“Rave in the Front, Tigerland in the Back”
Upon hearing about the Trap Fools festival, I was a little appalled. The location was set for The Bandit, the small venue next to Bogies. I’ve seen these things come through before and I was skeptical, but once I saw the lineup included UZ Antiserum and 12th Planet, I knew that this had the potential to be something great.
On the day of the fest I was outside my house with my dog when I heard the Star Wars theme blaring from many miles away. Suddenly I felt a rush of hope for this show. Around 5 I went to the bandit to grab my tickets and check out the local DJ’s that were to be playing early, but they weren’t letting people in yet. I did however get a glimpse of the impressive main stage, and I knew that I was in for more than I had bargained for.
Showed up around 10 and saw the main stage in action. Triple projector screens, a sweet light set up, and a seemingly good crowd. I had fully expected this event to be full of “Bros” trying to get their trap on, but the crowd was reminiscent of a real festival, which got me excited for the acts I was about to witness.
The inside stage was pretty cool, but it didn’t really have much on the main stage. It had a college bar vibe instead of the festival vibe being displayed outside. The best way I could describe it is, “Rave in the front, Tigerland in the back.”
JSTJR
I really like this show. Having no prior knowledge of this DJ, I didn’t know what to expect, but I quickly figured out his style, and it was dope. I’ve seen some good trap in my day, (RL Grime being the KING) but this guy was pretty good. I liked his style, he brought good energy to the stage. The crowd wasn’t really getting too turnt, but the night was still young.
Antiserum
Antiserum has been bangin’ since the early days of EDM when Skrillex was on the rise. I really enjoyed the vibe he was putting out. Unfortunately, they were forced to lower the volume significantly during the set. Cops were outside the event, threatening to shut it all down, but somehow they figured it out, and let the show go on. Antiserums show could have been fantastic, but the volume limit definitely carved into the fun of the show.
In transitioning to the inside stage I overheard a few security guards talking to the manager saying “Yeah the DJ said ‘Fuck the police, I say how loud the volume goes”. I was really hoping that the DJ mentioned was 12th Planet, because the low volume was a problem for me.
DJ Rae
I stopped by to see Rae’s set since we share mutual friends. She seemed incredibly focused while mixing, but to not much avail. What she was playing was pretty standard Tigerland music, which fit the theme of the inside stage. Most of the people inside looked like they heard that there was a trap show going on and were disappointed by the strong EDM tendencies of true Trap, and settled to sit inside to listen to Kevin Gates and 2Chainz.
UZ
This show was sweet. UZ came out in his mask, the signature part of his shpiel. He came on around 11:45, and the volume was still way lower than I would have liked. Uzi had a good style, his slow deep trap was way more fun than I anticipated. This music was great to freestyle rap to, and to have some pretty good conversations to. I wasn’t dancing too much to the set, but I did get down to the music every few songs. I got over it relatively quickly though as it got repetitive over time. Overall, I really liked UZ and what he brought to this festival.
12th Planet
The cream of the crop right here. The moment everyone was waiting for. I pushed up closer to the front and prepared my face for the energy 12th Planet was about to bring. BWAAAA. They turned the bass up alright. 12th Planet was dope. Besides the fact that it was 40-50 degrees outside, this was the best show by far. Everyone seemed to be turning up and feeling the vibe. I saw more people dancing for his show than all the rest of the acts combined. 12th Planet brought me back to the simpler days of EDM and to my original tastes. His dubstep/ Drum n Bass style was simple and to the point, but it hit hard. It was easy to dance to, and brought out the headbanger in all of us.
All in all, I was impressed with what was thrown together in the parking lot of the Bandit. They turned a regular old bar into what actually felt like a festival. There were even long lines for the portapotties. (It’s not a real festival unless you have to wait 10-15 minutes to use the restroom IMHO) I really hope that Baton Rouge can use this example of a successful event and plan more things similar to it. We have the clientele, we have the space, we just need more people to plan it out. I hope that Trap Fools becomes an annual event, because all in all, it was well planned, and well coordinated. Besides the whole sham with the cops trying to break it up, this event went pretty smoothly.
7/10
Good Job Trap Fools.
