“It would be like if Mötley Crüe played with Def Leppard,” I explained to the cab driver, after she was still confused about why we were in a total bliss state of concert after-glow about two rappers from New York. She totally got it then, like the thousands of other fans who made zero gripes about ticket prices or waiting time to see the Black Star show. That’s some once-in-a-lifetime stuff. Nothing really matters after you see a show like that. Now that I think about it, I would have been more upset if the show started on time. I’m coming up on 10 years living here, so I know by now that nothing starts when it’s supposed to. So when you’re barreling down Ward Avenue, catching every single red light or pulling up to a valet that’s full, you still have a little wiggle room to make it to one of only two shows in the WORLD that these underground hip-hop legends will perform at together this year. I would love for everything to be on Christa-time, but hey, I’ll deal.

Words can’t even describe how amazing the energy of the crowd was or how impressed the two dudes on stage were that they still have so many diehard fans. “Oh, you know that one?” YES WE DOOO AAAAAA! There was a moment when it seemed like the crowd was outperforming the people on stage. Just for a moment though, because Mos Def and Talib Kweli are pretty damn intelligent, and they caught on quickly that Honolulu knows what’s up. The only reason I was slightly perturbed about the show not finishing until 2am was because I missed Soul Clap.

That party is the groundwork of all events cool in Chinatown. When the concert was postponed from an earlier date to the same night as ESKAE’s party, I remember thinking, “This is perfect! Now we can all just walk across the street and carry on partying.” Thank goodness there are enough people in this town to make it to both, because it still went off, and bar manager Christian Self was in the same state of after-glow the next night as we chain smoked on the patio waiting for Alt/Air to play at the Contrast 80 Proof party. It was then that I realized a lot of the coolness goes down while I’m waiting. The small talk, the flirting, the shots or, in my case, the business. A huge crowd is also good, but sometimes it’s better to have a smaller amount of quality people.

If you don’t believe me then you’ve probably only been inside The Manifest on a First Friday. Celebrating its one-year anniversary with A Night to Remember last Thursday was a treasure because it wasn’t smashed with shoulder-to-shoulder people. There was room to move, to step back to see each other’s prom outfits, to dance. You didn’t have to wait forever to get a drink or a photo from John Hook, the photo-booth genius. I spent the rest of the weekend looking at the hundreds of prom photos he posted on Facebook; they were pretty much the best thing to happen to the Internet in 2010. Even if there was a line out the door to get one, I would have waited. Why? Because sometimes it’s worth it.