Last Night: Riff Raff at Fitzgerald's

By Nathan Smith Fri., Mar. 22 2013 at 9:00 AM

Now fully juiced, the audience let out a strange rumbling sound and threw up their cameraphones as Riff Raff popped a bottle of champagne, spraying the first several rows. An inflatable sex doll was batted around on the floor, and great handfuls of rice were thrown from the stage into the dark. It was a celebration. This was the crazy shit the people had paid to see.

For his part, Riff Raff proved to be a capable and magnetic performer, even if he seemed to be rapping as much to the cameras onstage as to the people on the floor. Though his pop-culture-packed rhymes come from the fantastical perspective of a true outsider to the local scene, the influence of the Houston sound remains readily apparent in his music. It's more Mike Jones than Scarface, sure. But so what? Mike Jones was fun.

As Jody rattled off crunked, weirdo cuts like "Deion Sandals" and "Jose Canseco," the fans up front went bonkers, rapping right along with every word without the barest suggestion of irony. Others near the back seemed to content to stand around and gawk, taking in the full spectacle on display.

Between swigs off a vodka bottle, Riff Raff made a point to introduce Swishahouse MC Lil' Mario to the crowd as one of the local fixtures who'd inspired him to get into the game, and he even passed him the mike for some freestyling. He also singled out another Northside fixture in the building, chop star OG Ron C, who apparently managed Riff Raff at one point.

Then, in the middle of the song "Lil Mama I'm Sorry," an interesting thing happened. A fight broke out up font, and Riff Raff stopped the show, decrying the violence and ordering the offenders to "knock that shit off."

"Ain't no fightin' at my shows," he insisted. "That shit don't impress nobody!"

Location Info

Venue

Map

Fitzgerald's

2706 White Oak, Houston, TX

Category: Music

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D-Risha, Fat Tony, Fitzgerald's, RIff Raff

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nosaprise

Mic short for Microphone, Mike short for Michael Jackson/Jordan/Tyson.

Tabinda Ghani

Shariq Abdul Ghani

bjcaldwell2

1 Like

Who knew RiFF RaFF crowds would act like old Wu-Tang ones? That was definitely a moment. One I'm still confused as to what actually happened. I think I woke up with rice somewhere in a bad place.

SLAW

RiFF put on an amazing show! Rap Game David Bowie

KING

"The audience was made up almost exclusively of twentysomething white kids covered in a mish-mash of hip-hop and hipster gear..."

I know you've been to enough rap shows to know that in 2013, this IS your typical rap crowd. Not saying it's good or bad, but it's just the way it is.

NathanSmith topcommenter

@KING While there are almost always a lot of white kids at rap shows, my experience has been that the local crowds are typically pretty diverse. I pointed it out in this case because it stuck out. Did the same a while back for the sham "Scarface" show during All-Star weekend (virtually all black, that time). In the big picture, the racial makeup of particular rap audiences is pretty meaningless, but I do find it interesting to note which groups are listening to what.