“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh my gosh.”

The above Usher lyric was my exact reaction to his performance.  Everyone else did great, but like Usher.  He played ALL the old school jams.  Banger after banger, he did not disappoint.

Okay, let me start from the beginning of the night.  Syd and I arrived DTLA (downtown Los Angeles) just before 7pm, and that was obviously ample time to stop at a bar to get a pre-concert beverage.  Refreshing AF.  We entered Staples Center, took our seats (in the nosebleeds, ugh) and patiently waited for this ish to start.  Wait, I actually forgot that before getting to our seats, we popped in on the 100 level section to catch the end of MadeinTYO perform his banger ‘Uber Everywhere.’  They even played it back with the Travi$ Scott remix.  Travvy didn’t show up though – bummer.

KEHLANI | Okay, now we’re back in the 300 level seats.  Kehlani killed it.  I’ve never seen her live before, so I was eager for her performance.  Her vocals are on point.  I sort of wish she had a stronger stage presence.  Again, this was only me seeing her for the first time – I’ve seen video snippets of her other shows, and they were more lit than last night.  Just my initial thoughts!  But overall, she is so very talented.  #girlpower

BRYSON TILLER | Now onto the baby making music maker himself, Bryson Tiller.  That was my second time seeing him live (first time back in January), and he did an amazing job.  I know I mentioned this in my write-up about his concert back in January, but I wish the stage lighting wasn’t so dark.  It clearly has to be the vibe and look he’s going for, but it’s difficult to see him.  I want to see that face!  And it’s harder to capture pictures/videos.  Regardless, he had the crowd (both the ladies and dudes) moving and singing.  Success.

USHER | Okay.  Now onto the main attraction.  Seriously.  U-S-H-E-R-R-A-Y-M-O-N-D.  I saw him perform at his UR Experience tour, and while that was good, I thought last night’s performance was better in terms of song choices.  I feel like he danced way more during UR Experience, but last night, he pulled out ALL the old songs.  How can one artist have SO many hits?  I’m so serious.  Even the slow songs, people were jamming.  Although, two people near us fell asleep – SMH.  They aren’t about that concert life.  Back to Usher.

From songs off of his Confessions album (listening to that now) to Looking 4 Myself to 8701 and more, he slayed it.  Usher was really the first R&B artist that I started listening to, and I credit him for my love of R&B today.  And while I’ve danced my whole life, again shout out to Usher who every time I see him perform or watch a music video of his, it makes me love and appreciate the art of dance even more.  I mean, my very first hip-hop dance was to Usher’s ‘Yeah’ in the 8th grade.  And last night he closed with that song, and I obvi remembered the dance moves to the chorus, so I got to perform that while Usher was singing it live.  GOALS AF.  Bucket list item – check.

Wait, and how could I forget to mention all of the special guests Usher brought out?!  In order of appearance:  Snoop Dogg, Wale, Young Thug, and Ice Cube.  EP-IC.  I actually teared up a bit when Ice Cube came out because it made me think of the movie Straight Outta Compton and NWA and the hip-hop culture in general, and I just love it so much.

Okay, instead of me continuing to ramble, peep my Snap story last night.  Apologies that it’s so far away.  For tonight’s Lil Wayne x 2 Chainz concert, I’ll be significantly lower and am actually thinking about doing a Facebook Live stream for parts of it.  Keep an eye out!  And if I don’t do that (depending on cell service and battery), def follow me on El Snap (@ergense) to see Tity Boi and Tunechi.