"The Life on The Road With Sean Price" (Pt.1)

Opening Day:I COMPARE IT TO AN AIRPLANE TAKING OFF (By No-Ha)
The alarm clock goes off at 7AM on Thursday Morning, March 29th…the first day of Sean Price’s Nationwide tour with Jedi Mind Tricks. I have about seven hundred things that need to get done before picking up Sean at 3PM in front of Duck Down’s office on 341 Lafayette Street; the first of which is picking up our transportation for the cross-country trek.

I hop on a Metro North train to White Plains, NY, where Mark (Merch Seller/Driver/X-Factor) for the tour meets me in his ride to drive to our van pick-up location. We shoot over to Tappan, NY and immediately gaze out towards our vehicle…are we really going cross country in an ice cream truck?
The super van is no ice cream truck, but it is the size of one: 12FT high, 8FT wide and 23FT long…my initial thought is: “there is no way this jallapi is going to work. With limited options, Mark and I realize this is going to be our wings of travel for the next 3 weeks.

The good news about the super van, let’s call it Big Bertha, is that there is plenty of room for storage, which we’ll need for our DJ equipment, merchandise, projector, posters, ad mat flyers, scion promo materials (thanks for the sponsor), vinyl…oh and of course everyone’s luggage. Bottom line, thank God it’s only 4 of us traveling in Big Bertha.

Mark and I proceed to NYC and get to Duck Down’s offices where the Merchandise needs to be organized and accounted for. We’re selling T-shirts: Sean Price, “Jesus is My Homeboy” T; Sean Price “Backwards Ass Rappers” T; Boot Camp Clik, “Dog Tag” T; and Duck Down “Running Man Logo” T. After several trips loading each box (50LBS each) of t-shirts into the super van, we move onto CD’s and DVD’s. We’re selling: Sean Price, “Jesus Price Supastar;” Sean Price, “Monkey Barz;” Boot Camp Clik, “The Last Stand;” Boot Camp Clik, “Chosen Few;” 9th Wonder & Buckshot; “Chemistry,” and Smif N Wessun, “Reloaded.” Our DVD selection consists of: Sean Price “Passion Of Price” and Boot Camp Clik “Video Surveillance.”

Now that I’ve listed all of those items, can we agree that it’s a lot of merch! In fact it’s so much merch to keep track of that my hands just got tired from typing each item out.
After the merch is properly stuffed into the super van’s bathroom (to the point if you moved something it’d be like a game of Jenga collapsing) I glance down at my watch and realize we have 10 minutes to get over to 341 Lafayette Street to pick up Sean Price and Ruste Juxx. Then I laugh to myself, because what’s the chance the two of them are on time!

Mark and I swing Big Bertha around onto Lafayette Street, where we spot Sean Price and Ruste Juxx. They are on time! Ruste enters the tour vehicle and his first words are, “this is hot, very homey.” He drops his small duffle bag on the floor and takes a seat.

Sean Price, busy on the phone, screaming at somebody, takes his time to get into the super van. He gets off the phone and his first words are “what are we, the fucking Partridge Family?…this thing sucks.” I guess Sean’s reaction was a bit different from Ruste’s.

Mark is first to drive, our destination being Boston, MA. It’s 2:30PM, perfect timing, as we won’t hit any traffic leaving NYC.

“YO NOAH, I GOT TO MAKE A STOP at 37th and 8th AVE,” screams Sean Price from the back of the Super Van. In my mind, I’m like SHIT, but I say, no problem. We proceed up to 37th street where Sean takes care of what he needed to do and we keep it moving. I peer down at my watch and now it’s closer to 4PM…pretty much rush hour in NYC. This is going to be fun in our 12FT high, 8FT Wide, 23FT long vehicle.

We make it out of NYC, no sweat; it only took us 2 hours to start moving north on I-95. The seating layout inside the van is simple. Mark and I are up front (pilot and co-pilot), Sean Price is sprawled out on the couch and Ruste Juxx is trying to figure out a comfortable seating position by the dinette table (picture a Denny’s Restaurant booth).

