The Lost Files- Ski Mask the Slump God @ The Catalyst, 10/9
By, Christelle Viale
Going into the concert for Ski Mask the Slump God, I expected a crazy night. This show exceeded my expectations, as it was an absolute highlight of my life. Ski Mask was an absolute legend back in 2018 with top hits like H20 and Take a Step Back. Starting off on SoundCloud, he worked his way up to selling out venues and having millions of listeners on Spotify and Apple Music. With nostalgic artists like Juice WRLD, XXXTentacion, and Lil Peep on his albums, it drew in fans from all over the hip-hop universe. Ski Mask definitely kept the vibes alive the whole night, making him one of my favorite artists to see live. His crowd work was also amazing, giving everyone at the front an opportunity for their star moment: from video recordings to rapping directly to them.
The whole show was a favorite for me, but if I were to choose moments it would be the crowdsurfing and performing nostalgic songs. These songs included Take a Step Back, H2O, and and SAD! By XXXTentacion. I came into the Ski Mask concert as a fan of his 2018 album so hearing those songs live healed a part of me. The album Ski performed, The Lost Files, was based on his old unreleased files from that era so it only makes sense to bring them back. He also brought back crowdsurfing which was on a little hiatus. After a chosen guy had a failed crowdsurf, Ski had to give redemption by doing one himself. It was exhilarating as I was nearby the people holding him up seeing them all struggle. With the moshing and crowdsurfing, this concert definitely gave 2018 vibes which I loved.
This is my first hip-hop concert that I went to and it will be my favorite. Ski Mask is an artist you should check out if you like hard rap. I got into Ski Mask as he was similar to my other favorite artist XXXTentacion. It only makes sense I got into him as they were buddies. The whole Lost Files concert was a tribute to his fallen brothers, letting their legacies live on through him. If you want to know more about him, he goes by @theslumpgod on all social media platforms.
You seemed to enjoy the night, I definitely wished I went to the show. There was a few tracks that are notable and even the tribute sets look like they were pleasing as well. If I had the opportunity to see him live I would
The show sounds like it was crazy, wish I could have been there. Very glad to hear he played a lot of his older songs with x, those were some of my favorites in middle school. Also really cool how he’s still keeping the energy alive by crowd surfing and interacting with the crowd a lot.
I love the line ” highlight of my life”. I think that every artist aims to do that for someone. Truly embodied what seeing live music is about. I love artist who take the time to do crowd work, like yes please NOTICE ME INTERACT WITH US. That is really what makes a concert go from good to AMAZING. CROWD SURFING? YES PLEASE.
I was impressed by the description of the “Lost Files” concept—performing unreleased tracks from a specific era (2018) to heal a part of the fanbase. It turns a concert into a time capsule rather than just a show. The detail about Ski Mask redeeming a failed crowdsurfer by doing it himself also stood out as a great moment of crowd connection. My question is: How does the energy of these older “SoundCloud era” tracks compare to the reaction for his newer material live?
Crowd surfing is always going to be an insane move to pull in my head, especially with a fan base like Ski Mask’s. He does an incredible job at bringing the energy to his shows, though, and the crowd absorbs and bounces it right back every time, truly a one of one artist.