KAABOO Del Mar: Gucci Mane stays icy in the heat

Sept. 15, 2018 9:46 AM PT

When Gucci Mane woke up yesterday morning, his new collaborative single with Bruno Mars and Kodak Black, Wake Up In The Sky, was only a handful of hours old. Produced by Mars, the laidback track reunites the pair after Mane and the multiple Grammy-winning singer joined forces on a remix of the latter’s 2017 hit song, That’s What I Like.

The new track is only the second song, after August’s Kept Back (feat. Lil Pump), slated to appear on Mane’s highly-anticipated and soon-to-be-released 16th studio album, Evil Genius.

But it took about half of his hour-long set for 38-year-old Atlanta-based rapper, who performed on Friday afternoon on the MGM Resorts Grandview stage during Day 1 of KAABOO Del Mar, to get through his extensive catalog and into the new material.

Gucci’s DJ, Indianapolis-bred/Atlanta-based DJ Champ, started things off by warming up the sizable crowd with 15 minutes of varied hip-hop hits. The crowd sang along and waved their hands to snippets of songs from Chance The Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Cardi B, A$AP Ferg, YG, Ludacris, Sheck Wes, and more while they waited for the main act.

By the time the prolific rapper, also known as Guwop (real name Radric Davis), hit the stage at 4:55 p.m., the crowd was ready to go and joined him in full throat as he launched into Both, Gucci’s 2016 hit single that features Drake.

Wearing a Cupido sweater, matching jeans, and a red Dolce & Gabbana belt, Gucci ran through hits like I Get The Bag, I Don’t Love Her, Bricks, Freaky Girl and others before turning his attention to the new song.

Not surprisingly, only a small portion of fans seemed familiar with the less-than-a-day-old song, so Gucci spent the second half of his set returning to more established tracks like Back on Road with Drake and 1st Day Out Tha Feds from 2016’s Everybody Looking — his first album back after being released from prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The 1017 Records founder has amazingly released five albums since that time, adding to his already legendary back catalog that also includes an estimated 70 mixtapes.

Gucci sweat profusely as he ran through more of his own tracks (Lemonade, Pillz, Trap House 3), as well as songs he’s been featured on (Rae Sremmurd’s Black Beatles, 2 Chainz’ Good Drank, and Migos’ Slippery), without ever shedding his thick-knit sweater.

Wearing what looked like hundreds of thousands of dollars in diamonds around his neck and wrists as he performed, all of that ice must’ve been what kept Gucci so cool.

And if he ever returns for an evening set at KAABOO, who knows, maybe he’ll perform in a fur coat.