Written by Drew Ricketts

Enter a record-label sponsored listening party and expect a few standard perquisites plus a few more extravagant items that seem superfluous. On the standard list: free alcohol to grease up those good reviews (i.e. “The music reverberated while every head in the room bopped in a trance”); gift bags full of swag extras, promotional t-shirts, magazines you will never see again, posters; finger foods. G-Unit had their premiums in line but that air of domination, of kingdom beset the whole place in a strange fog.

Banks

For instance, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and various DJs stood behind the gift table with their hangers-on reciting the lyrics to every song. It was almost a performance in that sense, a lip-synced aggressive set supported by ten hype men in a small room. On one side stood Miss Info and a bevy of insiders. The other side had steaming hot mini burgers and a table with a bar. Lloyd Banks detached himself from the spectacle, allowing Tony Yayo to cue the songs in sequence and then, eventually, in any order he saw fit due to his inebriation. He held an empty (sponsored) champagne bottle in his right hand and a lit blunt and the microphone in the other. A Louis Vuitton headband corralled the sweat beads developing on Yayo’s forehead. His shades concealed what must have been bloodshot pupils. Gully.

Banks & Yayo

The Southside Queens Crew was in full effect, stripping away most of the glamor in favor of heralding murder, darkness and merciless acts. And it works, in all honesty. Although their “message” is not gibing with the Hip-Hop of today, their ornery gun talk fits well with what they established a fan base touting (like Miss Info mentioned to us, “This album is for the fans of Sabrina’s Baby Boy, not Curtis“). As far as entourages and surrounding characters go, this was an impressive event. Two blond young ladies sat adjacent a dark-haired, olive-skinned man in a suit. When I inquired why he was there saying “You look different than the other patrons,” he responded with “I’m a sponsor.” Got it. Read the rest of this entry »