PART 1: THE CONCERT (THE FAN)
I have always been a fan of RICK ROSS from his music, his look, hustle, and swag I always thought it couldn’t get any better than him. The way ROSS raps and lays his lyrics out with his classic regal sound fully embellished with Maybach Music signature mark it would always put me into a hypnotic trance. When you hear the “The Biggest Boss” through your speakers nothing can stop you from jamming to this music mogul and entrepreneur. So when I heard he was coming to Cincinnati, OH to OTR Live I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.
March 4th, 2016 Day before the Concert:
So on the night of March 4, 2016, it was around 6:30 pm and I was at work taking calls, it was starting to get slow at night with call volume so I was doing a little reading in between calls. I had thought to myself “like geez I just spent my last little bit of money on this ticket to go see RICK ROSS”. At this point, I was debating if I was going to go or not.
See I had bought my ticket the previous weekend from this local shop called Black Owned and the funny thing was while buying my ticket the owner had asked me “Do you only need one?”
I had replied, “Yea I am going by myself.”
And I remembered he had a shock expression on his face. See in life I have learned if you wait on people to do stuff you might miss out on opportunities. In addition, to that, I wanted to take myself out, get dress sexy for me, and enjoy myself. Plus, it was RICK ROSS I am truly one of his biggest fans so why not?
Right at the moment of remembering why I originally bought the ticket, I thought to myself let me try to message him on Instagram to see if I could interview him for my blog. So I hopped on my phone and open the app and searched for @youngrenzal on Instagram and pulled up his page and left a couple comments under some pictures. Then I decided to officially DM him.
March 4th, 2016 Day before the Concert:
So on the night of March 4, 2016, it was around 6:30 pm and I was at work taking calls, it was starting to get slow at night with call volume so I was doing a little reading in between calls. I had thought to myself “like geez I just spent my last little bit of money on this ticket to go see RICK ROSS”. At this point, I was debating if I was going to go or not.
See I had bought my ticket the previous weekend from this local shop called Black Owned and the funny thing was while buying my ticket the owner had asked me “Do you only need one?”
I had replied, “Yea I am going by myself.”
And I remembered he had a shock expression on his face. See in life I have learned if you wait on people to do stuff you might miss out on opportunities. In addition, to that, I wanted to take myself out, get dress sexy for me, and enjoy myself. Plus, it was RICK ROSS I am truly one of his biggest fans so why not?
Right at the moment of remembering why I originally bought the ticket, I thought to myself let me try to message him on Instagram to see if I could interview him for my blog. So I hopped on my phone and open the app and searched for @youngrenzal on Instagram and pulled up his page and left a couple comments under some pictures. Then I decided to officially DM him.
That was it deed was done I sent some messages out and all I could do was wait.
March 5th, 2016 Day of the Concert:
Thank god I had Saturday off from work so I honestly spent the whole day getting ready for the concert from doing my hair and finding something to wear it really was a circus. I honestly woke up a hot mess cleaning the house and entertaining my guest. Thank god, my two little cousins had spent the night. They were the biggest help because I had an appointment at 6:30 at Sephora to get my makeup done for free. We rushed the whole day till my appointment and honestly I threw things in a bag and did not know what I was going to wear.
I got to Sephora in Kenwood Mall and had a makeup artist named Greg he was amazing! He had beat my face and hooked me up. Before I knew it was around 8:15 and I still wasn’t dressed and the doors open at 9 pm for the concert. So I left out the mall and took my little cousins home when we had arrived we realized that I had beat their parents’ home. I realized time wasn’t my friend at the moment so I hopped out the car and got dressed in their driveway while waiting for their parents.
Finally, they had arrived I ran in and looked in the mirror and said to myself “Let me take one selfie before I leave.”
March 5th, 2016 Day of the Concert:
Thank god I had Saturday off from work so I honestly spent the whole day getting ready for the concert from doing my hair and finding something to wear it really was a circus. I honestly woke up a hot mess cleaning the house and entertaining my guest. Thank god, my two little cousins had spent the night. They were the biggest help because I had an appointment at 6:30 at Sephora to get my makeup done for free. We rushed the whole day till my appointment and honestly I threw things in a bag and did not know what I was going to wear.
I got to Sephora in Kenwood Mall and had a makeup artist named Greg he was amazing! He had beat my face and hooked me up. Before I knew it was around 8:15 and I still wasn’t dressed and the doors open at 9 pm for the concert. So I left out the mall and took my little cousins home when we had arrived we realized that I had beat their parents’ home. I realized time wasn’t my friend at the moment so I hopped out the car and got dressed in their driveway while waiting for their parents.
