Luckily, it was all worth it. Here's a timeline:
3:00 pm: I'm struggling to finish typing up the interview for Amanda Diva. Just I finish, I realize the voice recorder the radio station gave me was fucked up. It kept saying it was "locked." And the directions, which I "downloaded" online, doesn't even tell you how to fucking UNLOCK it. So I run out my dorm and begin my search for a Radioshack.
3:15 pm: I kept imagining this Radioshack that actually doesn't exist. So basically, I walk about 8 blocks until I realize I'm going in the wrong direction. Then I walk 8 blocks in the opposite direction. So, in case you're keeping score at home, I walked 16 total blocks, although I really only had to walk 2. Nice.
3:34 pm: I'm just about to reach Radioshack. But I get a phone call from AD's camp asking directions from Baltimore. I'm a dumb motherfucker when it comes to giving/following directions unless I have taken the route a million times. So I end up calling Moms (thank you) and she mapquests that shit. Luckily, they were on point.
3:57 pm: I get to Radioshack. And wouldn't you know it, the place is fucking packed. At the register a very American manager is speaking to a very Latino customer in fluent Spanish and these two carry on the longest conversation about god knows what. It took nearly 15 minutes for these two to end their love affair, and once it was over the manager switched right back into his average American accent. Yet there was another customer ahead of me, so add an extra 10 minutes there. Overall, I spent about a half an hour at Radioshack. And spent 80 dollars. Yeah.
4:24 pm: I'm back at my dorm. I get another call from the AD camp. They're almost here, and I'm scrambling to figure out how to use the new voice recorder. I stuff everything imaginable into my backpack and run over to the student center. My man Acey Blackstar meets me over there. On the way, I find out I get to interview Emily King this weekend. Dope.
4:56 pm: We begin the interview inside the MCC. Amanda Diva has some great responses, perhaps it's because she's so experienced on the radio. Out of all my interviews yet, I ended up doing the least talking. And that's a good thing.
5:45 pm: We wrap up the interview and say our thanks. Benson got some great pictures, (which hopefully you'll get to see very soon). They inform me I've gotta be at the 930 club by 6:30 pm. That means little homie's got rush.
6:00 pm: I'm running down the stairs of my building in a total rush. I hit the ATM and run out the building. I throw my hand up at the first cab I see and hop in. Halfway around the block I realize my ATM card is still in the machine. I ask dude to turn around and I jump back in the dorm. No card in the machine. Luckily, one of our "everyday-friendly" UPD officers has it in his pocket. No identity theft this time, muhfucka.
6:20 pm: Im at the spot waiting outside with 4 people who end up all waiting for Amanda. 15 minutes later we're inside 930 watching opening act Optimus soundcheck. I'm thinking, who the fuck are these dudes? They ended up rocking the crowd.
7:30 pm: Doors open and I head up to the balcony to my usual spot on stage right. Hipsters rush right up to the stage and stuff their posters in their Jansports. The DJ starts to play some Mos, Nas, and Pharcyde. He puts on De La and asks the crowd who's heard 3 Feet High and the crowd is silent. Instantly, he responds with "that's what I thought." Shoutout to MN8 for putting on these great shows at 930. And yeah, the crowd was mad young. (But who am I to talk?)
8:15 pm: Deev gets up there and kills it. It's shame she was the first artist out there, and only got to perform two songs. Fuck that. Just like on the radio, she's got a great presence whether it be over the air or with the crowd. Go cop Life Experience, now.
8:45 pm: EDIT: Reemstarr made his appearance. My earlier comments have been removed. I LOVE DC HIP HOP!
9:15 pm: Optimus hits the stage with a very solid band. Dude's sthick is cool, and he def got the crowd moving. I guess Lu found him out in LA and brought him along for the entire tour. He was very grateful to be in the position he was in. Shortly after his set begins, Eric and Nathan scramble upstairs after copping tickets at the last minute.
10:15 pm: After three opening acts, Lupe finally wanders out on stage. The concept for the first half of his set was very cool. The lights would dim and he would ask the crowd "do you remember when?" and go right into some of the tracks that made him famous. He rocked over "Feel Good Inc" and got the crowd moving to Food & Liquor hits like "I Gotcha" and "Daydream." The latter was one of those joints that just cannot fail in concert. Except for the fact Matthew Santos was introduced to sing it, while I much rather had heard Sarah Green or Nikki Jean do the part.
10:35 pm: First, I look over at the soundbooth and spot Nikki Jean rocking out way in the back. Why ain't she on stage? And then, directly to her right is the homie Wale. Just chillin. No one noticed him, and he ducked out about halfway through Lu's set. (See Wale's appearance on Rhymefest's Man in the Mirror mixtape)
11:15 pm: Honestly, the set is very, very long. As he eases into some of The Cool tracks, Nikki Jean finally jumps on stage for "Hip Hop Saved My Life" and sticks around for "Little Weapon" with Bishop G. Nikki looked beyond ecstatic to be there, which was very cool. Honestly, Lupe put it all out there. The show was live, man. Packed from wall to wall, and everyone was feeling it.
We ducked outta there around 12:15, and headed on over to Ben's Chili Bowl, which was ultimately a horrible choice come this morning. I feel like shit but once again, I'm happy that yesterday was sucha solid night.
Thanks to Amanda Diva, and to Nikki, I hope we get to speak soon! Look out for the AD interview Saturday morning right here on the blog, or tune into FF next week for the official broadcast.
