Deep Tropics Day 2: Making it Rain in Nashville, TN

The second day of Deep Tropics was full of surprises, including lots of new artists added to my Soundcloud, singing bowls on heads, last minute changes to the lineup and a tropical rainfall adding to the litness of this festival.

I started out the day at the mainstage with Channel Tres, a vulgar and sensual artist from Compton with suave dance moves. Over vibey, deep hip-house beats he rapped lyrics “Tryna have my baby, she know I knock the pussy out!” His whole deal was a total juxtaposition of aggressive, high-energy hip-hop rap and dance roots against chill, trippy music and performance art that makes you feel some type of way. He was hilarious and quite the performer; he took a “hydration break,” sitting on the edge of the stage, not speaking at all for a minute or so, and called it “performance art.” This high-energy and interactive experience included a call-and-response with the crowd to “throw some sub in that bitch!” Channel Tres gave it his all and even threw in some jumping jacks to get everyone pumped.

Mija jumped on stage right after Channel Tres and delivered a badass, funky, bassy house set. The much-dreaded overcast weather started swooping over Nashville during her set, so she started playing a bunch of rain-themed songs and said, “I want to feel like I’m making it rain on you guys, so here you go.” It was adorable and perfect. It’s always a pleasure catching a Mija set and dancing like nobody’s watching, especially in the rain.

While exploring the area with vendors and the Waveclub stage I discovered two smaller artists I absolutely loved and have since added to my Soundcloud. Parrotice from Atlanta and Dubamine from Santa Cruz are both really dope deep bass artists that I’m grateful to have stumbled upon at this fest. Deep Tropics really outdid themselves bringing in some incredible acts, both bigtime and underground.

Next up on the mainstage was Shiba San. His music is heavily influenced by Chicago house, so if that’s what you’re into, this is your guy! I probably should have stuck around for Shiba San’s set, but I really wanted to check out the vendors in Healer’s Village before it was too late! I could tell they were some very fascinating organizations and people.

I visited with the onsite Reiki Energy Healer and an Intimacy Architect to learn about their gifts and philosophies. I bought a cute clay pot with a little air plant from “My Little Pothead,” and the Sound Healers gifted me a wonderful sound bath with their gorgeous, hand-crafted singing bowls. These guys had just finished up their Sacred Sound Healing session at the Tranquil Temple. Their goal was to help people focus on one frequency to find inner silence amidst the chaos, which proved to be quite difficult being placed directly in the middle of two stages. Their solution was to place the bowls over people’s heads so that the song from the bowl washed over you and was all you could hear.

The rest of the night was pure trap and bass music. What So Not brought such a refreshing amount of energy to the mainstage. Rocking his bucket hat and the tropical weather, What So Not threw down banger after banger. He was so humble and clapped for us after every song we got down and dirty to; it was the absolute sweetest thing. This was my first time seeing What So Not live, so Gemini and RL Grime tracks were especially fun to hear and dance to. Including What So Not’s set, I probably heard 6 Grime songs throughout the weekend. The rain didn’t slow this guy or us down at all. The whole crowd was a bouncing, soggy mess! We kept the momentum going all through the night.

Rick Ross blessed us with a 30-minute surprise set before Troyboi, during which he proudly boasted his placement in the Top 100 Hits two weeks in a row! He played his two 2019 hits “Gold Roses” and “Money in the Grave,” as well as other favorites like, of course, “The Boss,” because Rick Ross is the Boss! He definitely got us all riled up for Troyboi.

Troyboi was a big ol’ party. He brought the heat and everyone in the crowd fueled the flame. Troyboi was such an exciting way to end an already lit as hell weekend. The entire experience was just a giant party with solid, homey vibes. Deep Tropics was a beautiful place to release energy and come back out rejuvenated. I amend all the hard work put into making this festival the amazing, positively impactful event that it was! ‘Til next time <3