Rating: 4 stars

The Aztec Theatre pit was fully packed for Atlanta-based artist, Destroy Lonely on Tuesday, Jan. 24. The rapper stopped in San Antonio as part of his “No Stylist Tour,” which has been a major success with fans as he emerges from the underground scene.

After the DJ opened the night by playing songs from all kinds of rap artists, Opium labelmates Homixide Gang took the stage. The Atlanta-based pairing of Homixide Beno! and Homixide Meechie brought great dedication to their set. Wherever you looked on stage, both members were moving around and exciting the crowd.

Never before had there been a word repeated more frequently during a show than “HOMIXIDE.” The rappers chanted it back and forth with the fans between each track to successfully get them excited for the next one. Most of the songs they performed were taken from the duo’s debut record, “Homixide Lifestyle,” which dropped this past November.

“LIFESTYLE” was the opening track that got all the pits started, with “Can’t Go” being another banger that got the fans raging too. Other highlights of their set were “Snotty Wax!” and “V-Friends,” both of which had insane mosh pit moments in the crowd, with the pairing screaming the lyrics back and forth with them.

They ended their set with the track “TF!” with Homixide Beno! raging on top of one of the Aztec Theatre’s massive speakers while Homixide Meechie did the same on stage, interacting with the fans. It was great to see the kind of adrenaline from the crowd that you would expect from a headliner. They could have not asked for a better start to a rap show than what these two guys provided.

Destroy Lonely was the last to take the stage, and all the kids in attendance dressed in all black were eager to rage. Even though it was tough to get the moshpits open in the Aztec Theatre’s small space, they definitely made an effort. Many of them knew all the lyrics and timed the beat drops perfectly when they would start pushing and shoving in the packed pit area. 

Opening the set with “Oh Yeah” and “FAKENGGAS,” these songs started the signature element of the show of having guitar-heavy rock intros before the beats kick in. Destroy Lonely also would repeat the track’s lyrics during the instrumental intros. Knowing exactly what was coming next, the crowd would go wild when the DJ dropped the songs. 

“No Stylist,” Destroy Lonely’s debut album from last August, took up the bulk of his setlist. As a result, there were hard-hitting trap sounds all night long, with tracks like “<3MYGNG,” “Bane” and “TURNINUP,” the latter of which followed crowd chants of “LONELY,” to which the rapper threw his arms in the air.

He decided to keep the stage design at a minimum, with the only details being his DJ and a big screen that flashed visuals behind the message “No F—king Stylist.” With how often he connected with his San Antonio fans, he showed that was all he needed. He checked on them throughout asking, “San Antonio, what the f–k we doin’?” and assured them that “I’m f–kin’ with y’all for sure, I ain’t even lie.” He also pointed up and shouted, “Up here, I’m still f–kin’ with y’all too,” to the fans raging in the balcony seats.

As the show was coming to an end, his DJ made sure the crowd knew it was time for the song of the night. “We came all the way out here to San Antonio to know one thing — How the f–k did everybody in this motherf–ker wake up?” This opened up the largest pit of the set for the song “NOSTYLIST,” Destroy Lonely’s most recent hit. The opening line, “B–ch, I wake up, no stylist,” sent the crowd into an absolute uproar.

Destroy Lonely brought his brothers out from Homixide Gang to finish the show with one more performance of “TF!” Seeing all three rappers on stage excited to play the track was a great way to give fans a final taste of all that the Opium label has to offer in the future.

This show highlighted the strong influence of the underground rap scene and how popular it has become to where San Antonio is expressing such passionate support for artists like Destroy Lonely.