Lupe Fiasco w/ B.o.B.

UNC Charlotte's Halton Arena

April 23, 2010

(Photos by Jeff Hahne)

The Deal: Rappers show and prove their crossover appeal in front of one of Charlotte's most diverse audiences.

The Good: It's hard to go wrong if you're B.o.B, owner of the #1 and #2 songs in your genre, he really just had to cruise and stick to the hits.

His set had more songs from his album (dropping tomorrow) than his earlier visit to Charlotte this year which featured tracks from his May 25th mixtape.

Lupe was awesome. His show was more rock than rap but he did a great job of playing to his audience and sticking to the 'best of' and not delving to far into his the catalog of mixtapes and album cuts. It was high energy and engaging, he completely owned the 'rebel rapper' thing he was going for while managing to create unique and memorable moments for fans up front. I bet UNC Charlotte student, Glenn Noble, will remember the night he got to rap word for word with Lupe Fiasco.

Have to appreciate fans who would stand on their feet for the entire show when they don't have to.

The Bad: Event staff seemed to be taking their security duties too far in a couple occasions telling excited students/fans to calm down when bouncing for the artist. Let the kids have fun. Would've loved to see Lupe do more of his features. He's had some great guest appearances on other artists' songs. The crowd wasn't as large as I'd hope for but were loud and with it all night.

The Verdict: Dope show. Few people have songs that can rock a crowd that had so many different demographics as this one.