The Overall

God damn. I’m still tired. I slept about 5 hours & 45 minutes in 4 days. Not a healthy thing to do when you’re a performer. Makes you all loopy and shit. But I’m used to that kinda thing [ie. my 80+ hour Archetype video-editing marathon], so I deal.

Europe is pretty fresh. Serving sizes and drinks are mad small, though. The medium sized McDonalds cup looks like a kid’s meal drink for infants. Let’s just say I was thirsty alot. We fat americans are used to the 10 Gallon Megagulp from 7-11. I don’t care though…their money is worth alot more than ours. [Just don’t try to buy an Ecko T-shirt for 60 EURO].

The Show

We got there for soundcheck around 7:30 or so. Shit was mad loud. I think I lost another 178kHz or hearing range. But the shit knocked…so it was worth it.

[Here’s Pack soundin up]

We ate some dinner at the spot (which had an excellent restaurant built-in). Afterward, we chilled in the dressing room which was definitely built to suit the needs of rockstars: Plush couches, full catering, a fridge and a 5 person shower built in. Quite impressive, considering most Hip-Hop spots usually throw you in a corner room with a foldup chair and a sink to piss in.

So we get cracking and it’s a good turnout. Considering that there was a Big Daddy Kane show & another big hip-hop party happening the same night – we had a GREAT turnout. What’s also impressive to me is that kids out there knew the words. I’m talking obscure shit from Underscore and Hyphen, they even knew “Backpack” from Pack’s FMV1 single.

[Shoutout to Blake for the introduction].

The Dutch were open to get busy for the ‘rowdy-as-usual’ QN5 set.

Pack kicked it off with an energetic, top notch set of new shit. Dude is an excellent showman that really got the crowd open that night. I rocked a bunch of stuff off *Archetype*, and the response was very good. I’m not sure how well my music translates to foreigners, but it can’t be all that different from the cats that think I sound like a blur anyway.

We dragged all the merch out to the show for the first go ‘round of Archetype sales. [Shoutout to that dude PJ, who picked up my 250 lb Merch Suitcase like it was loaf of bread]

Cats was buying multiple copies of ALL the QN5 shit. They love vinyl out there, so I sold alot more Vinyl than CDs (thank god…cause that shit is HEAVY and I didn’t wanna have to lug it back]. It’s crazy to think that they didnt know-of or have ANY of these records…and now they have them all.

Some kids even drove 4 HOURS FROM GERMANY to see the show. Now THAT’S support.

The Migraine

So afteward, it’s mad late, and we head back to the telly. I was ridiculously fuckin tired from the flight and the show. I tend to get dehydrated easily for some reason (Maybe I don’t drink enough water?), so, after shows, if I don’t drink a heavy amount of water I get serious migraines. It’s like heatstroke without the sun. Well, with my brain feeling like it was being used as a marching band’s practice room..i couldnt sleep at all. I closed my eyes and after 45 Minutes…we had to get rollin to the Fat Beats instore in Amsterdam.

It’s amazing how into older hip-hop music they are. This one kid came in reciting Big Daddy Kane lyrics, and Pack & I just started laughing. It’s like…it’s 2005 PEOPLE!! I was looking for the timewarp portal and shit.

[This dude bought Pack & I Some 40 Oz Cans of Heineken.]

After doing the performance bit of the in-store in the basement for the store patrons [Note To Self: trying to do ‘Velocity’ buzzed isn’t a good idea], we headed out on the town to check the world famous Red Light District. I might ad, putting women in windows to sell themselves is the most brilliant achievement in human history behind the written word. It was funny to see signs like… “LIVE FUCK SHOP” and “SEXY PUSSY HERE!” and then seeing an entire 3rd grade class of kids walking through on a field trip. After exploring the RLD, we got some chinese food and made back for Den Haag.

[We learned alot about Dutch history. Like how they invented EVERYTHING.]

We got hungry, and decided to hit KFC (You heard that right) for some grub, hit 2 pubs and played some pool after being harassed by the security guards. Tellin Pack to tuck his chain in and shit and telling us to “behave ourselves” was mad uncalled for…but whatever. Racism exits everywhere, we’re used to it by now.

[West Siyeed Is the best Siyeed]

When Dutch Animals Attack

So, we’re in Den Haag and we’re as bored as any self-respecting New Yorker would be at 2 AM, so we decided to make our way into this club called ASTA. There is a line around the block for this motherfucker.

Pack… being the ‘get-in-free’ king, finagled us into the club via the VIP line. This man deserves a humanitarian award for his work with hustling the folks that work the doors. Anway, the club is bumping like hell (3 floors worth) and we stay up there till the shit closes.

We go outside, and I run across the street for some Bottled Waters (5), I go back to the front of the club and a fight breaks out with a few girls – which then turns into an all out brawl, and then the cops come…..

... WITH ATTACK DOGS!!!

At first, I saw people running, and in NYC…when you see people running…you run with em and ask questions later. But it didn’t take me long to figure out why as soon as I saw a bunch of cops with these massive german shepards dispersing the crowds. If I wasnt paying attention, I my ass woulda been alpo for these things (ayo?). So now I’m running carrying 5 heavy ass bottles of water, with attack dogs on my ass.

Pack & I got split up somehow and they pushed the crowd WAY the fuck away from the club. After about 10 minutes, I made my way back to the screams of people, and this one dude being mauled by the dogs. I saw a black dude with a black jacket and a baseball cap, and I started running towards him to get a better look cause I thought it was Pack. Luckily it wasn’t him and I finally met up with him on the other side of the club.

But god damn…that shit came outta nowhere. I guess, when weed & pay-pussy are legal in a country, they have to overcompensate with those type of Gestapo tactics. That was some Civil Rights Movement shit right there. Fuckin wow.

By the time we got back, it was time to pack up for the airport and check out.

Homeward Bound

We have about 5 hours of downtime. So, we make way to the studio with DBS & Mistasweet, to record some shit for their upcoming production CD (with Akrobatik, Mr. Metaphor & Others)... so here I am with no sleep again, and they laced us with a sick track to spit over. I managed to squeeze a pretty fresh 16 out of my (at this point) drained and exhausted mind, and I laid down the verse on the spot. You prolly won’t hear it for mad long. I think the content will prove to be a bit controversial when it does, though.

[Here I am tweakin a bassline]

[Here’s PackFM Writing Some Lyrics]

The Send Off

Afterward, we hopped back on the plane and rolled out. Anyone who’s ever flown KLM airlines, will know how great it is to have that digital demand service on the plane for 8 hours. I watched “Sideways” (pretty good) and listened to Brian Wilson’s “SMILE” album about 10 times. Wow. Then I made for home.

Bigups to DJ DBS, Mistasweet & the cats over at HipHopInjesmoel.com for being very curteous hosts and tour guides. They were mad supportive when I flipped out, thinking I lost my passport. We’ll definitely link back up with them to rock another show when we roll back out to Holland later this year with the rest of the camp.

I had a real blast. Here are a few pics from the trip out. It was fun to teach the wonders of the phrase “pause” to europeans for the 1st time. This is all I can remember right now.. Be sure to peep PackFM.com for his take on the trip as well as some more pictures.

WE’LL BE BACK, EUROPE!!! HOLLERATE!!!
Tone.