Recap.
HHK Host and Hypeman, Diggedy, and I, DJ Wex, decided to give everybody a look into our heads on the night of big HHK Championship. i know, scary, right?
if you're interested, here's our recap:
Wex: 4 months. Jay, Digs, and I spent over 4 months working on the championship. Countless hours of work all put into one night. Needless to say, in the days leading up to the event, we were nervous. but when 9pm came around on Friday, January 25th, we were ready. More than ready. We were AMPED. I was so friggin' ready to finally stop TALKING about the Championship and actually SHOW everybody how amazing these 12 people were. So when doors opened, i hopped on the turntables like Josh would hop on a free pair of 50 yard line Super Bowl tickets. You didn't have to tell me twice.
Diggedy: It's true. I heart Giants Super Bowl tickets. I was in the dressing room when Wex dropped the first record. The first thought that came into my head was "Holy sh*t they opened doors." It was a sight to see backstage. In this small ass room the size of a closet you had 12 HHK vets, 4 trays of food, boxes of Guinness and Heinekens, Dres, Prince Paul, a drum, and the upper half of a dress mannequin. It had pretty much everything except forks and a bottle opener. The thing I remember most, is sitting in a chair next to Chef, and the SECOND Wex drops a record, we're spitting along to the track. It's 30 minutes 'til we're all about to get on stage in front of a packed house, and everyone is rapping along to the Juice Crew and breaking down their favorite Masta Ace album like they're in the cafeteria before homeroom. Hip Hop junkies with no hope for a cure, and the biggest fix of our lives just a moment away.
Wex: So about 10:30pm, the Highline Ballroom was full, and it was time to get it started. To properly start things off, I threw on a loop from that scene at the end of the movie "Juice" where Q was walking around looking for Bishop (Diggedy's idea). It was pretty fresh, if I do say so myself. The lights went dark on stage, that music was playing, and I gave Diggedy one last dap right before we walked on-stage to open the show with our intro. It came off really well, i think. Especially the moment where the crowd did the "Juicy" sing-a-long (again, Diggedy idea) - that was really amazing. From there, we introduced the judges one by one, they sat down, and we brought out Camille to start the show. "This is a public service announcement sponsored by...."
Diggedy: I had spent 3 months dreaming about the intro (I don't get out much). I always equate my feelings prior to taking the stage with a line from Evidence of Dilated Peoples : "I know my hunger's real I still get nauseous before my shows." I can't wait to experience what I'm about to do, yet at the same time, I can't wait for it to be over so that I can relax. Once I heard the bass for "I Got It Made", I morphed from Josh Dick to Josh Diggedy and before I knew it, I was saying "If you don't know, now you know." The crowd was beautiful. Once Camille came out, I exhaled, and for the first time in 3 years of hosting this event I actually got to be a fan. Just sit back, relax, and watch some of my favorite performers go to work. I mentioned this in a blog post, but I really thought everyone killed it in round 1. I'm sure everyone was paying attention to our dirty dozen, but if you looked carefully in the background, you saw me acting the fool in the background. It took all my will power to not jump in front of the stage and start, well, being a hype man. When the round was over, I actually had no idea who was advancing and who wasn't. I was yelling for Jay to bring me the list. Partially because I had nothing to say after 5 minutes (please tell me I didn't give a "real hip hop" speech. I did? F*ck), but mostly because I was dying to see who was advancing. Jay emerged, the 6 were announced, I got my diva on and had a wardrobe change, and then on to Round 2.
Wex: I always enjoy crafting an intro with Diggedy. He comes over my apartment, I play some loops on the trusty SP-505, he lights up over one, he writes 4 bars, we figure out the transitions, and BOOM, YOU HAVE A WORLD CLASS INTRO TO A HIP HOP KARAOKE SHOW. Back to the Championship. Round 2 was a highlight to me. Mostly because I felt that the nerves had left the building (for us AND for the 6 performers). That's when I was able to stop thinking about the logistics of the show, how many people were in the room, what the hell was my dad doing there (he surprised me and flew in from florida to be in the house), etc. That's also when I realized that being on a riser, although a great look, makes the turntable setup waaaaay too prone to vibration. Shout out to Axiom for knowing what internal mode is & for being cool when the 'Ante Up' beat got shook.
