feel the freakinBEAT

this weekend was ridiculous. couldn't believe that the event was sold out. i arrived in california on thursday night and hung out for a while. thank you to carissa for picking me up. skip a day, then saturday morning i went to justine's dance competition (ENCORE) and i am just so proud of her. she got 3rd place overall with her solo piece to "luck be a lady".

FRIDAY though, was pretty crazy. sound check was good, i met all the dance crews. FANNY PAK was SO FREAKIN NICE. i had already met one of the members back in the day at someone's house, Glenda, she is awesome. kaba modern, super cr3w, and world famous were all chillin. do-knock from super cr3w (john cruz) has been a homie for a while, and its awesome to see his success with his dance crew. i arrived a little late, so jeremy (passion), gabe, cathy and randolph were already there among others. i brought like 2 cars filled with people with me haha. we pretty much invaded the backstage area. VIP's came in after a couple of hours and that's when it really began. we all began signing pictures that people used hella ink on and guitars and polaroids, and took pictures with a bunch of them. there were like 20 people who paid for the VIP tickets.

the show was about to start, and i heard 5 of my very close friends were outside the venue because it had been SOLD OUT. thats when my heart dropped. everyone kept telling me it would sell out, but when we actually did, i tripped out. i broke some rules and got my friends in, and the show started. Gabe has the most power with a crowd i swear, he was walking on stage and the whole crowd went NUTS. he made a little movement to show that he was anxious while setting up for his set, and crowd went even more crazy. as he was singing "Forever" by Chris Brown, everyone got their cell phones out and i looked at Randolph and said "Look at this bro, we're actually playing for 1300 people with people like Gabe & Super Cr3w"" and Randolph looked at me and said "dude i could really cry right now" and we weren't joking. it was overwhelming.

everyone's set was amazing. i was very proud of Cathy and Randolph because i remember their first show ever... i got them to play at Clark Magnet High School in Glendale with me, and ever since then they have been improving and creating a connection with the audience every time and its really awesome to see them grow as artists. i went on, and signed a ukulele first thing on stage. really overwhelming feeling with all the noise in the audience and flashing lights.



i played and i didn't want it to be over. i dedicated my performance to my father, telling everyone that i wish he was here to watch me in the crowd, and i thanked them for watching me for those 13 minutes that i was on stage. i closed my set with Showstopper and i was followed by Kaba Modern, Passion, and Super Cr3w.

after the show, all of us went to the front where they were selling tickets, and the amount of people in that space had me taken aback. i could barely hear Gabe as we were walking through trying to figure out where to go. i had shirts pressed with PNOYAPPAREL and the V-Necks SOLD OUT. 100 v necks gone in 25 minutes. i couldn't believe it. RB, Roland, Kris, & Dusty were helping me out, and Gabe and Jeremy were on the side and we were all trying to talk to the screaming crowd to back up from the tables and to calm down because little girls were getting pushed and people couldn't get out. the security guards were being wack and NOT helping us out. it was kind of disappointing. all of the artists soon got pulled into the back because the people wouldn't calm down and they would have to pay more for the venue if they all stayed in past 10:30.

i know i can't officially speak on Gabe's, cathy's, randolph's, and jeremy's behalf, but i know we were all overwhelmed and just in awe to the turn out of this show. although jeremy and gabe have played for bigger audiences, this crowd was just full of love and we were all feelin it in the deepest way possible.

we are humbled and thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your show of support and love for us as we try to spread our music to the world.

watch my performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYSG-Hlet1M and to watch the rest of the performances just search "feel the beat [artist name]" on youtube and a bunch will pop up.

i could cry thinking about "Feel the Beat". i am moved to "ASPIRE TO INSPIRE BEFORE I EXPIRE".

i just saw a mouse running around in the classroom i'm in. GREAT.

words can't express my gratitude. i am almost there-- representing all of us who were once on the bottom, for us who have had an experience that could have broken us but instead have let it MAKE US, for us who felt like they couldn't make a difference, for us who felt like our race would hold us back from being successful, for us who want to CHANGE THE WORLD.

i will get there.
AJ