Continuing to rise as one of the most elite emcees to come out of Atlanta, at least in this modern era of Hip-Hop, J.I.D has gone back to work in 2025 with a dope new addition to his ever expanding discography. Now on his fourth album under J. Cole’s Dreamville Records, J.I.D released God Does Like Ugly in August, and this Fall has embarked on the God Does Like Paradise Tour to promote the new music. The tour will see him hitting 35+ cities in North America before heading out to Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Asia in 2026, truly making this a world tour. Just on the fifth stop of the tour, his show in Toronto would be at Rebel Nightclub on a Wednesday night, and would mark the biggest concert he’s done in the city to date as a headliner.

Although not quite sold out, Rebel felt like a packed house with fans of all ages in the building. I got to the venue about an hour after doors had opened, feeling pissed off from seeing the price of parking jump to over $30 with no other options nearby, but things would turn around once the show got started. After getting settled in with a round of drinks, there wouldn’t be much of a wait before the openers started the show, and things moved quickly between sets with minimal wait time.

While I was unfamiliar with the openers on this tour, they all performed with good energy and cut through sharply with their vocals. Kicking things off would be an emcee from New Jersey named Chris Patrick, and he’d get the crowd vibing as he opened his set with the song “Gang Activity.” He had a solid 6-song set, and the highlight had to be the way he closed out, performing an emotional freestyle verse about the struggles he’s overcome over the beat from Kendrick Lamar’s “Man At The Garden;” the whole crowd was chanting his name by the end of it. He’d be followed by Atlanta emcee Swavay, who had some dope interactions with the crowd throughout his set, taking a fan’s phone at one point to film himself on stage while he rapped. He’d close out with the song “All I Do,” getting the crowd to put up their phones and lighters and wave their arms to the beat.

After a solid 15-20 minutes from each of the two openers, there would be a 15-minute break before J.I.D came out on stage. With the backdrop on stage looking like a bomb bunker with hazmat suits hanging on the wall, J.I.D would come out dressed like he was straight out of the Dune films, and with Christo backing him behind the turntables, they’d set things off with track one off the new album, “YouUgly.” Some of the crowd pushed through to get to the front and everyone had their hands up as J.I.D continued on his performance with “Glory,” the choir sample in the beat sounding epic on the big speakers. J.I.D would crouch down at the front of the stage as the beat built up to “Community,” and the fans got hyped as anticipation built to hear one of the most emotionally aggressive verses of J.I.D’s career. The energy got absolutely cranked once the beat dropped and he jumped into the verse.

Taking off the Dune-style jacket as the heat got turned up, J.I.D would rock a couple more fan favourites from the first half of the new album, including “VCRs” and “Gz” before starting to get into some throwbacks. He’d perform the certified head-nodder off of 2022’s The Forever Story, “Crack Sandwich” and would take some time out to acknowledge the Toronto crowd’s energy and support, even shouting out “go Jays!” with many fans hyped to see the Blue Jays play in the MLB World Series this week. Having been showing off his ability to spit chopper-style, rapid-fire raps with no backing vocals, he’d switch things up and go on to perform what he called some of his more foundational songs, performing some of his softer sung vocals and getting the crowd to join in on the hooks for “Workin Out” and “Kody Blu 31.” After another Forever Story cut with “Stars,” we’d return to the new album, with Christo playing the “And We Vibing (interlude)” as an effective palate cleanser.

J.I.D would shout “we just getting started!!” as he got into one of the most hype songs off the new album, “Off McAfee,” which got the entire crowd jumping as he nailed the fast flow. He’d go from aggression to feel-good vibes, next performing an Atlanta anthem with the EarthGang & Ciara-assisted “Sk8,” encouraging the fans to dance. The energy would get cranked again as more Forever Story cuts came next, fans shouting out the bars as J.I.D performed “Raydar,” and bouncing to the beat and jumping to “Dance Now.” J.I.D would then take it back to his 2017 debut The Never Story, reflecting on his come-up days and having a full-circle moment by smiling into the camera and proudly showing off his Rolex as that chorus hit:

“Never been shit, never had shit, never knew shit, never out, never do shit, damn
But a n**** never gave two shits; never been a bitch
Never had a Rollie on the wrist!”

Not only was J.I.D literally wearing a Rolex all these years later a dope full-circle moment, but when the beat flipped halfway through the song for the second verse, he let the crowd rap the verse for him and it was my first time actually seeing a crowd nail it! This is when you know J.I.D no longer needs to prove that he’s dope to gain new fans, as the fans in the building are already familiar and know the lyrics to one of his oldest songs. He’d give the crowd their props for knowing the words and would say “don’t worry, I’ll take care of all of the rapping now” before getting into one of the most complex and difficult flows to rap: “151 Rum.” He’d of course nail the rapid-fire flow effortlessly as the crowd bounced to the beat.

Keeping the energy high, J.I.D next performed his verse off the Dreamville collab joint “Down Bad” before returning to the new album, doing another crunk-styled standout with “WRK,” the crowd consistently bouncing and jumping to every song. It would be time to mellow out a bit, as a video played on the big screen of singer Mereba singing the opening to “Of Blue” before J.I.D got into his verse on the song. The mellow vibes wouldn’t last long though, as next would be one of J.I.D’s biggest hits with “Surround Sound,” with tributes to Aretha Franklin’s “One Step Ahead” and Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty” playing on the screen to introduce the sample used to make the beat. Once J.I.D’s version of the beat dropped, the entire crowd turned up once again, and the bounce on “Surround Sound” would turn into full jumps as J.I.D got into another Dreamville collab, “Stick.” Chris Patrick and Swavay would join J.I.D on stage to hype the crowd up as J.I.D rocked the track, this song being the last one he’d actually perform.

After an hour-long set filled with hype beats, rapid-fire raps, and a lot of jumping, J.I.D would close out the show by playing the last song off of God Does Like Ugly, “For Keeps,” and coming down to the floor to sign autographs as the song played in the background.

Overall, this was one of the most energetic concerts of the year. It’s been dope to witness J.I.D’s journey and the constant elevation every time he returns on tour. He’s one of the best out when it comes to rapping really, really fast, and even when he misses a word in the verse here and there, the way he just picks up and continues seamlessly to the next bar is a skill in and of itself. It’s a sight to see J.I.D perform these lyrical gymnastics, and the energy he’s able to bring out of the crowd is another factor that makes his show incredible. The way J.I.D builds on Hip-Hop’s foundations of raw skill, lyrical dexterity and being able to move a crowd with just a microphone, it feels safe to say that he’s one of the faces of Hip-Hop’s future.

The God Does Like Paradise Tour continues through North America to December, followed by runs in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Asia in 2026! Tickets and tour dates can be found here.

Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen J.I.D perform live over the years!

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos, simply from an average fan’s perspective.

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