Concerts Events Fashion/Art Listening Parties

TOKiMONSTA, Anderson .Paak, Dumbfoundead, Jhene Aiko & JAY IDK All In One Night

September 23, 2017

Friday, September 22

Tonight, I had 3 events after work and must have bailed and committed 3x throughout the day. I was a mess. Sometimes, I can’t even take myself seriously. After getting home at 1:30am, I had a moment of clarity. This was all worth it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BZWgquaAkEY/?taken-by=jay_idk

The evening started with IDK, formerly known as Jay IDK. I asked him why he dropped the Jay in his name, because most people know him as Jay IDK. His answer revolved around him moving on from a piece of him that is no longer there. But anyways. This was the private listening party for his new album IWASVERYBAD, which drops on October 13. Huge thanks to Noah for the invite. The fact that you could RSVP via text and get updates throughout the evening… it’s lit lmao.

First of all, hello 90210, aka Beverly Hills. I pull up to the nicest hotel on Sunset and San Vicente and find my way inside the London Cinema Room. The event said 7pm, which gave me a nice buffer to get lost in the Hollywood hills on my way over after work. My homegirl from the Bay FaceTimed me so that didn’t help lmao but I literally am queen of missing turns. Luckily, I arrive right at the end of the small talk hour.
 I was very excited to meet IDK… again. Maybe not. Who knows lmao. I feel like I’ve met him before. I’ve definitely posted his music. He’s this underground kid from Maryland who can fucking spit. I love that people actually know him and fuck with him. Especially in the industry. He was such a sweetheart and so is his manager. Good energy all around. Everybody was turnt, getting drinks and what not. I was definitely excited to enter the bougie screening room. There was a sign that said no cell phones. I proceed to hop on the free wifi lmao.

 Hollllllyyyy hell. Shout out to all my fucking peoples in the room tonight. Seriously. I had a blast. How I ended up in the second row sandwiched between two friends who partied in Korea with my ex- I will never know. It’s not the industry that’s small. It’s the world lmao. Okay, anyways. Only a hand-selected group of people were invited to this. That made everyone in the room feel special af lmao.

This wasn’t just any old album rollout, IDK got the support of Adult Swim behind him. Bruh, that’s super lit. First single, “Baby Scale” with Young Gleesh, doesn’t even begin to capture what we heard tonight. When his manager intro-ed the project, which is an autobiography of Jay’s life, he had to shout out Mike Dean in the building. Legendary producer.

What I heard wasn’t just good, it had me LIT. Like, we couldn’t help but bang our heads to the beat. For a second, we questioned if we were just lit, or if this shit was actually solid. We concluded the latter. Enclosed in a dark room with nothing but the music blaring and song titles on the screen, this was so intimate. Features on deck. I’m talking Swizz Beatz, MF Doom, Chief Keef… can’t wait for this to drop.

 Unfortunately, I had to dip out a little early to make it to Jhene Aiko‘s listening. I tweeted this earlier today on my one-hour commute from job to job. Bae surprise dropped a project on us and I’ve been listening all day. The first song “Lsd” on Trip had me legit wanting to go back 5 years and drops acid with my best friends. Like, it made me so nostalgic I started crying lmao. Emo. A.F.

Also, “Sativa” with Swae Lee was made for me. But anyways. Tonight was her exclusive project listening party with Def Jam Records. I mob with the same two homies from IDK to EB Gallery on Beverly in Weho. Jhene is fucking bae. You don’t get invited to a Jhene event and not go. Love her mostly because she’s so fucking real. And loves to blaze. Yas queen. The project came with a short film also. My homegirl said this had her balling. I’m scared to watch it lmao.

