The Smokers Club Tour feat Method Man and Curren$y – REVIEW

The Smokers Club tour feat. Method Man and Curren$y made its way to the Congress Theater in Chicago. Performing with them were Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Paypa, and more. You can check out our review after the break!

Before even arriving at Congress Theatre you could see the haze of smoke crawling down Milwaukee Avenue from The Smokers Club tour that was making it’s stop in Chicago. The tour featured Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T., Curren$y, Fiend, Method Man, and other supporting acts. Also, featured on the tour is up and coming Chicago native Paypa, making his homecoming debut. Paypa is known for his “Tunnel Vision” mixtape hosted by DJ Drama and DJ Khaled, with features from Rick Ross, Game, and Jim Jones. This project perpetuated his movement and helped him to step up to the next level. Unfortunately, when we arrived at Congress there were complications with our arrangements, so we missed his performance. However, we did get a chance to catch up with Paypa after his set to ask him a few questions, which can be seen at the end of the review.

Since we missed Paypa’s set and the other opening acts we were left to the 3 headlining acts, Big K.R.I.T., Curren$y, and the hip-hop veteran, Method Man. K.R.I.T. was the first to go up on stage, opening his set with Return Of 4eva, which got the crowd hyped and set the tone for his performance. Running from one end of the stage to the other, hopping on the speakers, and at one point even getting off the stage and on to the barricades, you couldn’t help but have a good time during his set. Chicago showed nothing but love as K.R.I.T rocked through his whole set performing tracks from his most recent projects. K.R.I.T closed out his performance by playing his most notable single, “Country Shit” and his newest single “Money On The Floor”.

Following Big K.R.I.T was Curren$y, the hot spitta, bringing material from his recent critically acclaimed album, “Covert Coup”, and a little bit of everything else. Curren$y’s set included couches for his people to chill and smoke on, and the backdrops were cartoon images that resembled a living room. Throughout his set he had his people coming on stage to join him, and at one point professional basketball player Eddy Curry even showed up and sat in on the couch. He had the place totally smoked out and reppin’ the JETlife throughout the coarse of his set.

Headlining was none other than the smokers club president himself, Method Man and he brought high energy throughout his whole set. During the course of his time on stage the reoccurring theme in the crowd was the overwhelming chant of “Wu” echoing off the venues walls. Performing classics such as, “Method Man”, “Bring The Pain”, and the never disappointing “Wu-Tang Clan Aint Nothing To Fuck With,” Method Man showed the crowd that despite the age and generation gap between himself, most of the fans, and the other artists, he can still hold his own and put on a show.

Overall, the Smokers Club Tour at the Congress Theatre lived up to its name and didn’t disappoint, and probably the best hip-hop show I’ve been to in a while. Though I didn’t get to see every act because of entry difficulty, I’m glad I was able to talk with Paypa face to face and ask a few questions. Hopefully, I can catch up with a him again and actually see his performance.

Interview with Paypa:
Digital Tour Bus: First and foremost, tell everyone your name and where you’re from?
Paypa: Paypa and I’m from the Southside of Chicago (95th St.).

DTB: Tell us a little bit about yourself how you got into hip hop?
Paypa: I originally got into music when I was eleven years old, my Grandfather had a camera so me and my brother would freestyle and just mess around. It started out as more of a hobby then a serious thing, but, when I was sixteen I was at a Jay-Z concert and they were having this battle for backstage passes. I ended up winning and at that point I wasn’t even serious, so to see me being able to beat out other dudes who had already been doing it kind of showed me the light. I realized then I wanted to take it more seriously and that despite the lack of commitment at the time, I was truly passionate about it.

DTB: What projects are you currently working on right now, and what are some past projects that the fans can listen to in the meantime?
Paypa: Well right now I’m currently working on “Henny On The Rocks pt. II” (HOTR2) which is the follow up to my previous mixtape “Henny On The Rocks”. Prior to HOTR I put out “Tunnel Vision” which was a mixtape I had hosted by DJ Drama and DJ Khaled. That mixtape helped me to gain exposure, especially with features from Rick Ross, The Game, and a few others. After that though I started the HOTR series and I put those out myself independently (despite the independent drop it still featured artists such as Nipsey Hussle, Chris Brown, and Malik Yusef). For now though I’m currently working on HOTR2 which should be released before the New Year and I plan to just keep working from there.

DTB: How did you hook up with DJ Drama/Khaled and all the artists that featured on “Tunnel Vision”?
Paypa: It didn’t happen overnight that’s for sure (laughs), but I mean I had just been working on my music and coming up meeting people through networking. As I was putting out music I was receiving recognition from some of the dudes who I later ended up working with but at first it was nothing big. After awhile I had established myself as an artist and reached out to them to do some work. It’s pretty much a wrap after that, we got together did the thing and that was that.

DTB: How’d you get hooked up with the Smokers Club Tour?

Paypa: I’m gonna be honest with you man, cause you know as well as I do us Chicago cats speak the truth. But I mean I really don’t know, having the label behind me definitely helped, but I wasn’t apart of connecting this. It was all done behind the scenes; my guy came to me and was like you wanna do that Smokers Club Tour? And of course I had to say yes I mean why wouldn’t I? (laughs) but yeah that’s basically how it happened, honestly I feel blessed to be able to be here and doing what I’m doing, it’s definitely an amazing feeling.

DTB: How has the response been thus far on the tour?
Paypa: It’s been great, every cities been showing me a lot of love and I just go in to every show ready to bring the house down. It’s nice to have people who hadn’t really heard of you prior to the show watch you perform and get into it.

DTB: What are your plans after the tour?
Paypa: After the tour I’m just trying to work, get my name out there more, and prove to the people that I’m worthy of being in this position. I busted my ass to get where I am and I intend on busting my ass twice as hard now that I’m here. I dropped HOTR in October and I plan on finishing HOTR2 during the course of this tour and dropping it before 2012. I’m trying to drop that tape then the third installment, then start a new project, and just keep moving up and progressing as an artist.

DTB: So how is tour life? Do you like being on the road or is it not all it’s cracked up to be?
Paypa: I really do love doing this and being able to go city to city and perform but I’ve also got a 6 month old daughter and a fiancee at home so it’s hard to be away from them. At the end of the day though I’m just trying to provide for them and this music helps me to do that so it’s a blessing for me.

DTB: How Do you promote yourself?
Paypa: My website is where I host all of my visuals, mixtapes, etc. you can find it at http://www.paypatime.com But other than that I mean I network, the blogs help me out, and I’m also still in the streets promoting myself. Despite having a major label you can still catch me in the mall handing out tapes, or on the street passing out fliers. That’s the kind of work that got me here so I’m going to continue to do those things now that I’m coming up in the game.

DTB: Alright, well that’s it on our end, we appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions for us. Hopefully next time we come to check you out the venue wont be on BULLSHIT and we’ll be able to catch the set.
Paypa: No doubt man, I appreciate you coming to check me out. We’ll have to do it again in the future.

Information about the review…
Tour: The Smokers Club Tour feat Method Man and Curren$y
Artists: Method Man, Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T., Smoke DZA, Paypa, and more
Reviewer: Matthew Guertler
Date: October 27, 2011
Venue: Congress Theater in Chicago, IL