Too many districts. Two Days. Plus Teaching. May the odds be ever in your favor.
The morning after I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, I went to lunch with the other Language Corps teachers to discover that HARDWELL (I love Hardwell. We share the same birthday. And I love his hair color) had DJ’d in Ho Chi Minh City the night before. THE NIGHT BEFORE. I had barely missed one of my favorite DJ’s in a city that seemingly almost never had artists or any type of big events. After that moment I vowed that I would not miss the next concert or big event. SooOoOoo when a few weeks later I heard there was going to be a 5K night run FOLLOWED BY A LIL JON CONCERT. I was in. To make my weekend even better, the same guy who broke my heart about Hardwell, helped tape it together by giving me a heads up that Showtek would be in Ho Chi Minh City the Sunday after the 5K. HELL YES.
P R I S M A N I G H T R U N
Running in the 5K was not the ‘big reason’ I wanted to participate in the 5K, but whatever, I don’t mind running a few miles and being doused in paint at night. What won me over was the fact that Lil Jon, yes LIL JON would be be the post race performer. I knew without a doubt I was would be front row to see that man say, “YEAAAA!” “OKAaAAAAAY!” And praaaay that he would play one of his classics.
On the way to Prisma, I fell asleep in the taxi, which isn’t news to anyone — but when I woke up I was thrown off by the fact that I fell asleep in a city and woke up in the middle of nowhere (District 2). Buuuut sprawled in the middle of it all was Prisma!
The race didn’t start until 7:30 but we got there at around 5 — so we had quite a bit of time to kill. AKA we had quite a bit of time to kill to dump as much pair on our bodies, in our hair, on our shoes, down our pants, down our shirts, everywhere. Everywhere. Powder paint was EVERYWHERE.
About 30 minutes before the race was scheduled to begin they directed us towards the start line which conveniently had a DJ spinning and a mini hype man from the Philippines who could speak Vietnamese, English annnnd could rock corn rows all at the same damn time. Quite the character.
While waiting to run, doing the two-step, trying to talk but not really hearing each other and just nodding like we can hear, I couldn’t help but notice that several people weren’t dressed to run AT ALL. I’ve seen the people who show up to runs like this dressed in gorilla suits, or ridiculously small shorts and high socks — that I understand. But these people were wearing leather skirts, jean shorts, jeans, strappy sandals with their hair curled, eye make up and perfect red lips. I was giving them this face: 
How were they planning to run a 5K? Obviously, they weren’t, but why stand on the starting line??? With that being said, I should not have been surprised that after waiting 40 minutes to run when were finally released into the ‘wild’ we weren’t moving. Majority of the participants were walking. Not even speed walking, leisurely walking with a cup of coffee on a Sunday afternoon type of walk.
In my head I was repeating, “MOVE BITCHES,” but on the outside I was saying, “Excuse me, pardon me, sorry,” every once in a while throwing a soft ‘bow to send a message. After five minutes of not getting anywhere Megan and I got aggressive. We bobbed and weaved through God knows how many people until we could finally open our stride and run. What seemed like no time at all (and with very few people around us) — We finished the 5K! But seriously either the race was improperly measured or Megan and I sprinted because we finished the damn thing in twenty minutes.
post race shoes
You can watch the official Prisma video here — You can find me at 3:39 😉
We crossed the finish line, grabbed as many small water bottles as possible and made our way to the main stage and plopped down. I was hoping I could sit and just wait for Lil Jon to come on, but after thirty minutes DJ’s Manfred and Atran came on stage and blessed us with their presence. I was pretty bummed to see them leave the stage based on the looks of the next performers who turned out to be DJ Katsy Lee and Ace Ramos. I could tell my ears would be fucked for the next hour or so. And sure enough — it was madness. It was a mix between SKrillex and Haezar just louder, faster and much much worse. It was the feeling of ‘what the fukc is happening type of feeling. Standing in the front two trying to bounce around with the music brought me back to my freshman year with one of my favorite humans, Bradley. We were driving home from a party blaring house music and he’s in the backseat with Curtiss bouncing his head to the music saying, “My ears are bleeding,” in the flattest, most casual tone ever LOLOLOL. I was feeling the same way during that looooong hour of musical hell.
I’ve never been to a Lil Jon show when he was a rapper or as a DJ. So I was pretty excited to see what this producer turned rapper turned DJ could do. Let me tellllllllllll you, he represented the ATL very well in Ho Chi Minh City. He played his newer music for the first hour or so without showing any signs or hints of his older link classics link at all. I was nervous. I mean he had to play them, right? Just when I thought all hope was lost he grabbed a microphone, came to the front of the stage and the music for ‘Get Low’ played. The older (am I considered old now?) crowd lost their shit and went wild. He performed several of my favorites and ended with, of course, Turn Down For What.
Thank you to everyone who put together the 1st Annual Prisma Night Run!!!!
S H O W T E K
I’m almost positive I’ve unknowingly loved Showtek for a few years without even realizing it was their music I was raging to. The first time I saw them live was in Las Vegas at Drais Beach Club during Memorial Day Weekend (what.a. trip). To be honest, I was reluctant to even go — I was more into the idea of going to Encore Beach Club or Wet Republic. I am really really really extremely happy we went to Drais instead. Showtek absolutely blew my mind.
http://instagram.com/p/obx3lAsIXy/?modal=true
It was one of those moments when you’re distracted doing something else or talking to someone and have to stop what you are doing to to see who is playing because it is THAT enticing. With that being said, when I got wind that Showtek was coming to Ho Chi Minh I exploded into a flurry of questions: “Whaaaaaaaat? When? Where? How much? Who wants to go?” — We didn’t have an exact address to the venue so we got there a bit late — the taxis struggle sometimes — so we weren’t as close as I would have like but the bar wasn’t too far so I would say that’s a pretty fair trade off.
Thank you for making the trip Showtek, you were the cherry on top of my weekend….even though at the end of it all I ended up at the 24 hour McDonald’s (I hate it when I do that)
Oh, and here is the most epic Memorial Day Weekend Vegas video. Ever.
Black Girl New Continent 