Photos by John Connor Coulston
When I headed to local nightclub TEMPT on April 6 I had no idea what I was getting into.
You see, the venue, located at 211 W. Main St. in downtown Murfreesboro, was hosting the one and only Riff Raff.
For the uninitiated, I’m not talking about the Rocky Horror Picture Show character of the same name; I’m instead referring to the 34-year-old Houston rapper who has risen to Internet fame since appearing on MTV’s reality show From G’s to Gents back in 2009.
Riff Raff (who prefers to stylize his name as RiFF RAFF) is eccentric to say the least. He’s a walking cartoon character, with Bart Simpson and MTV tattoos, neon-colored hair, two pet Siberian Huskies, a deeply Southern drawl, a multitude of musical personas, an obnoxious social media presence and wacky rhyme schemes throughout his lyrics. (He once strung strip poker, fried okra and Oprah together, for example.)
Jody Highroller (one of his nicknames) walks the line between parody and simple turned-up hip-hop, just like fellow Internet favorites Lil B and Yung Lean. He’s everything hip-hop purists hate, but his music is catchy and obnoxious enough to gain a decent following from young people who don’t care about the message being delivered or who’s delivering it.
When faced with seeing someone as out-of-this-world as the Neon Icon (another nickname), you don’t know what you’re gonna get. Will he be as outrageous as he is on Vine, Twitter and Instagram, or will you be able to “look behind the curtain” as see a glimpse of the man behind the neck tats.
Well, I can safely say that on stage Riff Raff is in fact everything you see on social media. He’s a larger-than-life presence in a room (literally and figuratively—the man is buff as hell), and was there to party.
The Peach Panther (yet another nickname) strolled on to nightclub’s small stage to much fanfare. Donning a bucket hat and toting a Styrofoam cup presumably filled with lean, Riff kicked things off with a sampling of some of his signature tracks, particularly “Dolce & Gabbana” and the Diplo collaboration “Doctor Pepper.” He wasn’t really rapping per se, but was leading the crowd as his own hype-man while his DJ spun the tracks. This was, unfortunately, a common theme throughout the show.
While he occasionally performed his tracks like “Carlos Slim” and “How to Be the Man,” a majority of the night was just a DJ set. The DJ would put on hip-hop favorite like 2 Chainz’s “Watch Out” and OT Genesis’ “Coco,” and Riff would just kind of go with it. It was a glorified EDM show, with the lights and smoke effects being as much of a highlight as Riff Raff himself
While most crowds would get tired of this, the night’s attendees ate it all up. Their energy was live all night, up through the one-two punch of his two most well-known tracks, a full performance of “Dolce & Gabbana” and the viral hit “Tip Toe Wing in My Jawwwdinz.” (Crowd members were actually hoisting up their prized Nikes during the latter.)
“You know it’s not just a concert, it’s a party when Riff Raff comes to town,” the rapper said during the set.
As cringe-worthy as that quote sounds, it really does sum up the night—and Riff Raff’s career—rather well. When it comes to Internet rappers like Riff Raff, it’s not about the substance—it’s about being the life of the party.
