To name the trajectory of his profession nonlinear can be an understatement.
Lucki’s debut mixtape, Alternative Trap, was launched to rave evaluations in 2013 when he was an eccentric 17-year-old on the cusp of fame and a Xanax dependancy. Rather than embracing industrial attraction, Lucki turned darker, extra insular, and completely indifferent from outdoors affect with every passing undertaking. For 2017’s Watch My Back, the apex of his drug-induced isolation, he was pressured to sneak into studios previous closing time so he might report. Even at his lowest, Lucki’s constant output saved his core fanbase satiated and wanting to unfold the phrase about his skills.
Now at 26, his identify is extra ubiquitous than ever. His stretch of narcotic wizardry from 2019’s Freewave 3 by way of 2021’s Wake Up Lucki led as much as the extremely anticipated Flawless Like Me in 2022, an anthemic epic marked by options from Babyface Ray and Future, a serious affect of his.
Last Sunday, an hour earlier than doorways opened for the final cease of the FLM Tour, a line outdoors of Revolution Live wrapped across the venue’s parking-lot sidewalk. Teenagers draped in all black stood patiently as drivers braked on the adjoining avenue to ask, “Wait, who’re you guys in line for?”
After doorways opened at 7 p.m., followers poured into the venue for the following hour and a half. In the pit immediately in entrance of the stage, individuals stood shoulder to shoulder, watching a blue display, smoking spliffs, chanting Lucki’s identify, and streaming South Park clips to kill time. Above the group have been two extra platforms the place followers clamored over railings as Eem Triplin, the opening act, was nonetheless prepping.
Once the primary DJ set received the power going and Eem popped out on stage, the group that was as soon as on standby turned a single mass of limbs swaying forwards and backwards. For lots of the teenagers in attendance, this present was the excuse they wanted to launch themselves and lose their minds. Tracks like “Just Friends” and “Awkward Freestyle,” a punchy spin on Tyler, the Creator’s unique track, have been extensively celebrated and sung loudly because the Pennsylvania rapper floated throughout the platform.
Eventually, Lucki took the stage and kicked off with the bouncy vibrance of “New Drank” as pink and purple floodlights engulfed the characteristically stoic rapper on stage. His chilly disposition by no means wavered regardless of being confronted with 1000’s of rabid children able to go to battle for him. His live shows are charming for this very cause: You watch him stand in place and stare blankly into nothingness whereas the individuals round you lose all primary motor features. For the unknowing bystander, it is a barely eerie sight to look at.
Lucki’s DJ, Killa Kam, served because the hypeman that harnessed the group’s pandemonium. As Kam shouted out, “We get excessive!” from behind the boards, the group chanted, “We get fats!” in response, utilizing what’s change into a signature comment that units off the infectious “Unlimited.” Days B4 III mainstays “4 The Betta” and “Go Away!!” rocked the stage earlier than the bristling hi-hats of “More Than Ever” evoked an unlimited roar of approval.
If it was tough for attendees to carry their floor for Eem Triplin, nobody had any management over what path their physique was taken by this level — the person with a thousand-yard stare and a microphone managed each ebb and stream within the room. Now after which, Lucki would shoot hand hearts towards the group to languidly reciprocate the love being violently thrown at him.
Highlights from Flawless Like Me have been embraced by the group simply as a lot because the cult classics — the confessional toxicity of “13,” the emphatic conceit of “Geeked and Blessed” and “Y Not?,” and the rosy triumph of “Archive Celine.” Not a single track went underappreciated at some point of Lucki’s efficiency, and the blissful haze of 2017’s “Sunset” introduced collectively followers previous and new close to the top of the set.
Finishing sturdy with “Faith” and “Randomly,” the tour obtained a raucous send-off from South Florida’s devoted Lucki fanatics. If anybody at Revolution was on the Bridge three years in the past, they loved understanding how a lot they’ve watched him develop.