At the tail end of finals season, many students have left Grounds, and many more are in need of a break from their academic obligations. As parties wind down, students are left looking for ways to spend their downtime beyond studying. Iconic rapper Soulja Boy filled that gap Tuesday night at a sold-out show at the Jefferson Theater, delivering a magnetic performance.
An air of anticipation filled the venue as attendees, some dressed like Soulja Boy, others practicing their “Crank That,” waited for the main act. The DJ warmed up the crowd with familiar rap staples that got the audience moving — “Mo Bamba,” “No Hands” and “FE!N” — before unexpectedly veering into pop classics like “Timber," “Ain’t It Fun” and “Beauty and a Beat.” The DJ’s set felt like a return to the sounds of parties echoing through houses along Rugby Road.
Once the DJ had warmed the crowd up, popular figure from the SoundCloud era, rapper Lil Xan took the stage as the opening act, performing a mix of newer tracks and older hits. Throughout his set, he engaged with the crowd, calling them “lit” and “good people” even jokingly asking about the price of rent in Charlottesville. He also shared that he has been off Xanax for several years, explaining that music became an outlet during his recovery.
He performed “Roses On Your Desk,” “Been Bout It” and “Betrayed,” the last of which — his 2017 breakout hit — drew such a strong response that he played it twice to close his set. He also paid tribute to fellow SoundCloud-era artists who have passed, including Lil Peep, Juice WRLD and XXXTentacion.
During the gap before Soulja Boy’s set, the restless crowd formed a dance circle as the DJ played “Just Wanna Rock,” by Lil Uzi Vert, with audience members taking turns showing off their moves. Despite the crowd’s energy, a roughly 20-minute delay caused some of the excitement to dip. Before Soulja Boy finally emerged, he was introduced by a computerized voiceover. “In a world of drip, a world of swag, a world of legends, prepare yourselves for the King of the Internet, the pioneer, the trendsetter, the icon,” the audio said.
Soulja Boy stepped onstage in a star-studded outfit, complete with a glimmering microphone, grills, pants and chains, and opened with “Turn My Swag On,” instantly reigniting the crowd’s energy. Logan Kucharski, second-year College student, said the wait was worth it.
“The wait time wasn’t ideal, but it's Soulja Boy. He does things on his own timing,” Kucharski said. “It was well worth the wait … He got the crowd hype right away.”
Soulja Boy kept the energy high through constant fan interaction and engagement. He took audience members’ phones to record himself onstage, grabbed a child’s iPad for a crowd selfie and even had the audience greet his Twitch chat. His call-and-response moments stood out, especially during “Turn My Swag On,” when the crowd shouted, “Yeah” filling the theater.
His stage presence remained strong throughout the set, guiding the crowd through dances. A standout moment came during crowd favourite “Rick & Morty,” when he danced along to the track on a stage filled with green lights, sparking a “Go Soulja” chant.
At one point during the set, Soulja Boy reflected on his early internet fame, telling the crowd that he was the first artist of the genre on both YouTube and Twitch. He encouraged audience members not to give up on their goals, adding that a “future millionaire” was likely in the room.
One of the more electric moments of the night came during “Pretty Boy Swag.” When the beat dropped, the 808s pulsed through the floor, shaking the entire venue. As Soulja Boy sang “Get out the way, pretty boy coming through,” the crowd was so loud that they nearly drowned out the music.
From there, Soulja Boy ran through a series of tracks in quick succession, giving the audience bite-sized moments of classics like “Bird Walk,” “Booty Meat” and “Speakers Going Hammer.” This momentum carried into the final stretch of the set with “Kiss Me Thru the Phone” and “Crank That (Soulja Boy).”
During the final song, “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” the crowd moved in unison, especially when Soulja Boy sang “Now watch me (Yuu), crank that Soulja Boy,” swaying side to side together. One audience member, Myles Francisco, a Charlottesville resident, pointed to the event’s broad local turnout.
“My favorite part about the concert was seeing the diversity of Charlottesville come out … when things get involved around town word spreads … I feel like it was an event bigger than people may have thought,” Francisco said.
As the school year wraps up and students begin to leave Charlottesville, Soulja Boy’s performance brought together a wide cross-section of the community, turning Tuesday night into a shared moment of release and excitement.
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