After the final bell rang on the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 8, students flocked to the Temescal Canyon parking lot to attend a free concert hosted by Los Angeles-based rappers Blueface and ChriseanRock.  

Jonathan Jamall Porter, better known by his stage name Blueface, jump-started his career in January of 2017 after uploading his first song onto Soundcloud. His popularity skyrocketed in late 2018 after the release of his hit song “Thotiana.” Blueface has since started hosting concerts at various high schools, each chosen by polls conducted on his Instagram account.

Numerous LA County high schoolers, including Pali students, participated in the first round of Blueface’s Instagram competition. Students voted for their schools, and those with the fewest votes were eliminated until one was left standing. After the final round of voting, Pali students won a visit from Blueface a week later.

The day of the concert, students gathered around the U-Haul truck as Blueface sang his most notorious songs, including “Thotiana.” Throughout the concert, attendees jumped, danced and sang along to his music. Videos from the after-school concert flooded students’ Instagram and Snapchat stories. 

Sophomore Evance Mored said he had been following the Instagram competition from the beginning and said he was in disbelief that Blueface made the concert a reality.

“When I ran there I was expecting some [phony] looking Blueface guy, but he was actually there and I thought it was crazy,” he said.

Midway through the concert, Mored decided to get on top of the truck alongside Blueface.

“I was just like [screw] it, I’m going to go up there with Blueface and I climbed up the U-Haul and … saw everyone else standing [in the crowd],” he explained. “Then, Blueface said ‘Hey, you wanna jump off?’ So I jumped off, and the rest is history.

“It was funny to watch,” Mored continued. “I think the hype of the moment was that everyone was there.”

Shirel Farasatpour, a Pali junior, said she has been a fan of Blueface since middle school and loved his live performance.

“There was like a giant mosh pit of teens … there were so many kids there it was ridiculous,” Farasatpour said. 

“I think the entire experience was really funny and memorable,” she added.