Finally, they had arrived I ran in and looked in the mirror and said to myself “Let me take one selfie before I leave.”
Once the picture was taken I dashed out the door got in the car and left for the concert. By the time I arrived, it was about 9:10 and I had finally arrived at the venue called OTR LIVE. I got out the car and went to the meter to pay for parking. I guess my nerves had finally settled in about being by myself in addition to trying to get RICK ROSS attention because I put my last $20 in the meter and read after it processed my receipt that it didn’t give back change.
I rolled my eyes in disbelief that I allowed myself not to read that stupid sign and before I knew it, it had started to sprinkle outside from the rain. All these feelings started to sink in regards to doubts and why I was there. But I said I had already lost $20 how bad could it get. I waited in line got there about 30 mins after the door had open and slowly worked my way in while jamming to ROSS’s classic album Teflon Don. Before I knew security had checked my bag and I was inside OTR LIVE.
OTR Live was a fresh new hot spot in Cincinnati, OH that been marketed as a concert venue. That had a coat check, 2 bars, several different VIP areas, and by the looks of it a kitchen serving food. OTR Live was a beautiful and huge space. It was definitely something that took me by surprise because I felt like I was not in Cincinnati anymore.
After surveying the place, I decided to work my way to the front of the house and close to the stage. It had seemed liked most of the crowd was confused in regards to how this open (general admission) space work. So every two minutes I would inch closer and closer waiting for security to let me know I went too far. But surprisingly before I knew it and about 8 mins had past I was right in front of the stage with no more room to go any further. I was going to witness this amazing rapper perform and only some speakers separated how close I was going be.
So after a couple hours past and I realized it was after midnight I had noticed that the empty space behind me was now heavily condensed with people dancing and drinking waiting for RICK ROSS to come out on stage. I looked to my left and there was this drunk white girl next to me and I looked to my right and there was the black woman sitting on the speakers next to me. I realized than the show was about to start soon.
I rolled my eyes in disbelief that I allowed myself not to read that stupid sign and before I knew it, it had started to sprinkle outside from the rain. All these feelings started to sink in regards to doubts and why I was there. But I said I had already lost $20 how bad could it get. I waited in line got there about 30 mins after the door had open and slowly worked my way in while jamming to ROSS’s classic album Teflon Don. Before I knew security had checked my bag and I was inside OTR LIVE.
OTR Live was a fresh new hot spot in Cincinnati, OH that been marketed as a concert venue. That had a coat check, 2 bars, several different VIP areas, and by the looks of it a kitchen serving food. OTR Live was a beautiful and huge space. It was definitely something that took me by surprise because I felt like I was not in Cincinnati anymore.
After surveying the place, I decided to work my way to the front of the house and close to the stage. It had seemed liked most of the crowd was confused in regards to how this open (general admission) space work. So every two minutes I would inch closer and closer waiting for security to let me know I went too far. But surprisingly before I knew it and about 8 mins had past I was right in front of the stage with no more room to go any further. I was going to witness this amazing rapper perform and only some speakers separated how close I was going be.
So after a couple hours past and I realized it was after midnight I had noticed that the empty space behind me was now heavily condensed with people dancing and drinking waiting for RICK ROSS to come out on stage. I looked to my left and there was this drunk white girl next to me and I looked to my right and there was the black woman sitting on the speakers next to me. I realized than the show was about to start soon.
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THE PEFORMANCE I started to see security moving quickly towards the side door, OTR Live has this glass window so you can see out in the crowd from the back room. I caught a glimpse of RICK ROSS and before I knew it the super fan came out of me and I started to squeal and giggle. I started screaming and smiling. I mean completely lost it. RICK ROSS’s DJ came out first and started to set up his equipment doing a quick mic check and before I knew it the bass was coming out of that speaker with a familiar rhythm, the lights got dark in the venue, I just saw this wave of people coming on stage, and before I knew it with all of his glory and swagg it was RICK ROSS walking on stage. He had all black on with this fur coat, sunglass on, several iced out chains hanging from his neck, and most importantly my favorite thing about him was that amazing beard! The crowd went crazy and the energy was so intense. I couldn’t even focus on anything all I knew is that it was just a couple of inches separating me and him. With that being said that how I enjoyed the concert the whole night with that perspective . RICK ROSS is a man of many hits, number ones, most importantly Grammy Nominated, so trust and believe every song he rapped that night was just incredible. He performed hits like “Hustlin”, “I’m Not a Star”, “Aston Martin”, and my favorite “BMF”. I was getting my life all through the whole set! I was looking at him the whole night like it was just him and me in the room. I was looking him dead in his eyes, rapping right with him, and I knew he was feeling the connection I was giving him. |
Some women like myself, know how to smile through their eyes, and command anything from a man with just eye contact. So with that being said I knew that I had captured RICK ROSS attention, by the way, I was looking at him. Every now and then he would work his way back towards my direction and lift his glasses down just enough to reciprocate that connection with me or he would do some gesture towards me while rapping.
