FO·MO
ˈfōmō/
noun
informal
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- anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.
- “I realized I was a lifelong sufferer of FOMO”
Urban dictionary definition: The fear that if you miss a party or event you will miss out on something great.
My definition: DON’T MISS THE EVENT.
Luckily, I’m here to provide you with all things you’ve missed, in this popping city of Los Angeles. My name is Shirley Ju, and I live, breathe, sleep Hip Hop. Coming from the Bay, I grew up to the hyphy movement. That being said, turning up is all I know. This will be a weekly recap of the dope events that I myself felt like I couldn’t miss, and you guys wish you were at.
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Wednesday, March 29
I didn’t include this in last night’s coverage because I was still a little sensitive, but I’ve accepted it now. I literally ate shit at Bia’s show at The Echoplex lmao. Man down. Woke up in pain and pretty much had the most painful shower of my life tonight. Every drop of water was like a bee sting on my open wounds. And I don’t drink. Just lit lmao.
That being said, I had to rock a fucking dress to the Clippers game tonight lmao. It was not by choice. My knees needed to breathe. Shout out to my main squeeze V for this one. Last time, she took me to see the Clips play my Dubs at Staples Center. Tonight was just as good. True life: we love basketball. Los Angeles Clippers vs. Washington Wizards. Let’s go.
John Wall was the reason we were here. I had a homeboy in college who was obsessed with him also, so I knew he was lit. However, I didn’t think I would fall in love with the man by the end of the game. This dude blew me away. I have to take a moment to say how proud I am that we made it to the game on time. 7:30 p.m. We were in the building when the tip-off took place.
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Not only that, but we had the most amazing seats: Section 102 in the lowers. We were so close to the court. It was epic. If you have been to these games, you know that the closer you get, the bigger the players get. Also, no anxiety tonight. These were our actual seats (v rare lmao). We didn’t have to sneak down anywhere. Thank you again, V. Really you the plug, really you the plug.
Clips with the W. I’m obsessed with Crawford. He was on fire tonight, along with the rest of the Clips squad. Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, CP3. . . such an entertaining team to watch. I was sitting there thinking how crazy it would be if they actually won a championship. This has been Lakers territory for way too long. And I still can’t get over John Wall. I’ve been sleeping. 41 points tonight. Sheesh.
Thursday, March 30
Damn everyone. Today was. . . lit. Lituation. Sorry if you’re a hater of the word “lit,” but sometimes it’s the only description for the moment at hand. I had the lovely opportunity of speaking of A$AP TyY of A$AP Mob. The homie Sour Matt (Mr. Backwoods himself) with the assist. He’s the fucking man. He hit me saying TyY was out here (from Harlem) recording. Let’s go.
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Man, you could just tell TyY was lovin’ the Cali life. Ural and I were told to pull up at 3 p.m. at this address where he was going to be shooting a music video. The track is called “Mosh Pit” by the way. And it’s fire. I always feel some type of way at cemeteries lmao. They freak me out. After seeing him record for a scene of the record, it made perfect sense. This shit goes hard. A$AP Mob hard.
Sour Matt stays keeping us lit. A$AP TyY asked if he could smoke during the interview and I said, “Please do. And then pass it” lmao.
The Kendrick Lamar “HUMBLE.” video dropped while we were still out. Came home, and watched it five times in a row. K Dot is GOAT. It’s official.
Tonight was the Cozz and friends show, with the fam. I had no idea it would turn into a lituation. Honestly. Truly. All my peoples ended up coming out. I picked up V and we head over to Los Globos on Sunset. Man, parking is so frustrating at this venue lmao. A spot opened up on our tenth circle. Never give up.
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The openers were on around 10 p.m. We were able to catch Griff Queso’s set, who V just interviewed the other day at the office. He’s this cat from Inglewood. He performed a song called “Swerve” that had us lit. Excited for that one to drop. And then my girl Debbie graced the stage. She’s so fire <3. I met her a while back when she came through Joyrich. She’s the reason I was out tonight. She blessed us all with her voice.
