The anticipation inside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium was as thick as the city’s humidity Friday night (May 12). By the time the clock struck 11 PM, it was clear who the source was behind all the fervor. Decked in a Kenzo silk-satin jersey and ankle length trousers was King OverDosed himself, J. Cole, the master of ceremonies for the Day 1 finale of Rolling Loud Miami.
For his second headlining set since the record-breaking arrival of KOD, which garnered the emcee his fifth consecutive No. 1, Cole served the electrified crowd a scintillating live show that was bare, bold, and beautiful. Just like his albums, the Fayette-nam phenom strayed away from the supplements. There were no unique setups onstage, nor were there back-up dancers or LED screens to further illustrate his point. Instead, he strictly kept it to a trio of background singers and a DJ as his stage co-stars — altogether allowing for his words and his championed material to be the pulpit as his congregation activates the message.
After kicking off his set with the soul-stirring “Window Pain,” Cole then moved on to performing a host of tracks from KOD and the rest of his rich catalog, including the festival-ready bangers “A Tale of Two Citiez,” “Deja Vu,” “ATM” and “Motiv8.” Kicking ass throughout his classics filled set, the performance further cemented the fact that Cole is truly a rap giant in this era of hip-hop. But if there was any remaining room left for him to fill and further prove that point, he did so by the time the words to this song finalized his set: “1985, I arrived…“
Cole’s headlining set at Rolling Loud comes as he preps his KOD Tour this summer, kicking off in August. Tickets are available now. For the tour dates and scheduled venues, head here.
Rolling Loud 2018 is coming and REVOLT has you covered. From Gucci Mane to J. Cole, Trina, Rick Ross, Migos and more, REVOLT is the exclusive livestream partner at Rolling Loud. Be sure to catch all of the action right here at revolt.tv/rollingloud from 5/11 – 5/13 with an encore performance on 5/14.