Words: Miljan Milekić
I fucking love Beastie Boys. Punk, hardcore, hip hop, and electronic music, perfectly blended into one eclectic chaos of energy. So, it’s not really a surprise that I was instantly hooked when I heard Masked Wolf. Now, let me get it straight, I am not comparing Masked Wolf to Beastie Boys, not by the music he’s making, and certainly not by the influence they had on the scene. But there is one thing in the music of the Aussie rapper that instantly reminded me of the legendary New York mob, or maybe someone like Machine Gun Kelly – the way he slides between different genres I love with such ease.
Whether he is going into pop with songs such as ‘Razor’s Edge’ he did with X Ambassadors, exploring heavier sound like in a massive ‘Fallout,’ which he recorded with Bring Me The Horizon, or getting into the emo trap with ‘Say So,’ or ‘Jenny, I’m Sorry,’ with All Time Low‘s Alex Gaskarth, he is making it his own, and making it make sense. Add in ‘Better Than Me’ with legendary Dutch DJ and producer Tiësto, and his signature trap-infused bangers such as ‘Night Rider’ or ‘Pandemonium,’ and Masked Wolf‘s shows are posed to be huge parties.
Exactly that was what happened at the Exit Festival‘s Main Stage during the 50 minutes he had for his set. Bringing the energy up and down, he quickly ran through his catalog, squeezing in 15 songs, switching through genres and styles, and taking his show from a rave to a rock concert. The crowd, on the other hand, wasn’t completely ready for that. His smashing hit ‘Astronaut In The Ocean’ is massive in Serbia, but it seems like a good portion of the fans only picked up on a couple of singles without digging deep into the rest of his music.
Apart from that, neither pop punk nor metalcore ever really gained any real traction in Serbia, and even household names such as Bring Me The Horizon or All Time Low never found their way to the Serbian crowd, so it was no surprise that it was fans from UK and Australia who occupied the first couple of rows, and lead the charge. That didn’t however spoil the fun for the artist or his fans. The highlight of the show, as expected, came at the very end when Masked Wolfed delivered ‘Astronaut In The Ocean,’ to such a strong response from the crowd, that he decided to actually do the song twice, before leaving the stage with one last howl.
