Hoodstock in Bed-Stuy: 5/22/10

This past Saturday I was with a group of friends off the Morgan stop walking to the train to go to a typical WillyB rooftop party when we were stopped by a frantic man on a single speed with a gnarly grill. He was full of energy and trying to get to Willoughby St. in Bed-Stuy and my friend gladly helped him get there. Out of random luck he says “Thanks, it’s a New Orleans Bounce show, y’all should come.” That’s when my friend points back at me and says “talk to this guy.” This is also when I started freaking out and frantically asking questions myself. He informed me that there was a bounce show going on until at least 5 am in Bed-Stuy featuring Big Freedia and Rusty Lazer. Needless to say at this point I knew what I was going to be doing that night. I just had to find someone to go with me.

Once I got to the rooftop party I asked a few of the people I knew there if they wanted to go, even people from Baton Rouge. For some reason they wanted to stay at a cliche rooftop party instead of see a type of music that is just now getting out of New Orleans. In a fucking Bed-Stuy basement at that. I can’t hate though, the party was pretty legit. Most of the time I was there was spent looking up information about Hoodstock which I found out was at a secret location that was only announced the night before. I spent the rest of the time texting people I knew that I thought would want to go. After a half hour of this I finally met up with someone and we were off to Hoodstock.

Getting out of the cab it was obvious where this party was at. There were gobs of people outside and music blaring. I had read on my phone that it was 10 dollars to get in, but it was 1:30 maybe even closer to 2 am. At this point and there was no sign of any door guys. It was semi-controlled chaos when we showed up. The room was full of cigarette smoke and kush and to quote George Jones, “It was hotter than a 2 dollar pistol” in there. The sissy’s had their shirts off, girls were removing items of clothing. There was a rope swing for anyone to swing in. Within the first minute of being there I knew I had stumbled onto something right up my alley.

Sadly we showed up too late to catch all the acts including Japanther, Big Freedia, and others. Luckily the party was still poppin’. The DJ’s were playing a good mix of southern rap, some bounce, and I remember the crowd going ape shit when Human League came on. I knew this party was pretty crunk but it was made blatantly obvious to me at one point. I was looking for the bathroom and I tried to open the only door that was in this basement and it was locked. I turn around to the guy behind me and ask him “is there a bathroom in this bitch?” He replied by pointing at the puddle I was standing in. Then he pointed into the large sized room next to me where 3 guys were posted up in each corner relieving themselves. At that point I just enthusiastically said “Holy shit, a fuckin’ PISS ROOM, AWESOME!!!!” Then I posted up in the corner and joined the party.

I left the party around 5 am and it was still going strong. The crowd was definitely smaller than when I got there, but it still didn’t look like it was ending any time soon. Village Voice was there taking photos. You can view those here.