Pouya, with support from Cursed and Freddie Dredd, transformed an average Monday night into an incredible first rap concert experience. 

Doomshop Records, a group of rappers and label, was established in 2014, co-founded by Freddie Dredd. You can often hear the signature “Doomshop mother f***er” producer tag at the beginning of many songs by Freddie Dredd. 

Sixset was established in 2012 by Cursed, and started out as a crew of rappers in the early 2010’s, and the crew began to release music in 2013. Doomshop joined with Sixset in approximately 2015, and the crew began operating as one.

Pouya is a part of the All But 6 record label, not to be confused with G59, the label that $uicide Boy$ belong to. Although they are frequent collaborators, Pouya has different management than his two openers and $uicide Boy$. 

As me and fellow WQAQ photographer Sam Quiroz approached Toad’s Place on the beautiful 65-degree night, we were surprised to see the line wrapped around the building, despite arriving 45 minutes after doors (and 15 minutes until Cursed).

We quickly realized the delay was due to the requirement for each person to sign a waiver acknowledging you will “exercise appropriate reasonable caution” if you were to slip in the venue as well as to not participate in moshing.

This was my first time attending a rap concert, and I was a bit taken aback by the paper, wondering what I was getting myself into, if this were expected to be a dangerous concert. 

My fears were alleviated when I entered the venue and saw the usual crowd of concert-goers, just dressed in more black and shrouded in more smoke than usual. I stayed with a crowd of other women listeners, and we did our jumping and frat-flicking beside the mosh pit instead of inside.

Cursed opened up the stage, and quickly got to his point, yelling out “Open up that f***ing pit, y’all!” He played his songs like “DOOMSHOP MF” and “And They Hate It…” He frequently started chants of “Doompshop mother f***er!” to hype up the crowd. 

A pair of men dressed as Teletubbies were in attendance for the show, and Cursed, Freddie Dredd, and Pouya all pointed them out in the pit and asked to see how good the Teletubbies were at moshing.

Freddie Dredd entered the stage after Cursed, although Cursed did join him on stage for his first few songs like “Devil’s Work” and “Five Nights.”

Toad’s Place is located right next to Yale University, and is notorious for its gothic architecture standing out in New Haven. Dredd mentioned how Yale reminds him of a Bob Ross painting, and transitioned into “Evil Fantasy,” a song that begins with an intro of Bob Ross walking a viewer through the painting process.

Freddie Dredd closed out his set with fan-favorites “Weather,” “Limbo,” and “GTG,” bringing the audience’s energy up immensely for Pouya.

The crowd screamed as Pouya stepped onto the stage, launching into songs from his 2024 album “THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU” like “FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING” and “BLAME GAME.”

His favorite track off his 2024 album is “WHAT UU BOUT,” the closing track on the album. The crowd chanted along to the lyrics “F**k it up, baby bone, f***k it up” from “F**K IT UP” featured in his most recent album, “Suicidal Thoughts in the Back of the Cadillac, Pt. 3.” 

Baby Bone is a nickname for Pouya paying homage to hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, which he has used since his days as a SoundCloud rapper.

Pouya declared to the crowd about halfway through the show, “By the end of the show I need to be drenched in sweat.” His goal was achieved for everyone in the building that night, as the crowd’s energy was thrilling. 

There was a cameraman on stage for a few songs, and Pouya told the crowd he was shooting a new music video, so everyone had to “go crazy” when the camera was on the crowd, to which we all happily obliged.

When someone had a medical emergency in the crowd and had to be taken out by security, Pouya made the entire crowd cheer for the fan, and yelled to his merch table to make sure she got free merch to make up for it.

Pouya dedicated his song “Runnin’ Thru the 7th with My Woadies” featuring $uicide Boy$ to anyone in the crowd that had lost a loved one, whether it be a “a family member, a dog, a cat, a goldfish…you can close your eyes with me for one second, and just think about that person, put them in your mind. When this song drops, I need you to scream this s***t so wherever the f**k they are, they can hear you tonight.”

For Pouya’s last song of the night, “Void,” he brought the infamous Teletubbies from the crowd up on stage to hype up the crowd one last time. Despite there not being an encore, a background beat played after Pouya finished his set, and he autographed and threw things out into the audience for long after the song ended.

Pouya demonstrated how much he truly cares about his fans and wants them to feel connected to his music, and he gave the most electric experience possible with help from the incredible openers.