Showing Out

The Monster Ball finally came home. New York City native Lady Gaga, who insisted throughout her homecoming performance at Radio City Music Hall tonight that she was a true-and-blue Manhattanite, performed tonight like a fire had been lit beneath her. Ignoring her recent bout with exhaustion (it forced her to cancel her meet-and-greet before her show, which didn’t stop the throngs of little monsters from swarming the venue), Gaga ripped through cuts from her sparkly debut The Fame and her recent follow-up addendum The Fame Monster, paying each track the respect she thought was due (as did her fans) with a parade of outfits, overly stimulating visuals and micro-choreographed numbers that failed to reveale any single flaw. The Monster Ball had finally invaded New York City, and the Facebook generation’s torchbearer for throbbing pop was prepared to take on the challenege of winning over her hometown.

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Braving the unseasonably cold New York City weather, hundreds lined up outside of Gotham Hall last night to attend the Big Apple tour date for this year’s Heineken Red Star Soul concert. One of nine tour dates, the NYC show featured hip-hop’s elite, with performances from Ludacris, Wale, Estelle, Biz Markie, D-Nice and surprise guest Nas entertaining the crowd. The second-to-last date on this year’s Heineken tour, the New York City show turned Gotham Hall into a celebration of the brand and its dedication to hip-hop, a relationship that was exploited in all the right ways as the night’s events unfolded.

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Fox’s new Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show is only on its third episode, and already it’s getting a full second season, a move that’s pretty unprecedented on television. According to THR, the new series has been given a full back nine order for its second season, extending the life of this show for a good year. This comes after execs recently gave the show a full first season order after it managed to pull in a hearty number of viewers, making it the highest-rated new scripted series on television this fall. Not only that, but it’s apparently helped boost ratings for Family Guy, which, in spite of the fact that it’s more watched regardless, it’s helped pull in even more viewers for the Griffin family-led comedy series. Basically, this means that The Cleveland Show isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And if you haven’t watched an episode of the show yet, watch last week’s episode above and enjoy.

Last night, Jay-Z played an intimate show for 200 lucky New Yorkers at Blender Theater, and Showing Out happened to be one of the few hundred fans to score a bracelet to the MySpace event. Tickets for the show were released earlier that morning, with a line beginning as early as 5 P.M. for a concert that didn’t actually start until 10. But after being subjected to a demonstration of the new DJ Hero (it actually looked pretty sweet) and waiting for the backing band to take the stage, the lights finally dimmed and Hov emerged from the wings to the tune of the triumphant “Run This Town.”

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Last night, we had the pleasure of seeing Rakim at Highline Ballroom in New York City, where the God MC premiered tracks off his forthcoming album The 7th Seal. After a small electrical fire sent venue personnel to clear out the second balcony, the crowd crammed together on the floor of the venue as DJ Kid Capri spun classics on the 1’s and 2’s. And after an hour of doing his thing, Capri brought out not the God MC, but rather Rick Ross, who happened to be in town to perform at John Legend’s Madison Square Garden show earlier that night. Showing Out was there to capture two of Rick Ross’ songs on video and three of Rakim’s wowing performance. Hit the jump to see what you missed.

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Hip-hop heads from the Tri-State area made the pilgrimage to the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater this past Saturday to feast their eyes and ears on one of this year’s biggest tours, the Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival. The show featured performances from Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Young Jeezy, Soulja Boy, Jeremih and more, with a sold-out crowd feasting their eyes and ears on the hottest rappers and performers in today’s hip-hop scene. The only downside? Drake, who took a nasty spill on stage the previous evening, was nowhere to be found, already on his way back to his native Canada to undergo surgery on his torn ACL. But that didn’t stop the rest of his Young Money family from stepping their game up and rocking the stage without him.

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This past Friday, Showing Out was invited to partake in some good old fashioned debauchery at New York City hot spot Prime. The club played host to a special Belvedere Vodka event held to celebrate the brand’s partnership with rapper Young Jeezy (watch his Belvie-focused video for “Circulate” here), who was rolling through town the night before performing at Nikon Theater at Jones Beach as one of the headlining acts (that includes Drake and Lil Wayne) on the Young Money Presents: America’s Most Wanted Music Festival tour. After the wall-to-wall crowd got their dance for a few hours, the Snowman made his way to the VIP section with a crew in tow, greeted with flame-shooting bottles of Moet and rows of Belvedere chilling on buckets of ice. Though the rapper was slated to perform two songs, security decided it was probably not a great idea for him to make his way through the massive sea of people to stand on a stage where he couldn’t be seen, so he remained behind the velvet rope and instead assumed host duties. The party raged until the wee hours of the morning, and Showing Out braved the swampy club to bring you exclusive pictures of the event. Hit the jump to see more of Jeezy and the Belvedere celebration.

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Last night, the stars walked the red carpet at Greenhouse in New York City for The Darrelle Revis Experience, a birthday celebration in honor of NY Jets player Darrelle Revis. The celebrity guests included singer LeToya Luckett, Khloe Kardashian, Olivia (former member of G-Unit), Broadway star Chester Gregory, Daddy’s Girls‘ Jessica Brown, BET News correspondent Jessica Brown, TV personality Jared Cotter, The Contender contestant Hollywood Hino and more. In addition to the entertainers and musicians that showed up to get their party on with the man of the evening, Revis was graced with the presence of fellow NY Jets players Kerry Rhodes, Chansi Stuckey and James Ighedibo. The party, which lasted until the early hour of 11 PM, featured an open bar for attendees and an ice sculpture shaped as a 24, both Revis’ age and jersey number. Hit the jump to see Showing Out’s exclusive pictures of the event!

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I went to Wikipedia today to find out more about Wonder Woman. I found out that her powers included super strength, enhanced speed and stamina and flight. Ladies and gentlemen, Wonder Woman is Beyoncé. There were even rumors circulating that Mrs. Knowles Carter was up for the lead role in the big screen adaptation. While I believe that info was completely fabricated, if her second sold-out show at Madison Square Garden was her audition tape, then she definitely landed the role and accompanying Oscar - err, MTV Movie Award. Allow me to explain.

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Last night, Showing Out’s Michael Adams Jr. was one of the lucky thousands to attend Beyonce’s superstar show at Madison Square Garden. His full review is on the way, but in the meantime, the pic above is a preview of what’s to come. Can we just say how jealous we are??