Please pardon my delay… I’ve never cried so much in my life. The past few days have brought some heartbreakingly enlightening celebrations and revelations to the soul and the world. The rebirth of Michael Jackson is truly a turning point in world history. Where we go from here is our choice…

Okay. Time to get back on showing how wonderful our city is.
On Saturday night, Hot 97′s esteemed DJ Peter Rosenberg visited our fair city once again to get down on it. The Parkdale Drink was the place to be on Saturday night…

As it should be, I walked in, and some MJ was playing. Word to that. I’m gonna be celebrating that guy’s music until my ears bleed Bubbles, ha ha. This summer is OFFICIALLY “The Summer of Michael Jackson”. Accept it, or move into a log cabin on the Moon. MJ’s music will heat up dancefloors around the world like never before. But some people are gonna fuck it up. I mean, it’s too easy and basic to just throw on hits from ‘Thriller’ and then just play stuff from ‘Bad’ and ‘Dangerous’. Sure they’re timeless, but… it’s 2009.

A real good DJ does what Peter Rosenberg did:
Play the perfect amount of the song (like ‘ABC’ or some secret Jackson 5 jam), while mixing in the perfect next big chune (‘Who’s Loving You’ or some other surprise selection), while watching the dancefloor percolate, stirring up sweltering peaks and chilled-out valleys of emotion, and all the while turning the disco out. Screams of joy and tears of pain mixed and mingled in the club, where nearly two hundred sexy party people soaked in a good 2 hours of MJ magic (he makes MAGIC, not music, word to Biggie. If you don’t know… now you know . )

The jam went from “this is great” to “THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME” when Peter Rosenberg dropped the semi-secret A-bomb on the crowd: “You Rock My World: The Jay-Z remix”, which is one of the best rap/R&B collaborations of the decade, personally. I thought so before MJ left earth to find his stolen childhood in the next Neverland. Jay-Z was in top form there, spitting witty brilliance over the amazing bass and astounding drums.
Jay-Z:

“I paint that picture/ cause ain’t no n!gga/ *clap clap* like the one you get from/ Mike, holla!”

MJ:

“I don’t think they’re ready for this one…”

this is probably the best song the Trackmasters will ever do.
And considering it featured a “I.Z.Z.O.”-era Hova and a still-pretty-loved Michael Jackson, I think this jam is still not played enough.

I digress. I’ve been deep in Michael Jackson meditation for the last two weeks. Hell, I was born in 1977. I lived in the days when MJ and Pepsi were on TV together. (Jheri curls, be damned!)

Peter also played a demo version of ‘Human Nature’ or something. I’ve never EVER heard it before, but it was marvelous. He spun a good share of oldies, but returned to the masterpieces in good time. Honestly, the guy’s timing, taste, crowd control, and style was damn near perfect. I look forward to the next time he tears up the turntables in Toronto.

Big Jacks took over after that, and I have to salute the homie for being brave and dignified enough to play a slice of heaven like ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ by the Jackson 5 in the jam, then drop the Mary J. Blige/Ghostface classic ‘All That I Got Is You’ after it. He continued along this path of musical greatness for quite some time, and the crowd loved it.

DJ Royale took the turn that we all knew was coming, and yet didn’t I want to take… but had to anyways. I mean, I THINK there are more important musicians in the world, other than Michael Jackson, but I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you on that.
Royale took us out of the MJ Tribute, and into the “real world”, where Soulja Boys kiss you thru the phone, and people’s leggs are stanky.
It’s not Royale’s fault that these modern day “musicians” are woefully inferior to Michael Jackson.

But I guess it’s gonna become more and more evident as time goes on and we realize that there will never be another entertainer as amazing as the Gloved One.

thanks for the lovely gathering reminding us all of that, Black Rap fam.

big up to Tara Muldoon, Jesse Ohtake, Tonika Morgan, and all the wonderful Toronto people who were there, holding it down.