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Thursday night Xbox 360 and Activision unveiled two of their most highly anticipated games, "Guitar Hero World Tour" (which hit shelves today) and "Call of Duty: World at War" to a jam packed crowd atCentral.
While many of the partygoers were eager to get a glimpse at the latest in the "Guitar Hero" and "Call of Duty" franchises, I was equally as excited for the chance to witness a DJ set by the one and only Stretch Armstrong. Stretch, who co-hosted one of hip-hop's most influential radio shows in the early 90s, had the tough task of spinning records to a pack of people paying more attention to the video game kiosks on the side of the club and upstairs.
Stretch's set began with a multitude of musical selections from hip-hop's early years. Actually in the set's first 15 minutes, I don't think he played one record that was made post-1988, which was more than fine me. To prove that he did, in fact, own a record that the mostly early-20s crowd had heard before, Stretch threw on Flo-Rida's "Low" for about 30 seconds, which is about as much of that song as anyone really needs to hear. Stretch would later mix in the sounds of early 90s, including Wu-Tang, Mobb Deep and Biggie with House beats and a fair share of today's hip-hop.
While the crowd of video game enthusiasts, members of the media and the usual girls who show up wherever there's a party may not have had the same awareness or appreciation for Stretch I had prior to walking into Central on Thursday night, many were dancing or nodding their head in approval by set's end. Some even thought busting out a breakdance circle was a good decision, but fortunately, that didn't last very long.
What did last very long were the waits to play the games. Following Stretch's set I tried to get my video game nerd on, but unfortunately I had to just watch everyone else have the fun. That probably was better for everyone, my Guitar Hero skills are less than stellar.