Live Review: Yonas in Berlin

In the league of hip hop artists who brandish rich lyrical content stands Bronx-born Yonas Mellesse aka Yonas. Sermonizing a humanistic message in his lyrics similar to that of Chicago rappers Mick Jenkins or ProbCause, Yonas also balances things out with a Wiz Khalifa-esque party vibe.

For his first visit to Europe ever, Yonas self-organized a showcase of art through countries like Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands accompanied by New Jersey rapper Abstract and tour DJ & Denver-based electronic musician Dreamers Delight. His 2018 "About Time" European Tour symbolized a growth benchmark in the career of a self-proclaimed, independent artist. However, the robustness of his growth was about to receive quality control tests in Germany's capital on a Wednesday night.

Being a city obsessed with music, Berlin often serves as a litmus test for artist success by how this market responds, especially for artists like Yonas who come from across Planet Earth.  Regardless, Yonas answered with thick momentum as he delivered empowering words over his heavy-hitting remix of The Glitch Mob's "Drive It Like You Stole It". Making a deep impression at the first track, Yonas & Dreamers Delight continued to orchestrate a forceful arrangement of heavy electro, recognizable remixes, block-leveling trap bass and boom-bap beats. As they took us through a quality-crafted exhibition, the robustness of their art was confirmed by the circular connection made with the crowd in a labyrinth-like basement club.

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Blasting us with hit tracks like "Photo" and "All Rise", the audience showed a striking response to Yonas's performance. Such enthusiasm signaled that the Yonas movement had planted seeds in the European landscape some time ago. Going from his first EP in 2011 to having a European-based crowd recite his lyrics back to him in 2018, Yonas's operation signified successful international expansion into Germany and beyond.

Photo Credit goes to Marc aka MRKÜS - check out his portfolio here!