LIFE

10 epic Indy rap shows

Justin L. Mack
justin.mack@Indystar.com

Jermaine Cole brought a host of accolades and well-earned praise from the hip-hop community when he stepped onto the Klipsch Music Center stage July 26.

Despite a Dec. 9 release, Cole’s “Forest Hills Drive” quickly became the highest selling rap album of 2014.

The album has since sold more than 1 million copies, giving J. Cole, whose first two albums sold more than 700,000 copies each, his first platinum record. He was awarded the Top Rap Album trophy at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.

Cole, whom Jay Z signed to his Roc-Nation label, also is the first rap artist in more than two decades to have a platinum-selling album with no other rappers or singers appearing on the project. The last rap artists to do it: MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice in 1990.

But Cole says stacking awards and making “Best of” lists is not his motivation.

“When I was young,” he said during a March 2015 interview on PBS with Tavis Smiley, “I thought that success was all I needed ... the fame, the accolades. Having people say, ‘Yo, you are the best in the game.’ I thought those would be the things that bring happiness.

“When those things came, the happiness wasn’t there. You lose sight of the people and the blessings that you have around you. You’re so focused on the next success, the next step in your career, the next check. Whatever it is.”

Cole was the latest rising hip-hop heavyweight to hit the Circle City during his ascent.

Here’s a look at some of the others artists to play Indy within the past 20 years while vying for, or defending, rap’s throne.

No Way Out Tour: Nov. 16, 1997, stop at Market Square Arena.

Headliner: Puff Daddy.

Before he became Diddy, Sean Combs toured with his slate of Bad Boy Records hitmakers as “Puff Daddy & The Family.” Known more for his work as a producer and at the side of The Notorious B.I.G., the “No Way Out” tour was Puff’s first foray into the spotlight. He made a splash with big budget performances, shiny suits and braggadocios raps over the familiar melodies of 80s pop records.

He said it: “This is my staff, and I’m so proud to have a young staff, a young black (staff) that’s just trying to come up and do their thing legally, and make some music, and rise to the top and open up the doors for all their brothers and sisters,” Combs told MTV’s Carson Daily during the 1998 leg of the tour.

Hard Knock Life Tour: April 30, 1999, at Market Square Arena.

Headliner: Jay Z.

After the fatal shooting of The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997, the coveted “King of New York” title was up for grabs, and at the time, whoever held that spot was considered king of the hill. With some help from a bass-heavy reimagining of “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from the musical “Annie,” Jay Z, a close friend of Biggie’s, picked up the scepter and never looked back. The tour was also smothered in major names, as DMX, Redman & Method Man, and Ja Rule joined Jay Z’s Roc-A-Fella records on the road.

He said it: “People know that I’m gonna change it up, that I’m true to my music, true to myself, and as long as I do that people are gonna feel it,” Jay Z told Dan Gennoe in a 1999 piece for Flipside. “They can feel it when you tryin’ to do something and it’s all contrived, or they can just feel when somethin’ comin’ from your soul, and it’s right.”

Up in Smoke Tour: June 30, 2000, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Headliner: Dr. Dre.

Dr. Dre albums have the allure of being very rare and practically perfect. Seven years after putting out “The Chronic” and introducing the world to Snoop Dogg, Dre returned with “2001” and ushered in the era of Eminem. Knowing that another tour headlined by Dre would be unlikely in the future, Indy rap fans jumped at the chance to see the hip-hop legend live.

“I just had to get motivated and come up with some concepts, meet Eminem and get down with some creative people that I really wanted to work with,” Dre told the Farmclub.Com TV show in 2000 in explaining his seven-year album gap. “ ... But just took that long to put it together.”

Eminem at Verizon during Anger Management Tour July 7. Interscope Geffen A&M Publicity

Anger Management Tour 1: Nov. 3, 2000, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Headliner: Eminem.

This was the tour your parents warned you about, and that made it the hottest ticket in town. With the single “Hi My Name Is,” the bleach blonde emcee exploded onto the scene in a blaze of pop mocking, intricately woven expletives and commanded attention. And while his triple platinum debut album was no slouch, it was his follow-up, 2000’s “Marshall Mathers LP,” now 11 times platinum, that catapulted Eminem into mega-stardom. By the time Eminem hit what is now called Bankers Life Fieldhouse, many in the the sold-out crowd knew every word to the album, skits included.

He said it: “The point where I actually knew that I made it was the first day that I went to (Dr.) Dre’s house and we recorded three songs in less than six hours,” Eminem said in a 2000 MTV interview. “I was really out to impress him and show him what I could do, and when I saw Dre nodding his head and laughing at some of the things that I was saying and whatnot, I was like, ‘I’m in. I made it.’”

50 Cent rocks the crowd during his Indianapolis show in 2003.

Anger Management Tour 3: July 7, 2005, at Verizon Wireless Music Center.

Headliner: 50 Cent.

OK, technically the “Anger Management Tour” was still being headlined by Eminem, but by the event’s third outing, there was no bigger star in rap than his tattoo-covered protege 50 Cent. During the promotion of his debut album, early 2003’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin,” 50 went from a New York mix tape legend to a household name that expanded to everything from feature films to video games. If seeing Curtis Jackson live in concert (at what is now Klipsch Music Center) wasn’t enough, seeing him trade bars with Eminem and all of G-Unit made it worth the price of admission.

