New York: Day 1

New York, New York, Big City of Dreams...

...but everything in New York, ain't always what it seems.

My boys and I met up in the "city that never sleeps" last week for a very long weekend. I got there early Friday morning from Los Angeles. Ike was already there from Detroit, The Dallas Kid (DK) was on his way in from Dallas and Big Time was flying in from Wisconsin.

We were staying at the W hotel on Lexington Ave in midtown. I met Ike in the lobby and we headed up to the 5th floor, which was the smoking floor. As soon as we got off the elevator I was welcomed by the strong aroma of marijuana. Apparently, Snoop Dogg and his entire entourage (which consisted of The Dogg Pound, DJ Quik, Too Short and others) were staying in our hotel. Reeferiffic.

After hanging around with Kurupt and his bodyguard (actually I wasn't really hanging around WITH them, but we were all in front of the hotel lol) in front of the hotel for nearly an hour waiting for DK and Big Time to arrive, I went inside to hang out in the lobby. Big Time gets there first and DK is right behind. At this point we find out that Big Time's ex-girlfriend has hacked into his email and discovered an email from another girl, that took place after they broke up. Due to the nature of relationships, Big Time was getting the business from her on the phone as he arrived in New York. DK and I found this quite comical and gave him a lot of shit for it, although we have all been there. Some of us more recently than others.

Once the crew is assembled, we head to Canal Street, which sucked. It's too bootleg to even consider buying anything. They were actually selling "Goce and Dabonna" cologne.

We quickly turned around and headed to Harlem, where we heard you can find some good shopping. So we get off the subway and nearly witness a grown man fight a young high school kid before we go to the Nike House of Hoops, which was tight but nothing extraordinairy. The shoe market is so watered down now that you really don't get surprised by anything anymore. No one bought anything there and we hit about ten urban clothing stores that all sold the exact same stuff. DK had to hit H and M, which would be the first of many H and M's that we would visit. We then asked around for some famous soul food spot in Harlem and were re-routed to a closer soul food spot in Harlem called "Manna's." This is a buffet style spot that...left a lot to be desired. I have pictures that I'll post later. The food was below average and DK had a long hair in his smothered chicken. Not to mention there was nowhere to sit.

Shopping with Big Time


That night someone recommended that we go to "Tillman's," which is a night club. We get there and we are immediately rejected by the doorman. He tells us that they've reached capacity even though we witness at least eight people leave in the five minutes that we're standing out front. This would be a recurring theme. Not only getting "New York'd," but not being admitted into night spots.

So we take our first rejection and head to "Fashion 40," some other club, which actually reminded me of a Seattle club. There was no dress code, 90% of the girls were overweight (not there's anything wrong with that...) and it was a small venue that was somewhat overcrowded. The night was okay though, we drank and then once again got New York'd when the bartender refused to take a picture of myself and DK. He asked her if she would take a picture and she said "No." Then when he gave her no tip, she acted like he was the most fucked up dude she had ever encountered. At least he New York'd her ass right back.

At the bar with the Dallas Kid


Another funny thing about that place was DK encountered a young lady who had the strongest NYC accent I've ever heard. I practically thought I would hear her break out into a Mobb Deep verse in the middle of a sentence. Then when he said that some of us were from Cali, she told him that she was from San Jose, CA! Apparently the five years that she's been in New York have really rubbed off on her. Too much.

After we leave Fashion 40, Big Time tries to ask a big-boned (to say the least) chick where a bathroom is. She completely ignores him. He asks her again politely and she says "That is not how you talk to a woman! You need to be like "Yo, Ma!" Lesson learned.