First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support the release of True Laurels Volume 3 at Printed Matter, this past Saturday. The cozy bookstore was packed out and having people come by, eager to learn about a project I just thought of five months ago felt great. Skinny Friedman DJ'd an amazing set that went from Soulja Boy's "Ocean Gang" to Baltimore Club legend, Miss Tony's "Pull Ya Gunz Out". Derrick Adams gave an insightful artist talk that touched on young artists' need to experiment, the representation of Baltimore in his work and how he incorporates pop culture into his work. The highlight of the night was Abdu Ali's performance. I'm not sure if anyone who hadn't seen him before, was prepared for the energy he was about to project. And putting out an elevated amount of energy seemed to be Ali's mission as he performed his most hard-hitting tracks: "Machete Warz", "Mad Ambrosia" and "Say Somethin". Probably the rarest performance to go down in a bookstore (lol). His performance was documented by Erik Puotinen, who got some great shots of Ali at his most energized moments of the night. Check them out below.