BLK ODYSSY, Asha Imuno, and Benji: The Fantasy House Tour

When I arrived at White Oak Music Hall, I was met by early arrivers ready and excited to go inside for a show that exceeded my already high expectations. After I arrived, I was personally escorted into the venue by BLK ODYSSY’s team where I was able to get exclusive photos of the headliner warming up and doing sound checks. He was extremely chill and “down to earth” and even gave me a fist bump in passing. When the doors opened, and the audience began to pour into the upstairs room of White Oak, I found myself having an interesting conversation with some of BLK ODYSSY’s fans as we waited for the show to begin. The people who came to see the show were extremely kind and respectful to the artists and allowed me to get extremely close to the stage to get great photos of the performers.

The DJ for the first performer of the night Benji, began warming up at 8:15 pm and played songs like: “Get It Sexy,” “Int’l Players Anthe (I Choose You)” and “Mamushi” for the audience as we anticipated the artist’s entrance onto the stage. Benji is an R&B artist from the great city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and part of the Spillage Village supergroup. Last time Benji was here in Houston he was playing as a Bassist for EARTHGANG. His songs often convey great warmth and love. The first performance began at 8:25 pm and he played songs like “Beautiful Song,” “Josephine,” “Jorja” and gave us a preview of his new soon to be released album “Love Gun III.” Benji explained, between tracks, that the thought that went into the song “Jorja,” was to introduce his fans to his take on love. Benji did an amazing job and had the crowd grooving to his songs and singing back lyrics to him during his performance.

The second artist, Asha Imuno, while I had never heard of him before this concert did not fail to impress me with his lyrical and musical prowess in songs like “Zig Zagging”, “DID I CALL AT A BAD TIME?”, “visions (high),” “eXCiTING :)” and a new song called “Brown Sugar.” Asha’s music brings a relaxing and “laid-back” feel that puts fans of modern rap at ease with instrumental songs like “visions (high)”. Near the end of his performance one of the audience members yelled out a request for the artist to perform his song “PERFECT PACE” to which he responded “next time”, and while I didn’t have the pleasure to hear “PERFECT PACE” performed live in concert I did listen to the song after the concert and was pleasantly surprised with the gem that was left off such a great set list.

As we drew closer to BLK ODYSSY’s performance and the second performance came to a close, the crowd’s excitement grew as they prepared for the big act of the evening. The performance began with the band that is traveling with BLK ODYSSY for the Fantasy House Tour coming on to the stage and playing “HELLO?”, after which BLK ODYSSY made his way on to the stage at the intro of “XXX,” one of my favorite songs on his “1-800 FANTASY” album. Every song he performed that night has made it to my “Liked” playlist on Spotify, from “DIAMONDS & FREAKS” to “GHOST RIDE” his performance knocked all of my expectations out of the park. The set list included: “HELLO?”, “XXX,” “BLEACH,” “WANT YOU,” “LAST RESORT,” “STANKROSE,” “CHANGES”, “DELILAH”, “GEMINI”, “DIAMONDS & FREAKS,” “ADAM & EVE,” “BIG BAD WOLF/SOBER,” “BENNY’S GOT A GUN,” “FUNKENTOLOGY,” “GHOST RIDE” and “PHASE.”

By the end of the concert these amazingly talented artists had created a forever fan within me. I will be looking forward to what these artists put out in the near and distant future.