Sexyy Red lives up to her campaign promises in concert

Near the end of the night, Sexyy Red cuts the music off mid-song: she wants us all to sing along acapella. The entire arena seems to take a breath, and then we all go, “I said, OOOOOHHHHHEEEEEEUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHH / BAYYYYYBEEEEEEEEEEEEE.” This is probably how monks feel belting Gregorian chants in stone churches: the concrete around us seems to bounce our wails to the heavens. “BAE I LUH YOU, YOU MY EVERYTHING…”

This is the “Sexyy Red 4 President” campaign promise in a nutshell: an effusive riot of communal joy. She’s a consummate star, of course — able to turn the crowd up on demand, playing all the hits and none of the skips — but the true appeal is in the stands and on the floor, that deliriously concentrated energy hanging thick in the air like so much smoke. The last time I saw an arena tour was Playboi Carti back in 2021, and while there were no gladiatorial moshpits at Nationwide Arena in Columbus Saturday night, the Sexyy Red show seemed similarly focused on bringing fans together, beyond spotlighting an artist they already know well and dearly love.

Driving in from a couple hours out of town, we pulled up to the show late, missing opener Loe Shimmy entirely and scoping out sightlines as Hunxho closed his set: he sounded great, though a trio of girls in the parking garage elevator after the show informed us he “was giving boring vibes.” That could have been due to audience demographics as much as anything else: Hunxho’s emotive autotune probably doesn’t hit the same for an arena raring to rap along to every word of GloRilla or JT — even Kodak Black saw a muted reaction for hits like “ZEZE” (more on that later).

An hour-long mix by DJ Fresh prior to Red taking the stage offered a quick temp check for various Southern rappers. “OKAY” got a huge reaction, as did “Big Mama Pt 2,” though the crowd’s enthusiasm for the latter didn’t seem to translate to having all the lyrics down just yet. People were equally appreciative, though less vocal, when “Wipe Me Down” by Lil Boosie and “SDAB” by Beatking played, writhing and wriggling with abandon. The biggest winners off sheer volume were GloRilla and Young Dolph, who earned bar-for-bar rapalongs for “TGIF” and “Preach;” you would have thought the artists themselves were in the room.

Although Sexyy Red came out around 10:30 PM, her performance was interspersed with smaller sets by Blakeiana, Bossman Dlow, and Kodak Black, meaning her final track came nearly two hours later. Focused on keeping the vibes up, her DJ played JT, GloRilla and Young Dolph between sets, plus “Mama” by Rob49. Rap can be a competitive and combative space, particularly for female rappers unfairly pitted against each other by labels and stans alike. Despite ongoing spats and cold wars, it’s pretty cool to see Red rise above the noise, whether filming silly TikToks with Latto and Flo Milli earlier this summer or bringing out Ice Spice at her Barclay’s show a few days ago. The DJs’ selections only underscored this “rising tide” mentality.

And so the tour too feels like a showing of camaraderie, whether it was Red demanding we “give it up for Blakeiana one more time what the fawk?” or cheerfully hugging Bossman Dlow as he entered to “Come Here.” And speaking of Mr. Pot Scraper: in that miniature Coliseum of ours, he was bigger than an emperor, as if Zeus himself had zapped out of the sky to show us real aura. “Get In With Me” simply blew the lid off the place, a spiritual big enough to supplant Meek Mill’s “Dreams & Nightmares” as the go-to crowd starter. “I’m drivin’ that Bentley Bentayga!” Dlow crowed. “LIKE I DON’T LOVE MY LIFE,” the crowd thundered back.

If Bossman got the biggest pop of the night, Sexyy Red showed how that same energetic high might be sustained through a longer set. When she performed “Mad At Me,” a trio of blonde sisters beside us enthusiastically yapped along to every syllable of “Lick between my ass, suck on my clit / beat the coochie up like you mad at me shit” (naturally, they knew every word to “Shake Yo Dreads” and Dlow’s viral hits as well). Between Dlow and Kodak, she ran through remixes of Nicki Minaj and Young Nudy; when “Fake Jammin,” a personal favorite from May’s In Sexyy We Trust came on, a decent portion of the audience rapped along nearly as well as they had to “Hellcats SRTs,” which predictably shook the room.

