It’s a busy week in the Billboard zeitgeist. After hosting the 2024 Billboard R&B Hip-Hop Power Players event, the Billboard Hip-Hop Live concert went down in Brooklyn at the Xanadu roller rink on Friday night (Sept. 6).
Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artist BigXthaPlug hit the stage first, around 9:40 p.m. ET, to set the tone for the night as hundreds of fans got settled in to the new Bushwick venue.
BigX emerged following a cross-country trip from the West Coast with his Texas-sized swagger in a white soccer jersey, but quickly ditched it for his signature shirtless look.
The Dallas native ran through cuts like “Big Stepper” and his latest hard-hitting single, the aptly-titled “The Largest.” He had some fun with the audience when betting his DJ that the left side of the crowd would be louder than the right, and BigX’s pockets ended up leaving a little heavier than expected after winning the $2,000 wager.
The 26-year-old hit his two-step onstage and continued to perform the Dazz Band-sampling “Whip It,” “Level” and “Mmhmm” in his heavy, bellowing Southern drawl. The latter served as BigX’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry earlier this year when it peaked at No. 63. He closed things out with his breakout anthem, “Texas,” while over 1,500 miles from home.
Next up, the scorching Bossman Dlow hit the stage around 10:10 p.m. ET. Big Za rocked snow white jeans and a matching letterman jacket with his signature ski goggles off to the side like he was ready to hit the slopes.
“Mr. Pot Scraper” gave fans a taste of the motivational anthems that were to come before heating up while jumping around from “Piss Me Off” to the braggadocios “Talk My Shit.” The Florida rapper clearly has the streets on lock as the crowd was in the palm of his hand.
“Finesse” sans GloRilla set the table for “Get in With Me,” which drew the loudest ovation of any track from the audience in the building as the temperature was turned up several notches.
Dlow’s inspirational raps went a cappella for the first go around as fans belted the “Yep” part of his “Juggs fiendin’/ Phone ringing/ N—s hating” verse right back at him. He spun the block to perform his top 50 Hot 100 banger a second time with the booming DxnteMadeIt instrumental to give the people what they came for.
Just shy of 11 p.m. ET meant it was time for the night’s headliner, the eccentric Teezo Touchdown, who painted a more romanticized aesthetic while blending the worlds of rap, rock and R&B.
Rocking a red tank top and a matching furry cherry bucket hat that LL Cool J would be jealous of, which went along with his rose bouquet microphone, Teezo served as a palate cleanser that took fans in another direction with his shrewd creativity.
It was a night of reflection for Teezo Touchdown — in the most positive way. Coming off of winning Billboard‘s 2024 Rookie of the Year honors and celebrating the one-year anniversary of his How Do You Sleep At Night? debut this weekend, Teezo took a moment to look back and realize how far he’s come as an artist in this labor of love.
“Last night I was awarded the Billboard Hip-Hop R&B Rookie of the Year award. What a year it’s been, right,” he said. “I went on my first sold-out headlining Spend the Night Tour, and on Sunday (Sept. 8) it will be the one-year anniversary of my How Do You Sleep At Night debut album.”
Teezo fired away with cuts from his critically acclaimed debut while delivering live performances of “Impossible,” “Too Easy” and “Out of Respect.” He broke the set up with Travis Scott’s forgotten Utopia dance-leaning “Modern Jam.” Teezo had everyone throw their twos in the sky while returning to his debut to bring the show across the finish line with “Familiarity,” “Third Coast” and the trippy “Stranger.”