Diggedy: I don't want to get into breaking down any of the performances. I had so many highlights. However, I think there's no harm in saying what my personal favorite was for the evening. It took place in Round 2. When Doni D took the stage and dropped the immortal "I'm Greg Nice, and I am MC Smooth B, together we are Nice and Smooth...", and that bridged right into "Hey yo Dizzy Gillespie plays a sax", it was a wrap. It's not even about the impressions (even though Doni mimics Smooth like only Smooth can). There was something about that song, and that performance, at that time of the show, that I thought the roof was about to blow off the HighLine. Funky for you? Indeed.
Wex: Well, if Diggedy is allowed to site a personal highlight, then so am I! I really enjoyed the props, personally. K-Dot's walkie talkie was pretty damn fresh. So was everything that Ax did. And Elizabeth's shirts. And Doni's use of the mic stand. I'm a sucker for that stuff. All of it was truly entertaining. So yea, then came Round 3 with Scooter, Chef, and Doni. The show was just about over at this point, but I didn't want it to end. But at the same time, after working on something for 4 months, I was SO happy it was almost over. Long story short, Chef wins, I drop 'Roc Boys', and we have a great ending to a great night - including getting to fulfill the lifetime dream (of ALL of us, I'm sure) of performing 'Choice is Yours' with Dres. Shout out to Dres for being cool enough to do his classic song with a bunch fans! After that, the people cleared out, I packed up the DJ equipment, and hopped into a cab bound for Astoria with Newmie. Got home at 4:30am, slept a few hours, and prepared for the day of showin' my pops around New Yawk. Good times. Thank you to everybody who made it all possible.
Diggedy: I've watched the MSG NY clip, specifically the part where Wex drops "Roc Boys" and I go "and the winner is.... CHEF!" 1000 times. I just love the choice of music, the exact moment it dropped, and Chef's face. If you watched carefully, an impromptu HHK session broke out on stage as we all started singing Jay's first verse. Obviously having everyone up there for "Choice Is Yours" was classic. After the show ended, I went upstairs, had about 3 of those cold rice balls in the catering area, drank a water, sat down, and reflected. Shout out to Gusto for driving me back to my apt. J. New, Gusto and I sat around the Diggedy crib discussing the evening until almost 5am. I woke up the next afternoon, showered, and went to Medieval Times in New Jersey. Back to reality.
if you're interested, here's our recap:
Wex: 4 months. Jay, Digs, and I spent over 4 months working on the championship. Countless hours of work all put into one night. Needless to say, in the days leading up to the event, we were nervous. but when 9pm came around on Friday, January 25th, we were ready. More than ready. We were AMPED. I was so friggin' ready to finally stop TALKING about the Championship and actually SHOW everybody how amazing these 12 people were. So when doors opened, i hopped on the turntables like Josh would hop on a free pair of 50 yard line Super Bowl tickets. You didn't have to tell me twice.
Diggedy: It's true. I heart Giants Super Bowl tickets. I was in the dressing room when Wex dropped the first record. The first thought that came into my head was "Holy sh*t they opened doors." It was a sight to see backstage. In this small ass room the size of a closet you had 12 HHK vets, 4 trays of food, boxes of Guinness and Heinekens, Dres, Prince Paul, a drum, and the upper half of a dress mannequin. It had pretty much everything except forks and a bottle opener. The thing I remember most, is sitting in a chair next to Chef, and the SECOND Wex drops a record, we're spitting along to the track. It's 30 minutes 'til we're all about to get on stage in front of a packed house, and everyone is rapping along to the Juice Crew and breaking down their favorite Masta Ace album like they're in the cafeteria before homeroom. Hip Hop junkies with no hope for a cure, and the biggest fix of our lives just a moment away.
Wex: So about 10:30pm, the Highline Ballroom was full, and it was time to get it started. To properly start things off, I threw on a loop from that scene at the end of the movie "Juice" where Q was walking around looking for Bishop (Diggedy's idea). It was pretty fresh, if I do say so myself. The lights went dark on stage, that music was playing, and I gave Diggedy one last dap right before we walked on-stage to open the show with our intro. It came off really well, i think. Especially the moment where the crowd did the "Juicy" sing-a-long (again, Diggedy idea) - that was really amazing. From there, we introduced the judges one by one, they sat down, and we brought out Camille to start the show. "This is a public service announcement sponsored by...."