My phone rings:
“What’s up Dru Ha?”
“Glad the ACCELA Train is comfortable”
“We’re stuck in traffic”
“Yeah, it’s pretty bad”
“Did someone just ask you if you’d like a cocktail?”
“Nah I don’t think we have enough time to pull over yet for a drink. We need to make sure we get to Middle East by 11PM and I’m sure Sean is going to want to go to the hotel first.”
“Ok, I’ll see you there.”

We pull into Cambridge, MA at 9:30PM. It has taken us 7 hours to go from NYC to Boston. It’s about an hour away from show time and we still need to organize the merch and prepare the set. I meet Dru Ha in his room and we go over the show, selecting songs and layout a proper order for the show that night. It’s starting to get closer to 11PM, set time, and we NEED to leave. We rush over to Middle East Club…only 20 minutes late, but still not great; I hate being late. The promoter meets us outside sweating. He looks like he’s just run a marathon and he can barely speak straight.

“Are you Noah?”
“Yup”
“Ok good; is Sean Price here?”
“No, I can’t seem to find him” (Sean Price is standing right in front of me)
“Are you serious…oh my God”
“I’m kidding, Sean is right there.”
“Ok, we need to get him inside right away before the crowd starts to riot. They thought he wasn’t coming for a second.”
“No problem, we can go on right now.”

We enter the club’s back entrance and it’s dark. Mark runs the merchandise luggage to the front of the club and sets up the table for the night. Dru Ha, Sean Price and Ruste Juxx look focused. Shucky Ducky grabs our Instant Replay machine, which is what we run our music off of for the performance and sets up the machine. Shucky then grabs a mic and screams:

“YALL READY TO SEE SEAN PRICE…MAKE SOME NOISE.”
The club is packed. You can barely move. It’s filled with young kids screaming Sean Price’s name. The floor is sticky from spilled beer, the place is hot, and the smell isn’t pretty.

Dru Ha enters off stage left receiving a nice roar from the crowd. He sets up behind the instant replay machine and cues the intro track for Sean’s set (voice drop from the new movie, 300).

“SPARTANS, TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL.”

The crowd responds with cheers, while Sean Price grabs a microphone and marches onto stage:

“WADDUP BOSTON!”

Sean Price goes on to perform for 45 minutes; entertaining the audience from start to finish. He’s animated, witty, and controls the crowd like the veteran he is.

His set ends at 12:20AM. We hang out at the club and watch Jedi Mind Trick’s performance, which concludes at 1:30AM. Mark finishes up with his final merchandise sales and I deal with the promoter collecting our money for the night.

We enter the super van at 2:15AM, after a slice of pizza, and make our way back to the hotel. I jump in the shower, and finally call it a day at 3:15AM.

The day started at 7AM in NYC and ended at 3:15AM the next day in Boston.

Summary of the Day:
“Opening day of a tour is like preparation and take-off for an airplane.” You need to prep the plane, check that everything is in order and then launch yourself 185M.P.H. down a runway, catapulting yourself into the air en route to a cruising altitude, where the operation calms down a bit.”

We haven’t quite made it to our cruising altitude on our tour, but at this point it is safe to use approved electronics.

Day Two and Three: (Nothing like some local support)

Day two begins at 9AM, after a few hours of sleep. Today we have radio set up at WERS in Boston, and we need to be over there by 12PM. I spend some time in the early morning organizing the books. Each receipt needs to be accounted for, as well as our income (show money and merchandise).

Expenses on the road can build up fast:
• Gas
• Food
• Weed (not in this particular order)
• Hotels
• Advances (money an artist needs before the end of the tour…usually sent to family at home)
• Miscellaneous costs

I need to make sure that we aren’t spending more money than is budgeted. This isn’t a tough task with just two artists, but can get more complicated on a tour with the entire Boot Camp Clik (8 artists in total).

We arrive at radio at 12:15PM. Our team consists of Dru Ha, Sean Price, Ruste Juxx, Mark and myself. Mark holds down the van, double-parked on a busy Boston street, as the rest of us proceed to WERS’s studio. Sean delivers a solid interview, although I know how much he hates doing them. We drop off single vinyl for the DJ and bounce.


The next show is in Burlington, VT, but it’s not until tomorrow, so we are in no rush to get there.

