MSSL CMMND

love from la weekly

Thanks to Roselle Chen from LA Weekly for the awesome writeup!

“Chad Hugo, better known as one half of The Neptunes, came on a little past 3 p.m. on the indoor stage. A crowd had barely amassed at this point, with some filtering in from Riot Gear’s set outside.

Hugo opened with Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now,” while gesturing for the sound levels to be turned up — way up. A couple of people gathered around and bobbed their heads to the beat while Hugo inflected a drum and bass beat to Busta Rhymes’s part: ” You ain’t never gonna stop me/ Every time I come a nigga gotta set it / Then I gotta go, and then I gotta get it.” With his right arm propped on the corner of the DJ table, Hugo said, “Mr. Soundman, Mr. Soundman can we get some volume?”

Then: “Make some noise if you want to be outside!” A few people cheered. “It’s all good, we’re here to have a good time,” he said. Interspersing hard house, electro, reggaeton, commercial hip hop and pop, he played songs like Lumidee’s “Never Leave You,” Clipse’s “When the Last Time,” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl.” The set felt like a throwback to the early 2000s, with new beats mixed in.

As more folks filtered in, they came alive to N.E.R.D.’s “Everyone Nose.” Girls twirled with boys to the lyrics: “All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom.” People in shades danced with big smiles on their faces, and guys, not girls, shook their butts to “A hundred dollar bills look - Achoo! Achoo!”

Groups swung towels around their heads as Hugo spun more electro/house/reggae into Baltimore Club Music’s “Tear the Fuckin’ Club Up,” Lil Jon & Eastside Boyz’s “Chris Rock In The Club,” and even Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun.”

A loose break dance circle formed as Chris Rock said “We never leave the muthafuckin’ club!…We go to church in da club!” The peak was Lil Wayne’s “A Milli,” with skinny guys in shorts doing lazy windmills, resting for a couple of seconds on the floor before getting back up to dance.”