 Literally can’t get over how hard I tried to post this 3-second clip to DX gram. And completely failed. It was too short. Everyone was telling me to download an app to loop it but hi. I’m technologically challenged. Later, the quality didn’t transfer. Sigh. Jhene looked so fire. But not like she ever doesn’t lmao. Literally with or without makeup, she’s fucking beautiful. I’m jealous I missed her set at Lightning In A Bottle. I feel like that festival was made for her.
 Beyond anything, this was a celebration of Trip. This is the most personal piece of work of her career thus far. It highlights what she went through when she lost her brother. and also her beautiful relationship with Big Sean. The Eric Buterbaugh Gallery could not have been more perfect (art galleries for life). Also, free valet. I literally almost cried lmao. It’s the little things.
 The thirsty ass pic lmao. I literally felt dumb for this but my girl Jasmine had me (love you). I got to tell Jhene how her album made me cry today and she told me it made everyone cry lmao. That made me feel basic. Shout out to Alex, Tammy, Mackensy, Waverly, Simone, Def Jam, and everyone else for throwing the most intimate, fitting listening party for Jhene. Everyone in the industry was here.

I had to quickly cut out for the last event of the evening. I couldn’t have made a better decision by not skipping this show- the perfect ending to my brazy week. Ladies and gentlemen: TOKiMONSTA. My Asian inspiration. For those who don’t know, Toki suffers from a rare brain condition called Moyamoya. She just bounced back from brain surgery at Stanford, which had her facing the reality that she may never make music again. Brain surgery, you guys. Like, that’s terrifying.

Tonight, she was coming back to her hometown. Her music is like psychedelic Hip Hop meets EDM. Basically, it’s heaven for your ears. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her sets in my raving days, super fucked up. Lmao. Tonight, I really took her in. She’s our age too (30)! We looked it up when we got there lmao. Yes, she’s Asian. Yes, I’m Asian. Yes, there’s an unspoken love. After surgery, she had to re-learn how to talk and walk. 3 months later, she played Coachella. Bruh. Just saw she linked with Isaiah Rashad and Joey Purp for a single. Must have not noticed when she performed it tonight, but that’s fucking gold. Zay is so dope.

Huge thanks to Dana and Humbert for the invite. I actually wasn’t sure I was able to make it, because like I said, I was having one of those days. Luckily, my plus one was lit af. We pull up to The Wiltern on Wilshire to find no tickets under my name lmao. But he knew basically everyone in there tonight and landed us all access passes, just like that. Tony, ily. Homeboy is one of the most lit shooters in the game. I fucking love my talented friends. Thanks to him for not only getting me in, but also convincing me to push. This is the definition of #FOMO.

After an unsuccessful attempt at getting some footage in the photo pit, we make our way around to the pit. Huge thanks to Silvia for taking care of us, even though we had credentials. Security can be so extra. Perfect timing for this next moment: Dumbfoundead popping up on stage. So here for it. The fact that we didn’t know this was happening made it so much better. Dumb is probably the best Asian rapper in the game. Facts. And shout out to Rekstizzy being the most lit hype man… ever. Homeboy gives me life.

It was literally all fam out tonight. We head backstage to say whatsup and were welcomed with Anderson .Paak. Him and Dumb were so lit back there, it was the cutest thing. Real recognize real. Lots of talent in one vicinity. I asked Dumb what song performed, because I wasn’t sure it was a collab with Toki. It was actually “Hit And Run” with the homie Nocando. He had The Wiltern so fucking lit. It was epic.

The cat was out of the bag the second we entered backstage. Security and staff kept giving everyone a countdown of when Paak would be taking the stage for his turn surprising the people. Before we head back out, .Paak and I shared a solid few minutes praising T.F. He was playing a record he had just done with T.F in the stu, and I couldn’t get over it. That’s the homie. I had to text him lmao. We were literally putting everybody in the room on who he was.  Toki and .Paak did two songs together, one being their single “Put It Down.” The crowd was definitely here for this. The synergy on stage… magical.

I was proud of actually making it to the end of the show lmao. We left after she played her last track. Came home to some beautiful texts from the homie who went to see Goldlink at The Observatory tonight. Was able to plug him and after my own experience last night, I literally could not wait for my friends to experience it also. Music makes the world go ’round.

0 Comments

You Might Also Like

Marciano Art Foundation & Den Of Thieves = A Perfect Saturday

January 21, 2018

SoMo Does It For The Females On #TheAnswersTour In Los Angeles

June 10, 2017

G Herbo Brings Out Juice Wrld & Lil Bibby At Catch One In LA

November 8, 2018

No Comments

Leave a Reply