The 116 Clique is back! After a 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic, Lecrae’s Unashamed tour is back in full force. The sold out show of 2,600 took place at the massive Faith Hill Church in St. Louis on March 31st.
For those of you who don’t know, about the Unashamed Tour or the 116, let me explain. Christian hip-hop rapper, Lecrae founded Reached Records in 2004. The 116 (named after Romans 1:16) currently consist of Lecrae, Andy Mineo, 1K Phew, Hulvey,Tedashii, Triplee, Wande, and WHATUPRG. Welcome to the Unashamed Tour 2022!
I’ll be honest, I’m new to Christian hip-hop and am only familiar with Lecrae and Andy Mineo. So what better way to get familiar than to come out to one of the biggest tours? With the entire 116 on the bill, this was almost a mini festival.
The show kicked off with Wande, the only female rapper on the tour. I would not call her an warm up act because she brought main stage energy and had the venue jumping. She was quickly followed by Hulvey and continued the same energy. WHATUPRG wasted no time to jump right into it after Hulvey. He may be the smallest in the 116 but he delivers huge energy. Next up is 1K Phew coming in heavy with Christian trap. Dressed in black and leather from head to toe, he definitely had the rockstar vibe going on.
Half of the lineup came and went within the first hour of the show. With a stacked lineup of 8 artist, most acts averaged about 3-4 songs. It moved the show quickly and kept the energy in the room at a 10 almost the whole night.
Tedashii brought a more emotional tone to the tour, referencing heavy and tragic loss he had endured in his life recently, but always had faith to keep going. Triplee picked things up with an energetic set before slowing things down a bit. He took a few minutes to remind the audience who they are and what they do to spread the gospel.
After a brief intermission, things started to really pick up. Andy Mineo, one of the heavy hitters jump on staged and did his thing. His set was slightly longer but it still left me wanting more. But that feeling was quickly diminished once Lecrae, the main event, grabbed the mic. He surprised the crowd by popping out on a platform near the sound booth in the middle of the venue. He then ran from the platform to the stage and had the audience in an uproar! I was surprised his set only last about 30 minutes. I thought that was strange but then the entire 116 clique came back out. They all took turns performing collaboration songs while others hyped up the crowd. The show ended with one of the most recognized songs from Tiktok and Instagram, “Coming in hot” by Andy Mineo and Lecrae. It was one of the best encores I’ve ever seen.
What an amazing show brought by Lecrae and the whole 116. It opened my eyes to Christian hip-hop and showed me that it’s very similar to mainstream hip-hop. They have similar musical styles and references to struggles most mainstream rappers talk about in their music (minus the violence and cursing we’re used to). I think if you’re a hip-hop fan in general, you need to attend one of their upcoming shows! There’s only a handful of dates left this year but they’ll be back again soon enough.
https://www.unashamedtour.com/
