PHOTOS: A$AP Ant at Subterranean
By John Cotter
The underground hip-hop scene is what keeps the genre interesting, breathing fresh air into the most popular style of music today. The Marino Infantry (Lulu P, Baby 9eno, SoDuh, Lil 2Duh, and A$AP Ant) are no different, as they popped out to the Subterranean in Chicago on October 24th as part of their World Domination tour. Through cloudy production from the LordFubu and their rule-breaking enigma in structures and flows, the Marino Infantry has a distinct sound outside of what other rap collectives are bringing to the stage.
Before the show started, a security member of the venue gave a speech about not smoking inside, right before A$AP Ant and the Marino Infantry encouraged everyone in the crowd to light up. That’s the kind of vibe that A$AP Ant exuded during his performance: the dazzling diamonds shining from his chain as he smokes a gorilla finger sized joint, but not once stumbling over his lyrics or even missing a beat. Plus, you can tell that the whole Infantry loves performing in general by the way they interact and hype up the crowd in these smaller venues.
One fan was almost louder than anyone on stage, but got immense love from everyone in the crew. Selfies were taken mid-performance with SoDuh while a drone recorded the footage from the second floor balcony. It gave the show a very “members only” feeling to the show, like everyone there was an essential part of this performance.
A$AP Ant and the whole Marino Infantry all exclaimed their love for the Chicago crowd in separate short speeches, speaking on how it just might be their best one yet on the World Domination tour. By making use of the involved atmosphere and cloud-rap appeal to their sound, the Marino Infantry made the Subterranean their own for a night, and I’m definitely not the only one who’d love to see them do it again.
