Currently Listening to: Lupe Fiasco ft. Matthew Santos – Shining Down
Today was one of those days where you’re like, “I want to be back here again and again.” It was one of those days that was awesome like no other. One that you look forward to, look back upon and always wonder how much more awesome it could/’ve been. It’s one where you have no regrets and all the regrets in the world.
A week ago, I saw that Far*East Movement was going to share the stage with Talib Kweli and Lupe Fiasco. I almost did a double take…. LUPE FIASCO AND TALIB KWELI? Now the guys of FM are my heroes, they really are. They NEVER fail to impress and today was no different… Jumping off a plane to perform in front of a crowd of 6000? That’s not easy. But Lupe Fiasco probably saved my life. His music picked me up when I was at my lowest in high school, he made me realize that my life isn’t really that bad, but he also made me realize how small I am in the greater scheme of things. It didn’t mean I didn’t matter, the opposite in fact. It just meant that I had to keep pushing.
To be fair, I feel sort of guilty. I feel like I used FM. Then again, this pays back a hundred fold all the work I’ve done for them. Not that I needed any sort of reimbursement or reward. They are the coolest of the cool and the best of the best.
On to the day at hand. I woke up early, at like 9:20 just giddy. I was jumping up and down, breathing just to relax, and trying to get some nerves out. I ate an egg, it was pretty delicious. at 10:30, Diana came over and we drove over to Cal State Northridge. Nothing serious, we got there, parked, waited for FM to get there and then it sort of hit me.. WE GOT ALL ACCESS PASSES. I could go ANYWHERE. I could go backstage WHENEVER I WANT. It was just sort of a surreal moment. we set up the merch booth and just hung out for a bit, sold a bit of stuff (FM needs to get their name out more. I was really surprised at how many people knew Girls on the Dancefloor but NOT FM) and ate some Don Chow’s. It was decently delicious but kind of sloppy. FM got on, did their thing, a good amount of people in the crowd got really into it. They stepped off and then Kev gave Diana the call where they were leaving and we didn’t have to do merch anymore. Awesome.
That meant we would be able to stay backstage the rest of the afternoon and watch Talib and Lupe. To be honest, I was tired at that point and didn’t really want to wait for Talib AND Lupe.. I was contemplating leaving, or at least leaving for a little bit and then coming back for Lupe.. BUT THEN WE FOUND OUT THAT LUPE WAS COMING ON FIRST!. I just sat there for about 10 minutes. It was the most exciting 10 minutes of my ENTIRE LIFE. My mind was just racing. holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit lupe is coming lupe is coming lupe is coming. wow wow wow wow. I’m going to see him walk by in about 3 minutes. I was literally a fan boy at heart. I controlled myself by NOT wearing my Lupe t-shirt and NOT bring my camera. And then he came on, in this like tan jacket and jeans and this awesome Jack Purcell’s. I nudged Diana and was like, “that’s him in the tan.” He met some people, gave some hugs and got ready by himself, silent prayer, gathering thoughts, and got on stage. First song was a Justice mix of “The Instrumental”.. I sort was just star struck after that.. I think there was another song before he went into a freestyle of a Ice Cube track? I can’t remember what it was, and then ran with “Run this Town” It was awesome. like AWESOME. AND THEN IT WAS “CRS’s EVERYBODY NOSE”. ALL THE GIRLS STANDING IN THE LINE FOR THE BATHROOOOMMMM.
I’m doing this off memory for the rest but it went a little like. “Hip Hop Saved My Life” I mean its my favorite song of all time. ALL TIME. “Go Go Gadget Flow”, “I Gotcha”, “Little Weapon” “Streets on Fire”, “Kick Push” and then…. “SHINING DOWNNNNN!” awesome live. no auto tune, which makes it better. Celebrated by singing happy birthday to Talib Kweli and then finished off solid with “DAYDREAMIN’” Solid drum solo at the end where he got the crowd all into it and shit. It was awesome. HE. WAS. RIGHT. THERE.
“Peace and much love to ya”, and he was gone, walking back to his tent and peacing out. I’ve never been so star-struck in my life. It was the most awesome day of my life. Seriously just. wow. That really just happened. I wasn’t dreaming.
One of the only pics we took, couldn't be that big of a fan boy in front of some VIP's.
