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- Show 4: $20 for Aaliyah, Jay-Z, Missy, Tim & Ginuwine: My 1st Concert
Show 4: $20 for Aaliyah, Jay-Z, Missy, Tim & Ginuwine: My 1st Concert
Ginuwine, 5/18/99, Tramps, NYC
I’m not sure if Aaliyah got me wet.
Maybe Missy contributed. And maybe the background singer, Tank. But Ginuwine, and Timbaland violated for sure.
To close Ginuwine’s show, they said their goodbyes by emptying their water bottles at the crowd.
Call it my Baptism. I found religion at my first concert.

Photo Credit: C. Mercado
That show filled so many voids in my life. It provided escape, freedom, joy, a crowd full of fine women, and the start of my lifetime hobby.
I had just learned what it truly meant to be an undocumented immigrant. What was the point of all the hard work I put in to earn A’s consistently since first grade and taking 5 Advanced Placement classes in high school? Hundreds of thousands of scholarship money for college would be rescinded, and I couldn’t attend my first choice college, New York University to study Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. And while I had escaped the bullying and awkwardness of middle school and high school, I was met with the loneliness of navigating college as the first in my family to attend post-secondary education in the United States.
My parents deceived me.
America denied me.
God abandoned me.
But in Ginuwine and his crew, I trusted. And the first person I ever brought to a concert is someone in my crew who I have always trusted, Damian.
Well, not quite always. There was that one fight in middle school when he put me in a headlock and rammed me into the black lightpost that stood in the middle of the playground. He was about 6’0”, 200lbs then. I’m about 5’5”, 145 lbs now.

Photo Credit: C. Mercado
In the early and mid-2000’s, he really got into southern rap. He would drive me in his car, and all I would hear was No Limit Records and Cash Money Records almost non-stop, at max volume. The bass jumping from the speakers tickled each and every cilia in my ear canal. I miss the era of large rims and mind-numbing sound systems.
He also put me on to what is now one of my go-to karaoke songs, Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s”. But despite his southern rap fixation, there’s one legend that always took up space in those speakers:Jiggaman. J-Hova. Hov.
About three-quarters of the way through Ginuwine’s show, the Timberland drum arrangements started to blast through the speakers at 133 beats per minute. A silhouette appeared stage right. He slowly made his way to the front of the stage, with a white towel in one hand and the mic in the other. And then he spit a verse in rapid fire cadence, closing with, “Jiggaman, iceberg with the frozen hands. Wedding bands don't make it rosy man.” Hov came up to join Missy for the song “Is That Your Chick” by Memphis Bleek, in which Jay-Z and Missy Elliot are featured. I had actually forgotten that detail several years ago, but it was Damian who reminded me.
Tank also reminded me that he was there via his R&B Money podcast with J. Valentine. That’s where I learned he was a backup singer for Ginuwine. So I did some digging, hoping I took some pictures. I wish cell phones with good cameras were already invented then. But I was able to find a few poorly shot, poorly developed photos that I took that night. I found Tank on the far right corner in one of the pictures. And there was Ginuwine at his peak in a baggy, fire engine red leather outfit. I miss the era of large rims and mind-numbing sound system and baggy clothes.

