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Photo: Henry DeMaio

The County rolled mid-set into a live version of Slum Village’s “Fall In Love.” The Michigan-born bassist and guitarist supplied harmonies for Dilla’s haunting hook, while Mayer Hawthorne let a beyond-capacity crowd at L.A.’s The Roxy know that none of his rise would be possible without Dilla and Baatin. Houseshoes was standing to my left and he looked at me, a huge smile on his face and deep pools welling in his eyes. 14KT and Buff1 were standing near us with ones in the air. And we all shook our heads in disbelief. The only words spoken for the hour were “wow” and “man.”

The moment was our through line.

Here was a Detroit DJ, who finally made it to a tier we had all talked about, getting respect on a national level, selling out main stages, making actual scratch on an independent label, getting phone calls from everyone in the Hollywood phonebook, making folks (young, old, black, white, woman, man) dance and smile and sing, still reppin’ the D, surrounded by family.

Dusty-ass Hip-Hop heads standing alongside tightpants’d hipsters. Clusters of heart-shaped balloons miming his 45 release and setting the mood for a party. And oh my, the women. The beautiful women packing the front, wrestling for a touch of the Mayer.

“Man! I’m up here working so hard I’m about to have an asthma attack in this bitch!” he said into the mic after a raucous rendition of “Your Easy Lovin’ Ain’t Pleasin’ Nothin’,” and I see this bird in the front scream excitedly to her friend “I have asthma too!”

Wow.

Man.

There’s not a lot I can say about the show to give it its due other than you have to see it to be a witness. It’s a ticket that will supply you with an hour of carefree, eyes-closed, smiling-till-my-face-hurts, ain’t-nobody-else-in-the-world-right-now, good fucking music. Especially in this moment when our beloved Hip-Hop is often a house divided, don’t miss the opportunity to see and hear music for everybody.

Check tour dates in your city here. And if you’re lucky enough to live in Tempe, Tuscan or San Diego, you can catch him co-headlining with Ghostface…and I will be jealous of you for forever.