San Antonio’s Serotonin Music Festival: Presented by unLBLD. Entertainment

“Hey Jake! I need my encore Jake!” is what I was screaming to Sunday night’s DJ for Serotonin, the almighty Jake Anwan! Jake is so generous that, at one point during the festival, he let a friggin’ praying mantis take over the ones & twos! I don’t know if you reading this believes in these kind of things but it’s said that this insect represents courage & persistence, two of the many qualities that the unLBLD family consistently exhibits, especially given the hard work that was put into the show behind the scenes. I’m not sure anybody but their team & maybe a few close friends can fathom the extent they went into ensuring this night was an experience. As soon as I arrived, I could just feel the love in the air & it wasn’t long until Shadoh opened up the show with something I personally was not expecting from her. According to SETTHETONE-T, both of these soon to be released records are from her “Dreamgirl” era which we’ll fully be exposed to before we know it! She even had the beautiful Keeks & APROPHETICA as her dancers for the first record & they were so in sync with their moves! I’m telling yall, if you’re familiar with Shadoh’s work, these records are unlike anything you’ve heard from her!

As you probably could’ve guessed, it was only right that SETTHETONE-T come up next & obliterate the stage, he swears he wasn’t on top of his game but we all know that’s a lie, I’m surprised there was even a stage left after he was through ripping it. What made it all the more killer was that, it was his first time in a good while setting foot back on that stage & fresh off his latest opus “Don’t Speak on My Dad” at that! I do have to admit, I’m rather bummed out that Kree23 couldn’t make it to perform their smash “Southside” together but she was there in spirit. I know there’s footage somewhere of how hype I was when that beat came on cause trust me when I say, I know all the words, damn near almost hopped on that stage with him but I didn’t wanna cramp his style! He followed that up with a rather obscure cut that I felt fit much better in with the event & for those who didn’t purchase the physical only for his previous project “MEMENTO MORI”, fret not for you can easily find “LEMME BE” on his actual website for free! In the back of my mind, when I saw the juggernaut Mike Brunch in attendance, I was PRAYING that they would perform “Harder Shit” & it damn near almost turned into Wrestelmania when they did so of course they had to keep the momentum going with one last fan favorite in “Big Bags” & especially now that Druski is aware of the song, I feel like it’s a song they’ll be performing for the rest of their lives & careers. It’ll be a fucking riot if they ever refuse to perform that cut off their collaborative album “REDOX”.

Even though Kree was supposed to follow this performance, we still had one more lyrical titan in QThaElevated, 1/2 of the duo MC² to leave minds baffled with his verbal prowess & highly advanced technical skills! If you aren’t aware by now, Q is now solo dolo but if you’re at all familiar with his work, he’s been leaving rappers shaking in their boots for many years now & his performance proved that he’s gonna continue to showcase why he’s forever on his incline. If you haven’t peeped his two latest “split.” & especially “intertwined.”, you’d be a fool to not get on that immediately! I’d say that the real wild card & perfomance that surprised me the most was from the cat who followed cause he completely switched the mood of the entire show with a bloody good perfomance just in time for spooky season! First off, Wolf, I wasn’t familiar with your game brother but your perfomance had me howling at the moon with glee! I feel bad for anybody who may have went inside cause his “transformation” as he called it, while uncomfortable at 1st, not unlike the iconic scene in “An American Werewolf in London”, was so worth it in the end, as he went from Punk scream-o to raw raps to straight disco with his infectious floor stopping groove that I can’t seem to find anywhere so help me with that anyone!! He completely stole the show with that performance alone cause he wasn’t just dancing, he was BUSSIN!!

Since his set was the darkest, most thrilling set of the night, it was only right to counter his darkness with a leading light in the powerfully poignant preacher in Dai Made. There’s just something oh so intimate about having a live band backing you & with Cap’n Jay on the drums & Reyes the Greatest on the guitar, how could you possibly go wrong? They really brought Dai’s motivational lyricism to life with their contributions! Kurly Top then followed that up with some more of those rockstar vibes, even though I personally felt he should’ve gone right after Wolf, it would’ve worked better in my opinion but it’s always an energetically electrifying showcase whenever he’s on stage so I can’t really complain too much about that. Dai just fit more into the R&B vibes that would continue once the beautiful Miss Angelae Stone graced the stage with her uniquely crafted Neo Soul! Angie, not to be confused with Angie Stone, is well on her way to becoming one of the most impactful artists the R&B genre has heard in a good while & her performance here stood as a testament to the inevitable! If you peeped her promo ad for the show, you’ll have gotten acquainted with her opening track to her set “Absent”, which off rip let the audience know that she’s no laughing matter. Bring that it was played during a Floyd Mayweather fight, if you so as much let out a giggle at her performance, I pray his fists come reigning down on you with a vengeance as powerful as her determination to blow! Even when we got to the more sexy numbers like a personal favorite of mine “Feenin’” & “Sensual”, Ang’s lyricism & overall presence just made the records feel so Sapio-sensual. If you weren’t a fan before, you damn sure were after this!

I was also a bit disappointed the great DONOV3N wasn’t able to make it either cause he would’ve really made the R&B section of this showcase that much more poignant but luckily, SET & Shadoh were smart enough to add another superb vocalist to the lineup last minute that caught damn near everybody off guard in Tylee The Godson! He actually wasn’t able to perform a show the night before which ended up being a blessing as his presence in this setting made much more sense. For it being the first time I personally got to see him perform, he damn near brought me to tears with his soaring vocals! Jermaine Dupri recently stated that R&B these days is lacking church influence but if only he was aware of artists like Tylee who very much channeled the energy of God during his perfomance so maybe someone should spam him with any footage & links to his beautiful music!

Yet another performer wasn’t able to make it in ThereGoesMyBaby but we had nothing to fear, for your girl’s favorite appetizer Kalamari was there to save the day! If you’ve never seen a Big Squiddy live show, you’re seriously a bigger hater than Squilliam Fancyson & if you did see him perform that night, then you fainted just like he did in the iconic “Band Geeks” episode. Of course, it was mandatory that he perform “Slow Down” & what’s that fucking disco number that he refuses to fucking release?! Yeah, I need that neowww Kal! It was also the last time he swore to perform “Sway” so if you missed him that night, don’t expect to catch him performing it again at Happy Place! And right after him, we had to end the night with the good brother Qwest, letting us in on some of the new material he’s been cooking up! All in all, it was definitely a night for the books & surely won’t be the last festival the good people at unLBLD put together! Everyone from the vendors, I highly recommend Beautiful Me Design for all your jewelry needs & The Faded Factory for all your medicinal needs, to the performers, all of which Shadoh & the host for the night Key, introduced with the highest regards, even gave them each plaques, which Angelae Stone considered to be Grammies, to the audience themselves, it was surely an overwhelming amount of Serotonin released & a high that I’ve still yet to come down from a week later.

Til next time!