don’t believe the hype

they said it best on the bbc show hustle…

…”if something seems to good to be true, it probably is”.

okay, so they didn’t originate that…but it’s where i heard it most recently, so it’s where it’s stuck in my head from. and it’s pretty fucking accurate as well, i should add.

take tuesday night for example – i had gotten a call several weeks from an old friend that’s now a party promote. note that i didn’t say “party planner”, like he’ll put together your wedding reception and shit. he’s a “party promote” – think what were (still are?) called “raves” back in the 1990’s. yeah, that kind of shit. been doing it for over a decade…so he has a connection or two. so anyway, he calls a few weeks ago and said he had it leaked to him that andre 3000 (of outkast) was gonna be in down to do a “secret show” and asked if i was down to join him for it. “sure”, i replied, doubting it was true, and more so doubting he’d remember to call me when said event occurred.

well, he did remember – and called me tuesday to say he was on his way to the venue to confirm he had the right amount of guest list slots and then would text me and have me join accordingly and to give him a half hour. and hour and a half later i texted him after not hearing anything and simply said, “ain’t happening, eh?”.

took thirty more minutes to get the response – “we’re good – need directions?”…followed by the address.

so away i went. i never really go out anymore, save for what more often than not is “first date / last date drinks” with some girl i never see again. figured this would be a nice break in that routine – and he had seen some tweeted photo of big boi (the other half of outkast) getting off a flight at ABIA – so it looked like we had an outkast reunion on our hands.

too. fucking. cool.

i should quickly add that steven, who is my age, doesn’t drive. as a result he has the navigational skills of an ADHD eight year old off their meds…so i got lost with his directions, but had allowed time for this and arrived at 10:30 with “outkast” who was not officially listed to be there not scheduled till eleven.

dj a-trak was on stage, and i had loved his set at voodoo music experience last fall in NOLA, so i knew this would be a good night. we hung in the lobby where we could still hear and sipped on free vitamin water (event sponsor) while we people watched and listened to a-trak’s set over the booming system for twenty minutes. than they started hyping the “austin, are you ready for your main act?” shit and big boi was led through the crowd.

and it was JUST big boi.

steven and i had time to cross the crowd and post up on the other side of the stage to watch the event – big boi throwing down his lyrical flow over a-trak’s kickin’ beats. i did what we all do in this situation – hopped on the facebook app on my phone. i always feel like i need to type posts where they make a complete sentence starting with my name since that’s how it appears – so i was gonna type “[sean] is learning his ABC’s…a-trak beats, big boi rhymes, and cool-ass steven for getting me in the gig!”.

i was GONNA type that. but i only got “…is learning his ABC’s…a-” and the first song ended, which it turns out was not just the first cut, but big boi’s entire set. he walked of stage. the PA went back to house music. and by the time we crossed the packed floor the vitamin water folk had already ripped down their kiosks. that quick – done.

“how ghetto – one fucking song? but what do you expect for free?”, i was asked by steven.

guess you get what you pay for…glad i’d seen ’em back in 2001 when they actually played over an hour. and i still don’t know if that’s more ghetto than snoop keeping a $45 a head crowd waiting while he watched the lakers play-off game in his bus go into overtime, then go on stage an hour late and do a fifteen-minute set.

which do you think was more ghetto? shit, at least i got out of the house…