From Panorama Music Festival 2018: Can Guwop Save Panorama?

Panorama 2018 has been marred by technical difficulties, but the performance of Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane (also known as Guwop) was a glimmering light in the bleakness of the abyss. While the festival is well-designed in terms of layout and amenities, it has also been plagued with cancellations by most of the major rap/hip-hop artists scheduled to perform, due to various downstream effects of Friday’s storm. Without the company of any member of Migos, The Weeknd, or Saturday headliner Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane remained the only big name rapper of Panorama 2018. All of this is to say that during Gucci Mane’s set, the last big rap performance of the festival, expectations were high and the anticipation was palpable.

After waiting for the set to begin, DJ Champ came onstage introducing himself as “Guwop’s official DJ.” Champ played the hype-man for about half an hour. He incessantly challenged the audience to play his own version of Simon Says, which he began with: “If you’re ready for Guwop…” before having the audience “put your hands in the air,” “make some noise,” “put your right foot in,” and “shake it all about.” The whole process felt like a contrived attempt at stalling, perhaps until festival organizers could sort out some of the technical issues with the sound. Shortly after one such game, all of the power cut out briefly on stage. Like an outraged English butler, DJ Champ remarked, “We can’t be having that with Guwop now,” before he stormed away from his DJ stand.

After five minutes of darkness and relative quiet, DJ Champ returned with his indignation subsided. He came back to do another 15 minutes of mediocre DJ-ing by playing other people's songs and taking brief breaks to shout things when the song was manually stopped—but at least he came back. As mediocre of a DJ as he was, he was at least better than silence. At long last, DJ Champ bellowed the final, “Are you ready for Guwop?” of the night and Gucci Mane took the stage.

Gucci wasted no time in getting the crowd dancing with his hit, “I Get the Bag.” After the monotony of DJ Champ, Gucci Mane fired up the crowd. Unlike other big artists at festivals who use more elaborate stages or visuals, Gucci Mane performed on a stage barren except for an elevated DJ booth and a backdrop depicting his signature logo of ice cream with lightning bolts. Two songs later, Guwop called backstage, “Hey, get my wife out here,” upon which Keyshia Ka’Oir emerged. The couple share a natural charisma and many fans cheered at her arrival. Their first performance together was Gucci Mane’s “Freaky Gurl.” Although the song was penned in 2006—before Guwop met Ka’Oir—she enthusiastically played the part of the title character in the track, pointing to herself every time the hook came around and Guwop declared, “She’s a very freaky gurl.” Keyshia moved across the stage, dancing to the songs and engaging with the audience. Although it was a rather strange turn to the evening, Guwop and Ka’Oir made a cute couple and it was much more exciting to watch from a distance to have more performers on the otherwise empty stage. The fourth addition to the already three-deep group on the stage (DJ Champ, Gucci Mane, and Keyshia Ka’Oir) was Guwop’s label mate, Asian Doll. Asian Doll is a recent addition to Guwop’s label 1017 Eskimo Records, herself only recently gaining wide listenership accompanied by a national tour with Bhad Bhabie (known also as Danielle Bregoli and “Cash Me Outside” girl). Asian Doll performed her single, “Poppin,” with backup vocal support by Gucci Mane. Asian Doll’s faster flow and more modern trap influences mixed well with Guwop’s more classical interpretation of trap music.

Gucci Mane dedicated his last song of the night, the iconic “First Day Out Tha Feds,” to the memory of his former labelmate, Shawty Lo. Guwop, with the aid of his wife, his official DJ, and Asian Doll, brought the house down with the track, famed for being released the day that Gucci got out of federal prison.

Gucci delivered. It was not a particularly visionary concert—the lights were noticeably lacking in inspiration, and the sound encountered technical difficulties throughout. Despite these technical drawbacks, Gucci Mane was there for the fans. During a brief power failure, Gucci Mane joked with fans, a capella rapped a few verses, and took audience requests for tracks to play after. It was this aspect of Guwop’s energy that sold the performance. The set was far from amazing, but despite its issues, Gucci Mane gave it his all and delivered a great show.

—Staff writer Josh M. Grossman can be reached at josh.grossman@thecrimson.com.