While it’s not 24 hours after, or even 48, for that matter, WHATMORE’s debut headlining show, featuring Liim, was surely one I had to write home (to Hypebeast) about.
If you’re unfamiliar with the New York City-born and bred superground, the city flows through the five-piece friend group’s veins. Comprised of Cisco Swank, Yoshi T., Elijah Judah, Jackson August, and Sebastiano, the guys met at LaGuardia High School, formally ~making it official with music in 2024.
Upon one scroll through any of their social media accounts – or even the communal WHATMORE pages – you’ll find each of the twentysomething members of the ascending ensemble embody a textbook NYC ethos like it’s second nature, palpable even through a screen. You’re likely to find the gang at the bodega, bar, bowling alley, or just roaming around the five boroughs; New York City is the bedrock of the budding band’s genre-jumping artistry. More “niche” New York lyrical references span Wu Wear jeans, “big pants over the Air Force 1’s,” and love for the eastside in any way, shape, or form, paired with communally relatable feelings of nostalgia, existentialism, rebellion, and all else that early adulthood entails.
WHATMORE’s TikTok began to gain traction earlier this year when the group started sharing freestyles over flips, dropping sharply penned stanzas over songs by Tame Impala, Doechii, Mac Miller, SZA, Phoebe Bridgers, and many others, reconfigured by Judah, the group’s in-house producer and sonic engineer. The group shared EPs entitled FLIPS and FLIPS 2, respectively, via Bandcamp, paving the way for WHATMORE’s fully original self-titled debut studio project, which landed on streaming services in October. After this dropped, the BROCKHAMPTON comparisons began to roll in, finding the two supergroups comparable in their diverse thematic and sonic influences.
Whatmore
After a year of primarily free performances throughout the city – at locations including the same places they shoot their visuals, like Hector’s Diner, Brooklyn Substance Skatepark, Sweetie’s K-Chicken, and Golden Shanghai – in early December, WHATMORE announced a final show. Going down at Baby’s All Right on December 30, the performance would go down at Baby’s All Right and mark the group’s first-ever headlining performance. Supporting act? Liim Lasalle.
You can’t get more New York than that.
To purchase tickets ahead of time, it cost you only $10 USD, with on-site tickets also sold at the door for $15 USD. It was 18+. There was a merch booth in the backroom, where attendees could cop WHATMORE apparel or vinyl – the standout offering a one-night-only MTA-inspired graphic tee, reimagined with a “WM” logo flip in the middle.
Whatmore
Before the show, the guys flitted around the intimate venue, interacting with fans and taking photos. Liim went on around 9:15 p.m., walking out to a stage backed with blue-hued lighting. Donning his signature Stone Island puffer jacket and Akila glasses, he brought his typical “regular dude” energy onto the stage, perfectly teeing up for the five similarly “regular” NYC dudes to take the stage shortly thereafter.
Liim was clearly having fun with it, bouncing around between tracks from his album Liim Lasalle Loves You and early classics, splicing in a freestyle and some unreleased cuts in between. He bantered with the audience the whole night, having the crowd help with the setlist curation and even handing off a piece of unreleased merch (the “Liim Lasalle Loves Me” graphic T-shirt he’s been teasing on socials) to a front-row fan.
After kicking off with “Kick Rocks” and “For The Both Of Us,” he started taking requests from the audience and asking people what they wanted to hear. Of course, accompanied by his right-hand producer Sham Scott, one of the beats Scott played prompted Liim to freestyle. “I’m at Baby’s All Right, all right!,” he began, gaining momentum. “I’m at Baby’s All Right at night / think tonight is a good night.”
He also played an unreleased track that he previously played for me during our recent interview. It features Laila! and a damn good hook. Ideally, Laila! would’ve been a guest at the show, but she had to catch a flight, Liim explained ahead of the song. “HOPE” followed up shortly thereafter, along with “Edward 40Handz,” which he described as a “Max B-inspired” offering, before closing out with another audience request, “Memorize,” which samples Frank Ocean’s “Nikes.”
WHATMORE took the stage not too long after Liim’s set wrapped, opening with WHATMORE’s first track, “never let go.” August donned the Marty Supreme jacket, in a fitting stylistic representation of the group’s banner year.
The setlist spanned the entirety of the album, second up being fan-favorite “chicken shop date.” Yoshi introduced the band before segueing into another high-octane hype track, “eastside w my dogs,” also a particular high point of the set.
“go!” – which just hit one million streams – was another setlist apex, with Swank and August picking up guitars and absolutely shredding on the chorus. Yoshi also picked up his guitar for “jenny’s,” August effortlessly slowing down the room as the lights turned orange above him and Sebastiano speeding it back up for his closing verse.
“put it on hearts” and “bombay (keep it alive)” kept energy high, the entire venue chanting “F*ck you and your next man / Forever your best man, me” on the latter. “slow down” and “white subie” came next, with “emptyy,” “hit it,” and “jackie chan!” closing out the set. They didn’t leave the stage without one more “eastside w my dogs,” though. And many, many thank you’s. To each other, to the staff at Baby’s, to the technicians, to everyone who made this show happen.
Both a final and a first for the group – WHATMORE’s penultimate show of the year as well as their first-ever headlining performance – the show closed out the supergroup’s breakout year in a true full-circle way, while at the same time aptly setting the stage for the next year ahead, which is surely to be their biggest yet.
Choosing Liim as the opening act made for a perfect pair of hometown heroes, teeing up an intimate and highly intentional last-concert-of-2025 for most of us in the room.
I attended the show with my best friend, who was born and raised in Queens but now lives out west in the Bay Area. She summed it up perfectly: there’s no better feeling as a New York local than being at a concert in New York and the artist on stage asks, “Who’s from New York?” and screaming as loud as you physically can.
Can confirm it hits even harder when the concrete jungle-to-the-core boy band on stage also screams.
Tap in with WHATMORE now. The double-digit ticket prices and 200-person venues likely won’t last long…
