Last Thursday, The New School players of Rap blazed the stage at the Verizon Amphitheater for the Under The Influence Of Music Tour.

Headlined by Wiz Khalifa and A$AP Rocky, along with B.O.B., Trinidad James, and Joey Bada$$, as well as Smoke DZA, Berner, Pro Era and Chevy Woods rounding up the opening acts. The tour felt like one big college  frat party complete with ratchets of all sorts, Nikki Minaj lookalikes, bros, dudes, bleezys and blunts.

Welcome to Up In Smoke Tour “LITE.”

As with most music tours, especially one that specializes in the herbal persuasion, traffic gave us no choice but to arrive fashionably late.

Weaving through snapbacks, tattoos, high-waisted booty shorts, swags, swerves, turnips, and yolos, we finally made our way to the stage where Trinidad James, in all his golden glory (golden BMX bike included), was rocking to a crowd of about a hundred plus in the orchestra area.

Even though his main ho’ might not be feelin’ him no mo’, the crowd was definitely feeling him some mo’.

Sharing is definitely caring as TJ passes a bleezy back to one lucky fan.

Next up, B.O.B.

Coming out with the “DMX-inspired” all leather everything outfit, B.O.B. got the crowd moving instantly thanks to his own personal twerk team.

Beautiful girls all over the world definitely had nothing on this twerk train as the ladies dropped it like it was “Bombs over Baghdad” (get it? B.O.B.?)

Next nn deck, we have A$AP Rocky.

Arguably the best set of the night, A$AP Rocky came correct and brought the heat as he played banger after banger that got everybody turnt up.

With everybody stuck on that purple haze, at one point in the show, Rocky may have started to exude that elusive Rick James Aura. Or maybe it was because of the ten blunts that the crowd threw to A$AP – which he appropriately smoked ASAP.

To close the show, Wiz Khalifa.

Wiz may be considered a new school rapper, but his stage presence and demeanor gave the him the likeness of a hardened hip-hop veteran.

While A$AP Rocky got the crowd turnt and rocking hard, Wiz came through with a cool, smooth, and happy-go-lucky demeanor that got the ladies shaking and grooving. (s/0 to his boo Amber Rose sitting in the crowd)

Lastly, even though we were not able to catch Joey Bada$$ and the rest of Pro Era, we did find them walking, hanging around and chilling with the fans around the venue.

Overall, the Under The Influence of Music Tour was amazing in its own right and did an incredible job showcasing the talents of the new generation of Hip-Hop artists.

In the immortal words of Trinidad James; Dream…Believe…Turn Up.

Peace.

Words and Photos by: Nico Arce