My first hip hop concert ever is drenched with rain so heavy I could barely see anything. The Atas Angin show was set on the rooftop of MyTown mall, with a stunning 360-degree view of Kuala Lumpur. The TRX building perched behind the stage, but now it’s hidden by the mist in the heavy rain. My blouse was so wet I could squeeze the water out. Droplets covered my glasses. Silhouettes of ForceParkBois jumped around, their hands waving here and there. The dudes were moshing, water splashing everywhere.

For RM88, you’re in for a hip-hop concert featuring three of the most exciting groups we have today: ForceParkBois, TTONTHEMOVE and Slatan. I thought I paid for tickets to listen to dudes hyping themselves up, but what I got instead was a torrential downpour, slippery circle pits, egotistical hype men and pink plastic raincoats.

In short, it was absolutely magnificent.

ForceParkBois set the mood for the rest of the night as the opener. They filled the night with glitz, though it would’ve been a lot cooler if they didn’t have the same visual playing throughout. Halfway through, the boys of Taman Daya were still stacking on the highs of the night. Pleasing the crowd as the most mainstream group of the show was surely the easiest part, but opening the show with a one-hour set meant the momentum had to keep climbing. When the faint beats of “Lotus” breezed through the speakers, the crowd screamed in excitement. “Kalau bukan sebab lagu ni, kitorang kerja kat bengkel,” one of them joked. Who? I’m not sure. I still couldn’t see shit.

When the rain hijacked TTONTHEMOVE’s set — now rebranded as TT.13 — it felt like either a blessing or a curse for the group, who were back on stage after a four-year break. TT.13 had a smaller crowd in comparison to ForceParkBois and Slatan. In fact, half of the crowd stood meters away, sheltering themselves from the heavy rain. Their set opened with a Tulangkata monologue and slideshows of the group — like a trip down memory lane — while he recited: “Sekarang masanya sirih pulang ke gagang / Semoga kita sampai di situ / Demi blok / Koperasi / Dan persahabatan / Selamat pulang / TT.13,” followed by a wailing siren. All phones rose into the air.

When TT.13 first made their name in the scene, their raucously poetic verses illustrated them as a promising hip-hop collective, later propelled by their beef with K-Clique that was well-documented by YouTube reaction bros and Melodi. For TT.13, fans alike wanted this rebranded version of them to serve, eat and devour even harder than when they debuted in 2020.

But TT.13 seemed impatient for the crowd to match their adrenaline, clearly at an all time lepas-geram type of high. Shouts of “put yo hands up” and endless “woos” and “yeahs” were heard, but under the heavy downpour, the audience needed something more to stay put, or else they were heading for shelter. It’s not that TT.13 was rusty, but perhaps it wasn’t enough to simply announce a comeback — they had to make us believe it was worth the wait. It wasn’t until they performed Kloud$’s diss track “Ego” which infamously targeted members of K-Clique, that the crowd sang along to every single word. They didn’t even perform the song in its entirety, but the crowd clearly wanted them to play it in full — twelve times over.

When Slatan walked on stage, the rain finally subsided. Slatan performed tracks off their “Kalau Begitu, Baiklah…” album but also made way for unreleased songs, including a surprisingly bubbly, Top 40-friendly track by ameeusement. Their performances were backed by seemingly AI-generated visuals, which… unlocked a new pet peeve in me.

But Slatan was when the party reached its peak. Smaller mosh pits formed all over the place and phones were beaming with flashlights. Someone injured themselves during “Mesin Masa”. Everyone jumped so hard I could’ve sworn the floors were shaking. We were on the 7th floor of MyTown’s parking lot and watching my feet vibrate along with the floors consumed my head with anxiety. Uhh, should I be worried? I mean, Slatan is cool or whatever, but I do not want to die here.

Slatan closed off the show with “Rindu Boleh, Kembali Jangan” which warranted more mosh pits, more phones in the air, and more anxiety as I felt the floor move. Then, within a blink, everything was done. With half an hour left before midnight, we all walked inside the empty mall in silence, trying to find the exits; none of us wanted to move on from the highs just yet. For my first hip-hop show, the night didn’t feel miraculous or so unreal that it seemed impossible to experience again. It just felt like another night in our hip-hop scene that I want to live through a hundred more times. It felt real as hell.