When I first heard about BLP Kosher, I was blown away by how unique he was. It’s not every day you see a Jewish rapper with wicks who goes by the name “Kosher.” So when I found out the internet sensation was coming to Montreal on The Dreidelman Saga Tour, I had to check it out.
Trapland Pat was first up with a short but entertaining set. This was my first time seeing a photo pit at Le Studio TD, and the addition was welcomed by the photographers but also by Pat, who spent nearly his entire set as close to the fans as possible, taking selfies and generally talking to the audience.
The Floridian played all his hits, with his performance of Big Business making the entire venue vibe to the simple but catchy song. Pat ended his 20-minute set with a performance of Emergency before announcing to the crowd that he, unfortunately, had to leave to make way for the next performer, Certified Trapper.
Just from the name, it’s pretty clear that just like Kosher, Certified Trapper is not your regular rapper. After listening to his viral TikTok dance challenge song Oi (Beat Da Koto Nai) for the first time, I had no idea whether to hate it or love the song. My indecision on the artist’s music had me torn for the longest time, but after seeing him live, my opinion became clear.
Trapper came out to Slipped Up, which got the crowd super excited and caused a mosh pit to open up right in the middle of the crowd. The artist kept up the energy for the performance of his next song, Bird Talk. It was during this performance that I finally saw the appeal of Trapper’s music. Instead of trying to pick apart the individual elements of the artist’s songs, his music should be listened to for the overall feeling it gives you, which, in the case of this song, would be happiness. The crowd ate it all up and eagerly awaited the next song, which was the previously mentioned Oi (Beat Da Koto Nai).
The moment the song’s beat started playing, the entire crowd went wild. Trapper performed the beginning of the song flawlessly and then got the entire crowd to join him as he clapped to the rhythm of the beat before doing the dance challenge during the now-infamous ending of the song. Seeing an artist acknowledge and participate in the trends to their music was really cool since the connection between the artist and their community gets brought to light and the bond strengthens.
Trapper played a couple more songs before eventually having to leave for the headliner, who was next on stage. The wait for Kosher was made bearable by the DJ, who spiced things up by playing a mix of songs that everyone knew, from Chief Keef’s I Don’t Like to Miley Cyrus’ Party In The U.S.A. Before long, it was announced that BLP Kosher would be on stage any minute now.
In the moments leading up to Kosher’s appearance, the entire crowd prepared themselves for what promised to be an amazing performance. In the audience, some of the fans had brought kippahs with them to the show and put them on right as Kosher came out.
BLP Kosher came out to a crowd that was so loud I could hardly hear his newest release, Skidoo, playing. The headliner had an amazing stage presence, as he made sure to rap his songs word for word, which has become rare to see at rap shows nowadays. Considering Kosher has only been releasing music for 3 years, the amount of hits in his catalogue is extremely impressive. Every song that was played had fans chanting the lyrics so loudly that if Kosher had stopped rapping, I don’t think anyone would have been able to tell.
When it came time to perform his biggest song, Special K, Kosher did not disappoint. What might have been the biggest mosh pit that I’ve ever seen started to form and got most of the fans in the general area sucked into it. As I watched from the balcony, I couldn’t help but feel jealous of the fans below.
It was only at the end of his show that Kosher showed any sign of weakness after putting his all into an hour-long performance. As Kosher took a quick breather, he let the fans regain their energy before starting again to Jew On The Canoe, which got the crowd riled up as they picked up even more energy than they left off with.
Kosher ended his set with another performance of Special K then played Water to the Grave before thanking Montreal for an amazing show. As I walked out the venue and looked back at everything that I’d seen that night, I couldn’t help but think I’d made some very unique memories.
Review & photos – Nicolas Cantin
Share this :
