Last night (Aug. 11), Jamie xx played a special Boiler Room DJ set in NYC. The night was billed as "Good Times with Jamie xx and guests," and it was just that. Two special guests joined xx in the Boiler Room: first, one of dancehall's biggest stars, Gyptian, and Young Thug, who performed "Good Times" live for the first time ever.
The producer began the night with an old classic, a remix of Gil Scott-Heron's "I'll Take Care of U" from early 2011. The track was one of a few Heron remixes that helped kick start Jamie's solo career and the instrumental was soon used by Drake and Rihanna on "Take Care."
He went on to play a few songs from his critically acclaimed new album In Colour, such as "The Rest is Noise," "Sleep Sound" and "Obvs."
The first special guest came out during the second half of the set -- a man xx has never collaborated with: dancehall hit maker Gyptian. They began with Gyptian's latest summer hit, "All On Me," before going into his biggest track ever, 2010's "Hold Yuh."
Earlier that day, Young Thug was videotaped "hovering through Times Square" with Alex Tumay, his engineer, so fans were expecting him to grace the Boiler Room with his presence.
Hovering through Times Square with @youngthug pic.twitter.com/1hZNQRr3FQ — Alex Tumay: Engineer (@alextumay) August 10, 2015
However, Thug didn't come out until several minutes after Jamie began "Good Times," recently named Spotify's "Song of the Summer." He first played the original "Good Times," released by The Persuasions in 1972, off which his version is based. He then went into a recent remix -- not that of grime emcee Skepta -- but a dancehall remix featuring Assassin, Konshens, Kranium and an added verse from Popcaan, who featured on the original. That remix was put together by Dre Skull, owner of Mixpak Records, to which Popcaan is signed.
After the remix, Jamie finally made way for Thug, who entered sporting sunglasses, freshly-died grey dreadlocks and, of course, a styrofoam cup. Thug rapped both of his verses, holding surprising command of the microphone amid his off-key vocal acrobatics.
As of now, the performance is still being streamed over at Boiler Room and on Dailymotion.