NYC is so wild I have to laugh to myself sometimes. I ran into my homey Dominican Chris on the subway Wednesday afternoon. Chris gets it in hardbody for the kicks. He used to work for Dr.Jays. Chris is a super SFU All-Star. He asks me if I’m going to the Harlem @mos (at-mus) store for their anniversary party the following night? Now I am. Sheeeeeeeid. @mos throws the best parties on 125th Street second only to the Apollo Theatre. All I know is that this joint is def gonna be an obama and it might even have grub. An obama is one thing, but a 2-4-none?!? Drinks, food and no cover? Act like you know internets.
I decided to boogie uptown directly afterwork. I figured I could play the strip and people watch until the doors cracked. 125th Street is one of the greatest people watching areas in the city. Madd folks hustling and bustling. 25th is still 25th even with the big box retailers putting their footprints on the sidewalk. Street vendors have their turf also and the uneasy alliance continues. There was a huge crowd on Lenox for some vendors pushing MICHAEL JACKSON memoribilia. If MICHAEL JACKSON could just die once every fiscal quarter Black folks might get economic footing straightened out. Harlem seemed a little danced out but then when I walked past the state building on 7th Avenue I understood why.
Harlem Week had just finished. What had been only 7 days of negro nonsense just twenty years ago was now Black bullshit for the whole month of August. Some people consider that to be progress. The truth is that Harlem is the heart of the American Black body. New blood always fills the arterial avenues and the capillary concourses. And it don’t stop. It’s only just begun. Peace to DJ Disco Wiz. He made sure I got into the building real early. Actually, the @mos staffer that I politic’d with at the Air Yeezy release saw me and let me fall through. The biggest lesson I have learned in this city is that you better be respectful to everyone because you will see them again and you might need them to co-sign your shit.
The scene inside the @mos store is high-end retail design. It’s a veritable downtown gallery on 125th Street. The sneakers on display are framed like pieces of art. The scenesters are all dressed up like SoHo hipsters or lower East Side punks. Everyone’s underwear is showing. Even mine, by accident(natch) due to my silly oversized shorts. The night featured an actual art exhibition that confirmed the gallery layout of the space. Graffiti legend JamesTOP had more than a dozen original pieces hanging throughout. The old and the new was all together thanks to @mos. Big up to Fab 5 Freddy. The godfather of Hip-Hop. He’s everywhere you want to be. If you don’t see Fab 5 then wherever you at ain’t really live.
