Hong Kong based French artist L1ES ONE held an opening party for his exhibition titled “LE GRAFF1T1 C’EST CH1C” at M1NT on Thursday night. The show included a series of canvases, but the real stars were the tags and pieces he created on the club’s interior. Showing the eye of a true graffiti artist, L1ES attacked key surfaces within the club. M1NT deserves credit for not flinching, and giving him carte-blanche to write on whatever objects he chose, including their precious shark tank pictured above. (more…)

Arriving at the Business of Design Week event, I thought I was at the wrong party. The music was a cerebral instrumental Jazz and the people were mostly wearing suits. I walked to the edge of the event and contemplated a speedy exit. I decided to make one last pass through the thick of the crowd before escaping. As luck would have it, I bumped into several friends and an hour later, caught Jin Da M.C. putting on an excellent show. (more…)

In town for an MTV Music Awards special promotion, New York Hip Hop group Mobb Deep made their first appearance ever in Hong Kong. Without Prodigy, the group’s main M.C., the crew was comprised of Havoc (the other founding member,) in addition to Big Noyd, D.C. and The Alchemist (a top Hip Hop producer.) (more…)

The body as a canvas; the t-shirt as art

Thursday night I stopped by the launch party for the American brand Miskeen. Originally from Philadelphia, Miskeen has grown into a collective of over thirty artists who hand paint t-shirts. The style of the artwork is a cross between graffiti and the street art you could find in N.Y.’s Soho in the 1980’s. (more…)

I was attending a birthday party at HALO on Wednesday night, so I arrived at Dragon-i towards the end of d.j. Cash Money’s set. He’s been to Hong Kong several times over the past three years, and he plays a combination of classics mixed with the latest Hip Hop hits. (more…)

Friday night I checked out a Samsung event that featured a b-boy dance performance and a special Beyonce set by D.J. Lazy Ming. Beyonce is part of a new Samsung ad campaign and a video of her was on rotation on the plasma screens sprinkled around the party.

The venue was the restaurant Cuisine Cuisine in the IFC mall. This is the same spot as the Shanghai Tang fashion show a few months ago. Cuisine Cuisine is a big space with high ceilings and two rooms. The Samsung event only used one and the place was packed! Check out the videos of the capacity crowd and the b-boy performance! (more…)

Those who missed D.J. Premier last time he was in town get a second chance to hear authentic Hip Hop from one of the finest producer / d.j.s in the business. His Jazz-tinged rhythms grace countless classics from a cross section of Hip Hop’s finest acts. Names such as KRS-One, Nas, Jay Z, Jehru, Mobb Deep, M.O.P., The Notorious B.I.G. and even Christina Aguilera have sought him out for his production talent.

The venue for the show is Dragon I, one of Hong Kong’s top clubs for international d.j.s. to perform. Expect another packed night light on the commercial Hip-Pop of today and heavy on soulful, quality music.

After checking out the band show on Friday night, I hopped into a taxi and headed up to The Peak, Hong Kong’s most famous scenic spot. The newly renovated Peak Tower was the site for Electronic Art’s event – a launch party for the new EA showroom and store.

CLOT, the multifaceted branding crew were the organizers of the event. EA certainly chose the right partner to handle the party. CLOT has been on a rampage lately, with projects ranging from launching a much sought after shoe with Nike to bringing Kanye West to perform in Hong Kong at the end of the month. The thing I like about CLOT is that they have vision and put their connections to good use. More than that, their events are always fun. It’s a win-win situation, people attending their events go away with a good time and sponsors are happy (well, except for time we were drinking Moet in the beer bong, but that’s another story!)

When I got to the Peak Tower the place was bathed in spot lights with a large marquee set up near the entrance. The building itself is interesting. It’s shaped like a partial elipse.

Over the last year, the place has been completely redone, making room for more new shops, including the EA store. The Peak Tower also houses the terminal for the Peak Tram, a main tourist attraction that takes you straight up the steep hillside. On the large rooftop of the Peak Tower is an observation deck that offers amazing views of the city. I didn’t know it at the time, but the party was located on the newly renovated roof!

After walking into the building, I took several escalators up to the rooftop. On the way up, I passed by the new EA store which was intriguing. Occupying two floors, it has an atrium-like wall of lights and around thirty gaming stations where visitors can sit and try out the latest EA titles. The place is divided into sub-sections which makes it more exciting to walk around and explore.

The renovated rooftop was much better than before. The entire roof is now accessible, as opposed to only half under the old design. Installed around the lengthy space are high-powered binoculars allowing tourists to focus in on the buildings below. For the night, the rooftop was also sprinkled with XBox 360’s outfitted with EA games. The space was divided into two sections, a VIP area and a normal side. Although a little hazy out, the view from the roof was spectacular. Click these thumbnails to see a bigger view.

The night’s decorations weren’t limited to the immediate grounds. Residents of The Peak, Hong Kong’s wealthiest address (and one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the world) were in for a shock as they returned home from dinner to find a huge logo of the branding group CLOT projected onto their mountainside! Actually, the light alternated between the EA logo and the CLOT symbol. One word: impressive!

Hong Kong’s famous D.J. Tommy was the first act of the night, spinning from an elevated platform just above a huge screen showing clips from different EA games. Later in the night N.Y.’s Just Blaze, one of the top producers in Hip Hop music would take over the decks. This would make Just Blaze’s third appearance in Hong Kong in the last year. He’s been here previously for the CLOT anniversary party and for a Diesel event as well.

The party was packed by eleven. Bottles of Moet and Hennessy were everywhere. It was a tough night to not indulge!

Towards the end of the night I went downstairs for a closer look at the EA shop. There were groups of people hanging out playing the games.

The police put an end to music on the rooftop, so the party eventually moved downstairs to the EA store. During the transition I had a chance to talk with Just Blaze about the old days of N.Y. Hip Hop radio – and he actually burned me a CD of a long lost show! I hope I can repay his generosity some day.

The Electronic Arts event was yet another in a string of memorable parties by CLOT. Despite all the planning, the CLOT events wouldn’t be a success without this guy, codename: Cobra, he even smiled for the photo!

Turntablist pioneer and one of the biggest innovators of ’scratching’, D.J. Qbert made an appearance in Hong Kong last week. This guys is difficult to photograph in action, as he is in constant motion, flipping, scratchin’ and juggling beats. The packed show at Edge was more accessible musically than his last show in Hong Kong where he played the QFO – a device he invented to perform special scratches with.

Practically straight off of the plane from San Francisco and onto the stage at Edge, Qbert worked the turntables expertly, and performed a number of complex scratching routines. After his show, he continued to rock the club by spinning a set of rare break-beat records that have been sampled by popular Hip Hop songs.

M.C. Yan, Hong Kong’s premier M.C., and his protege, Chef, freestyled over Qbert’s beats.

Afterwards there was a bikini battle, which also generated a lot of excitement!

Jazzy Jeff’s fourth trip to Dragon-i turned out to be his best yet. This time around he played on a stage in the former VIP side of the club. The place was completely packed and the crowd was bouncing to his beats. Mad Skills, the M.C. of the night, energized the crowd even further and added some humor with lines like “Let’s take it back, to when Micheal Jackson was Black,” leading into a Michael Jackson mini-set by Jeff.

Jeff played an extremely tight set of classic originals – beats that have been the foundation for countless Hip Hop hits over the last two decades. Although many people might not recognize the originals, Jeff blended them together seemlessly with their more modern, better known incarnations. The crowd was kept in a state of rapture by his quick mixes and superior song selection.