Zack Fox, the revered multipotentialite actor, producer, rapper, songwriter, DJ, and comedian brought his DJ Spring tour to town. He’s known for his zany song “Jesus is the One (I Got Depression)”, exhilarating Boiler Room and Elevator Music DJ sets, starring on “Abbott Elementary” as Tariq, and his looks.
Baltimore was the first show of the tour to sell out, all for the man who originally and ironically thought he could keep a low-profile DJing.
Fans can make requests for Zack Fox to come to their city, so do with that what you will.
Insatiable fans and fans who missed out on Zack’s sold-out DC show back in January received a second chance to bask in all the glory of Zack, but this time with fellow DJs Cash.Liss, Cadeem LaMarr, and Tromac.
The show happened to fall on April 3rd, National Burrito Day. It felt like the fest was akin to a burrito- stuffed to the max with several genres and endless enlivening mashups. We were at a buffet complete with House, Techno, Baltimore club, Miami bass aka booty bass, Jersey club, Electro, Ghetto Tech, UK Garage, Brazilian Funk, Dembow, Juke, Drum & Bass, Jungle, Breakbeat, Hardgroove, Bounce, R&B, Afrobeats, Gqom, Hip-Hop, Ballroom, and Gogo music. That’s my attempt at an exhaustive menu.
Fox’s voracious fanbase duly appreciated each genre in this extensive range.
When I arrived at Baltimore Soundstage, I was met with a very fashionable and diverse crowd, and I expected nothing less.
While the first opener Cash.Liss played in her stylish laced-up jeans, there was dancing at every point of the way- from the merch line, to the bar lines, and the dance floor.
She started the night off on a high note, no plateauing in sight, spinning delightfully assorted mixes of artists like Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Soul II Soul, Peggy Gou, Gunna, Brent Faiyaz, NLE Choppa, Bktherula, and Sango.
The crowd particularly went up for a Baltimore club and Jersey club mix of Jill Scott’s He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat). Listen to her set playlist here!
Liss passed the baton to Cadeem for his set at 9 pm. Throughout the set, his energy was palpable and barely contained behind the mixer table– it felt like people around me were underperforming at moments compared to him.
Eventually, he did a crowd pulse check and said, “Y’all know it’s a dance party right? Why the f*ck are y’all standing then?”
Thankfully, we got our act together. In his Instagram recap, he declared that the crowd was “one of the best crowds he’s ever gotten to play”.
His set featured party staples like Rema, Usher, Doechii, Justin Timberlake, Benny Benassi, A$AP Rocky, City Girls, Fergie, and Masters at Work.
He also played a newly released Miami Bass mix of Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “30 for 30”, which landed well.
When Glorilla’s TGIF came on, the bartender by me changed their sweaty shirt at that exact time Glo rapped “It’s 7 pm Friday / It’s ninety-five degrees”. The timing couldn’t have been better to demonstrate how toasty the room was.
Cadeem played a Frank Ocean mix where everyone put their hands up, and I feared an unavoidable stench, but no BO was detected.
At 9:59 pm, Zack pulled up in an invisible shirt (camo), dark baggy jeans, and a snapback to the side, looking like 90s Will Smith.
He came in hot with the well-received Mary J. Blige’s “Just Fine” Jersey Club mix, then transitioned
into Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” into an explosive Baltimore club instrumental with gun-shot-assisted beats.
A FaceTime call sprang to life where a fan recorded Zack — that’s genuine friendship with a FOMO combatter.
Zack did a “Everybody say hell yea” call and repeat. My ears said hell no.
Thankfully, Fox never fails to insert some form of humor into anything he does. He injected sounds like sharp whistles, bingo sounds, horse whips, and sirens into his set.
His set also provided dance instructions for us. Lyrics like “Act a freak” and “Work it work it” repeated.
One song told us to raise our hands x20 times, we passed the BO test again with flying colors.
About 35 minutes in, stiff bodies got called out with “If you’re not moving right now, something’s wrong with your body”.
