Dressed in an all-over Botticelli-patterned sweat suit from head to toe, Ryan Hemsworth started with a softly warbling synth and floated Drake's "All Me" verse over it. In the past few years, Hemsworth has perfected his trap-meets-J-pop sound, and it's made him a star. The crowd were waiting for him, and they lapped up every minute of his performance, getting hype as he transitioned from Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire remixes ("Illest N***as Breathin'") to pitch-shifted, video game-referencing fare from song to song.
If he jumped up and clapped, the audience did too, showing faith that they'd follow him anywhere and giving him license to bring the tempo up and down as he needed. He sprinkled his own tunes throughout, artfully blending "Colour & Movement" and "One For Me" in with his own remixes: he used Mark Hoppus's vocals from "Adam's Song" at one point, and played Juicy J's vocals from "Bandz a Make Her Dance" over music from Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Late in the set, he transitioned from a remix of Danny Brown's "Kush Coma" into a sparkling extrapolation of YG's "My N***a" beat, then brought in Kanye West's vocals from "Can't Tell Me Nothin'," hitting a peak as the crowd lost their minds.
Hemsworth is still mining his taste as a Halifax teenager for song ideas, and he still sounds incredible doing it.
If he jumped up and clapped, the audience did too, showing faith that they'd follow him anywhere and giving him license to bring the tempo up and down as he needed. He sprinkled his own tunes throughout, artfully blending "Colour & Movement" and "One For Me" in with his own remixes: he used Mark Hoppus's vocals from "Adam's Song" at one point, and played Juicy J's vocals from "Bandz a Make Her Dance" over music from Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Late in the set, he transitioned from a remix of Danny Brown's "Kush Coma" into a sparkling extrapolation of YG's "My N***a" beat, then brought in Kanye West's vocals from "Can't Tell Me Nothin'," hitting a peak as the crowd lost their minds.
Hemsworth is still mining his taste as a Halifax teenager for song ideas, and he still sounds incredible doing it.