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WALE X MIGUEL: Flower Bombing NYC

Wale and Miguel drop a “Lotus Flower Bomb” concert in NYC just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Words & Images: Kortnee Leigh

Wale and Miguel are most definitely two of the hardest-working artists who really understand the meaning of persistence. After wrapping 2011 with two successful albums respectively, Wale and Miguel treated their New York City fans to a special pre-Valentine’s Day hosting of their Lotus Flower Bomb concert in Union Square. The doors promptly opened at Irving Plaza at 7PM to a mass of hardcore fans of the Maybach Music Group’s DMV-repping emcee, with a bevy of ambitious women eager to see the soulful Roc Nation crooner. And in regular Wale fashion (reminiscent of his concert at Highline Ballroom celebrating the release of Ambition), there were a few special guests also in the building. Board of Administration artist and fellow DC native Black Cobain opened the show with a few joints of his own and an exclusive freestyle featured below:

Black Cobain performing new single of upcoming mixtape

Black Cobain NYC Freestyle

Fellow Roc Nation labelmate Bridget Kelly warmed up the crowd by serenading them with a few hits from her recent EP, Every Girl.

Bridget Kelly performing “Every Girl”

After a short intermission, the lights dimmed slowly, as did the music set to entertain the audience. A steady, melodic aria pleasantly arose through the crowd from a smooth-sounding electric guitar. Anxious fans screamed in anticipation, affectionately awaiting the ever-so-sharply dressed R&B singer. Out struts Miguel dancing afront his microphone, while popping a kick split or two like a young Maxwell-inspired James Brown. The crowd joyfully sang along during his entertaining performance of tracks like “Quickie”, “Sure Thing” and an electronic remix of his album-titled hit single, “All I Want is You”. He even jumped in the crowd and embraced his fans during his jam finale. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t live your dreams,” he lovingly told his fans before helping to introduce his co-headliner to the stage. Check out Miguel perform his single “Pussy is Mine” below:

Miguel performing his single “Pussy is Mine”

While he made them wait, Wale’s fans roared with excitement for his NYC return as he entered the stage rocking a Bathing Ape camouflage hoodie for his opening set with the Ambition album track, “Legendary”. Stripping slowly throughout the night, eventually Wale stood wearing a black Mishka tank and jeans, infrequently chucking towels to the crowd of adoring female fans— memorabilia that struck a cord and led to a minor fight between a few faithful fans. His hour-long set included hits from past mixtapes like “Bait” and “Nike Boots”, as well as a few tracks off his debut album Attention Deficit, like his J. Cole collab track “Beautiful Bliss” and the popular Mark Ronson-produced hit, “90210”. Before Wale transitioned into newer material, he blessed the crowd with a surprise guest performance by French Montana, who performed “Potential” and “Stay Schemin’.”

Wale’s high energy set continued with “Chain Music”, “Illest B*tch Alive”, “Lotus Flower Bomb”, and his latest single off his sophomore effort “Sabotage”. As usual, Wale gave his live band a few minutes to jam out playing Go-Go beats, this time with the drummer of legendary DC Go-Go band UCB Slump. Wale also paid homage to his major label newcomer Big Sean by performing his hit “A$$” before moving onto the Diplo-produced, “Slight Work”. Of course, the Valentine’s day show would not be complete without a star-studded—Tabi Bonney and Black Cobain joined Wale on stage in support of their DC bredren— rendition of “Pretty Girls” to close the show. Check out the Official iBo TV footage below of “No Days Off” below:

Wale performing “No Days Off”

With an encore performance of “Bait”, the hit-single off his fan-delivered mixtape Eleven on Eleven Theory, Wale made good on his word, turning his skeptics into believers one Lotus Flower Bomb at a time.

For more Wale, visit his site Here. Follow Wale on Twitter, @Wale.

For more Black Cobain, Here. Follow Black Cobain on Twitter, @BlackCobain.