{"id":54397,"date":"2026-08-07T18:05:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=54397"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:05:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:05:39","slug":"review-ghais-guevara-the-cantab-lounge-8-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2026\/08\/07\/review-ghais-guevara-the-cantab-lounge-8-1\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Ghais Guevara @ The Cantab Lounge 8\/1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Sandra Ebert<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Review by James Klein<\/p>\n

On Saturday night, Ghais Guevara brought Cavalier and student 1 to the Cantab Lounge\u2019s basement venue, the Cantab Underground, for an intimate yet thrilling show. Beneath the streets of Cambridge, the rappers showcased three distinct approaches to hip hop, from Cavalier\u2019s deeply poetic lyricism to student 1\u2019s eclectic, colorful delivery to Guevara\u2019s rapid-fire, political lyricism over a range of underground and trap beats.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kicking off the night were sets by Boston-based DJs: SEE.DJ and DJ Rayvino. They ramped up the crowd with versatile sets, spanning everything from Clipse to Bj\u00f6rk. As fans came down the stairs into the venue, conversation flowed freely among DJs, artists, and audience members, reflecting the community-driven atmosphere of the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after SEE.DJ finished his set, Cavalier took to the stage, urging the crowd to move closer and get loud. Signed to billy woods\u2019 Backwoodz Studioz, Cav is a frequent collaborator with woods, Quelle Chris, Iman Omari, Child Actor and other Backwoodz-associated artists. His music reflects the label\u2019s aesthetic through jazzy samples, abstract lyrics and stream-of-consciousness storytelling. Beyond the music, his set was hilarious; Cav muted and unmuted the MacBook playing his beats, interrupting his songs with quips that made it feel like a stand-up set. Toward the end of his set, he gave a speech about the importance of culture, jokingly ending with the conclusion that selling drugs was the moral of the story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next up was student 1. Hailing from Minneapolis, student 1\u2019s style occupies the colorful world often associated with internet rap. Sounding like a mix of early Odd Future and modern JID, student 1\u2019s higher-pitched, fast-paced bars were introspective, optimistic and quirky. His set was also funny, continuously asking ridiculous \u201cwould you rather\u201d questions between songs, such as \u201cWould you rather have two butts or four legs?\u201d and \u201cWould you rather be Papa John or Kramer from Seinfeld?\u201d One standout was \u201cpSiLLy MaTh,\u201d which showed off his blend of goofy and reflective lyrics.<\/span><\/p>\n

After student 1, Guevara burst into his set and maintained this momentum the rest of the night. He said he was \u201crunning through oldies\u201d as he played \u201cWarrior Bred,\u201d \u201cCollateral\u201d and \u201cBlack Unity\u201d off his 2020 album \u201cMay Ur Melanin Shield U From Ragnarok.\u201d Guevara took very few breaths as student 1 DJ\u2019d and hyped up the crowd behind him. \u201cCollateral\u201d contained an instantly recognizable slowed-down sample of Maroon 5\u2019s \u201cThis Love,\u201d which Guevara rapped over through NBA, comic book and biblical references. On \u201cBlack Unity,\u201d Guevara energized the crowd, repeating the \u201cAll I gotta do is push the button\u201d chorus. He paced relentlessly across the small stage without missing a single syllable.<\/span><\/p>\n

He followed with the 2021 song \u201cBlood Starved Beast\u201d featuring more introspective lyrics that asserted his place at the top of the rap game as \u201cthat guy, not even a top 3, reachin\u2019 a new peak.\u201d Guevara then performed his 2025 song \u201cThe Old Guard Is Dead,\u201d whose instrumental famously introduced Kendrick Lamar during the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. Guevara confidently rapped more about his superiority, saying \u201cI just bet a hunnid on ‘self, Feelin’ like Bean in ’04 with no help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next came \u201cC.I.A Psyop.\u201d Between a catchy chorus, Guevara delivered verses against Western imperialism, rapping \u201cHurdled straight over angles, anchored the courage, Heard it once from a man how he told it, Reign from the folks that gave the Anglos detergent.\u201d Guevara followed with another pick from \u201cThe Other 2\/5ths,\u201d \u201cEazy E Tu Mama Tambien,\u201d whose repetitive \u201cDon\u2019t make me get hostile\u201d chorus further heightened the set\u2019s energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guevara took it to his most recent album \u201cGoyard & The Kayfabe Reveal\u201d with \u201cBattle of Ressentiment,\u201d built around a Solange sample saying \u201cI’m gonna look for my body,\u201d underscoring the song\u2019s meditation on a spiritual escape from modern violence. Guevara then ended the set with \u201cStuntin Like My Daddy,\u201d bringing the night to an emotional close with its reflections on generational trauma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Guevara\u2019s set was a whirlwind and felt like it was over before it even started.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the show, Guevara, along with student 1 and Cav, lingered at the merch table, chatting with fans long after the music ended. Their willingness to spend time with concertgoers reflected the authenticity that defines their artistry. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Sandra Ebert   Review by James Klein On Saturday night, Ghais Guevara brought Cavalier and student 1 to the Cantab Lounge\u2019s basement venue, the Cantab Underground, for an intimate yet thrilling show. Beneath the streets of Cambridge, the rappers showcased three distinct approaches to hip hop, from Cavalier\u2019s deeply poetic lyricism to student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26292,"featured_media":54392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[2745,2744],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54399,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54397\/revisions\/54399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}