Year after year, Freakfest has been one of Madison’s biggest events. The huge Halloween festival has hosted major artists from different genres including Cage the Elephant, Mac Miller and Timeflies. This year, hip-hop had a unprecedented presence at the festival.
Madison has a growing hip-hop scene with incredible talent. This year, Freakfest pulled out some of the best to perform at the WSUM/Ian’s Pizza Stage. Not only did they pull from rising Madison stars, Freakfest also booked Dr. Dre protégé Anderson .Paak to headline the Mountain Dew Capitol Stage.
First to go on at the WSUM/Ian’s Pizza Stage was Rich Robbins. After releasing his second project All.This.Gold, Robbins has been working nonstop to keep his momentum going. His set was filled with enthusiasm and positivity; those feelings have become a common theme at his shows. Despite a fairly low turn out for his show, Robbins’ energy was infectious and got the audience excited for what would eventually become the finale of his show. In conclusion, Robbins released his first song since All.This.Gold by means of a live performance, perhaps hinting at a new project in the near future.
Shortly after Robbins’ show, UW-Madison sophomore Lucien Parker hopped on stage to continue the night. Freakfest served as Lucien’s first festival appearance after releasing a mixtape with the name Black Sheep.
Using the growing audience to his advantage, Lucien debuted a few new songs. Fans became ecstatic when they heard the new tracks, adding to the buzzing vibe of Freakfest as the night continued. Feeding off of the crowd’s intensity, Lucien brought his A-game while he hyped up the crowd even more. Extremely grateful for his spot at Freakfest, Lucien praised and thanked all his fans in attendance for making it all possible as he left the stage for the remainder of the night.
At this point, Freakfest’s attendance had skyrocketed. Starting with Rich Robbins’ set there were roughly 250 people at the WSUM/Ian’s stage. By the time Lucien finished his set, there were around 500 at the stage. People continued to flow into the area as a DJ and multiple others put forth their best efforts to extend the momentum to the next show; most notable of the guys on stage was KennyHoopla, who recently released his first project. In an impromptu performance, Kenny played a song off of the project to get the listeners fired up.
Local rapper, Mic Kellogg jumped on stage next. His show was undeniably filled with the most involved showmanship, but not necessarily the most lively. Kellogg pulled off a costume change mid-show while he had a friend perform a song allowing for time to make the change.
While not as energetic as the previous performers, Kellogg still succeeded in getting people amped for his set. His sing-rapping was a hit or miss at times. A couple of his songs in which the rapping was more prevalent helped get the crowd more riled up, but songs with more singing seemed to eliminate some of the energy he had tried to build.
Kellogg’s performance mostly served as a precursor to a more sophisticated singing-rapping combo that would come with Trapo’s set. However, before Trapo went on, the fans in attendance were surprised with another impromptu performance. This time, from Webster X. Webster X’s performance was short and sweet. Joined by five or six other people on stage, the short show was thrown into overdrive when a couple people, including KennyHoopla, began stage diving.
All of this energy up to this point served as a primer for Madison’s crown jewel: Trapo. The 18-year-old’s mature sound, mixed with his youthful energy, resulted in a truly unique set. He rapped over upbeat snapping instrumentals that slowly built as they progressed, allowing for the crowd to build up their energy at the same time.
In addition to a few songs from his latest EP She, Trapo played “Beg,” the first single from his upcoming album Shade Trees. Partaking in what seemed to become common practice for the Madison rappers that night, Trapo performed a new song from the upcoming album. Filled with insane energy, Trapo went on to thank the entire crowd for everything they’ve allowed him to do.
Once Trapo’s set at the WSUM/Ian’s pizza stage ended, preparations for Anderson .Paak’s set were being made at the opposite end of State Street. Fans packed into the area around the Mountain Dew Capitol Stage in anticipation for the biggest headliner of the night.
Arriving on stage with his band The Free Nationals, .Paak and the band members emerged dressed as 80s glam rockers while AC/DC played over the loudspeakers. Their grand entrance proved to be an indication of the direction the show would take. Anderson .Paak opened up with the song most resembling a traditional party song: “Come Down.” The most energetic performer of the entire night, .Paak literally sprinted across the stage while rapping and dancing faster than one would think is possible. From the get-go, Anderson .Paak and The Free Nationals had an incredible show.
Following the opening song, .Paak moved into two tracks from his first project. The two tracks were all that was needed to get every last person in the crowd jumping and yelling. The moment his song “Drugs” ended, .Paak ran over to the empty drum set where he would spend his time for the next few songs. Taking songs from his album Malibu, .Paak altered the tempos, melodies and structures of the songs, making them completely new beings.
In particular, the song “The Season / Carry Me” was split early and .Paak went into a drum solo while retelling the childhood story of begging his mother for his first pair of Jordans. The entire show maintained the energy that .Paak was demanding from his audience. From song to song, people jumped, yelled, screamed and rapped along with him.
Near the end of the show, .Paak had one last request. He wanted to get every single person, with no exceptions, to dance like it was their last day on Earth. With yet another mix of a song, he accomplished what he wanted. Getting the audience to sing back to him, .Paak performed the chorus of “Luh You” on a loop so people would eventually pick up on everything. The result was a massive crowd throwing their arms in the air together enjoying the moment just like .Paak wanted.
As Freakfest drew to a close, people were drained of energy. Fans’ intense desire to have a good time allowed the hip-hop shows to go off without a hitch. Madison’s finest showed up, gave their all and landed a major success while Anderson .Paak’s performance may go down as one of the most lively shows at Freakfest to date.
