F. Stokes at the Majestic Theatre
While I might’ve been scratching my head as Brooklyn rapper F. Stokes kicked off his set with a dose of slam poetry from a catwalk that hung above the Majestic Theatre’s stage on Friday, the rest of the crowd was putty in the paws of this total rockstar move. After all, Stokes—in his purple scarf, skinny jeans, and blazer—is a showman who, at his core, wants to follow his idol Kanye West into superstardom. Hell, later in the show, he even dropped into a cover of West’s verse on the Twista track “Slow Jamz,” giving up at the impossibly fast Twista verse.
After Stokes wandered down to the actual stage, he broke into a brand new electro-tinged tune called “Decades” from his upcoming Fearless Beauty EP. Stokes spat to an arm-waving crowd, “If I prostitute my soul for a place to rest my bones / Can I call your place home?”
Duality remains a massive theme in both Stokes’ live persona and his music. He’d tell the audience, “I want you to know that as a black man, you can be a Mike Tyson or a Little Richard, a Dr. King or a Prince, a Raekwon or a Jimi Hendrix.” However, some of the duality seemed a bit less deliberate: After a rendition of the domestic issue-tinged “Pretty Shit,” Stokes turned his stage into a therapist’s couch and talked about how he has “major issues with people loving me” and how “we should cherish our women.” This rant was immediately followed by the rapper bringing a woman onstage, having his DJ cue up Usher’s “Love In This Club,” and dry humping the bejeezus out of her, and then another woman.
With the crowd deep in his pocket, Stokes jumped, ran, and rolled his way across the stage—even taking a few moments to hump the floor—as he ripped through plenty of tunes from 2009’s Death Of A Handsome Bride, this year’s Baked Goods mixtape—including a killer rendition of “Letter To Rihanna,” and the upcoming Fearless Beauty, with crystal clarity. The bearded rapper closed his set with the buzzing dubstep blast of the awesome Dirty Disco Kidz’ remix of “Tickle Me Mars,” bringing DDK member Chris Miedaner onstage to DJ.
Stokes’ mighty performance was prefaced by an awesome collaborative set between Dumate offshoots Stink Tank and IceMantis. Rappers DLO and Dudu Stinks joined forces with producer-DJ Man Mantis for a set that pinged back and forth from the organic groove of Dumate tracks like “iNatty” to schizophrenic Stink Tank jams like “CYOA” to the smooth IceMantis flow of “Burnitup.” Mantis even stepped out from behind his bug mask to spit his verse from IceMantis’ “Intro.” The three hip-hop pros seemed to vacuum nearly all bystanders down to the dance floor in front of them, setting an awfully high bar for Stokes to clear. While it’s uncertain as to whether or not Stokes made it all the way over said bar, he came close enough to make this one hell of a show.