He said it: “I get nervous before I go onstage every night,” 50 Cent told MTV in 2005. “I still get butterflies cause I still want to put on the best possible show. There’s a lot of people looking at me.”

2006 Indiana State Fair: Aug. 20, 2006, at the Toyota Trucks Grandstand.

Headliner: Kanye West.

With two genre-changing albums under his belt, a third on the way and only one major PR snafu — the blurting out of “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” during a Hurricane Katrina fundraiser — Kanye West was a beloved figure in summer 2006. His performance at the Indiana State Fair added to his growing list of accomplishments as he became the first rap artist to headline a grandstand event at the fair since Kool Moe Dee did it in 1990. He has yet to return for an Indianapolis show.

He said it: “In America, they want you to accomplish these great feats, to pull off these David Copperfield-type stunts,” West said to Rolling Stone magazine in 2006. “But let someone ask you about what you’re doing, and if you turn around and say, ‘It’s great,’ then people are like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ You want me to be great, but you don’t ever want me to say I’m great?”

Jay Z performs at Conseco Fieldhouse in 2010.

The Blueprint 3 Tour: March 20, 2010, at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Headliner: Jay Z.

Jay Z pulled a Michael Jordan in the 2000s. He retired, returned, stumbled (his 2006 album “Kingdom Come” was a definite miss) but quickly returned to championship form. By 2010, after dropping the hard-hitting “American Gangster” in 2007 and the made-for-radio follow-up “The Blueprint 3” in 2009, Sean Carter was welcomed by a capacity crowd in Conseco with open arms and thousands of hands “throwing up the Roc.”

He said it: “One of the reasons I wanted to make ‘Blueprint 3’ was because of the challenge,” Jay Z told Rolling Stone in 2010. “We’ve seen people like LL (Cool J) have longevity, and we respect the heritage of what he’s done, but it’s not like, right now, he’s competing on the same level as Lil Wayne. So for me to still be able to compete at that level at my age, that’s rarefied air. It’s never been done.”

Drake dances under a spotlight during a show on his Club Paradise tour at Klipsch Music Center in 2012.

Club Paradise Tour: June 1, 2012, at Klipsch Music Center.

Headliner: Drake.

Much like Kanye West, Drake showed up on the rap scene as a break from the norm. The Canadian-born former “Degrassi” star quickly developed a following with chart-topping raps that exposed his softer side. The potentially risky move paid off, and once he dropped his “Take Care” album in fall 2011, Drake was one of the few young performers to muscle his way into rap’s elite, arguably joined only by the likes of J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.

He said it: “I’m obsessed with perfection,” Drake told GQ magazine in 2012. “I want to work. I don’t want to take this for granted. I don’t want to sit out here and say, well, I could stop right here and say, ‘Okay. I own this. You know, it’s cool. I could stop,’ but why? I don’t want to stop. I want to take advantage and make myself the best possible me that I can be.”

good kid, m.A.A.d city World Tour: June 6, 2013, at the Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn.

Headliner: Kendrick Lamar.

When he arrived, Kendrick didn’t sound like, look like or have the radio-friendly makings of a typical rap superstar. Now, he is among the game’s elite, and he is such powerful voice within the culture that Geraldo Rivera is blaming him for being a bigger threat to the black community than racism. The “good kid, m.A.A.d city” tour, named for his critically acclaimed debut album, was the crowning of King Kendrick, and it gave Indianapolis rap fans an opportunity to see a self-made star on the rise.

He said it: “As a kid I was always fascinated knowing that I could be the best at something — like Jay Z or Nas or B.I.G. But putting a positive light on where I come from is also important to me,” Lamar told Interview Magazine in 2013. “When you think of Compton, it’s numb with negativity, even to this day. So the whole purpose of this first album was really to spark the idea of doing something different rather than doing a record that’s just about gang culture. That’s the ultimate thing I want to do in making music — to be able to inspire somebody else.”

Rap star Lil Wayne performs at Conseco Fieldhouse in 2009.

Drake vs. Lil Wayne: Aug. 9, 2014, at Klipsch Music Center.

Headliner: Drake and Lil Wayne.

The superstar labelmates, both with a history of solid Indy shows, returned to Klipsch last summer for a bit of a verbal sparring match. With the title of “Greatest Rapper in the World” on the line, the pair traded hit singles and each did their best to derail the other. While Wayne was in a bit of a career slump when this tour rolled into town, Drake was bigger than ever, riding the wave of 2013 album “Nothing Was the Same” and a hosting stint on “Saturday Night Live” that garnered positive reviews.

He said it: “His talent, obviously that’s what I look for,” Lil Wayne told Elliott Wilson on the Web series “CRWN” in 2014 when discussing signing Drake to his label. “Not to mention he’s a wonderful person, but this is music, this is what we do. All the other stuff come with the other stuff, but as you can see, I don’t be worrying about stuff like that. I’m just an artist. I just want you to enjoy my music and nothing else.”

Call Star reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.