Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
You have to be the most oblivious person in the world at this point if you have not heard of the greatest party in the world, D’ussé Palooza. Two weeks ago, the party had its most significant flex yet when they packed out the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
From the basement to Barclays. That was the theme of the night to help put into perspective where the party that started as a small gathering amongst a group of friends began to where it is now. New York Times writer Aaron Randle was on hand to witness the epic moment as the D’usse Palooza (formerly Henny Palooza) team packed out the arena and cemented its status as the world’s greatest party.
Guests in attendance saw performances from The LOX, Fabolous, Pardison Fontaine, Jim Jones, Cam’ron, and even a State Property reunion as well as DJ sets from Swizz Beatz and Just Blaze.
The piece details how the party came to fruition as a way for friends Kameron McCullough and Nile “LowKey” Ivey to decompress while having a rough year by partying with friends, eating fried chicken, and washing it down with Hennessy cognac. The party that is now known as D’ussé Palooza that started out in East Harlem and was attended by just barely 50 people at the time now is a country-wide phenomenon that will become global and just packed out an arena with 9,000 people.
Detailing how it all came to be, McCullough shared the story about what went down during a meeting with himself, Ivey, Kazeem Famuyide wand Benner Hal and Roc Nation’s senior vice president, Lenny Santiago, went down.
“We asked for too much money,” he said with a laugh. “We weren’t ready.”
The party which Hennessy dropped the ball getting involved with is now the product of a multimillion-dollar deal with Jay-Z. Now with a well-oiled machine behind them, the D’ussé Palooza team has an annual budget for producing events while the folks at Roc Nation handle most of the work Kam and his team previously took care of on their own.
To put together the event at the Barclay’s that was billed as a half party, half concert, McCullough revealed to the NYT that he was working with an operating budget of “about $500,000.”
The Barclays is not even the ceiling with the McCullough announcing the party has plans for shows in London, Ghana, South Africa, and Paris. Not bad at all for a party that started out in a basement.
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Photo: Johnny Nunez / Getty