Photo Credit: C. Mercado
You probably remember Ginuwine’s “Pony” from the Magic Mike XXL scene in which Channing Tatum is welding, but the undeniable jam compels him to gyrate, cartwheel and slide on all the surfaces of his woodshop. But I remember an air condition-less pearl gold-colored ‘94 Honda Civic driving down I-95, with my Dad looking for an exit to get some gas. It was peak summer. We could only roll down the windows to cool down. The FM car radio was tuned to a local station playing R&B and Hip-Hop, and the distinctive beat of “Pony” started.
Are those Super Mario Bros. video game sounds I just heard? In an R&B song? What is that voice modulation or reverberation? I can’t make that sound with my voice. And why are you gyrating to this in the passenger seat, MOM?! Embarrassing. Forget the cruel summer heat; Roll those windows up; I can’t have strangers hearing that it’s this song that my mom is dancing to. But damn that song is perfect for a booming system. It’s perfect for me.
I’m just a bachelor. I’m lookin’ for a partner. Someone who knows how to ride.
Ginuwine is one my favorite R&B artist of the late 90’s. Ginuwine’s “100% Ginuwine” album is one of the best in that era, and maybe one of the best R&B albums of all time. There are no skips, especially not the opening interlude that samples the theme song to my favorite TV show growing up, “MacGyver”. But my favorite track on that album just might “Final Warning,” a playful, relationship-simulating, back-and-forth-duet with Aaliyah.
Do you know how many times I simulated a relationship with Aaliyah in my mind? Timbaland boots, sweatpants, and paisley bandana headwraps never looked so elegant. She represented the sexy but street girls I liked growing up around in Hollis and Jamaica, Queens. But she seemed shy, and that was perfect for me because I’m an introvert too.
So of course, Aaliyah and I were bound to meet at some point, gaze at each other slightly cross-eyed, bond over visits to the eye doctor, and then, naturally, get married. I mean, we had so many things in common. We’re even almost the same age. I was sure I was that somebody she sang about.
But then rumors started circulating on the radio that Aaliyah had already been married, at age 14, to my other favorite R&B singer at the time, R. Kelly. R. Kelly’s remix to “Your Body’s Callin’” features Aaliyah. She was 14 when the song was released. It was my jam back then, but many years, videotapes, and criminal convictions later, it’s a harder listen. But that doesn’t mean I don’t remember all the words still.
I also remember what my friend Jose Antonio Vargas described in 2007 in the Washington Post as the original climax of Jet Li and Aaliyah in “Romeo Must Die”. They kissed. Not on the cheek. On the lips. But it didn’t test well when screened with urban audiences. In citing his conversation with Filipino-American director Gene Cajayon, the claim was that "Mainstream America, for the most part, gets uncomfortable with seeing an Asian man portrayed in a sexual light." It was surely racial. I was sure then that it was racist. Now, I view it in more of a Black protectionism lens. But it still feels racist- so much so that if I was given the opportunity, I would rewrite that scene as an 11 minute, completely nude love scene. It was the lost moment that would have catapulted Asian American leading men in Hollywood into sex symbol status for the next two decades. It was the lost moment that would have made it easier for me to find my Aaliyah.
Mattel’s Aaliyah Barbie doll sold out in 30 minutes on January 16th, her birthday. Sure, this is proof that DEI can be profitable for corporations. But this is more about the nostalgia and the hypotheticals that surround one of the most magnetic artists in our lifetime. Would she have earned an EGOT by now? How many Grammys would she have? Would she have a daughter that would be a rising star in R&B by now?

Photo Credit: Mattel
At 22 years old, Aaliyah died in a plane crash while shooting the “Rock the Boat” video. The video was released about a week after she died. And the way my favorite musical artist still living tells it, a song came over him once he heard about Aaliyah’s death. The song is called “Skyy, Can You Feel Me” by Raphael Saadiq. It has been and will be one of my favorite songs for the rest of my life.
And because of that night at Tramps, for just $20;
With some up-and-coming rapper surprising the crowd;
And with Missy, Timbaland, Ginuwine, and Aaliyah performing on the same stage, I became a lover of concerts for the rest of my life.

Photo Credit: C. Mercado
Thank you G, and happy birthday, Ms. Haughton. Your legacy goes on and on and on.
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Concert access + more:
You can find Ginuwine on tour here.
You can buy the new Aaliyah Barbie doll here or at Target, though pre-orders have sold out.
I hope you got your Bad Bunny Puerto Rico residency concert tickets today with the help of the guidance I shared in the Show 3 post. Our subscribers have paid in the range of $165 to $1200 to see him in concert.
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Los Angeles fire relief:
Adobe, aside from donating $1 to relief efforts, is matching donations to the Entertainment Community Fund and California Community Foundation: Wildlife Recovery Fund
SBA disaster assistance is now available to Southern California businesses, homeowners, renters and private nonprofit organizations This covers Los Angeles and the contiguous counties of Kern, Orange, San Bernardino, and Ventura. Applicants may apply online and receive additional disaster assistance information at sba.gov/disaster. Applicants also may call SBA’s Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955 or email [email protected] for more information on SBA disaster assistance.
MusiCares Foundation is offering $1,500 in financial assistance, $500 in food vouchers for music industry professionals: [email protected], 1-800-687-4227
Here’s a GoFundMe list to help the families rebuild in Altadena, CA
FEMA Assistance is available for residents impacted by LA County wildfires. Apply online at DisasterAssistance.gov, the FEMA app, or the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362 (Calls are accepted every day from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. PST)
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About the author:
Cris Mercado is the award-winning Founder & CEO of GrantAnswers, an NYC-based data, strategy & consulting firm founded in 2013. His journey from undocumented immigrant to award-winning entrepreneur & immigrant rights advocate has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MTV, and Forbes. He has helped +1000s launch careers in tech & secure acceptances to top colleges & programs. His speaking engagements for the likes of Teach for America and the US Chamber of Commerce encompass immigration, career development, entrepreneurship, and tech diversity & inclusion. He is also an avid concertgoer for +25 years and counting, and likes to tell stories about it.