2018 JMBLYA Austin

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2018 JMBLYA Austin
Austin360 Amphitheater, Austin, TX
May 5, 2018
Review & Photography by Tracy Fuller

JMBLYA fest took place this past weekend. Now in its’ the sixth year, the hip-hop festival has grown to be quite the event. Each year, over a three-day span, Scoremore stages this festival throughout the Texas triangle: Dallas, Austin, and Houston.

This year, the initial lineup for JMBLYA was quite the billing.Heavy hitters like Bun B, Kevin Gates, Cardi B, Migos and J. Cole were sure to make this year’s event the one to top them all. Unfortunately, not everything always goes as planned. Young Thug was a last-minute substitution for a recent cancellation of a pregnant Cardi B. While that was a significant hit to the billing, Young Thug was an impressive replacement that the crowd greeted with enthusiasm.

Now if the absence of Cardi B was not enough, Kevin Gates announced one day before the festival run began that he would not be able to perform. With only a day’s notice, Gates was a tad bit harder to replace. Whom did they get with such short notice? The diamond-studded Atlanta based hip-hop legend, TI. TI managed to bridge the generational gap by winning over the crowd with bangers like “Whatever You Like” and “Bring Em Out.” The last-minute replacement turned out to be a great move by the production team.

The next moment of the night for me was the set by Migos. This would be my first time seeing them, and they surely did not disappoint. Quavo, Offset and Takeoff appeared to hardly break a sweat as they walked across a stage embellished with strobe lights and haze, rolling through the massive amount of hits they have compiled in just a few short years. It wouldn’t be right for them not to play their bangers “Fight Night,” “T-Shirt,” and of course “Bad and Boujee.” You could tell that the crowd had been anticipating their set, looking as if they were in a trance and having the time of their lives.

As I began to head to the next stage, I noticed something; I could not get through the crowd at all! The sea of people went as far as the main stage to the vendor area. It was clear that the best was yet to come with J. Cole’s performance coming up next.

Cole’s poetic ability was something that was strongly apparent from the very beginning of his set. He got the crowd going with the chorus of “Motiv8” and vibed portions of “ATM.” The vibe of J. Cole had set a whole different tone with the crowd. Everyone seemed to embrace each other through the music, leaving everyone in unity.

Overall, the festival was a great experience and I had a blast mingling with the crowd. The production team over at Scoremore and the guys and gals with the Code 4 team both killed it. I cannot wait to see how they build on the fest next year!

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