To be honest, Pooh Shiesty’s performance of “Back In Blood” on The Tonight Show showcases an artist who is still very raw. However, it’s hard to hold that against him; he was signed and experienced his breakout during a global music shutdown that left him very few options to build the experience needed to become a standout performer (and, for what it’s worth, there are plenty of performers who just aren’t comfortable without a crowd to draw energy from, as we’ve seen with plenty of television performances over the years).
With that being said, Shiesty makes the best of a bad situation in his pre-recorded performance, saving the bells and whistles and giving a stripped-down performance in an alley alongside the song’s guest rapper Lil Durk (an artist who is in the midst of his own breakout, after nearly 10 years in the game). We could quibble all day about his mic discipline (keep that thing in front of your face, buddy) but for a television debut, we’ve seen worse — and when we’ve seen better, it’s usually with artists who have a different scale of budget, notoriety, and production value. The important thing is that he draws attention to his debut mixtape, Shiesty Season, and “Back In Blood” is enough of a banger that we can consider that mission accomplished.
Watch Pooh Shiesty’s “Back In Blood” performance with Lil Durk above.
Pooh Shiesty is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
