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Music

Keith Ape and Ken Rebel Made Webster Hall Explode at Our Show Last Night in New York

The "It G Ma" rapper brought together Seoul and New York City.

Photos by Cheney Orr

Last night, Korean rapper Keith Ape made a highly anticipated live appearance at New York's Webster Hall in the Marlin Room as part of our Noisey Presents show series. We've been following Keith all year, since his song "It G Ma" lit the internet on fire and he proceeded to tear down pretty much every live show he could on his way to taking over North America. We even witnessed him shut down a decent portion of Soho earlier this year filming a flash mob video with New York rapper Ken Rebel for "Underwater Rebels."

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Ken was billed as the opener for last night's show, but it ended up being more of a collaborative affair, with both artists supporting each other onstage and trading off songs. Regardless of who was performing at any given moment, the energy was out of control: The stage was packed with people going nuts, and crowd-surfers were sent windmilling over the audience. The appeal of the heavy trap sound cuts across every cultural and language barrier. The turn up is universal. And that was abundantly clear last night, as every song was a massive banger, including the debut performance of Keith and Ken's new collaboration, "Ksubi."

Keith, in a Slipnot shirt and braids, was an able conductor, too, never losing his cool even as dozens of people crowded around him for the chaotic climax of "It G Ma." At that moment, it was clear how much the song has gone from viral sensation to legitimate hit material. It was one of the craziest shows we've seen all year. Fortunately, photographer Cheney Orr was on the scene capturing it all in photos. Check those out below:

Follow Cheney Orr on Instagram.