A slightly awkward moment (for me) came when Zack said, “You should all know this next song”. I in fact, did not know the song. While seemingly everyone else sang, Shazam did the bidding for me and revealed it to be “Diary” by Alicia Keys.
Notably, “Knuck if You Buck” by Crime Mob into “Crunk Ain’t Dead” by Duke Deuce elicited uncontrollable dancing, jumping, hat waving, and “aye” chanting.
There came a moment where Zack stripped the music down to a simple beat before a full-on assault on the ears with a Hardgroove mix. Don’t forget your earplugs like me.
Momentous songs like “Laffy Taffy” by D4L, “Be Your Girl” by Kaytranada and Teedra Mosees, “Space Jam” by Quad City DJ’s, and “Hard in Da Paint” by Waka Flocka Flame gave way to heated dance battles.
When he queued Love by Keyshia Cole and said “we gotta sing the whole song” the crowd blew it out of the park, singing in choir mode.
Our singing was phenomenal, but he poked fun at our lack of trip out (New Orleans dance) attempts – “Y’all not tripping out, I don’t know what’s happening”. I tried, but I don’t think it translated well.
Some redemption came with “Before I Let You Go”, and you’re either the type to assume it’s Blackstreet’s song or Beyoncé’s version– it happened to be the former. Everyone did some good ol’, mostly coordinated line dancing.
At 11:28 pm, Zack asked, “Y’all still got some energy left?” Of course we did, and Tromac finally joined for a B2B (back-to-back sharing of the decks, mixing and queuing songs together).
Tromac featured his new release “SOMEONE TO CALL MY CLUBBER” a bouncy remix of the trending Janet Jackson hit Someone to Call My Lover, fit with Baltimore club, Jersey club, and Ballroom elements. The two DJs just had a grand time making dances to Janet’s bubbly, girly pop lyrics. I hope that some attendees did “meet at [the] club and fall so deeply in love”.
Songs like Michael Jackson’s “Do You Remember the Time” and “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston activated date night swooning.
Tromac played “Gimme My Gots”- so people gave him the twerks.
Zack was smiling so much through the night, and there was a moment where his joint-effort transition with Tromac resulted in a dap-up of deep satisfaction.
The night transitioned into many ’90s and ’00s throwbacks that people couldn’t get enough of.
We sadly didn’t get a Zack Gospel praise break, but I’m grateful for the eclectic range nonetheless.
To our surprise, all four of the DJs did a B2B to close out the night, mixing in different combinations. Tromac filled a DC quota with the Gogo track “Lay it Down” by Reaction Band and Cash.Liss played a Ballroom mix of Beyoncé’s “RIIVERDANCE”, with the notable cymbal crash sounds – 10s across the board.
More classics and niche mixes coursed through the night with great synergy between the DJs.
Cadeem went so hard while mixing that Zack and Tromac held up the back of Cadeem’s collar.
The DJs welcomed several fans on stage who danced and twerked in all sorts of positions and directions to remixes like Tinashe’s “Nasty” and Ciara’s “Goodies”.
A mix of Blackstreet’s “Don’t Leave Me” closed out the night. Trust, none of us wanted to go — even after 4.5 hours of partying.
Overall, all the DJs have a fantastic ear for music, booty-shaking music at that, leading to me Shazam songs left and right all night, but of course, “No song found” came up plenty of times for mashups. If any of them see this, I’d like some setlists, please.
This is the type of show where, if you’re into documenting, you can’t stop taking out your phone to take videos because you have to capture the magic.
Tromac shared with fans on “X”, formerly known as Twitter, that he had the honor of curating the lineup for the show. He smashed it.
Zack is more than just a passing DJ. The next day, he spun at a party with fellow Tromac and more Baltimore DJs in an unidentified Baltimore compound. So, it is safe to say he has found a home in Charm City.
As for my physical state post the show, my sweat lingered long after I left the venue. I sweated more than I did at the “Sweat Tour”.
Everyone’s Instagrams:
Photographer – Jarett Loeffler @JarettLoeffler
@Zackfox
@cash_liss
@cadeemlamarr
@tromac -man
