Style Factory 8 - The Birthday Bash!

Two L’s Up w/ The Low Lifes
As many of you know I celebrated my 28th birthday over the weekend and the fine folks over the Mindspray crew were nice enough to turn Style Factory 8 into a multi-faceted event that was not just another Style Factory, it was also the Mindspray EP release party, a celebration of the life and legacy of LEFTist, which, technically speaking, every Mindspray show is, and will be, until they stop performing, and my official birthday bash. The lineup was amazing and for the first time in Style Factory history The Knitting Factory had to close the list and the door before 11pm because we had already packed the place.

A great number of my friends showed up and there were even a few celeb sightings including LEE from The Square Egg (I told you you were a celeb, bro, and now that I’ve written this it’s official), Hip-Hop entrepreneur Conscious, MC’s Chaz Kangas and El Da Sensei, CT's dynamic duo Hushh (with manager Modest Jones), as well as singer / songwriter Jim Wolf. A few more artists told me they tried to get in but came too late and were turned away. This was, of course, in addition to the many artists who came through to perform.

To say that the show started with a bang would be a vast understatement. Rack-Lo and the Low Lifes were the first to take the stage. Normally an artist of Rack’s caliber headlines a show like this, but on this particular night he wanted to rock first. I was called into duty as a cameraperson for his set, which wasn’t a bad gig because I had only had two drinks and still remembered all my time as a sideline reporter / cameraperson during the Hofstra football games way back in the day (Gio Carmazzi, baby!). Rack’s intensity and delivery were amazing. Even when the Low Lifes were using jacked beats you forgot which song they were jacked from by the end of the performance because Rack and crew had created something so dope over them that they were officially HIS beats by the end of the night. He closed with “Two L’s Up” which was a very nice double entendre with the night also being for LEFTist.

After Rack my people Nervous System hit the stage. I was a little nervous for them because they had to follow someone who was not only an NYC legend, but who had just had the crowd rocking for a full half hour. NS did their thing, though, and the CT trio had the NY crowd bouncing and vibing with them in no time flat. I think Sol Storm (who rocked a Jose Reyes jersey shirt!), Polarity Plus and Eclipse earned themselves a lot of new fans Saturday night. They played a few classics (“Sip On This Here” anyone?) and a handful of new tracks off of their upcoming EP. I was hyped during their entire set. I’ve known NS for a long while and know what they’ve gone through. They definitely deserve all the success in the world and I’m extremely proud of them.

Nervous System’s set was followed be me have a few more drinks, hey it was my birthday, so other parts of the night are a bit blurry. I know LeRoy Brown and Metermaids hit the stage after a brief delay for LeRoy Brown’s set up and then Mindspray performed their entire What’s Inside? EP, which they gave away at the door. The Mindspray set was a passionate one and featured Athena Lamarre singing a bit with them, as well. The crowded stage was filled with emotion as the crew threw up their L’s whenever LEFTist was supposed to have had a verse. LEFT’s verse was then played off the CD while C.O.N.C.E.P.T. held up the image of LEFTist from the memorial t-shirts that has become so incredibly recognizable at this point. During the Mindspray set I was also called on stage and ended up being handed a beer by C.O.N.C.E.P.T for my birthday, which was awesome.

Following Mindspray was J. Sands of Lone Catalysts who came reppin his hometown of Pittsburgh to the fullest. Decked out in full Pittsburgh Steelers regalia Sands rocked the mic for the numerous fans who came will full knowledge of the BUKA recording artist. Sands brought a friend on stage to rock with him (note, I said A friend, not A BUNCH of friends. You all know how I feel about 30 unwelcome rappers on a stage) and did his thing before handing over the mic to the Whose Rhyme Is It Anyway competition. Whose Rhyme saw Mindspray’s own Domer winning a close one over former champ Bisc1.

All in all it was a fantastic birthday party. A lotta great friends, a lotta good drinks, a lotta gorgeous women, what else could anyone ask for? I even have a fun “wait she’s how young?” story to tell from it, and no I’m not sharing it right now. I thank every single member of the Mindspray crew for including my birthday celebration with their event and all the artists who made the effort to come out and perform, especially those who hit me up asking to perform as soon as they heard it was for my birthday. You all rock, even the DJ’s, DJ Halo and DJ Milkmoney (who rocked a Mets hat!), who I could not find a way to fit into this article until now. How’s that for a shout out?

For over 100 pics from the party check out the gallery at Imagestation.com