“Can I talk to you, Syracuse?”

Up-and-coming hip-hop/folk/soul/indie/electronic/everything artist Raury made it clear from the start of his sold-out performance in the Schine Underground on Wednesday night that he didn’t want his audience to see his show like any other performance.

I’d call it more of a conversation.

Raury said to the audience at one point in the show, “When I come over to you and play music, it’s about sh*t that happened to me. It’s personal.”

This show, the last of University Union’s Bandersnatch Concert Series this semester, felt as intensely personal as they come. At 19 years old, Raury felt comfortable with an audience around his age that has shared experiences, thoughts and struggles similar to his own.

 

But he made sure the audience knew he wasn’t going to let his age get the best of him.

“Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can’t get sh*t done,” he said.

Though raw at certain points, Raury is quickly coming to his own as a polished artist, and his performance was proof of the natural talent he’s sure to bring out more in coming years.

The show began with an opening performance from fellow Atlantian-teen, Demo Taped. At just 17 years old, a certain youthful rawness should be expected from an artist this unrefined; like Raury, though, talent bled through in his set. Demo Taped had technical difficulties with sound during most of his set, with volume fluctuations taking his sound levels from deafening highs to inaudible lows. Though the audience seemed pretty dead for most of his performance, Demo Taped admitted that he was “a bit nervous,” got cheers and the audience stuck with him for the rest of his set.

The experimental electronic style he brought to the show reminded me of a barer-bones Toro y Moi at points, and the talent was there. Once he figures out small issues like sound, he’ll be an artist to keep a close eye on.

Raury’s set, similar to Demo Taped, felt like an artist just starting to come to his own — and what more could you want from a Bandersnatch performer?

 

Raury’s talented musicianship was on display throughout his set, with the most notable part of the performance going to the four-song stretch near the end of the concert where he showed every corner of his talents: the hardcore pop-rockiness of “Devil’s Whisper,” the full-out hard-rockness of “Cigarette Song,” the upbeat poppy vibes of “Friends” and the anthemic chillness of “Peace Prevail” electrified the crowd. This is the best summary of Raury as an artist you can get; he’s truly talented in so many aspects of music, and his passion for each new genre and style he brings to the table gives you a taste of all his different forms of artistry.

The “conversation” with the audience was best captured in the aforementioned direct audience addresses, though. Every “Can I talk to you, Syracuse?” in his set brought huge cheers, screams and passion from the crowd. Raury called himself an artist who’s “not afraid to say what I think,” and the mutual understanding he succeeded in building with the crowd was one of the strongest aspects of his performance for me. The pure passion he felt for the subjects he sang and rapped about — from love and friendship to racial identity and coping with death — were evident to anyone willing to hear what he had to say.

Before jumping into “Crystal Express,” the artist told the audience, “The only reason I’m here is because I believe so hard.” Raury believes in what he’s doing and singing about, and for me, that’s the most valuable trait in an artist. Raury conveys an energy you don’t see in popular music too often, and his kind of honesty and openness is something to be cherished.

A quality conversation is one where both parties get to learn more about each other. I’d say Wednesday night’s conversation was a pretty good one.

Brett Weiser-Schlesinger is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. He can be reached by email at bweisers@syr.edu or by Twitter at @brettws.

 

Published on November 5, 2015 at 12:42 am