Last weekend was Howard Homecoming so, as always, ratchetry was aplenty and there was a whole lot of frontin going on. Luckily for me, I got to spend the weekend not overpaying for parties with too many people in them by photographing for D’usse Cognac. For the uninformed, D’usse is a new dark liquor specialty spearheaded by Jay-Z; it’s strong, yet sweet and the bottle will make anyone look like they’re on some serious king shit. Case in point:
Thursday
Thursday night was spent at The Park on Fourteenth. A four-story club that looks extravagant and parties without abandon. Over the top? Maybe, Bougie as hell? Definitely but fun all the same. I spent the entire night–from happy hour at 6, to last call at 1:50–behind the lens capturing the party, taking pictures for the D’usse brand and pushing my way into VIP where Wale and self-made mogul Ken Burns were located. By the way, in a city like DC, where you’re only as relevant in the black community as whatever status you hold, I definitely felt pretty damn gangster brand dropping anytime someone tried to check me about who I was photographing for–easily the best, subtle middle finger to people.
Saturday
So many feelings come to mind when thinking about the Stadium gentleman’s club in DC. What should be a happy place intended to showcase the premier acrobatics of well-built clothes-averse glitter painted machines–seriously, they’re machines, machines designed for twerking–is usually ruined by large crowds and overpriced drinks. When it came to Saturday night during Howard Homecoming, just about everyone in the city tried their best to push their way in; this of courseled to shoving, pushing, arguments and the fire marshall making sure the huge parade of people still trying to get in were left out in the cold–including myself and the D’usse brand manager, Elaine. Sucks but I mean, you make the best of it, and with an outdoor tent filled with more drinks and performances from kings of hood music, Pastor Troy and Yo Gotti, how much can you really complain? Plus I got to meet Memphis fucking Bleek; my quest to meet the original rock-a-fella all-stars is now slightly more complete.
Sunday
After the ordeal that was Saturday, I got to spend sunday brunching it up at “Eyes Wide Open”, an art + brunch affair sponsored by grey goose cherry noir. Full on D’usse promotion mode here, with me snapping away and pretending to be some sort of professional while secretly hoping that none of these pictures come out bad. (You know… everyday for me). The event also brought about a great opportunity to market the drink with a young up and coming Roc Nation artist by the name of Bridget Kelly (whose music you should check out by the way) and the forever awesome Anthony Hamilton. Lowkey, this was a big deal for me but I kept it cool… because you know… I’m a grown ass man and shit. Next stop after this was the day party at bar code, a nice little sports bar which, like a lot of places here, rented out the place to promoters wanting to throw parties. I don’t know what it is about day parties but they always seem more fun; it’s always more fun to party during the day–having some beautiful young ladies pass out free shots of D’usse to the crowd probably helped a lot too. The Howard alums turned up to an 11 of course and with appearances from Bridget and Anthony, Raheem Devaughn and, one of the new 106 & park hosts, Miss Mykie, the party turned out to be a stellar event… ratchet all the same but stellar.
To find out more about D’usse, like them on facebook here and follow them on twitter here
Israel Daramola 
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