Sunday, September 20, 2009

MIA is DGAF


We here at DGAF are so DGAF that sometimes we lag on our blogs... by weeks. Sorry peeps, but we went MIA for MIA. But now we're back... not necessarily better than ever, but to blog about what happened after we met Michel Gondry at Amoeba, which was almost a damn month ago!

But MIA and Michel Gondry in one day? Shit, I don't need Kanye to welcome me to the good life (he'd probably just interrupt me anyway).

In fact, the only low point of the day was when we were grubbing at the Marked 5 (http://www.marked5.com/) truck that afternoon. No, I'm not talking about their food, which is an interesting Asian-fusion take on burgers, and I plan on trying all of them. That place is absolutely delicious and you would be stupid not try their food. The only complaint I have about that place was that their stereo started playing Raekwon's "Ice Cream" and I got SO EXCITED but then after a few seconds they killed it and started playing some really new mediocre hip hop. I didn't even recognize the song, and I certainly don't remember it, that is how mediocre the song was.

HERE IS THE GOLDEN RULE: YOU DO NOT KILL OFF RAEKWON'S "ICE CREAM". AND IF YOU'RE GONNA PLAY SOMETHING ELSE, IT HAD BETTER BE AS GOOD AS THAT SONG OR BETTER. I never hear that song, PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU'D RATHER HEAR SOMETHING THAT IS PROBABLY PLAYED ON KIIS FM LIKE EVERY HALF AN HOUR.

Anyway, fuck the haters, because I had the dopest tightest night ahead of me. After our amusing Amoeba adventure with Michel Gondry (check his DGAF profile on our previous post), we headed to lot 613 in Downtown for MIA's secret show.



We walked in to a pretty empty but already boiling hot room where Them Jeans was rocking some tracks.



We hung out outside and drank water that oddly came in Monster (Energy Drink) cans and decided to go back in as the beats got harder. I was expecting to have fun that night, but shit, EVERYONE in the lineup brought it: Them Jeans, of course, Pase Rock, South Rakkas Crew, Mano, 12th planet... the energy was intense and fun, both DJs and MCs were equally DGAF, there was even a small dance crew, holy shit, everyone in the house knew how to fucking party!!!





DUBSTEP!

I wondered if this was the kind of vibe dance/hip hop parties had back in the early... '90s. Not only because of some of the tracks being played, but let's face it, the way a lot of people were dressing were definitely suggesting '90s revival.

Of all the DJs, I have to give it up for Blaqstarr. He dropped the fattest beats, the dopest tracks... he took us back to a '90s dance party a few times... it was relentless. I was not impressed at first when he started playing the riff from Smashing Pumpkin's "Zero". Oh god, I thought. I mean, just because you're from Chicago does not mean you have to play a track from the Smashing Pumpkins! But then he dropped the fucking beat on that thing... I was expecting some 4/4 or soul clap shit, but no, he did the unpredictable and put it with a more complex beat AND WORKED THE SHIT OUT OF IT. SebastiAn and Crookers, make way for another successful rock remix.

So after a lot of anticipation and dancing, it was finally time for MIA. The place was predictably packed, and I could barely see her on stage. She kicked off her short but sweet set with "Bamboo Banga" and I went pretty apeshit to "Bucky Done Gun". I was really surprised that she played her hits, like "Boyz" and "Paper Planes". It was past 1 am when she finished, and the energy in the place hadn't diminished at all.



MIA is DGAF because when she started she had no background in music, and in fact I've read that was the medium she felt least confident in. And look what she's done! She has her own look, her own sound, her own opinions, and a fucking message and she doesn't sound self-righteous, self-indulgent, pretentious, or fake about it. And who else would have performed at the Grammys a few days before she was going to give birth? There's no one out there like her right now, no one else doing what she's doing, and we here at DGAF got to see her live!



DGAF <3 MIA