The Brooklyn Mirage is quickly becoming the hottest venue in East Williamsburg. On Sunday, The Do-Over, a recurring pop-up party featuring a roster of world class DJs, turned 10. To celebrate, in partnership with Adidas Originals and Serato, The Do-Over launched their ’10 In a Day’ project. Essentially, the brand hosted 10 parties in 10 distinctive cities all over the world, at the same. Sound ambitious? You be the judge. This certainly wasn’t the first occasion that The Do-Over has gone abroad, but they’ve never done it like this before.
The mammoth party was conceived in L.A. in the early 2000s and made its way to Bushwick on Sunday. The Brooklyn Mirage was wrapped with a tremendous line of partygoers around Scott Avenue to Randolph Street, while music spilled from speakers and was heard thumping from blocks away. The indoor-outdoor venue has a 2,000-person capacity and security personnel held the line on various occasions to remain within code. Clearly, gaining entry was no joke. The Do-Over skipped New York last year much to the chagrin of hip-hop fans in the Tri-state area. But on Sunday evening, The Do-Over made up for its absence.
Palm trees (yes, apparently a palm tree, or two, grows in Brooklyn) dispersed throughout The Brooklyn Mirage, coupled with blue and purple up-lighting, allowed The Do-Over to channel its California rearing. Yet the beautiful Manhattan skyline gave the party a seminal New York feel. Beyond aesthetics, the crowd went in on the dance floor, courtesy of a well-crafted DJ lineup. And aside from being free-99, part of the party’s allure is the talented lineup of DJ-performers, who were a surprise to all but the party’s organizers.
DJ royalty was on the premises, including Rich Medina, L.A.-based DJ Salva (of BBC Radio 1’s “In New DJs We Trust”) and the mighty Pete Rock, to name a few. These gentlemen showed that DJing is an art – an acquired skill that takes years of practice to perfect. Based on the mob of dancers, coupled with frequent outbursts (“That’s my song!), it’s safe to say that The Do-Over DJs showed up and showed out.
Others, including DJ Xcalibur, attended for the love of hip-hop – a culture that includes MCing, B-boying and graffiti. “There are no real hip-hop events left in New York City,” said the Brooklyn-born DJ. “So if we don’t support it now, [there will be none left].”
Here’s to 10 more years of The Do-Over: a lit party that preserves and perpetuates a culture.