Spring Weekend started off with high expectations after another successful spring concert. While the crowd was fairly divided between Hot Chelle Rae and Meek Mill fans, both sides were pretty unanimous in one aspect.
“Who’s the third performer again?” some students questioned when waiting on line to get into the show. Connecticut native OnCue surely had a tough crowd to prove himself to Friday night.
The underground rapper, who is currently based out of Brooklyn, brought songs old and new with him, all wrapped up with power packed beats. Those who didn’t know his music still could get into it though, bobbing their heads and throwing their hands up in the air.
The greatest aspect of his set was the ability for him to keep the crowd hyped even though most had never heard him before, a very tough task with such a large crowd. The majority of his set was new music, to be released on his new mixtape Angry Young Man sometime this summer.
Even though many didn’t know the words, his stage presence and the energy to keep the crowd going was enough to keep me bouncing along with him and dancing. My favorite song of the set was “Running” off his mixtape Can’t Wait because of not only the catchy beat, but the words behind it. The lyrics speak of his fight to make it in the music business and how he’s running from everything that’s bringing him down to follow his dreams. Lyrics like his really resonate with me, and I had no problem being the only person in that gymnasium to be screaming every word back to him. A lot of his lyrics stray from the typical rap topics, which is why I can really appreciate his work, not being primarily a rap fan.
The way he delivers his rhymes are so artistically done, it really gives me a respect for the genre and what he’s doing. I think that his heavy influence of alternative music like Death Cab for Cutie (one of his favorite bands) as well as rap has given him this sound that you can’t find anywhere else. That, and the fact that he sings his hooks as well as rapping the verses, makes OnCue both unique and versatile. He closed off the set with one of his newer singles, “Cereal,” as well as another favorite of mine, “Feel Tall,” also off of Can’t Wait.
I highly recommend OnCue to anyone who is a fan of rap and/or spoken word alternative. Chris Webby fans may have recognized him already, as being on the track “Home” which raised money for the Newtown tragedy back in December.
All of OnCue’s music can be found on his website mynamecuey.com under mixtapes for FREE, so why not give him a shot? While many didn’t know him going into the concert, I’m sure he made a great impression on the crowd, leaving quite the buzz as we walked back from North Campus. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing great things from Cuey, we’ll just have to wait and see.
