Miami, FL – This was quite possibly the biggest concert of the year and this year just started. Friday, February 27 will go down in Miami history as the night that T.I. rocked the city. Besides the artists performing, there were a plethora of artists and celebrities in attendance to wish the King a fond farewell. You saw him at the Grammy’s, at the MTV Video Music Awards, and now live on stage at the American Airlines Arena in the heart of Downtown Miami. T.I. and his guests literally shut down the show with their fantastic performances to a huge crowd of T.I. and Young Jeezy fans, the original trapstars gave Miami a phenomenal show indeed. As the night began, fans were piling in by the dozen waiting for the concert to commence. Throughout the night, fans would arrive at different times filling in the audience, by 10pm, the arena was practically filled to capacity from top to bottom.

Lloyd began the show giving the audience a grand performance to a crowd his excited Miami fans. He sang a collection of his hits, plus a couple of album tracks to fill his time. The crowd went crazy as he went into his first single off his debut some years ago, ‘Southside.’ Before leaving the stage, he performed his hit single ‘Shorty’ for the ladies to indulge. After a brief intermission, Sean Paul hit the stage blazing his first song electrifying the crowd. Talk about a fantastic show for the many of his fans in attendance. The amount of Reggae hits he kept throwing out there was enough to keep the crowd talking about his session for days. He completed his set with the ladies favorite ‘Shake That Thing.’

Another intermission came around and fans knew Young Jeezy was to be next to hit the stage. Between that time, DJ Epps and several other big name DJs were holding down the helm playing hit tracks to keep the crowd at bay before Jeezy was to hit the stage. When that time finally came, he commenced his first song ‘Corporate Thuggin,’ before commencing into ‘Welcome Back’ where he was welcomed back to the 305. Now his set was an experience, if you’ve ever seen a Jeezy show, then you know exactly what I mean. Track after track were hits, album cuts, features, he knows how the keep the crowd on their feet. Between songs like ‘Trapstar,’ ‘Soul Survivor,’ and I Luv It, each song came with an explosive reaction. Before he ended his set, it was obvious ‘Put On’ would give a much louder applaud keeping the crowd’s continuous fuel pumping. Without any further wait, he ended his hour long set, going into the certified anthem, ‘My President,’ it evident that the audience’s level of excitement rose higher, as the song continued on into Nas’ feature verse, what a huge surprise to everyone’s amazement, Nas made a special guest appearance receiving the crowd’s official reaction for the icon.

Everyone in the building was rising with anticipation further into the night as Jeezy completed with set with a bang. The Bankhead resident was about to enter his domain, Miami was there for him, it was quite obvious. Fans were heard chanting T.I. throughout the whole arena, his name echoed off the walls. However, before he graced the stage, rookie newcomer R&B vocalist, Serena Serrano hit the stage and performed her hit single plus a cover made famous by Keyshia Cole. She definitely kept the crowd at bay while T.I. was preparing to hit the stage. The time the fans had been waiting for had finally arrived. TIP’s resident DJ introduced him onto the stage as the fans continued chanting his name. The crowd went crazy as he hit the stage. It was official, TIP was in the building. He performed literally a plethora of hits during his showcase for a wild bunch of his devoted fans. Tracks like: ‘Top Back,’ ‘24s,’ ‘The King,’ ‘Da Dopeman,’ ‘Bring ‘Em Out,’ ‘U Don’t Know Me,’ ‘What You Know about That,’ ‘Big Shit Poppin,’ ‘Tell ‘Em I Said That,’ ‘No Matter What,’ ‘Dead and Gone,’ ‘Live Your Life’ and of course, ‘Swagga Like Us’ echoed throughout the arena. Literally track after track kept the fans on their feet throughout his whole set. Looking at the huge crowd, the reaction reached high level decibels. For his haters, he provided his signature hater response with ‘What’s Up, What’s Haapnin,’ he wasn’t playing. Now he had to have songs for the ladies, ‘Let’s Get Away’ was the first track he performed before getting into ‘Porn Star.’ He completed his amazing set with the incredible track ‘Whatever You Like, which was another female favorite while also giving recognition to the producer Jim Jonsin for the exclusive.

All in All, the show was incredible. All the artists came out and provided a showcase to remember. It was a real farewell concert as many of celebrities and artists were in attendance just to see the King’s final farewell show before turning himself into authorities sometime this week. It was a grand experience for everyone that attended the event that will last for a long time.

Special thanks to Brock of Brock Entertainment for contacting the promoter and extra special thanks to Rhona of Rhona Fox, Inc. for providing the press credentials for 24hourhiphop.com to have all access throughout the venue.

Check out the photos from the concert:







Photography by Julius DC Bryant & Zenn