It was Sunday night on Labor Day weekend. I hadn’t been grilling. I hadn’t been drinking. I hadn’t gone to the beach. Instead, I charged up my camera and headed down to LA Santa’s basement in Santa Ana, CA to see the underground SoundCloud rapper, Lil House Phone.

I first heard of Lil House Phone through Adam22’s No Jumper podcast. He’s a frequent guest with a steady flow of drug fueled stories of parties, groupies, clout chasing in the rap circuits of Los Angeles. He spoke so candidly on the podcasts and live streams that I actually became interested in him as a media personality in the underground LA hip hop scene before I had even heard his music.   

When I heard he’d be playing at a local intimate venue, I immediately jumped on the opportunity to see him. I headed down to the venue and was met by a small crowd of fans who were waiting for the show to start. They weren’t a normal fair-weather hip-hop crowd. They didn’t accidentally find themselves in that venue. They were there with a purpose; to see GrabBagJag, M.D.M.A., and Lil House Phone.  

The attendance was a little slow to start of the event, so I give kudos to the opener, GrabBagJag, who dropped a killer set in what could have easily been a tough room to play in. I hadn’t heard of GrabBagJag prior to this show so I watched on curiously as he and his crew took the stage. I’m impressed by what I saw. His set list was consistent. All of songs followed a similar structure - hard story driven lyrics over simplified production. He was by far the hardest act that night, resembling stage characteristics one would expect from the likes of a Kiing Shooter.

Next up was the up and coming rapper, M.D.M.A… and a bunch of his friends. This lighthearted lit squad took the stage and immediately turned up the vibe in the venue. They were so comfortable up there dancing and genuinely having fun that they looked more like a group as opposed to just one rapper and his entourage. They physically occupied the whole stage and even playfully almost started a pit on the dance floor. They were definitely the high energy act of the night.

Finally, Lil House Phone hit the stage. Because of the intimate crowd size, he was able to interact with the fans and took requests on the fly. He came prepared with a set list of his bigger viral songs such as “Tokyo Goons” and “Juice”, but he also took requests from the crowd. One notable moment was when someone requested “Fashionista” off of Adult Swim’s Singles Program 2018. When this request was made, it looked like the DJ was guilty of a party foul as he seemed to be ill-prepared for impromptu songs. But to everyone’s surprise, they found the song and Lil House Phone hopped off stage and performed the song amongst the fans. He rounded out the set with viral anthem, “Tokyo Goons”, and called it a night.

Whenever I mention the name Lil House Phone to anyone, I’m always met with a sense of amusement the of interesting name choice. Don’t let that stop you from seeing this guy.  After years of watching/listening to him online, I’m happy I jumped at the opportunity to go see Lil House Phone live. I’m stoked to one day see him perform again, maybe next time on a bigger stage.