Drake Delivers With Club Paradise Tour

By: Pedro Heizer

Tickets to the much anticipated Club Paradise Tour were on high demand as the Toronto rhymer’s tour hit Tallahassee this past weekend. The only thing you could hear around the city entire weekend was about the Club Paradise Tour.

As I sat at a Chili’s restaurant before the concert, I began talking to Jennifer Capanado, a fan of Drake since the days when he stared as the basketball-playing, wheelchair-bound Jimmy Brooks on the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation.  “This has been the biggest thing to hit Tallahassee in a long time,” she told me “My friends and I have been waiting for this stop on the tour since he announced it.”

Drake didn’t do it alone, joining him on stage were up and comers Kendrick Lamar, A$SAP Rocky, and Chase N Cashe.

Up first in to the stage was Chase N Cashe. The New Orleans rapper took stage and preformed songs out of his latest mixtape, The Heir Up There.

Following Chase N Cashe was Harlem’s own A$AP Rocky and his crew. A$ASP preformed some of his most popular songs which included Pretty Flocko, Peso, Purple Swag, and Trilla.

Kendrick Lamar was up next and although he had a quick show, it was very good in its own right. Kendrick came on after Chase N Cashe and A$AP Rocky and preformed his hits Hol’ Up, ADHA, P&P 1.5, She Needs Me, and HiiiPower.

After a 15 minute wait, Drake himself took stage with a standing ovation by the sellout crowd. Drake opened the concert with his song Lord Knows which sounded fantastic with the live instrumentals.

The instrumentals, to me, were what made the show go to a different level. There is so much talk nowadays that going to a rap concert is a waste of money because they rapper isn’t nowhere near as good live as he is in the record. Well, Drake proved that statement to be false.

Unlike most rap concert where there is only a DJ and the rapper simply raps over his song, Drake had a live band with him and that made the difference between an average rap concert and a rap concert that will be talked about for months to come.

Drake played most of his hits, songs like I’m On One, Crew Love, Shot For Me, Forever, Marvin’s Room, Take Care, Miss Me, Make Me Proud, HYFR and Headlines were some of the songs the Toronto superstar performed to a sellout crowd.

Drake’s stage presence was undeniable, the rapper was so comfortable up there and it showed.

Drake may rap that all he cares about is money and the city that he’s from, but his fans also hold a special place in his heart.

Halfway through the show, Drake stops the music and thanks his fans “Without you guys, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. Thank You,” he said. He proceeded to go from the right side of the stage to the left, and the center and pointed out some fans screaming his name.

Not only that, but instead of having his tour on bigger venues and getting more money, he decided to play in college arenas around the country. “I fought for this tour, I fought really hard for this tour because, of course, they want me to go get the big bucks, go into the stadiums and cash out,” Drake revealed about the decision to play more intimate shows. “But I was just like, I really made this album for the same people that supported me since day one.”

Drake closed the show with his hit Headlines and once he was done, he went to the center of stage and talked about how he will be unlike all the other rappers that have two or three albums and fall off the face of the planet. “I promise you this, I will rap until the day I can’t anymore”.

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