Cordae Holds Court at Miller Lite Oasis

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In modern hip hop, you have to do a lot to stand out. On Friday night at the Miller Lite Oasis, Cordae showed that he can rap, sing, and control a crowd, making him the total package when it comes to being a performer. Milwaukee would respond amply to all of that.

While many of the bleachers remained open prior to his 10:15 p.m. set on Friday, they quickly filled up, with a swarm of predominantly young fans congregating just to the right side of the Miller Oasis stage before showtime. There haven’t been too many performers that have generated that sort of buzz in this year’s festival run, but a rare return to Milwaukee for the artist formerly known as YBN Cordae brought out a healthy crowd.

Prior to the main act hitting the stage, the fans were already invested, thanks to lively sets from Chicago’s Ric Wilson and Milwaukee’s DJay Mando that ran right up to the main set. Things quickly transitioned over to Cordae’s touring DJ, who amplified things even more for a roughly 10-minute set. At one point, it looked like there was a stall for additional prep time backstage, but that only built the energy of the crowd further. By the time that the intro to single “Super” filled the Oasis speakers, things were at a fever pitch. The rapper ran onstage with sunglasses at night, which were quickly disposed of by the second song of the set. Cordae would navigate as much of the stage as he could, flanked by a DJ, live drums, and a bassist who would play the role of bandleader for much of the night. Having the live instrumentation augment his show tracks would work to his advantage later in the course of the show.

While energy is everything in a live performance, being able to replicate the often meticulous work that goes on in-studio for a live hip hop show is rare. Cordae hit all of his marks on Friday, however, delivering intricate verses while still bouncing around the stage to pump up the crowd. The Miller Lite Oasis, however, needed no coaxing. When Cordae called for a mosh pit in the front VIP area of the stage, the fans obliged. When he wanted phones out to light up the Milwaukee night sky, they were delivered en masse. The Oasis was in the palm of Cordae’s hand on Friday, with fans clamoring to get up front and bouncing enthusiastically from start to finish.

The show wasn’t all hype, though. Almost a necessity, Cordae was able to bring the crowd down for a few tracks, including “Coach Carter” and the Chance The Rapper-assisted “Bad Idea,” which closed in unique fashion, with the DJ dropping part of Gil Scott-Heron’s “Home Is Where the Hatred Is,” which is interpolated in the track from 2019’s The Lost Boy. It takes a lot of pull to calm down thousands of younger fans who are just looking to party, but he could do so with ease, at one point playing with how loud or soft he could make the crowd just by raising his hands. Cordae knew that he was in control.

He didn’t mind being personable to the crowd, either. At one point towards the back half of the set, he divulged that he has an ex-girlfriend that lives in Milwaukee, which resulted in a crass chant about said woman from the crowd. The drummer picked up on the moment, and began to play along to the chant, and then the bass kicked in. Ever the opportunist, Cordae launched into an improvised freestyle about his ex to the beat, cleverly rhyming “Milwaukee” with “stalk me,” to a big reaction. At another point in the show, he honored the late Juice WRLD, who he toured with while making his Milwaukee debut in 2018. The DJ played part of Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams” with the lights low, simultaneously honoring the rapper while Cordae pleaded with the sound crew to work on an ongoing issue with his in-ear monitors. Though it didn’t affect the output to the crowd, the sound onstage was visibly a problem throughout the night, with the band motioning for things to be turned up multiple times. They persevered, though, making the best out of what they had.

Nearing the end of his roughly 50-minute set, Cordae brought out a pair of his biggest tracks, leading with the mellow “Chronicles” featuring H.E.R. and Lil Durk. Again, the phones lit up the night while the crowd swayed along with every bar. Not one to end on an easy-going note, things culminated in the Anderson.Paak collaboration “RNP,” bringing the Oasis back to a full party on their way out of the festival. Whether there was a timing or sound issue, Cordae finished the song, and sincerely thanked the crowd for coming out when they could have been anywhere else on a Friday night. The band then briefly played a few measures of a jam before exiting the stage. While it wasn’t exactly sticking the landing, that was one moment out of the better part of an hour where Cordae ruled as king of the Miller Lite Oasis. An enthusiastic crowd left Summerfest just as excited as they came, if not more, after a big set from the night’s headliner.