Photos by Sam Balaban, Roger Ho
"Get it, Sexyy, get it, Sexyy, get it, Sexyy!"
The ground beneath my feet shook, you could visibly see the loose dirt jumping across the park lawn as I made my way to the GoPuff stage. It didn't matter what corner of the park you were at, the chanting was deafening and unavoidable from any distance. From the back of the crowd, “In Sexyy We trust” can be read behind Sexyy Red's "Make America Sexy Again" hat inflatable, which has become a staple at her shows.
Sexyy hardly looked at the crowd during her set, she spent the majority of her time facing her DJ letting that proverbial coochie breathe (as well as the literal); you wouldn't have known she just had a baby the way she was dancing. “If y’all be fucking with Big Sexyy, make some motherfucking noise," her DJ rocked back and hit the button to queue up "I Don't Wanna Be Saved." Sexyy raised her soft pink microphone, plainly stating, “I don’t wanna be fucking saved."
The "get it sexy" chanting continued between songs, clearly differentiating the die-hard fans and the horrified parents, clearly misled by their children (yes, children), that were hurriedly trying to get their families out of ear shot. “Y’all don’t wanna be fucking saved,” Sexyy told the crowd, only adding to the suburban disbelief cemented across the escapees' faces. But their swift exits were probably for the best, their poor, conservative souls wouldn't have been able to handle her dancers. “Let me introduce y'all to my girls," Sexyy beckoned to stage left, signaling to her four dancers, each dressed in high-rise denim mini shorts and a red top. "Sexyy and the Sexettes!”
But despite Sexyy Red's overtly sexual stage presence, she is still a multifaceted performer, capable of emulating a wide range of emotion in her music. Between songs, she took a moment to sentimentalize and dedicate a song to her significant other. “I wanna sing something for my man," she said, gesturing at her DJ to play “U My Everything.” This was a surprisingly decisive song choice during her set, spurring two starkly contrasting responses. On the one side, garnering massive approval from dedicated fans, and on other, a slew of wild obscenities and disdain towards Sexyy, demanding that she 'shut up and shake it' or 'play something [the audience] knew.' But those remarks were like drops of water in a barrel to the star, "It's a barbecue," she said, sparking applause as "Slob On My Ckat" blared through the stage speakers.
“Y'all ever get some head?” she opened the floor up to the crowd and was met with incomprehensible screaming, but I'm sure there was a 'yes' or two snuck in there. She strolled across the stage, hips swinging, before once again raising her mic. “Y'know," she trailed off. "I really want some dick.” The crowd screeched in agreement as "Mad At Me" kicked up, scaring another wave of disgruntled parents away from the stage, leaving room for the next flock of more appreciative fans to take their place.
Sexyy ran through a few more of her hits, "SHAKE SUMN" and "Rich Baby Daddy," to wind down her set. By this point in the performance, the crowd has transmogrified considerably, now consisting of an audience with a mean of age somewhere in the early 20's. There were still a few floater families skulking around near the barricade and in the VIP section with kids anywhere from high school aged to leash backpack infancy. As the kids watched on in bewilderment, their parents stood idly by or yards away from their children, either urging them not to look and doing nothing to stop them from, or telling them to complaining so they could enjoy the rest of the show.
Sexyy slowed down for a moment to finally check in with the crowd, “Any hoes in the back, any hoes to left?" she gestured into every corner f the crowd. "I don’t see no hoes!” The VIP exploded in response, you could see parents holding small children screaming louder than they'd screamed at their misbehaved kids all day. “I wanna be over here with all the hoes,” Sexyy trailed off, before rejoining the Sexettes at center stage for her last two songs. “I’m looking for the hoes..."
The crowd now stretched all the way past the GoPuff stage's lawn, crossing the pavement path into the adjacent patch of grass where the festival's various amenities were tethered down. "Looking For The Hoes (Ain’t My Fault)" had the whole park chanting at the top of their lungs, “You like my voice? It turn you on?” amongst other undeniably quotable lines from the song. Sexyy bent over at a 90-degree angle, touching her toes and twerking, “If you voting Sexyy Red for president, let me hear you say ‘skeeyee!'" her DJ interjects as the rapper's now iconic charting hit, "SkeeYee," began playing, sparking dance circles and crowd surfing across the mass of skeeyee-ing festival-goers. It didn't matter where you were in relation to the stage, it didn't matter if Sexyy could see you; it didn't even matter if you were at Gov Ball, you must've felt a disturbance in the force compelling to bend it over and let that coochie breathe. It was staunch international law, effective immediately.
The “get it, Sexyy” chant began once more, much to the disappointment of all the angry significant others watching their partner throw it back on their friends and strangers, the people catching their partners staring, and the confusingly horned up members of the audience (they were undoubtedly having gay awakenings every time a nearby audience member shook some ass in their vicinity); only worsening as "Pound Town," her last song of the day, started playing. “Big Sexyy for motherfucking president!” "Pound Town" faded out, the crowd roared. Fans everywhere are bouncing, dancing and flashing Sexyy as she dances to one last song, "Sexyy Walk," showing off her own Sexyy Walk, before waltzing off the stage, “Bye yall!”
Rob Lucchesi
Sexyy Red Instagram
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