This is an archived post from Roxanne’s former blog on Medium. Williamsburg Hotel was not yet the Arlo and Kinfolk still existed.
I’m a sucker for instrumentals with big brass bands and heavy drumlines. It brings me back to high school pep rallies down South. None of our sports teams were really the best, but what we lacked in athleticism we made up for in spirit. Our band would churn out the James Bond theme song and follow-up with Usher’s “OMG” while other schools were still playing their outdated fight songs. It was something about the community that seemed to always feel like we were winning, even when we weren’t.
Some time has passed since my last pep rally, and I’ve already graduated college; I had accepted that my opportunities to replicate these feelings may never be quite the same. Or so I thought, until the other night when I heard Jay Rock’s latest single “Win” during his album listening party. What was supposed to be just another NYC party ended up turning into a pretty nostalgic high.
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I was already feeling pretty spent from living up my night at Madison Square Garden for the TDE Championship Tour. The concert was dope from start to finish; every artist was worth watching and listening to. I think too many people tend to gravitate towards SZA and Kendrick Lamar when they think Top Dawg Entertainment, but they forget that the entire family has talent. Jay Rock is no exception.
I had received a very cryptic link over IG for the TDE afterparty, so my friend and I linked up post-concert and made our way to Williamsburg. I figured the event would be in the same three-block radius as all big music events usually are, yet the line wasn’t nearly as hard to conquer nor annoyingly full of hipster city-transplants as I expected. My only negative experience was that the security guard shook out the entirety of my bag after discovering a single safety pin. I complain about it now, but that was a small price to pay for what came next.
We get down the stairs and turn the corner. The lights in the room shift to a dark red. The aesthetic continued the athletic theme of the Championship Tour: each artist had their own player card, complete with stats and costumes matching their given sport. Jay Rock’s party transported me back to waxed court floors, cheering crowds and squeaking shoes. Banners with each artist’s accolades hung on every wall. Bleachers lined the far sides of the venue, drinks lined the turf in a netted area near the doorway for VIP guests and a T-shaped stage demanded attention, sporting a huge neon basketball hoop.
Jay Rock was playing songs off of his new album, Redemption. Some songs were hard to decipher with the loudness of the sound system, yet every aspect of this party contributed to the homecoming-week vibe. “Win” came on and the short snippets I heard from cars passing by earlier in the week paled in comparison to the warmth emanating from the speakers. I was transported to a different time, a life that I was losing familiarity with in the craziness of city life. Next thing I knew, my friend and I ended up onstage for the majority of the night.
Even after we had heard the entire album, the energy in the room was palpable. The DJ churned out trap anthem after trap anthem. There are only a few times you can get a group of strangers to be in total agreement on something: kicking an unruly passenger off the bus, avoiding the crazy at the front of the A train and when you’re supposed to Swag Surf, you fucking Swag Surf.
I remember checking my phone for the first time in hours. It was already way past 1AM. Normally, my social battery would run out by this time, requiring a few drinks to keep me going. But the adrenaline of bouncing around to A$AP Ferg, Dipset and Sheck Wes carried me far enough I didn’t feel the need to visit the bar at all.
We headed back to the city around 3AM in search of sustenance. Koreatown was one of the few places still open to stragglers like us so we sat down over beef bulgogi and seafood udon. It was in the quiet of chopsticks clinking against ceramic plates that I finally caught my breath. I’m not quite sure how I got there but I’m glad I did.
Even when I was finally back uptown in my bed and the sun was rising, all I could think about was how this night was everything I needed: a reminder that I already won.
