Last Thursday, March 7th, T.I. and Joe Budden joined forces to put on a show at New York City’s Best Buy Theater in Times Square. It was a crazy night as the North and South teamed up to deliver a memorable show. Each rapper is currently coming off a recent studio album and the crowd was eager to hear all the new hits, as well as old. T.I. just released his eighth studio album Trouble Man and Joe Budden has been riding high with his recent release of No Love Lost. In addition, his group Slaughterhouse, released their debut album Welcome To Our House this past summer. With all of that hype surrounding the concert, the fans were buzzing as soon as they stampeded through the big glass doors of the theater.
Hot 97’s DJ Spynfo opened up the night and got the crowd warmed up for DJ Cipha Sounds. After playing a slew of current hits, Joe Budden blazed his way on stage in a puff of smoke and immediately dived into “Top Of The World”. It was a great way to start the show as the track showed off Budden’s spitfire, lyrical ways. After that, Joey jumped into his banger “N.B.A.” and the crowd couldn’t wait to chant the chorus as Budden and his hype man sang in tune on stage. It’s always a pleasure to witness greatness up close, and Budden certainly lived up to all of the hype. Always energetic, Joe had to kick it up another notch and shocked the crowd with a special surprise. About half way through, Slaughterhouse in all their glory took the stage to perform their summer hit “Hammerdance”.
After closing out his set with “Bump It Up”, the hit that made him a house-hold name, FunkMasterFlex took hold of the DJ table and kept the energy flowing. After performing for a bit and keeping the crowd hyped up, it was finally time to see The King. Traveling straight from the A, the New York crowd couldn’t wait to see this rap legend in person. There was an electric feeling throughout the sold-out venue as T.I.P. smoothly strolled his way out onto the stage. As he reached the middle of the stage, the “Top Back” instrumental kicked in through the speakers and immediately lit a spark. The adrenaline was pumping as the famous Mannie Fresh beat pounded through the arena.
He then transitioned into his classic “Rubber Band Man” track, as fans re-lived the past days of Tip. It was definitely special to hear that historic single in 2013. He continued down his never ending list of hits with “Whatever You Like”, “Ball”, “24’s” “Live Your Life” and also brought out Juicy J to perform “Still In This Bitch”, while Tiny danced on the side. Before he left though, T.I. made sure that Juicy J played his hit “Bands A Make Her Dance”. Juicy J, always one to bring the energy, jumped into the crowd to perform his song. T.I. kept saying throughout the show, "I'm the King bitch!,” and he definitely proved it's true throughout the show. He had too many hits to perform and the show unfortunately had to end by 11 PM, but no one was left unsatisfied. He said goodbye to New York and went out with his anthem “What You Know.”
Check out photos from the event in the gallery above.