5 Performances That Stood Out at Trillectro

Original shots by @VBrinkley513 & @Kia_Green

Yesterday, Trillectro was underway in Columbia, Maryland. Over the festival’s first four years, the location has bounced around several venues within the Washington, DC area. This time though, Trillectro’s new location was the Columbia Merriweather, a concert venue 40 minutes outside of the city. Although this may have dismayed some local festival goers, the choice of moving to the Merriweather had fit the expansion of Trillectro, molding fans of the past years with a new (and younger) demographic.

Other then the festival’s new venue and new audience, Trillectro’s lineup was also surprisingly “new”. Sure, acts like Chance the Rapper and RL Grime are familiar faces in the realms of Hip Hop and EDM. However, there were several unfamiliar names at first glance for many. That didn’t stop these artists from seriously killing their performances, and there were a couple that we happened to come across. Here are five performances that were all unique gems at Trillectro.

Masego

Masego has been blessing many fans with a noteworthy blend of Jazz, Electronic Music and Trap music, a combination that coined the term Trap House Jazz. At Trillectro, festival-goers unaware of this Virginia native finally understood who he is. The artist came on stage and performed his catalogue through different musical perspectives including the drums, the sax and of course, the microphone. Masego definitely turned Trillectro into an hour-long jam session early on.

@UncleSego x @Trillectro pic.twitter.com/stAHBOCdzK

— Jontavious. (@ThatGuyJonTy) August 30, 2015

https://instagram.com/p/6_zHm-J5az/?taken-by=unclesego

D.R.A.M.

There was a good feeling D.R.A.M. set at Trillectro would be lit, his single “Cha Cha” has flourished since we’ve talked about his music. Yesterday, those standards were met and then some. Not only did D.R.A.M. perform songs from his project #1EpicEP, he also performed his interlude off of Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment’s album Surf and brought fellow Virginia talent like Sunny & Gabe out to perform a couple songs. All of this then ended with his popular single “Cha Cha” which had both the main stage, the pavilion, and the outside lawn at the Merriweather amped on another level.

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Cashmere Cat

Remember “Wolves”? Kanye West’s SWISH single had people excited for his album when Ye’ Sia, and Vic Mensa first performed this song at his Adidas apparel premiere earlier this year. The person who produced the beat for West’s song happened to be at this year’s Trillectro, and he surprised a lot of people. His name is Cashmere Cat, a producer currently based in New York and working with many stars including Wiz Khalifa, Jeremih, Miguel, and much more. Cashmere Cat’s DJ set at Trillectro was a show-stopper to say the least. He silently approached the 1’s and 2’s and for almost an hour, had the whole Merriweather turnt to his blend of Rap, EDM, and R&B. He happened to do his entire mix with no laptop, by the way.

Kehlani

Kehlani has picked up a lot of momentum over the summer with her music. When her performance was up next at Trillectro, the Merriweather was filled with excitement. This Oakland native put on a show yesterday. It wasn’t just Kehlani alone singing, she had dancers to also support her throughout the set. She also managed to keep up with the dancers while she was singing, and we have no clue how she got it done so well

JMSN 

We weren’t ready for JMSN at all prior to his performance, but when he sung “Street Sweeper” as we walked by the main stage, we made a quick U-turn to watch him. The LA-based singer thrived off of his voice with a his band following effectively. The set added a cooler aspect to Trillectro by bringing a more relaxed sound compared to many of the other sets. Instead of having a big-ass turn-up session like many of the other acts on both stages, JMSN and his band had you relax and actually enjoy the music for an hour.

Check out some more photos below, and if you believe that there was one act that you thought would be on this list, leave a comment below.