Hustle By Any Means Necessary

Last week you could have found me anywhere & everywhere around Los Angeles. On Wednesday, unbeknownst to me I had decided to go to the Scion House Party at King King with Detroit Legend Jeff “The Wizard” Mills instead of Low End Theory with apparently special guests Fly Lo & Erykah Badu. I arrived at King King about 11ish hoping to miss a big line and the line wasn’t super big but these guys made us wait because they were at capacity. After about 10 minutes I got in before some people ahead of me because they were in groups but only 1 person could go in. Once I was in I could definitely hear some banging techno and low and behold, The Wizard was already up. King King is fairly small with just the main dance area & 2 bars with a few booths. $9 tall can sapporos is a nice touch though. Check out a few pictures I got from the night.

Now on Thursday, I was hoping to be forced into a situation. Stone’s Throw was having a 15 year anniversary with a live direct-to-vinyl series and Total Science was headlining at Respect. The Stone’s Throw party was invite only & they were doing a random email for 100 people. Unfortunately I didn’t get emailed, so I just went to Respect. Now Total Science aren’t slouches by no means, the producer of Champion Sound are instrumental in the evolution of Drum & Bass as we know it today. I got there and was able to catch the end of Rob Machete’s set and he was just murdering it. I never expect anything less from Mr. Junglist Platoon, who has been repping Drum & Bass for the Southern California community for the last 2 decades. Total Science did not disappoint. He came with a harddrive full of VIP’s, remixes and unreleased dubs. That is why I love Southern California.

Friday night I kept it low pro and just stayed down in the County, but on Saturday I went to my cousin Mitchel’s house for a little party for his 23rd birthday. That fool got FUCKED up. His boys got him drunk and he puked twice. This was just my pre-partying before I headed downtown to the El Cid for BWOMP. Once I got downtown, there wasn’t any line to get into the El Cid & the security didn’t pat anybody down. I love the location & layout of this spot. It’s right on Sunset Blvd. near Santa Monica Blvd. This whole area has a very strange topography and there’s bridges and underpasses everywhere. The El Cid is right next to a bridge and the El Cid capitalizes on this and when you first walk in, you walk down 2 stories and theres the venue. Outside in the smoking area, the view is just great. There’s an elevated patio about 1/2 a story up and shows so much potential if the owners wanted to renovate to add more useable space to create a much larger nicer club.

When I first got there Demon0ne was up on deck just annihilating it with that Los Angeles Filth. The crowd was already pumped and the ceiling was dripping condensation off of the HVAC system. Inside and outside was just packed, shoulder to shoulder. Later on in the night I went back stage and did a product promotion for the T E A Agency. I handed a few shirts for the Mc to throw into the crowd & the crowd went nuts (obviously, who doesn’t like free gear)? Later on we didn’t end up going to an after party & I just went back down to the County to kick it at my boy’s.

I don’t usually go out on Sundays but it was I <3 LA the 420 celebration. Straight day rave style going from 2pm-2am. 12 hours of mayhem, 3 areas, graffiti and lots & lots of sloppiness. After lagging for most of the afternoon, I got myself into gear and headed to my cousin Julie’s new house in Eagle Rock. My how things have changed in the last 15 years. When I was in high school, Eagle Rock was over run with gangsters and very poor minorities but the last 15 years have seen gentrification and college graduates from Occidental College planting roots and pushing the community forward.

So after everyone’s continual lagging, we finally left and got to the Airliner at about 11PM. Coincidentally my boy Demon0ne was on right as we were walking through the door just smashing it. I immediately got myself a Red Stripe which happens to be priced very economically for LA at $5 for a bottle or tall can. Later on in the night, my cousin, her friend & I were all dancing upstairs to some classic Drum & Bass anthems & I hear this ruckus and all of sudden get pushed in the back. I turn around & see some guy struggling with a security guard so I stand in front of my cousin & push them back to keep them out of harms way but stay close enough to watch the action. This guy must have been hella fucked up because he would NOT stop struggling & fighting with the bouncers, but finally was tossed down the stairs. That was definitely the highlight of my night as I’m sure it was for a bunch of others patrons. All in all it was a pretty dope week.

Handle It.