It got to a point where his MC had took notice and was like “Hey ROSS, there are so many beautiful ladies in here tonight but there is this one sexy lady who been staring at you all night!” “Come and let her know what’s up!” (or, at least, something to that extent) he said in the mic.
And honestly at that point my heart was going a mile a second and ROSS worked his way back to me and started rapping to me again. I almost died it felt like it was just him and I. This night was such an incredible night! I mean the best night of my life.
After that special moment I realized that I needed to land an interview with him so in between songs, I had typed a note in my phone with the same message I had sent on Instagram asking if I could interview him. Every time he would walk past I would hold my phone out hoping he would read it and tell me yes. But by the time I had did all that the concert defiantly slowed down and Adrien Bronner and his artist were on stage before I could grab his attention one last time RICK ROSS had left the building.
It got to a point where his MC had took notice and was like “Hey ROSS, there are so many beautiful ladies in here tonight but there is this one sexy lady who been staring at you all night!” “Come and let her know what’s up!” (or, at least, something to that extent) he said in the mic.
And honestly at that point my heart was going a mile a second and ROSS worked his way back to me and started rapping to me again. I almost died it felt like it was just him and I. This night was such an incredible night! I mean the best night of my life.
After that special moment I realized that I needed to land an interview with him so in between songs, I had typed a note in my phone with the same message I had sent on Instagram asking if I could interview him. Every time he would walk past I would hold my phone out hoping he would read it and tell me yes. But by the time I had did all that the concert defiantly slowed down and Adrien Bronner and his artist were on stage before I could grab his attention one last time RICK ROSS had left the building.
GOING HOME
So I started to head out the venue with this incredible high off the energy from the concert. I was walking down the street and I saw these all black SUVs and Vans pulling out the back alley. I hurried and try to run across the street to see if I could capture his attention but they had sped off so quick that I knew there was defiantly no chance of capturing his attention. My high off the concert rebelliously wore off at that point and all I could do was take my butt home and call it a night.
I got home, let my dogs out changed out of those clothes and I set my phone on the charger. I had realized I had some goodies from the concert a Maybach Music styrofoam cup and flyer I had received from the concert in the shape of ROSS’s head. I arranged the cup and flyer on my desk while admiring my souvenirs like they were my golden trophy’s to say “I was there!”
I finally settled myself in my bed and started to think to myself “Let me reach out one last time.” So I grabbed my phone by this time it was 2:00 am and sent him my selfie from the concert. With a caption that read “It was me! Rozay I was the student who wanted to interview you for my blog!! Just 5 mins please!!! www.iam23nowwhat.com .”
So I started to head out the venue with this incredible high off the energy from the concert. I was walking down the street and I saw these all black SUVs and Vans pulling out the back alley. I hurried and try to run across the street to see if I could capture his attention but they had sped off so quick that I knew there was defiantly no chance of capturing his attention. My high off the concert rebelliously wore off at that point and all I could do was take my butt home and call it a night.
I got home, let my dogs out changed out of those clothes and I set my phone on the charger. I had realized I had some goodies from the concert a Maybach Music styrofoam cup and flyer I had received from the concert in the shape of ROSS’s head. I arranged the cup and flyer on my desk while admiring my souvenirs like they were my golden trophy’s to say “I was there!”
I finally settled myself in my bed and started to think to myself “Let me reach out one last time.” So I grabbed my phone by this time it was 2:00 am and sent him my selfie from the concert. With a caption that read “It was me! Rozay I was the student who wanted to interview you for my blog!! Just 5 mins please!!! www.iam23nowwhat.com .”
Honestly that all I could do at that point of time. I was just satisfied that I was able to say I tried and just with that I was able to fall asleep knowing I did everything I could had possibly done.
SUNRISE
I don’t know why I couldn’t sleep to well but I ended up waking up around 6:47am. I couldn’t believe it I had work in the morning and I still had to clean the house. I decided to check my phone for emails while I was scrolling thru my notifications I saw notification that read @richforever had sent me a message 6:45am. I immediately freaked out. My heart stopped.
I couldn’t tap on my phone quick enough, the message loaded, and that’s when I almost fainted.
TO BE CONTINUED PART II: My interview with ROSS