Buzz Blog

Whether you like your hip-hop ice-cold and Canadian or dipped in Dirty South hot sauce, this Thursday’s Drake + Migos show at Vivint Smart Home Arena will satisfy. Billed as the Aubrey & The Three Migos Tour (Aubrey is Drake’s real name, and The Three Migos refers to, well, the three members of Migos), the 57-leg North American jaunt actually kicks off here in Salt Lake City, leading us to the sneaking suspicion that Atlanta’s Takeoff, Quavo and Offset really like it here in The Beehive State.

Why? Well, back in April, Migos celebrated the chart-topping success of their 2018 album Culture II with a free concert at the University of Utah Olpin Union. That show came just four months after their maiden voyage to Salt Lake City, Dec. 30 at The Great Saltair. That’s three shows in seven months, an unheard-of clip for modern touring artists—especially for pop-culture-dominating ones who creative genius Donald Glover once called “The Beatles of this generation.”

Interestingly, Drake and Migos claim two of just four albums released in 2018 that have already gone platinum. But the big story here is the more sensitive, R&B-leaning Canadian (that’s Drake) bringing out the gangsta rap group that garners the most respect for keeping one foot in its trap house past and one foot in the fashion-forward future (that’s Migos). As NPR recently said in a long-read piece on Drake’s new album Scorpion, his Achilles heel has always been an “aching desire for acceptance” from fellow hip-hop heavyweights.

That need was extra pronounced this summer, when the well-oiled rollout of Scorpion was disrupted by a dis track from Pusha T attacking Drake and his family and alleging that he had a hidden child, all accompanied by a dredged-up photo of the biracial rapper in blackface. As ludicrous as it sounds, the dis from Pusha T cut Drake deep, damaging his reputation as a respectful, deep-thinking ladies man in a genre well-known for its toxic misogyny. Perhaps, however, this moment is all part of “God’s Plan,” as Drake argues on the lead single from Scorpion: “Bad things/ It’s a lot of bad things/ That they wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’ and wishin’/ They wishin’ on me.”


On the flip side, Park City MC XavierTheRapper saw a boost in visibility for his song “Won’t Change” when he participated in a Drake-related Instagram post to tout Scorpion’s million-selling first week. “Won’t Change” addresses XavierTheRapper’s past struggles with depression and anxiety, which culminated in a suicide attempt four years ago in his Maryland hometown. Deciding to pull up roots and head out west, Xavier got a transfer to Park City thanks to his nine-year career with Marriott. Oddly enough, it was a Drake concert in 2016 that inspired him to start writing music again, culminating in the 2017 mixtape I Was Never Playing and more than 40 subsequent tracks. Check him out Twitter—hopefully he’ll play some local shows soon.
Other quickies this week: art rockers The Ophelias bring their winning blend of psych-rock, baroque-punk, and self-described “moth music” to Kilby Court on Tuesday, July 24; blues troubadours Taj Mahal and Keb Mo team up to perform together as TajMo at Red Butte Garden on Wednesday, July 25; and you can relive your ‘90s childhood with 311 and The Offspring’s Never-Ending Summer tour stop at Usana Amphitheatre on Friday, July 27. Special guests Gym Class Heroes open the show and The Offspring’s lead singer Dexter Holland will even be selling his Gringo Bandito hot sauce. As Vice’s Munchies food website reported, “It’s actually pretty fly for white guy.”