HANGOVER WEEKEND interview with RALPH MISTER HAITI from BAZ!

[kompamagazine]

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We spoke to RALPH "Mr Haiti" from the BAZ crew to get the story behind their debut HANGOVER WEEKEND in NYC. READ BELOW.
Ralph is the one in the middle in the picture below.


(THANKS to FAFANE CHERIE for the above picture)

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: HANGOVER WEEKEND.....How did you guys come up with that concept?
RALPH: "Well to be honest it's something I had sitting there for few years. I was just thinking of a way where instead of doing 1 event every 2 months at the time with YQ; I asked myself...why not combine all in a weekend? I sat down and worked on it. The original idea had Bingo involved, 2 different parties on Friday and 2 different parties on Sunday including one in NJ. It was presenting to a couple of promoters like Jaz Enterprise, Destiny and Haitianbeatz, and of course a promoter in NJ that was supposed to be selected.... But the interest wasn't there at the time. So when I brought the idea to the boys in my crew, they loved it; so we sat down and worked out the weekend concept together, which gave us this HANGOVER WEEKEND today."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: How confident are you of the 1st edition being a success?
RALPH: "This business is a gamble Pat. I've seen the best of the best lineups fail before. So for us, we put ourselves in a position to be comfortable for the weekend. That's why we make moves that are not only appealing to the public, but good for us as well financially. For the 1st year, I can tell you the parties that we expect to be major for us in the weekend got the buzz, and we are already selling tickets online. So as of right now, we are comfortable."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: What made you choose the BANDS that you went for in terms of HANGOVER weekend?
RALPH: "Obviously, some bands we took, and others we did not. One thing about Baz, everything that we do everybody/majority have to agree to it. Those bands I can tell you were selected based on the momentum they have going on. For the 1st year as I said, we want it to be appealing to the public. It's unfortunate Klass wasn't available as well, but we definitely went for bands that the public feel that they can't miss this or that, and we made sure to have them perform only 1 time for the weekend."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Why in your opinion is the month of JULY the perfect month for HANGOVER weekend? Aren't you afraid of Barbecues, free home parties and other SUMMER activities that might happen?
RALPH: "Well in the HMI there's what we call the unwritten rules. Every promoter has a particular date where they do their parties. Back in YQ (Young Quality....His former Party promotion company with Nivens) years we had the date of July where we used to do the green and white party. Last year you had VLAD ENTOURAGE that had his concert. We thought it was the perfect time for us to do it because a few of us from the BAZ crew had parties that we were already doing that same month anyway. As far as the activities you mentioned, we are aware of all, as a matter of fact we even started our weekend with a BBQ.

Having said that, I believe that if we sit and think of everything that we could face, we would never do a party at all with that mindset. I don't think 19 years ago Rodney Noel and Jean Michel thought Compas Fest would become what it is today. Like I said before, when we do a party, it is a gamble, so we take a chance and try to turn it into something that people look forward to every year."

*KOMPA MAGAZINE: Make believe that you are talking to a fan or more. Convince them WHY they should attend HANGOVER weekend.
RALPH: "HangOver weekend is something that we built with the fans in mind. It's a weekend of non-stop partying; yet different concepts and artists/bands each day. You will NOT be bored. For those coming from out of town, this is NY, you get to explore the city during the day and enjoy the parties at night.... So July now should be your mini vacation in NY."

KM!