Hello Beauties Happy Saturday! Last night I attended the last stop in Santigold’s We Buy Gold tour at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD. This tour was in support of her third studio album 99 cents.
First off I got into Santigold back in 2011 during my time in AmeriCorps one of my teammates would play her song Shove It all the time and I kind of fell in love with the song. Then when I got home I discovered more of her music and have loved her ever since.
Now if you don’t know who Santi White or Santigold her stage name is she is a pop, dance singer/songwriter out of Philly. She started back in the early 2000s when she was an A&R rep for Epic Records before becoming the lead singer for the punk rock group Stiffed who had two albums between 2003-2005.
While still in Stiffed she was offered a solo contract by the London based independent label Lizard King Records and Santigold was born.
Her first solo record came out in 2008 and was self titled by her then name Santgold. This album had a lot of alt-rock, new wave and reggae among other beats. She road the wave of this album for a while as more and more people found out about her. In support of this album Santi went on various tours with M.I.A, Jay-Z, Kayne West and the Beastie Boys who she did a feature on their song Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win. After this album Santi had to change her stage name from Santgold to Santigold due to legal reasons in 2oo9 (which I actually thought was much better sounding as it matched her name).
Album: Santgold
Favorite Tracks:
L.E.S Artistes:
Shove It: (This was the first song I ever herd from her and made me fall in love)
Brooklyn We Go Hard!:
Say Aha:
Creator:
In 2011, Santigold started production on her next full length releasing her single GO! featuring Karen O of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. In 2012, she released her second album Master of My Make Believe to critical acclaim. She recorded some of this album in Jamaica which you can hear as it has a very eclectic feel to it. This album also had a lot of songs with social commentary like Keepers and Disparate Youth.
Album: Master of My Make Believe
Favorite Tracks:
GO! featuring Karen O:
Disparate Youth:
The Keepers:
Big Mouth:
Freak Like Me:
After this album she did some shows with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and did her own headliner tour. She then did a few songs for movies and TV before starting production on her third studio 99 cents which I will be reviewing for you today as well as her We Buy Gold Tour which I just went to last night.
First off why I love Santigold: She is black girl magic! At 39 years old she has been doing her thang since she was 23 and doing it her way. She is the type of artist where I can dance to it but also talks about important issues going on in the world. She has her own style and fashion which is a little different but I love it. Santigold also has mad hustle game and just a super unique artist and even though she has a pretty big following she is a little underrated so if you don’t know you better take a listen. Also she has these two amazing dancers that have been with her from the beginning in her videos and on tour with her who have some swag.
Now my review of Santigold’s third studio album 99 cents:
This album is very playful and has a very diy feel from the way her album cover looks to the way her songs sound. It has a very eclectic sound like most of Santigold’s music but also has a message of marketing, personas and how everything is meditated which can be a dark thing but also a lot of fun depending how you look at it which was a big inspiration for her song Can’t Get Enough of My Self.
Album: 99 cents
Favorite Tracks:
Can’t Get Enough of My Self:
Banshee:
Chasing Shadows:
Big Boss Big Time Business:
Walking In A Circle:
Rendezvous Girl:
All I Got:
Who I Thought You Were:
On to the Tour:
So last night one of my AmeriCorps friends and I went to the Fillmore Silver Spring to see Santigold on what was suppose to be her last show on her We Buy Gold Tour but due to being sick and unable to sing she had to posse pone some of her earlier shows which she is making up before she takes the tour to Europe.
My friend Robert and I got in line around 7-7:15 and due to the rain we and the few people in front of us got to go in early and sit in this cute little lounge area while we waited till 8:00 to go inside the room. This was my first time at the Fillmore and I’ll say its a little bit bigger then the 9:30 club in DC but set up in the same kind of way. Now thanks to being early we ended up being front and center to were I could actually see the whole show.
So the show started off with her opening act Dominique who is an up and coming Brooklyn rapper. Her show was actually entertaining not exactly my type of hip-hop but not bad. Think a mix between Lil’ Kim and Lauryn Hill (but less conscious). Also when she came on through out the audience it started to smell like weed and Dominique even said she usually passes a blunt around but the Fillmore wouldn’t allow her to so she passed out some alcohol instead. She also had two ladies helping her sing and being her dj who were dope. They even through in some throwbacks to Lil’ Kim, Biggie, Puff Daddy & some DC go-go. Over all a pretty entertaining opening act.
After Dominique left the stage Santigold’s crew and band came out to set up the show. By the way she had this one crew member who came out and was taking pictures of the audience who was kind of cute.
Santigold came out around 10:30 and ended around 11:45 or 12. This show was amazing probably my favorite show I’ve been to so far. I was up front so I could see the whole show and for somebody short that means something. She played almost all of my favorite songs and her outfits which went with the theme of the album where dope. Plus her back up dancers where gettin it on stage their dances were so fun. Santigold went from two different dresses to a sweatsuit with her face all over it. During Creators she had people from the audience come up and dance with her which was so cool. Then during another song she had a bubble machine which I love bubbles so enough said. Oh and the best part of the night was when Santigold picked up her base and started playing which I love a girl who can play an instrument. Over all this was an amazing show I was very entertained.
Pictures & Videos from the Show:
Other Reviews:
I can’t stress enough how awesome live music can be so if you haven’t seen anybody live you should hook that up it will change your life.
Till Next Time Stay Fresh…
