Concert Review: Skillibeing Is Power At Irving Plaza

It should be noted that I have seen POSTERS around my block for Skillibeing. Some including a scan code for bottle service and VIPS. Thus, I feel like I manifested, in an odd way, an invite to his packed show. I had to see the guy in the poster because, in some ways, he exemplifies the ¨grassrooting¨ future of the music industry.

The music industry is in a weird tizzy. By all means, it is back, but bigger and better ….is hard to say but is always the aim. There is something missing, and one of the biggest complaints, by music-lovers, is the lack of difference in substance of what is offered. It is as if everyone has fully realized that the music business is really a factory of artists. Now, like Amazon pushing us all to get Prime, there is a part of the industry that simply has not fully cashed in on both the rise of the independent artist but also the independent marketer.

From stickers in the bathroom to posters at a supermarket, Skillibeing really pushed himself as an icon of the block, your neighbor that, by chance, is performing in one of the biggest venues in New York. Irving Plaza is where labels send their artists on the cusp of striking it big or, at least, bigger, and the energy of the room felt, exactly, like that, as if we were watching someone rise from simply standing next to us and Skilllbeing had the passion of someone aiming for higher: for legend. 

I call it the ¨hunger¨ and it is something I, definitely, feel when I review Hip Hop artists. Personally, I feel it stems from the feeling that everybody wants that “golden ticket” that will have you running the Wonka factory or rather the music industry. From ¨Whap Whap¨ to ¨Crocodile Teeth,¨ his verses and energy were all about overtaking and deciding which candy gets pushed out to the public. ( Alright, I´m done with the movie references)

Control and power are probably two of the most desired things in this world, and, for many, they feel  one in the same because both equate a sense of safety. Skillibeing felt safe on that stage because he was its dominant power, and he got there by promoting himself in my area: an area where people wish for the same.