Diggedy: I had spent 3 months dreaming about the intro (I don't get out much). I always equate my feelings prior to taking the stage with a line from Evidence of Dilated Peoples : "I know my hunger's real I still get nauseous before my shows." I can't wait to experience what I'm about to do, yet at the same time, I can't wait for it to be over so that I can relax. Once I heard the bass for "I Got It Made", I morphed from Josh Dick to Josh Diggedy and before I knew it, I was saying "If you don't know, now you know." The crowd was beautiful. Once Camille came out, I exhaled, and for the first time in 3 years of hosting this event I actually got to be a fan. Just sit back, relax, and watch some of my favorite performers go to work. I mentioned this in a blog post, but I really thought everyone killed it in round 1. I'm sure everyone was paying attention to our dirty dozen, but if you looked carefully in the background, you saw me acting the fool in the background. It took all my will power to not jump in front of the stage and start, well, being a hype man. When the round was over, I actually had no idea who was advancing and who wasn't. I was yelling for Jay to bring me the list. Partially because I had nothing to say after 5 minutes (please tell me I didn't give a "real hip hop" speech. I did? F*ck), but mostly because I was dying to see who was advancing. Jay emerged, the 6 were announced, I got my diva on and had a wardrobe change, and then on to Round 2.
Wex: I always enjoy crafting an intro with Diggedy. He comes over my apartment, I play some loops on the trusty SP-505, he lights up over one, he writes 4 bars, we figure out the transitions, and BOOM, YOU HAVE A WORLD CLASS INTRO TO A HIP HOP KARAOKE SHOW. Back to the Championship. Round 2 was a highlight to me. Mostly because I felt that the nerves had left the building (for us AND for the 6 performers). That's when I was able to stop thinking about the logistics of the show, how many people were in the room, what the hell was my dad doing there (he surprised me and flew in from florida to be in the house), etc. That's also when I realized that being on a riser, although a great look, makes the turntable setup waaaaay too prone to vibration. Shout out to Axiom for knowing what internal mode is & for being cool when the 'Ante Up' beat got shook.
Diggedy: I don't want to get into breaking down any of the performances. I had so many highlights. However, I think there's no harm in saying what my personal favorite was for the evening. It took place in Round 2. When Doni D took the stage and dropped the immortal "I'm Greg Nice, and I am MC Smooth B, together we are Nice and Smooth...", and that bridged right into "Hey yo Dizzy Gillespie plays a sax", it was a wrap. It's not even about the impressions (even though Doni mimics Smooth like only Smooth can). There was something about that song, and that performance, at that time of the show, that I thought the roof was about to blow off the HighLine. Funky for you? Indeed.
Wex: Well, if Diggedy is allowed to site a personal highlight, then so am I! I really enjoyed the props, personally. K-Dot's walkie talkie was pretty damn fresh. So was everything that Ax did. And Elizabeth's shirts. And Doni's use of the mic stand. I'm a sucker for that stuff. All of it was truly entertaining. So yea, then came Round 3 with Scooter, Chef, and Doni. The show was just about over at this point, but I didn't want it to end. But at the same time, after working on something for 4 months, I was SO happy it was almost over. Long story short, Chef wins, I drop 'Roc Boys', and we have a great ending to a great night - including getting to fulfill the lifetime dream (of ALL of us, I'm sure) of performing 'Choice is Yours' with Dres. Shout out to Dres for being cool enough to do his classic song with a bunch fans! After that, the people cleared out, I packed up the DJ equipment, and hopped into a cab bound for Astoria with Newmie. Got home at 4:30am, slept a few hours, and prepared for the day of showin' my pops around New Yawk. Good times. Thank you to everybody who made it all possible.
Diggedy: I've watched the MSG NY clip, specifically the part where Wex drops "Roc Boys" and I go "and the winner is.... CHEF!" 1000 times. I just love the choice of music, the exact moment it dropped, and Chef's face. If you watched carefully, an impromptu HHK session broke out on stage as we all started singing Jay's first verse. Obviously having everyone up there for "Choice Is Yours" was classic. After the show ended, I went upstairs, had about 3 of those cold rice balls in the catering area, drank a water, sat down, and reflected. Shout out to Gusto for driving me back to my apt. J. New, Gusto and I sat around the Diggedy crib discussing the evening until almost 5am. I woke up the next afternoon, showered, and went to Medieval Times in New Jersey. Back to reality.
posted by Hip Hop Karaoke :: NYC at 4:40 PM
2 Comments:
nice timing. recap blog on the same day i finally managed to drop my tux off at the dry cleaners.
medieval times is the greatest.
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