Small world. Her brother is actually Meez, Cozz’ main producer. I finally got his contact tonight. He was the sweetest. So all of them collectively have a group called Mittee Gang, consisting of Cozz, Free Ackrite, and Correy C. Their mantra is to bring together the homies through music. Squad. They also have dope merch. Next to the Cozz albums laid out on the table by the door was “Just Ask Meez” shirts. It’s a line from Cozz’ record “Tabs” with Bas.
Right after Debbie was another homie I knew who took the stage: Enimal. I met him through one of my good homegirls a minute ago at EP&LP in Weho. I died when I found out his sister is Issa fromInsecure. Amazing. He came rocking the hardest Bape jacket lmao. And the minute he got on stage he took it off cause it was hot af in there. He performed “Committed,” which is actually featured on the show. Litty.
Shout out to the homie Nitrane for dropping my favorite J. Cole record ever: “In the Morning.” I was so turnt for this. This was a Dreamville event (Cozz is signed to Dreamville). So all the music in between sets was A1.
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I had no idea T.F and G Perico were mobbing through. They were the surprise guests I was so happy to see all of them. All of a sudden, the venue was straight West Coast. They performed separately and then together for “South Central.” Jay Worthy of LNDN DRGS, who I met at the Kong screening performed as well. Too lit.
Sour Matt laced me with 2 prerolled Backwoods blunts called Barewoods. It immediately made me think of Cozz’ song “GWBW” off his Nothing Personalproject. I had to give him one as a gift. We mobbed downstairs to the green room right before his set. He’s the nicest human being ever. And he can spit.
Shout out to Cody Macc. This was the man everyone came out to see. He took the stage and the crowd went nuts. We were excited as well. I’m not sure I’ve actually seen him perform a full set. And I was super impressed.
He brought out his homie Correy C for “Foreign Girl.” That song is my shit.
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Boogie was also in attendance. It was a lituation when he graced the stage. “City of God” is also off Cozz’ album. But then Boogie played his single “Oh My” which had everybody turnt tf up. That record goes.
This was my favorite part of the night. Cozz playing his record “Dreams” followed by “Knock tha Hustle.” Honestly, he’s so slept on. Thank you, Cozz, for giving us fans your all tonight <3.
Friday, March 31
Happy last day of March. Translation, happy pay rent day. It’s also officially April Fool’s Day, and when the clock struck midnight, I decided to be hella extra. Not only did I tweet that I was pregnant (I know, oldest trick in the book), but I put up a Facebook status that said “fuck just got arrested can someone pick me up.” I just feel bad for the people who believed me. My homegirl was coming out of the Drake Party downtown (shout out Matt) and called me to see if I was okay.
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I went to one of the Drake parties in L.A. last time, ironically, at the same venue I was at tonight. It was literally the most lit turn up with all the homies, and cardboard Drake faces. I would have up in there if I wasn’t hosting my girl’s event tonight.
But first, Sampha. If you are at all in tune with the hottest in music currently, you know this artist. His last project Process is incredible. Musically speaking, it’s a masterpiece. Tonight, Apple Music was hosting the premiere of its coinciding short film, also called Process, at MOCA in downtown L.A. Complimentary valet too? I wasn’t missing this.
Huge thanks to Veronica for making this happen. I pull up to familiar territory and immediately run into the homie Dre outside. She was able to give us the last two seats for the 8 p.m. screening. We enter a packed theater and find the two open spaces in the front.
“I’m connected with you always, wherever you are” was a line that really stood out to me from the film. Shout out to director Kahlil Joseph in attendance tonight. He definitely gets credit for how amazing this short film came out. He’s the man behind Kendrick Lamar’s short film “m.A.A.d,” which also premiered at MOCA in 2015. Basically, this man is a genius. The short film ran for 36 minutes, and it was the most beautiful 36 minutes of my day. I kid you not, I almost shed a tear.