The drive to Vermont is easy; no traffic and a quick ride.

When we arrive in Burlington, I reach out to the VT Union, a rap group in the local area who is looking for a feature from Sean Price. VT Union also informs me about a party going on in the local area, which we decide to go to.

We enter the party at 12AM and make our way to the bar. Everyone gets in, even though the bouncer tries to give Ruste Juxx a hard time about something. The bouncer realized he was at fault and actually bought Ruste a drink (I think he might have been a fruit-loop).

Seconds later a young gentleman approaches Dru Ha:

“Do you know where I can score some coke”
“Huh?”
“Yeah dude, do you have some coke I can score off you?”
“Nah”

Drew shares a laugh about this with Sean Price.

We get our drink on for a few hours and make our way out of the club, returning to our hotel calling it a night at 3AM.

Day three begins at 10AM. We link back up with VT Union who drives us to their studio where Sean Price is going to do his feature for them. Dru Ha, Mark and myself go for a walk down the street from the studio, where we find Lake Champlain.

This is the perfect place to find our ROCK for Sean Price. Let me set this one up. Rumors have been spreading over the net that Jay Z called Sean Price to sign him to Rock-a-fella Records. With that being said, we , at Duck Down, would like to crown Sean Price, as the newest member to the ROCK, by actually placing a ROCK, from the ground, around his neck at the show tonight.

Dru Ha approaches a beautiful rock garden outside an apartment complex. This rock garden was arranged impeccably, from smallest to largest rock, brightest to dullest rock. Without hesitation Dru kicks a rock from its placement in line of other rocks.

“HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” (A scream projects downward from above, an older man peering out of his window)
“Nothing”
“Oh okay because it looks like you’re doing something.”
“No, I was just admiring your rocks.”
“Yeah I got them all at the lake. I hand picked each one myself and cleaned each of them.”
“They are very nice rocks”

How the hell did we get caught taking a rock? IT’S A ROCK! And my other question is what the fuck was that guy doing standing at his window? I guess we just looked suspicious.

Not an issue. We moved on and found a better rock than the one Dru removed from the Rock Nazis’s garden.

On our way back to the studio, Dru Ha, Mark and myself stumble upon a street named DREW STREET:

“Hoze (that’s me) I need that sign.”
“No problem Cheeze (that’s Dru Ha)
“How are you going to get it?”
“Simple”

I begin to violently shake the street sign back and forth. I’m thinking about jarring the entire street pole out of the concrete. I didn’t realize that after several shakes the street sign itself would go flying off it’s position and come to a rest on the sidewalk. One can’t imagine how loud the noise was as the metal clanked off the concrete sidewalk. We look at each other, then glance across the street and look at a shop owner on the phone with the police and proceed to take off down the street…first trotting and then running. We skip into the lot where the studio is located and hide out while Sean finishes his feature.

At least we got our ROCK for Sean.

After Sean Price lays down his 16 bars we drive to the venue for sound check. Dru Ha reworks the show with Sean Price and Ruste Juxx going over the minor details that can turn a show from being good to being spectacular. We finish with sound check and return to our hotel for a few hours before our set.

I look over at the hotel clock; 9:45PM. We are scheduled to go on at 10:00PM. I gather up the troops and we drive over to the venue in Big Bertha.
(VIDEO CLIP OF BURLINGTON, VT SHOW )


Tonight’s show is sold out. Higher Ground in Burlington, VT is much larger than Middle East, holding 750 fans. Sean Price takes the stage and performs another stellar show. The highlight of the evening came from Ruste Juxx who electrified the crowd with his performance of “Vic Flare.” Ruste Juxx navigated the stage with comfort and ease. He complemented Sean Price, as Pippen did Jordan.

As the evening drew to a close things seemed more organized. Sean Price’s performance routine is set; the merchandise is organized and a system is in place each night. Dru Ha is on his way home to NYC from Burlington tomorrow. The team will now consist of Sean Price, Ruste Juxx, Mark, and myself as we continue our journey onward to Buffalo, NY.

Summary of the Day:
“When In Rome”

Stay tuned for further updates and videos in the next Sean Price Tour Podcast.

-NoHa