T Mills at the Virgin Mobile Corona Theater – Montreal Live Review
T. Mills at the Virgin Mobile Corona Theater – Montreal Live Reviews
T. Mills – March 26th 2014 – Corona Theater- Photo by Andrej Ivanov
Who: T Mills
From: Riverside, California
Where: Virgin Mobile Corona Theater
When: Wednesday March 26th 2014
TOTAL SCORE: 2.4
Style: Pop Hip-Hop
Finding out that the capacity of the Corona Theater is upwards of 800 (with the open mezzanine) was quite a shock when I saw the conglomeration of (very) young girls that came to see the California-born LA-based hip hop artist. This was the single most disappointing crowd I have seen at any concert in a venue of that magnitude. This is probably due to two factors:
1) terrible promotion on the Montreal side of things, to my understanding of it, and
2) that Childish Gambino was playing just up the street.
Normally, one would expect a crowd to expand as the opening acts progress. This was hardly the case, and from what information I managed to gather, there was around 175 people (a gross overestimation, in my opinion). The crowd somehow squeezed together and filled half the ground floor with girls young enough to probably need an adult chaperon. This also came as a surprise, seeing as I anticipated to find a crowd of older “gangstahs”. Suffice to say, the sparse crowd was energetic but overall lackluster.
After an initial disastrous performance by an unnamed, but tone deaf local artist, Mod Sun pumped up the small crowd valiantly before T Mills came on-stage. Obviously, the eruption of cheers was instant. Despite his small fanbase, T. Mills was rather energetic and did a lot of fan servicing, such as inviting people up on stage for the last song. Naturally, him inviting people up on stage meant that the crowd on the ground was literally halved, but hey, at least they got to be up on stage.
As far as the music is concerned, T Mills falls into a very cookie cutter mold of the poppy hip-hop that has been ravaging the airwaves lately. Sleazy and purposeless lyrics don’t go further than rapping about sleeping with girls, drinking and partying. For the first time in my life, I have to agree with Kanye West by asking “Does anyone make any real sh!t anymore?” (Stronger – Kanye West).
I think hip-hop has forgotten its roots about the projects, the school of hard knocks, the real OGs and talking about something that needs to change. People need to turn to those who set the path for them and honor Biggie, 2Pac, and the likes. Sadly, T Mills is just another industry-fueled artist that falls flat and falters. The entire performance felt completely auto-tuned and fake, and the whole of my previous statements became crystal clear when T Mills stumbled and forgot the lyrics. At one point he stopped singing but the vocals just kept going.
The performance felt unimaginative, contrived and uncreative. As a matter of fact, it was as though T Mills was blatantly attempting to make hip-hop mainstream. The problem with that is that it’s paradoxical with what hip-hop used to be: guys getting together in underground clubs to freestyle and create music with meaning. In the end, the point was lost somewhere in the delivery and this show simply fell flat. This is in no way an attempt to defame an artist, simply stating what conclusions can be drawn from what was portrayed. It’s time to re-create an image, not of fake thugs and posers, but of people who talk about something meaningful through the medium of music.
Overall, this concert looked like a big joke.
Written and Photographed by Andrej Ivanov
Photography TRADE SECRETS for INDUSTRY insiders ONLY!
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THE SCENe