People have been lying to me when they told me Disneyland was the happiest place on earth because last Thursday night the happiest place on earth happened to be in the 10th row on the floor at Drake’s final LA show for the Summer Sixteen Tour.

I’m going to try really hard to best describe what and how I felt Thursday night because it’s truly just a feeling that I can’t explain.  People will laugh and roll their eyes, saying I’m ‘so obsessed’ with Drake and hip-hop in general, but to be honest I wish more people were ‘so obsessed’ with something or someone.  It’s about finding and connecting with a passion and just doing you.  You talk to me for 30 seconds, take a quick look at my IG or blog, and you’ll instantly know what my passions are, and I am proud of that.  Create that energy.

Okay, major digressing.  When I tell you Thursday was probably the best night of my life, I 100% mean that.  I’ve done a lot of epic things and have been to NUMEROUS concerts and award shows, but the final stop in LA for the Summer Sixteen Tour was different.

Let me explain how the night went down.  It all began with a call I received from my friend Justine  (how we became friends is also worthy of a blog post).  Now Justine and I have hung out once before this.  Months ago.  We text here and there, have tried to coordinate another get together, but with busy schedules, it’s hard.  So you know I was a little shocked when I received a call from her around 7:20pm on Thursday, about an hour before the show was to start.  Answering the call with a bit of question in my voice, she asked what I was doing and said she may have an extra ticket to Drake’s show and was looking for someone who lived close to the venue and who would appreciate the concert.  Immediate excitement set in.  She said she’d call me back with a yes or no once she got to the venue.

In the meantime as I waited to get the call, I decided to change just in case I was given the green light.  I threw on my VIEWS t-shirt, a Drake merch dad hat, black ripped jeans and some Nikes.  Duh.  Twenty-five minutes later, Justine called and said, “Get to The Forum.”  I never ordered an Uber so quickly.

I arrived at The Forum, met up with Justine, and she handed over two of the most epic things – a VIP pass and a ticket… for the FLOOR – 10th row, section C.  THANK YOU TO JUSTINE & THE PLUG.

We entered the VIP lounge where we were greeted with photo opps, fully catered dinner and dessert, and a bar… obviously.  I took as much of it in as I could.  Not the food and alcohol but what was happening.  This was amazing.  One cocktail in and the lights flashed, so we knew it was time to get to our seats.  We showed the usher our tickets, and he said we had to take the elevator down another level.  Typically, I have to take the escalator all the way up *Fat Joe voice* to my seats.  Woah.  So we took the elevator down to the floor section, the doors opened, and who was standing there waiting to get on?  DVSN.  I actually didn’t even realize it was them until Justine was like, “uhhhh did you see who that was?”

As we made our way to our seats, I continued to become more and more mind blown and thankful.  I was walking to the TENTH ROW.  And not just any 10th row, but the center 10th row.  As Justine said, it was like we were sitting on the 50-yard line at a football game.  Incredible.  One of my bucket list items was to sit in the front row of a Drake concert at some point in my lifetime.  Now this wasn’t the front row, but the entire experience with these 10th row tickets and attending the show with someone who equally appreciates Drake as an artist seemed better than the first row.

– SHOW TIME –

Having already been to Drake’s very first night in LA for the Summer Sixteen Tour, I had an idea of how the flow of the show would go down.  But this time was different.  From the opening sounds and lights to him kicking off the show with “Summer Sixteen” to three hours of performing and finishing around midnight – magical.  Not to mention Baron Davis was sitting next to us and living it up as well.

While I actually thought the crowd’s energy on the floor could have been a little more amped up – those people may be used to sitting in such epic seats compared to those of us typically stuck way up top – the combined energy of mine and Justine’s was lit.  It’s like I went to the concert with myself.  That’s how similar our appreciation of Drake is.  And being so close to the stage, it was like you were feeding off of Drake’s energy.  It was contagious.  His passion for his music, performing, and his fans make him the ultimate artist and crowd pleaser.  Watch my Snap Story below to try and get a better idea of what I’m explaining to yinz.  Then we will continue with the rest of the night. 🙂

I mean.  The video does not do it justice, but at least there are some visuals for yinz to try and see what I’m talking about.  And do know that when he brought out Big Sean, Ice Cube, and then Dr. Dre… I actually have no words.  Sorry.

Now in the short time that I’ve known Justine, I’ve learned that more times than not she happens to be in the right place at the right time.  She was convinced our VIP tickets could get us elsewhere post-show.  We’ve made it this far, so I was down with whatever.  We made our way back into the initial VIP area that we came from and saw a group of dudes walk into another entrance which was guarded by security.  That was our way in to whatever was behind that door.  Standing around for a few minutes, trying to think of what to do, Justine saw a friend of hers.

Welp, that was our way in.  He kindly told security we were with him.  Off we went.  Now I don’t want to give too much inside information, but let’s just say being in this true VIP lounge made me realize that I do know how to be ‘cool’ around celebrities even if I was decked out in Drake attire and everyone else was not.   Whatever.  I was pretty proud of myself.  The vibe was extremely chill – snacks, open bar, people just hanging.  Drake and Future did not come through, but that was truly alright.  I was not expecting ANY of this to happen.  Not the concert, 10th row, VIP, watching Drake drive away after we left.  None of it.  Keep in mind, I was sitting on my bed drinking a beer alone before Justine called me.

We exited The Forum with the whole crew around 2AM, contemplated going to another spot with everyone, but Justine and I were both quite content with what we had just experienced and witnessed.  Again, I cannot thank Justine (or the plug) enough for 1) securing two tickets and 2) thinking of me to attend with her.  What’s even crazier is my Tweet (used as the header image for this post)… Justine didn’t even see that prior to hitting me up.  The universe was definitely on my side.  Alright, this is probably my longest post thus far.  Hope yinz enjoyed it and my experience.

Until the next concert, fam!  Oh, and I didn’t forget about Future.  He was lit as well and brought out Ty Dolla $ign and Young Thug.  Can’t forget about the trap king!

FYI – Justine has a dope blog too – check it!