Features
Lil Uzi Vert
– Lil Uzi Vert
During his final Coachella set April 23, Lil Uzi Vert ran from the stage to the sound booth and back, parting the audience like the Red Sea. And they loved it. It wasn’t a made-for-Coachella moment; it’s just what he does.
“He finds a way to engage his audience, no matter where you are,” Paradigm agent Erin Larsen told Pollstar. “He captivates an audience and converts everyone into an Uzi fan at that point.”
John Davisson – Lil Uzi Vert
Lil Uzi Vert isn’t your conventional artist. He’s not even a conventional rap star, owing as much by way of influence to Marilyn Manson and GG Allin as he does to Kanye West and Lil Wayne.
He’s shot to fame without an album, though that is expected to change later this year, but rather by releasing a series of mixtapes via SoundCloud.
Producer Don Cannon heard a track from one of those mixtapes on the radio, and signed him to his own label, Generation Now, and subsequently to Atlantic Records, which handles his commercial releases.
Larsen, who had been talking to Cannon about his new artist, saw Lil Uzi Vert perform at Santos Party House in New York City and saw the kind of artist she looks for in a client.
John Davisson – Lil Uzi Vert
“He had the same energy you saw at Coachella, which is the same energy you see at every show. It doesn’t matter how big or small the room is. And he blew me away. I thought, this kid is a fucking star,” Larsen said. “I feel like that’s what I look for in artists I want to work with – the energy as much as the music.
“The music is important but it can only take you so far and, especially in our industry, energy is a really big thing onstage for carrying a show.”
Lil Uzi Vert is hitting the festival circuit hard this year, with performances booked at JMBLYA in Texas and Soundset in St. Paul, Minn., before embarking on a short headlining tour of secondary and tertiary markets in May and June.
Then he heads to Europe for more festival dates including at Wireless fests in Germany and London, Roskilde and Montreaux Jazz. He’ll be back in the States in time for Lollapalooza and Osheaga, and Larsen is looking to book more club dates in the fall.