Andrew Veeder on November 11th, 2013

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It was almost as if by the time you got down to the Fonda Theatre’s floor on Thursday night, through the pat-downs and multiple checkpoints, that security was looking the other way when came to smoking marijuana, which the crowd did relentlessly throughout this night of the appropriately titled the “Smokers Club Tour.” Every four or five seconds, another plume of weed smoke would billow upwards from the audience, which was pushed up tight to the front and full of energy the whole night. They gladly obliged when Chevy Woods commanded they all raise their middle fingers, when Joey Bada$$ led a “f*ck the police” call and response, and they never shied away from throwing their hands in the air.

• ||| Photos by Carl Pocket

By the time headliner Ab-Soul came onstage, the floor was nearly packed and energized. His signature mane spilled out from under his lid and over his jacket, and he wore a “God Allah Jah Buddha Krishna We Are 1” shirt. He kicked it off with “Track Two” and breezed through a number of other “Control System” tracks including “Bohemian Groove,” “Illuminate,” and “Terrorist Threats.” Jay Rock joined him for “Lust Demons,” and they dropped a medley of fellow Black Hippy members’ songs with Kendrick Lamar’s “M.A.A.D. City” and Schoolboy Q’s “Collared Greens.” Soulo also played the raucous new track “Dubsac,” as well as the dark, lively “Gone Insane” from his debut album “Control System,” and closed out with “Pineal Gland.” He came out for a brief encore, his verse from Joey Bada$$’s “Enter The Void,” and rapped, “Tell my momma I’m a shaman rhymin’ / Jesus Christ and Shawn Carter are my only idols / No, Jesus Christ and Shawn Carter are my only rivals / I’m the Messiah of rap, my catalog’s the Bible.”

Brooklyn duo the Underachievers kicked off the night, and the performers’ overall desire for the crowd to “turn up” as much as possible. The bass was also turned up, to what felt like at least 11, pulsating through your body and reverberating through the Fonda louder than any other show in memory. Rappers AK and Issa Gold had a natural ebb and flow to their rhyming and hyping one another, highlighted on tracks like “Sun Through The Rain” and “Midnight Augusto.” Their seamless tag-teaming was also on display during “The Proclaimation,” which samples The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and is the first song off a forthcoming EP.

Chevy Woods followed, backed up by DJ GQ, a bodyguard the size of a Mini Cooper, and a hooded entourage member who bounced side-to-side and dolled out T-shirts. Chevy performed his guest spot from Juicy J’s “Cup,” tracks from his new mixtape “Gangland 2,” and freestyled over Tyler, The Creator’s “Yonkers” beat. The crowd went wild when Wiz Khalifa came out for a few songs, flanked by another bodyguard the size of a Toyota Yaris and more entourage members who passed lighters and joints around like a share circle. “You’re not smoking if you don’t have a lighter,” Chevy said to the crowd, who replied by raising dozens of lighters into the air across the theater.

DJ Statik Selektah manned the decks for Joey Bada$$ & Pro Era, but kicked it off with some classics, spinning Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” a cappella with Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode” beat, Nate Dogg’s verse from “Xxplosive”, and Nas’ “N.Y. State of Mind.” Then Joey took the stage and launched into a dozen-song set featuring multiple tracks from last year’s dynamite “1999” mixtape, joined by members of his Brooklyn crew Pro Era for guest spots and solo songs. Joey’s presence was dominant but also non-chalant, confident but not taking himself too seriously. He bobbed, jumped and glided across the stage playfully, his flow is even more fire live than it is on record, clear in delivery and distinct in personality. His “Waves,” the Steve Miller Band-sampling “Funky Ho,” and his verse from A$AP Rocky’s “1 Train” stood out among the rest. Kirk Knight came out for “Where It At,” Chuck Strangers pounced on “FromdaTomb,” and later in the set, they all paid tribute to deceased Pro Era member Capital STEEZ. CJ Fly came out for “Hardknock,” and Joey spit his second verse acapella until backed by some beatboxing.

“I can’t give every dude a dap, or every girl a hug, but it’s all love,” Joey said to wild audience as they closed their set.