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We were also given access to the new Kerry James Marshall exhibit. So glad I had Dre with me to drop some knowledge. He challenges the marginalization of African-Americans through his incredibly moving artwork. Every piece I saw tonight had a story. It had you wanting to know more. This piece right here is one of his most popular: School of Beauty, School of Culture,
I could stay here all night. Unfortunately, I only had 15 minutes. Every piece requires a little more attention that an ordinary photo would. There are several different rooms, so we did the quickest walk-through. This piece definitely caught my eye. The “bling bling” reminded me of Jay Z’s line in Pusha T’s “Drug Dealers Anonymous,” and the “What A Time” on the bottom reminded of Drizzy (What A Time To Be Alive). I swear, I think in rap lyrics.
I had to be at The Union by 9:30 p.m., and somehow pulled up on the dot. Shout out to Uzo, she’s the fucking woman. I remember I went her last Loki Management show featuring Tiffany Gouché and was so proud, She’s really out here doing it for the love of Hip Hop and all it has to offer. She saw I was at the Little Simz show at The Echo recently, and told me Little Simz actually came through that night to see Tiffany perform. That’s what I’m talking about y’all. This music game always comes full circle.
This shit was lit. Shout out to the DJ See No Evil holding it down all night. Tonight was a lot bigger than the last one, by venue alone. There was two rooms: one for Hip Hop and one for House. Best believe I was hosting the Hip Hop one lmao. First on the bill was Lanaamak, a.k.a. Goldie Locs. She’s an artist on Mann’s label, Peace Life Quality Recordings. I had the pleasure of meeting both tonight. Super sweet and automatic good vibes. The best part was watching her spit on the mic. Everybody was feeling her flow. It’s not every day you see a dope female MC getting on stage to show what she can do. This was dope.
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This was my favorite part of the evening. Painted Brain had a booth/table set up in the middle of the venue, strategically between the house and Hip Hop rooms. They are a non-profit organization that use art and music programs to help facilitate a better conversation and perspective on mental illness. For someone who suffers from mental illness, this warmed my heart to see. They had these cards with artists like Kehlani and Kid Cudi that you could write on and share your thoughts. They actually were going to mail these back to you. So dope.
Next up was the homie J Cannon from Kentucky. Rap aside, this is my third night in a row kicking it with this dude, and he’s officially fam. Not only does smoking me out ensue family status, but it was nothing but good vibes only here. My girl swears by him, so I already knew we would vibe. He’s also signed to Hoodstock Records and the squad came out to support.
When my girl Jackie pulled up, I was literally in shock. Such a small world guys. The music industry is unreal. Shout out to Dre, the founder of the label, rocking the stage with Cannon tonight. They were on. Next up was Stepdad, a DJ/producer from the Bay. This dude has mad Soulection vibes. He had his people from Long Beach State supporting in the crowd. By the way, two party buses came straight from LBC to drop off the party. That’s a solid hour of pregame right there.
My girl warned me everyone was going to be faded, so it didn’t matter what I would say on the mic lmao. She was right. I had a blast, though. Rap trio 3 For 3, Jetpack Jones from Lakewood, and Cliff Savage from L.A. finished the show. We were enjoying a nice bleezy outside on the patio when security told us to wrap up. . . at 1:30 am. Tf? This was supposed to close at 2. One of the cons of Lalaland.
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Tonight’s event was called Forgive Me Father. I was welcomed by many dressed in nun outfits. The concept comes from the notion of a night when everyone drinks and parties, and the next day they are hungover. For Catholics, “Forgive me Father” is the first thing you say when you step inside the confessional box. Teaming up with Loki Mgmt, whose #CutTheFee concept is that major concerts should “heal, not steal,” this was an excuse to let loose and party, all for the love of music. The talented artists we saw on stage were the cherry on top.
