Shoreline Mafia, a rap duo consisting of OhGessy and Fenix Flexin, put on a celebration of West Coast rap and culture at their SOMA San Diego concert on Oct. 4. The show in “America’s Finest City” was part of their tour of their newest album, “Back In Bidness.”
The spectacle that both Los Angeles-based rappers brought to the stage that night provided an atmosphere that felt more like a club than a concert.
As excited concert-goers packed into the venue for the sold-out show, the SOMA mainstage was filled with a buzzing energy of anticipation, this being Shoreline Mafia’s first tour back together.
In April 2020, Fenix Flexin announced his departure from the rap group. Him and OhGessy, the other face of the group, made music separately for around four years until they reunited.
“I heard of them back in middle school because that’s when they started popping [off],” said Brandon Perez, a concert attendee. “I never really got to listen to them [live] until they dropped their ‘Back In Bidness’ album.”
”The album is fire,” Perez said. “Right now, they’re my favorite artist and they’re touring so might as well come.”
The duo released “Back in Bidness” in April, which was followed by the announcement of the “Back In Bidness Tour,” their first album and tour since their break-up.
“It was kinda sad when they broke up, but then they started doing their solo stuff and it was really sick because they were both releasing some real heat,” said Diego Estrada, another concert attendee.
Estrada said that in some cases, when groups break up and get back together, their music just isn’t the same. However, he said this was not the case for Shoreline Mafia, and that he was surprised by how much he liked “HEAT STICK,” one of the songs released following their reunion.
The rappers performed a collection of tracks from their new album, leaving the audience cheering for more.
Even while separated, the duo was far from inactive. Both Fenix Flexin and OhGessy were releasing music and performing solo projects.
“When they split up and they were both doing their own thing, it was almost like they were still making Shoreline songs, just not with the other person on the song,” Estrada said. “So when they started doing it again together, it almost felt like they didn’t even have a break.”
“I feel like they came back stronger, honestly,” said Chrissa Wright, another attendee.
Many fans felt that Shoreline Mafia improved after their split, changing their style in a positive way.
“The music is better, the quality is better,” said attendee Gabriel Gaxiola. “It’s more party, everything’s just better all the way.”
The show itself was “ROCKIN,” to say the least. Ironically, the song that had the crowd the loudest was not “ROCKIN,” but a different single released this year, titled “HOLLYWOOD.”
“‘HOLLYWOOD,’ that’s the one that hyped everybody up,” Gaxiola said. “They even had to play it again just to hype everything up.”
The biggest highlight of the night was a surprise appearance by California-based rapper Too $hort. What made the appearance such a curveball for the audience was that Too $hort is a Bay Area artist, performing as far south as San Diego with an LA rap duo.
The rapper released many of his hits between the 1990s and early 2000s, and is considered a legend in the West Coast genre and rap as a whole.
“When they brought out Too $hort, that was just unexpected,” Gaxiola said. “I couldn’t believe that at all. When he came up on stage, I started freaking out, everybody started freaking out.”
That night, the modest-looking SOMA San Diego hosted a celebration of California and West Coast rap culture, uniting fans within the intimate venue.
