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The Mirage Casino has a little club called The Beatles Revolution Lounge. It sits next to the theater where Cirque du Soleil performs their homage to the Beatles with a show called Love. In fact, Cirque du Soleil actually created the space, meant to evoke a club out of London in the 1960’s, with a touch of the psychedelic and a dash of the Yellow Submarine (although much to their credit its neither yellow nor blatantly submarine-esque).

Imagine my surprise when I got invited there for an evening of true Hip-Hop integrity, complete with a B-Boy competition, vinyl spinning DJ, and the legendary Mr. Freeze from the original break-dancing visionaries, The Rock Steady Crew.  You get an invite like that you simply can’t refuse.

When you enter the Mirage you can’t miss Revolution, the entire front of the establishment is giant red letters spelling out the name. So large in fact that you can sit inside the glowing “O”, “L” and “U” on comfy padded seats. Mustafa Abdi, Director of Marketing for The Light Group, met me at the door wearing a complete throwback Black and White Adidas outfit with an inch thick braided gold chain that he surely stole straight off Run’s neck in 1986.

Moose, as he’s known to friends, graciously showed us the bar and took us through the unique transformation that it makes on Thursday nights. Against all odds, stereotypes, and clichés, The Revolution Lounge goes from being another hot Vegas nightclub, to being a local’s bar. Feeling more like a back room or a basement, than a state-of-the-art tourist attraction, Thursday night actually stands for something more than amusement. It pays tribute to the four tenants of honest Hip-Hop, the B-Boy, the DJ, the MC, and the Graffiti Artist. Moose and Freeze won’t let it stand for anything less, and by god it’s refreshing.

The Revolution Lounge features a collection of mind-blowing tables, designed to keep you smiling for hours. They cost around $100,000 a table (quite a lot for a piece of club furniture that gets spilled on nightly). The technology is so advanced in these tables that both a Mac and PC run the thing and talk to each other seamlessly. Imagine the possibilities. They also react to the metal ash trays sitting on them causing lights to dance, clear, delete, and save. You can write on the one side with your finger tips, save it to the other side, and if you have a special ring, actually throw the image onto the wall. They are unbelievably cool, and if I could actually afford to ever have table service in a club like this I’d almost think it was worth it just to play.

Thursday nights its not really about being a high roller though, its about a gathering of like-minded Hip-Hop enthusiasts having a genuinely good time. A man named TNES and the team from HippoEsthetics make sure the locals get the message, while Mr. Freeze and Moose insure that they never get hassled at the door.

Freeze has a long history of integrity in a city not exactly know for it. After being featured in Flashdance in the early 80’s, Vegas embraced Mr. Freeze and offered him 3 decades of opportunity. He’s still immersed in the scene, and with him comes the credibility that he never lost along the way. I asked Freeze if he still dances sometimes, and he answered “not really”. The B-Boy life takes its toll. Last year Freeze had to have hip-replacement surgery – talk about poppin’ and lockin’….but he still continues to get inspired by the ingenuity and energy of B-Boy culture today. And of course he still commands mad respect from the culture, with B-Boy’s seeking him out as a mentor now and again. And they should! He’s maybe the nicest guy I’ve ever come across in the Hip-Hop industry. Plus, he’s made a life for himself, out of dancin’ in the streets and following his own path. He’s inspiring just to be around.

Next time you come to Vegas, whether you are into Hip-Hop culture or not, check out the Revolution Lounge. Its so rare to have a genuine experience in this world that so completely and honestly encapsulates a movement as monumental as Hip-Hop. And if you see Moose or Freeze at the door, tell ‘em Barbie sent ya, and then hit me up and tell me how it went.

Words by Barbie Brady, Photos by Zoetica Ebb

 

4.67 (3 votes)

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