By Shea Serrano, Monday, Feb. 1 2010 @ 12:45PM
8:20 p.m.: Somehow, without checking in as media or anything, we've found our way backstage. That was a bit too easy; like, "Make You Feel A Little Uncomfortable About The Security Level At This Event" uneasy.
8:24: Yipes. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee just walked out onto the stage between performances, and is absolutely being hammered with boos. She tries to appeal to the crowd through homerism ("Go Tigers!") but it's for naught. The boos reign down from the heavens. She tries to unite through exploitative pity (something about people in Haiti). That doesn't work either. When she walks offstage she is somehow not crying.
8:30: One of the guys from The Boxx has "Sprite" cut into his hair on one side and "Step Off" cut into the other. It looks cool. We ask why he did it. His response: "Well, I went to school here." Oh, well that settles that then.
8:32: [Note: I'm going to have to step out of the Editorial We voice here.] Already two times tonight someone has asked, "You're Larami's husband, right?" I am indeed married to a woman named Larami. One of those people was Nnete from The Boxx. When I'm at work, what the fuck kind of craziness is going on at my house that my wife knows radio DJs and fans of step shows?
8:36: The Omegas are in the house. The Omegas are easily the gnarliest of all of the black fraternities. They're typically dressed in camouflage, purple and gold, and can usually be found doing all manner of ridiculous things. They're also typically built like Mack trucks, which means we absolutely will not be making fun of them tonight.
8:42: Hey, Letoya Luckett (above) is performing. That seems a weird choice. She's not really a "Get You Hype" type of performer. Watching Luckett and her two backup dancers perform, we immediately begin trying to determine who would win in a fight between these three and Just Brittany and her two back-up dancers. Just Brittany's dancers look a bit more fighter-ish, so probably them, but the Gutta Mamis would destroy them both.
8:42: Henry Adaso from
The Rap Up just made his way back into the media section. That's a cool guy right there, who looks like a slightly more ominous version of Taye Diggs. He offers his fist up so we can bump it with our own in return, but we panic and end up grabbing it like a door handle and shaking it. Dammit.
8:58: Luckett is performing Destiny's Child's "No, No, No." That song was phenomenal, and the crowd responds accordingly. But the fact that it's the best part of her show tonight probably doesn't bode well for the strength of her solo career.
9:03: The Delta Sigma Theta sorority from U of H is up now. Their performance is based around them being in the
Super Mario Bros. video game. It's a cute way to start, but now they're in the unfortunate circumstance of having to remain dressed like plumbers for the duration of their show.
