On Saturday night (August 29), the Sprite Corner celebrated one last night at 188 Bowery Street in New York City with an intimate concert featuring rising crooner Jordan Bratton, TDE’s resident southerner Isaiah Rashad, and legendary rhymesayer Nas (the latter two were featured in Sprite’s “Obey Your Thirst” campaign).
Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images
The storefront space resembled your typical New York bodega, filled with “products” themed after the soft drink brand’s familiar green and yellow color scheme. And that was just when you walked through the front door.
Dim lighting created a mood similar to an intimate, indie rap show, though the place was riddled with proper Sprite branding and plenty of product to drink for free.99. Quenched thirst softened the humidity in the space, as attendees watched DJ Mega Mission warm up the room on the ones and twos, before bringing Bratton to the stage.
The 19-year-old singer-songwriter played no games, and undoubtedly left with new fans, as he treated the then growing crowd to a set that included “Bound” and closed with his passionate breakup anthem “Victoria.”
Next up was Chattanooga’s own Isaiah Rashad, who mellowed the vibe by performing standout tracks like “Banana,” “Menthol,” and “Soliloquy” from his debut release Cilvia Demo EP. Consider his performance a hearty reminder that the 2014 project was unjustly slept on.
Isaiah Rashad concluded his set with “Shot You Down,” only to be joined on stage by Nas moments later during a honest Q&A moderated by host Kid French. The chat was essentially Esco giving the budding wordsmith and the rest of the room a master class on how to remain creative and break through the clutter in the rap industry.
Nas closed the show, backed by DJ Green Lantern in a very “I’m the rapper, he’s the DJ” fashion. The end result was a set chocked full of classics tracks from his discography, including Illmatic‘s “New York State of Mind” and “The World Is Yours.”
Grand opening, grand closing.
Get a full recap of what went down at The Sprite Corner here.
—
Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images
