It's the ROC!!!

And the winner is...


I was lucky enough to win tickets to go see Jay-Z at the House of Blues for the American Gangster Tour. Jay is only doing a 5 city tour, so I was so fortunate to be able to see him. I had been trying to win tickets all week. I kept calling every day and every day it seemed as though I would get closer and closer to being the right caller (number 98). Thursday, I ended up being caller 89... so close, yet so far. It was weird, I had a dream Thursday night that I was going to win the tickets, and sure enough, Friday rolled around, and it was the last day for the contest. I heard Jay-Z make his announcement to call in and my little fingers did some major dialing. I was number 16, 36, 60, and 71. After I heard, "you're caller 71", I thought I was dunzo, until by some miracle, the line started ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing... and then I heard, "Power"... now this was different; she never answered with Power before, she always just said, "you're caller so and so", but this time was different, she said, "Power".. so I did my little schpill and what-do-you-know, I was caller 98!!!! Yay for me! While on the phone with her, I text my boyfriend, "Pack your bags. I won!!!!".. lets just say he was as estatic as was I. So this begins my one day journey to see Hova himself!





LA Here we come!!!


So my boyfriend and I get to the airport to find out our flight had been cancelled. Luckily, we were able to get on the next flight which was only an hour later. Unfortunately for us, the record label we won the tix from didn't include transportation with the contest. So it was up to my boyfriend and I to get from LAX to the hotel. We were going to cab it since the airport was only 15 mins from the hotel. BUT, come to find out, it would cost us about $50! Hell nah I wasn't going to pay that. That was madness! So instead, we just jumped in one of those Super Shuttles. You know the big blue vans where you share with other passengers?! It was $16 per person. A little more reasonable than $50! So we decided to do that. We had one of the craziest drivers ever!!!! He kept reading and texting while he was driving! Ugh, pay attention to the road, butthole! We finally made it to the hotel in one piece. Our hotel was actually very cute and quaint. It was in a residential area! We were the only winners of the contest that wasn't staying at the Hyatt across the street from the House of Blues (where Jay would be performing). But I kind of liked it that way. My boyfriend and I were on a small vaca. So nice to be away from the city (of Phx).


While in the hotel, my man gets on the phone with a friend of ours and starts talking about cars. I didn't want to be "that" girl, but um, hello, we're on vacation... STOP TALKING ABOUT CARS AND PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!! ... LMAO! Anyway, we got some food and just chilled out until the show.




It's showtime!


after our $10 taxi ride from the hotel to the House of Blues, we get out of the cab to a line wrapped around the building. Ugh, this was going to take forever for us to get into the HOB. We still didn't even have our tickets yet. We walked down a steap ass hill after asking someone where will call was, to only find out, will call had no idea where my tickets were. The lady running will call radio'd in to another person whom also said they had no tickets under my name. The lady at will call suggested we go back up the steap ass hill to the record exec will call line. We did as she suggested and hiked back up the hill past the growing crowd of Jay-Z fans. We get to the will call line, but have to wait another 15 minutes for them to open. As my boyfriend and I are standing there waiting, minding our own business, this short, bald, loser who thinks because he works at a record label he's some sort of record exec stands right in front of my boyfriend, literally inches from my mans face and starts yelling for one of his homeboys. I mean, I bet my boyfriend could feel the guys nasty hot ass breath on him. Now my man has more patience than I do, because I was ready to slap the taste out of dudes mouth. What the fuck is wrong with people? Have they never heard of personal space before? We're still waiting for the record label will call to open and the jackass that was screaming in my boyfriends face finally rounded up his posse and went up to the bouncer and asked him about getting in like he was some special celebrity. Dude slipt the bouncer some money I guess to try and look cool. who knows?!!? Anywho, the bouncer was like, "yo, you'll have to wait until the doors open." Muahh Muahhh Muahhh! I guess you're not as important as you thought you were dude. Ol' boy turned to his friends and said, "if it was any other night, we would get right in, but this night is a little caotic, so we have to wait a minute." Now, that shit was hilarious!!! Dude thought he was something important. I think that was the funniest shit all night!!!!


We finally got into the House of blues and found (what I thought) would be a good spot to watch the show. We were by the bar which was purched higher than the ground level of the venue. So I thought, we could see over the crowd. It wasn't too bad until everyone had the same idea as I did... it got hella crowded by the bar, but I guess it was still better than standing on the floor level in the "mosh pit". Oh, while we were waiting, the dj was spinnin tunes, and the other funniest shit I saw that night was when the dj threw on, Soulja Boys, Crank That, and the crowd started booing the shit out of the song!!! Why would a dj play that crap when you're at a Jay-Z concert?! Just because they're both "rap" doesn't mean they're the same thing damnit!




