SOHH ON THE SCENE

SOHH.com is not only known here in the states, we are known worldwide! And thanks to one of our favorite DJ’s, as well as the president of the world famous Superfriends - DJ Mars- we’ve teamed up to give you all a bird’s eye view of what it's like to be on the road with Ne-Yo & Friends.

Check out his rundown of the tour SOHH far.

What’s good world, it’s ya man DJ MARS PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD FAMOUS SUPERFRIENDS CREW reporting live from the Japan. As some of you all may know I am Ne-Yo's official tour DJ, so that means I have the luxury of traveling all over the planet doing what I do best. So for the next few months please join me as I take you through a backstage look at life on the road.

DAY ONE:
The first day of our tour of Japan was spent in the air, literally. With a direct 13.5 hour flight from Atlanta's Hartsfield airport to Tokyo's Narita airport, I’d say the journey has officially begun. Regardless if you are in business class or coach there’s no comfortable way to fly overseas. At the end of the day those hours in the air seem to get longer and longer as they go by. Upon arrival we all are experiencing jet lag, hunger pains and sheer restlessness, but that still doesn’t stop us from hitting the Tokyo streets.

Directly after check-in we all decide that it’s time to do what we love the most while we are on the road and that’s sneaker shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that i am an avid sneaker collector. No. Not these new school so called collectors. I’ve been doing this before it was trendy to be a sneaker head. With that being said, all sneaker heads know that Japan is to a sneaker head what the Carter (New Jack City) was to a dope fiend. First off there are sneaker stores every where and in the shopping district called Shibuya, there's one on every corner. Trust me yall, there’s already been a budget set aside for the goodies.

DAY TWO:
After getting some much needed sleep it is finally time to earn my paycheck. Having been blessed with the opportunity to travel abroad I truly see why some artists come overseas and don’t come back. The fans over here are extremely loyal. As we pulled up to the venue, six hours before the show there was a line damn near wrapped around the building, I couldn’t believe it. The venue we were scheduled to play is called Akasaka Blitz, and from what I hear along with what I saw the club is brand new and Ne-Yo was the first American artist to perform there.

After a much needed sound check and show rehearsal it was time to take it to the stage. Performing overseas is great, but performing overseas to a sold out crowd is GOD's gift to you as an artist. Once Ne-Yo hit the stage you would have thought we were in Dixie somewhere and Elvis had just appeared. I mean the crowd went ape shit for this kid! I can hear some of yall haters saying "they would go crazy for anybody...what do the Japanese know about a good show"? Well haters, not everyone gets to come here, this is my 4th trip here and probably Ne-Yo's 10th. After running through Ne-Yo's house of hits ("So Sick", "Sexy Love", "Do You", "Hate That I Love You," "Mirror", "Say It", "Stay", "Crazy" and Because Of You"). It was clear why this kid is the star that he is, and despite the obvious language barrier, the crowd sang in unison to every word of every hit we performed.

Jay Z said it best,"after the show there's the after party". With our swagger at 100% we head to the club, the spot for the night was called HARLEM. The illest thing about the whole night was being 6,000 miles away from home and running into someone you know from the A. We ran into my man Sean Garrett(singer//songwriter),he was out there doing promo for his new album TURBO 919. Again y'all,another blessing of the job,you get to see someone else’s dream become a reality...GOD IS GREAT!

The DJ was going in and the crowd was going right there with him. Every record he dropped was like it was the biggest record ever recorded. He played everything: House, Salsa, true school Hip Hop, R&B, Dirty South and even a some Rock. As Black Americans, we need to open our musical mind. We are the creators of the art form, but we seem to have a limited scope when it comes to partying. After the party, before the hotel lobby we hit Mickey D's. When in doubt, go for the golden arches. The hard part about ordering food at 4:00 am is the language barrier, where is a translator when you need one.

These pics are from Spring Grove 08 in Tokyo. On the bill it was Sean Kingston, Keyshia Cole, Pharrell and NERD, Kanye West and Ne-Yo was the headliner. Attendance was nearly 20,000 people.

Rihanna doing her thing on the stage.

Pharell and friends.

Another shot of Pharell.

And here are some more shots that I got exclusively for SOHH.com

--Mars