about yourself and give you a more positive outlook on life is a good thing. But just as morbid obesity has become epidemic among the poor, the wealthy have been hit with an outbreak of obsessive and extreme cosmetic surgery.

The latest celebrity victim is Renée Zellweger, whose transformation from an apple-cheeked beauty into a homogeneous contestant on American Idol dominated last week’s news — even above ISIS and Ebola. But at least she still looks like an inhabitant of this planet, unlike some of the other freaks and geeks out there.

Let’s take Bruce Jenner for example. How does one of the finest athletes in the world transform himself from an Olympic decathlon champion into Mrs. Doubtfire? And Pamela Anderson? She has been watching that bay for a little too long. The examples are everywhere. Some of the grotesqueries I can name are Melanie Griffith, Meg Ryan, Mickey Rourke, Kenny Rogers, Barry Manilow, Carrot Top, and Donatella Versace. Also, everyone on the Bravo Network, including the Real Housewives of Everywhere. Have you seen this thing? If Pamela Anderson was the innovator of bubble breasts, the Real Housewives have taken it to a higher plane. They have huge balloons implanted in their breasts that look so tight it seems they might explode at any minute, sending the poor Housewife flying around the room in a zig-zag pattern.

So many women have emulated them that you can see the same double-D dirigibles at the grocery store, or Walmart, if I ever went there. These women believe that this is what men want, but I’ll clue you in on something — men don’t care. Big and small, they love ’em all. For once, I’d like to see a small-breasted woman featured as the Playboy centerfold.

And can we discuss butts for a second? I saw Iggy Azalea on Saturday Night Live, and came to the conclusion that it’s no longer the size of your voice that counts, it’s the size of your ass. When did America go ass crazy? Between Iggy, Nicki Minaj, and J-Lo, they have enough rump to start their own parliament. (That’s an Oliver Cromwell reference, by the way).

Suddenly women across the country are getting butt implants so they can twerk properly in the club. I’ll bet Sir Mixalot never imagined that his “I Like Big Butts” song would become a national surgical obsession. There’s no part of the human body that someone hasn’t thought of accessorizing with an implant. I saw one dude that had implants put in his biceps and pectorals so he could look ripped without all that heavy lifting. He stated that next, he wanted to “do his wings.” I think before you have surgery, you should have to know the name of the muscle that you’re having implanted. There have currently been so many botched cosmetic surgeries that a whole new medical field has opened up devoted to the correction of the macabre results. Americans have become as addicted to surgery as someone hooked on crack.

If Michael Jackson was the king of facial demolition, Joan Rivers was the queen of reconstructive surgery. She had her face lifted so many times they had to slip in a new body underneath. Of course, it’s not polite to kick the dead when they’re down, so let’s discuss Courtney Love instead. Or Suzanne Somers, who at age 67 looks more like 97.

I’ve never understood why women subject themselves to pancake make-up, stiffened hair, and spiked heels that make them look like unbalanced ballerinas. Since men are mostly oblivious to these things, I’ve surmised that they do it for each other. I’ve never met a woman in high-heels at a party who didn’t complain about her feet hurting or wanting to sit down. You look perfectly fine to us menfolk barefooted. Not as in “barefoot and pregnant,” but you know what I mean. We just don’t want you to have to toe-dance all the time.

It’s not easy growing old in a youth-obsessed culture, but once you’re finished trying to impress others and begin to accept aging with dignity, a whole new world of “don’t give a damn” opens. Ultimately, a beautiful face is not as meaningful as a beautiful soul. And there’s no way to implant one of those.