It's Hovy Baby!


We thought Jay was supposed to come on at 9pm, but he didn't get on stage until 10:30... I had been standing in my brand new heels from 7.. my little piggies were HURTING!!! But I was gonna have to suffer thru the pain because Jay was about to begin! Jay came out and the crowd went wild. It was craziness to see Jay. I've seen him before, but never like this. It was at a small venue so it was much more intimate. I kept looking over at my boyfriend and watching his face and watching him get sooo into Jay. He was going lyric for lyric with Jay. When Jay would pause, my boyfriend knew to pause too. It was crazy to see all the fans throwing their ROC signs in the air.. or their fists pounding in unison to the beat of the song. These fans were on some other shit that I've only seen with Prince fans. This admiration for Jay wasn't on some homo-stalker type shit. This was some admiration for Jay's passion and jay's struggle. I just kept stopping and looking at the crowd watching everyone. During Big Pimpin, Jay started out with maybe one lyric and the audience finished the rest of the song without Jay. Jay just stood on stage watching the crowd recite his song. I've been to other concerts where the artist would do that, but halfway thru the song, the audience would forget a few lyrics and kind of mumble words until the hook came on and they would all shout it. But not this crowd, this crowd new every line to Big Pimpin all the way through to the end. Shit was amazing to watch. It must be a great feeling for Jay. I'm so happy I was able to experience this with my boyfriend. I loved watching my man have such a good time! Jay brought Memphis Bleek, Freeway, Beanie Sigel, Diddy, and Jermaine Dupri all made a special appearance on stage. Although I was hoping for Nas and Pharrell to come out, but neither of them did.. Boooo!!!!




We all fall down!


I was standing next to some people from Phoenix who also won the tickets. We were all standing together when I look back and see one of the girls has fainted. Her boyfriend had a look of horror on his face as he was trying to hold her up. There was another girl standing there and we were all trying to fan the girl off who had fainted. The bartender was filling a towel with ice and putting it on her neck trying to cool her off. The bouncers finally got to the girl after nearly 5 minutes. Poor girl was lying on the floor. The bouncers took her outside.


My boyfriend was wearing this hoodie and he was sweating majorly, so I was worried he was going to get too hot and pass out too. I kept telling him to take his jacket off, but he just gave me a dirty look and told me to watch the show. Lol. I guess I'm not supposed to talk during a Jay concert. My fault. Lol. Well with all the smoke (cigs and funny cigs) that was filling the air and all the people and the fact that HOB didn't turn on the air started to make me feel a little sick and cluastrophobic, my body was telling me something wasn't right. I kept trying to get fresh air, but in there, no such luck. I looked at my boyfriend and told him I didn't feel too good. He told me to get some water. So I went to the bar and the bartender was tending to other people and the urge for water was growing rapidly. Like I needed a glass of water and I needed it NOW. I finally got my glass of water and started drinking it, but it wasn't helping. I started to get dizzy and it was like I wasn't in my own body. It was weird. By this time, my boyfriend turned and walked to me, and I told him, I don't feel good, I think I'm going to pass out. And sure enough, I fainted.... well not full on faint, but I was very disoriented. I remember hearing my boyfriend tell me "wake up, wake up". I think I said ok or something like that. But I recall kinda falling again, and he caught me. I looked at him and said something like, "catch me, I'm about to faint".. my body was telling me that I was about to blackout. It was crazy.. it was like giving me a warning. And sure enough, I totally fainted/blackedout! I don't remember anything. I guess during all of this, my boyfriend was holding all my stuff and trying to keep me from falling on the ground. One of the guys I had been standing next to came over to help my boyfriend, and they were both trying to hold me up. But of course I was just dead weight. The bouncers finally came and took me outside. On our way outside is when I started coming through. I could hear people saying they had my stuff and the bouncers telling someone to get water. When I went outside, they sat me next to the girl who had fainted right before me. Hahahaha! Her boyfriend was like, "I saw all the bouncers running in, I thought there was a fight."... oh no, it was just me! I drank water and the cold air made me feel so much better. After a few minutes, I got my self together and went back inside to finish the show. But this time, I stayed in the back away from the crowd! Ha!


Even though the night had its ups and downs, it was one of the best times I've had. I loved the show, I loved the experience, I loved the company I was with! I would do it all over in a heartbeat! Fainting and all. Lol!