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.

After the Moussy fashion show on Friday night I jumped in a taxi and headed over to Happy Valley for the two-year anniversary of CLOT, a company started by Pop star Edison Chen with his friends Kevin and Pavlos. Since its inception, CLOT has been prolific at doing collaboration projects with international street artists and fashion brands. More importantly for Friday night, they throw excellent parties. Their launch party and first anniversary event have been my picks for party of the year, the last two years in a row.

This year’s event was located in a new club called Adrenalin that is situated within the Jockey Club at the Happy Valley racecourse. This was my first time here, and it’s an impressive two-floor club with excellent views of the Happy Valley neighborhood and race-track. It also has large outdoor seating which makes it unique.

New York’s Just Blaze, one of the top producers in contemporary Hip Hop was the special guest d.j. for the night. He played commercial Hip Hop, but cut up the songs expertly, and kept the pace going strong all night.

Both the large downstairs and upstairs areas were packed. The police asked the organizers to do a headcount… but the party kept going strong.

As a follow up to my previous entry about D.J. Premier coming to H.K., here’s a quick rundown of his performance. There was a large turnout and lots of anticipation on the night he performed. The place was packed and many people in the local Hip Hop community turned up. It was a Wednesday night, which is one of the big party nights at Dragon-i. Premier came on at 12:30. He started off on the mic giving a brief intro to get the crowd hyped. Then he began his set with some medium tempo Hip Hop.

Unlike other touring d.j.s who use CDs or laptops, Premier used real records and he brought five crates of vinyl! Throughout his set he didn’t play any commercial Pop music, and stuck to mostly underground, New York style Hip Hop. It was cool to see the usually conservative crowd rocking to real Hip Hop for once. It just proves that you don’t need to sell out – by playing all familiar Pop/Hip Hop in order to get people dancing. Premier played many of the hits he produced including Gangstarr, M.O.P. and K.R.S. cuts. The show lasted til after 3am.

True Hip Hop fans wishes have come true because this Wednesday, D.J. Premier of Gangstarr fame will be playing at Dragon-i. Wednesday night at Dragon-i is already one of the busiest and best parties in town. Occasionally big name d.j.s also make their appearance on Wednesdays, such as when D.J. Cash Money played, but D.J. Premier is on a totally different level. Premier is one of the top Hip Hop producers ever. His music has given birth to literally dozens of top songs. I’m hoping that he doesn’t dilute his music for his Hong Kong performance.

It seems that many more top d.j.s and music acts have been hitting Hong Kong recently. Over the last month we’ve had Ultra Nate and Joe Caussell performing at Dragon-i, James Lavelle at Tribeca, and Franz Ferdinand played a concert here. The quality of life is going up!