Kodak Black kicked his set off with the 1-2 punch of “Super Gremlin” and “ZEZE,” but his impassioned performances failed to get the crowd moving, even when the Floridian rapper hopped off-stage into GA, sauntering around to amp up the energy. Compared to when I saw Offset do “ZEZE” back in March, the reaction was surprisingly tepid. Things picked up immensely when “Roll In Peace” came on, every word of the hook shouted by the masses. Everyone’s on board, and he follows up with 2016’s Metro Boomin-produced “Tunnel Vision,” including the original version’s ill-received line “I get any girl I want, I don’t gotta rape,” a reference to a then-ongoing sexual assault case (Black subsequently pled guilty to a lesser charge in 2021).

Kodak then played an audio excerpt of Donald Trump: “I’m angry about Venezuelan gangs taking over Aurora, Colorado, and I’m angry about illegal Haitian migrants taking over Springfield, Ohio.” We’re currently 45 minutes east of Springfield, and so when Kodak opens his mid-concert stump speech with, “Who right here from Springfield?” there’s a solid scream in response. “I ain’t gon lie, that shit crazy homie,” he goes on. “That shit true?” The crowd registers their disgust at Trump and J.D. Vance’s lies about Haitian immigrants in response.

Despite freezing the room for four minutes, this political interlude has relatively little impact on the remainder of Kodak’s set, though it does feel as if at least some portion of fans exit the venue around this time. He runs through “Skrilla,” “No Flockin,” and finally “SKRT” to mounting enthusiasm. If I had to hazard a guess as to why these songs worked where “ZEZE” and “Super Gremlin” fell flat, I’d say the Kodak fans making their way to this tour lean more Millennial than Gen Z, at just the right age to have lived through his mixtape come up.

Attempting to parse Kodak’s speech for political meaning is beside the point. Unlike a number of other Trump-loving rappers, Kodak actually has a personal reason for supporting the GOP candidate — the former president commuted the remainder of Black’s 46 month sentence on federal weapons charges in the final days of his term. You could charitably label Kodak’s cosign as savvy or politically expedient, pointing to his 2016 endorsement for Hillary Clinton from prison as proof his current allegiances don’t paint the full picture, but it’s hard to spin a line like “I’m a motherfuckin Trump supporter, homie,” even for fans willing to rationalize, downplay, or dismiss his comments (if the remarks bother them at all).

Sexyy Red has also complimented Trump in the past, though her comments stopped shy of offering financial support. While a lightning rod for commentators at the time, a combination of off-season timing, milder praise, and frankly, greater concurrent commercial success, has helped audiences and critics alike to frame this incident as a speedbump instead of a roadblock. And although she performed with a giant “MAKE AMERICA SEXYY AGAIN” hat at shows earlier this year, Sexyy Red said back in June she wouldn’t endorse any political candidate for the election (sorry to the five members of K-Hive really holding out for that cosign).

While the merch table is still piled high with M.A.S.A. apparel, her stage design leaned more politically neutral, Sexyy ‘24 ads patriotically spangled red, white, and blue; other highlights included a burning cartoon White House, oversize asses processed with EDGLRD-esque filters, and a fake CNN chyron live feed. This distancing, both in word and aesthetics, is probably part of why that final triptych of Kodak bops resets the mood before Red takes the stage for the last time.

This final stretch drives home just how big Sexyy Red has become since “Pound Town,” the floor vibrating beneath our feet from “Looking For The Hoes” to “Rich Baby Daddy.” New single “U Kno What To Do (UKWTD)” rings off harder than expected, as if everyone present has been learning the lyrics via Instagram Reels osmosis: “I’m lookin for ah eater baby I’ma tell the truth.” She winds us up with “U My Everything,” then closes out with “Get It Sexyy,” explaining how the song helped her get out of a funk and she hopes it can do the same for us. And I mean — yeah. Not even the Zoloft blob could be depressed when this song plays. They’re yelling every word in the nosebleeds. She’s got my vote for sure.