Last Monday, a mere two days ago, the Hub may have been the craziest place to be that night. Sponsored by A.S. Program Board, electronic hip-hop duo Flosstradamus graced UCSB with their presence and succeeded in their quest to get the crowd “turnt up.” The duo, consisting of DJs J2K (Josh Young) and Autobot (Curt Cameruci), has been blowing up since the release of their first EP in 2011 named “Jubilation” on Fool’s Gold Records, which includes the song “From the Back” featuring Danny Brown. Their other hits include “Roll Up,” made famous by Baauer’s remix, and “Piss Test.”
After the opener, an announcement of Flosstradamus’ arrival alongside free merchandise giveaway made the already belligerent crowd go wilder. Think “that scene in ‘Mean Girls’ where Lindsay Lohan compares her high school to the animals back in Africa” wild. Security guards were shouting at people to move back while someone was escorted out before Flosstradamus had even set foot on stage. The show started with a loud telephone-like ringing that turned into screeching and built up into the signature electronic Flosstradamus sound commonly heard in their songs. Sporting matching beanies and caps, the duo was fast to get the party started. Warning symbols, the official Flosstradamus insignia, were splayed across the stage, their deck and their beanies, all of which seemed to glow with the blue spotlights that passed them.
Their style of DJing worked in an interesting manner and each one of them seemed to have a specific job, although they both worked the deck together. As they spun, J2K babysat the microphone, rapping along to songs while hyping up the crowd while Autobot had one hand on the deck and the other on his MacBook. The two maintained a perfect equilibrium of dancing and pumping up the audience while still keeping a close eye on their equipment. Their set covered their usual fusion of hip hop, trap and dubstep, similar to their half-hour mix titled “BANNED,” which was released last year on their official SoundCloud page.
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A few old school hip hop and rap songs were thrown in as well as newer sounds such as Dillon Francis’ remix of Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie.” The crowd somehow managed to get even rowdier when popular party songs like 2 Live Crew’s “Face Down Ass Up,” French Montana’s “Pop That” and, of course, Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” were played.
At first I wondered how people were in such a partying mood on a Monday night, but I ultimately attributed it to the fact that it is Spring Quarter and maybe the weekend wasn’t long enough for everybody — but it didn’t take much effort to turn around and see that the Beer Garden was open. The nicest word I can find to sum up the overall appearance of the crowd would be sloppy. Each stereotypical drunk could be found in the crowd. There was your group of girls who obviously came just to party and have fun which, by all means, go ahead, but by spending the entire night in a close-knit, girls-only circle, you not only A) show that you’re obviously not here to see the artist performing B) have your back to people who are actually watching the stage and will proceed to continuously bump into them C) could have easily just gone to a party in I.V. and done the same thing for a lot cheaper. There was also the extremely happy guy who loves to dance and will dance behind you, nodding at all the guys around him not realizing that dancing behind someone doesn’t mean dancing with someone.
Despite this level of class, the DJs were successful in playing all the right songs that everybody knew how to sing along to. A song was never played on its own and each mash-up unexpectedly complemented the other, as Kendrick Lamar’s “Backstreet Freestyle” eased into the ever-popular trap remix of Hardwell’s “Spaceman.” Following requests from Autobot to get up on people’s shoulders or to twerk (some tried, most failed), the songs the crowd had been waiting for all night played, starting with the aforementioned “Roll Up,” a very long mix of Kanye West’s “Mercy” and, finally, the reason for their rise to fame: Flosstradamus’ remix of Major Lazer’s hit “Original Don.” Halfway through the song, there was a giant buildup to a drop which never arrived, catching everybody completely off-guard as the crowd responded with “Ohhhh”s and even a few boos.
Of course, they weren’t done yet. Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” began to play as Autobot explained, using Lana’s words, that “Santa Barbara, it’s all for you, everything we do.” They didn’t waste time getting back into the trap mood and played a few more songs before leaving the stage. The crowd began to chant for one more song, which I had pretty low hopes for, but when a voice boomed over the speakers saying “What?” to the beat of the chanting, I was impressed to see the DJ respond to audience interaction. Their 20-minute encore was well-planned (they must be used to getting them) and they closed off the night with their original, “Piss Test,” to which they promised the crowd a mosh pit. After the set and mosh pit ended, there were no chants of one more song, seeing as the pit seemed to have tired everyone out with lost shoes, keys and worn-out faces scattered across the Hub.
Last Monday, the Hub did go just a bit crazy.
