The real winner of the Drake vs. Lil Wayne concert at Usana Amphitheater last Thursday was a patient audience, who finally got to see the headliners one full-body pat-down and four and a half hours after doors opened. The tour was stylized as a Mortal Kombat smackdown complete with cartoon versions of each rapper and, eventually, a videogame narrative that culminated in the rappers “joining forces” for songs like “The Motto.” Opener G-Eazy didn’t do much to pacify a crowd quickly going from “fun-tipsy” to “weird-tipsy” with a short half-hour set. Around 9:40 p.m., the real show began, and Drake and Lil Wayne each quickly thanked the crowd for waiting and got on their way.
Each rapper made it through a stunning amount of their respective repertoires with an effective use of medley that didn’t feel forced or pressed for time. They structured the show in mini-sets, each artist performing three or four songs before yielding the stage to the other. Lil Wayne kicked it off with a rendition of “Mr. Carter,” and during tracks like “A Milli,” “Lollipop,” “Go DJ,” “How to Love” and “Mrs. Officer” reminded everyone why he has been dubbed by contemporaries “The Greatest Rapper Alive.”
Drake and an uncharacteristically pinky ring-less Wayne —“I know, I know, I f—— forgot on the way out!”— finally met on the top of their substantial stage set, backlit by a solid red screen, to start their battle.
Somewhat disappointingly, the concert peaked not in an actual rap battle in the freestyle sense but in a “features battle” where each artist rapped their verses featured in others’ songs, but it was essentially more of the same. Lil “King of Features” Wayne went first — but not before he put out his blunt and tucked it in his pocket for later. Drake’s shining moment came when he flew out over the crowd and, abandoning the song altogether, serenaded individual members of the audience. Gibes and good-humored smack talk punctuated each performer’s mini set.
“You know, I been doin’ this since before he was in the wheel chair,” Wayne teased, alluding to Drake’s tenure as Jimmy on the Canadian teen soap, “Degrassi.” The jokes didn’t get too nasty though, as the two just seemed to like each other too much for rap feuds, real or imagined. They repeatedly shared credit with each other for Drake’s initial success, Wayne’s continued success and the rise of the Young Money rap label. Their senses of humor were as present as their looming Mortal Kombat avatars on the stage’s giant screens.
In a brilliant marketing move, audience members voted on the battle’s winner not by the standard “woo” of approval but by downloading and tapping an arcade-style Drake or Wayne button on the tour’s very own mobile app.
“I took my friends’ phones away so they couldn’t vote for Drake!” said Ameda Tarr, a freshman in business. Tarr, who raps under the name Roc Worthy, said he was having so much fun at the concert he lost his voice.
“They kept it interesting. They had a good back and forth,” he said.
While Tarr thought Lil Wayne was “the boss,” Tré Bourdeaux, a freshman in business finance, said he “wanted Drake to win, but Lil Wayne killed it.”
Lil Wayne emerged on top, tying the tour’s score at 13 wins for each rapper.
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