Jas + MC = Partying2
|  | | Simon Webbe, Jasmine Dotiwala and Alesha Dixon | | As you can imagine, this past month has been one long party without much sleep for me. Firstly, as my girl Estelle hit the number one chart spot in the UK and her album last week did so well, we were celebrating for a whole week. We've fought for so long to prove that if the wider industry supports UK black acts, we can do just as well as others in all music genres.
Estelle's moment has given us all so much hope for the future and for that alone, her tenacity has to be respected. Her album launch party at London's Paper nightclub saw anyone who's anyone in the scene turn out to support her and it was a real jam down with guests raving hard until they threw us out.
Next up, the feeling-haggard-with-no-sleep look took on new proportions for me as my girl Mariah was in town. Much fun was had this last fortnight. As she flew in on a whirlwind from Paris to be greeted at her hotel by hundreds of fans, her schedule was manic from the minute her platformed Prada shoes touched British soil.
On MC's first night, we planned dinner at posh eatery, San Lorenzo in Knightsbridge where myself, MC's homie Da Brat, Universal Music's Lee Ellen Newman, Matt Voss, Rob Pascoe and MC's crew were joined by all the hard workers at Mercury and Universal for a lovely Italian feast.
Midway through the meal, we had a hotline call from the really big dogs at Universal in New York, who called to reveal that MC had beaten her own record of 17 number one hits in the USA and was now jointly tied with Elvis. Two more number ones and she'll beat The Beatles.
Next up, I attended Choice FM's 18th birthday bash, hosted by Alesha Dixon and Simon Webbe. It was an amazing night with celebs all dressed for the red carpet. There were also strong performances from Kelly Rowland, Jay Sean, Ciara, Simon Webbe and more. Also in the house were Craig David and all the Choice FM DJ's looking slick.
To be honest, whilst it was a lovely evening, I was exhausted from the lack of sleep. And then, like the Cinderella story, MC pages me at midnight to tell me she's finished working and to ask where I was. I replied, and next thing I know she says: "I'll come and hang out with you at the Choice FM function and then scoop you up and take you home."
She arrived with Da Brat as the whole ballroom floor was doing the electric slide and then Choice FM present her with the first ever "Hall of Fame" honouree. What a coincidence, eh readers? Straight afterwards, we bounced back to their hotel where we ordered food, put on our pyjamas, shrieked lots and swapped "boyfriend gossip".
Before we knew it, it was 5am and I had to shower, get my car off the single yellow line outside and get straight back to work, whilst MC had two hours sleep before fitting in another 18 hours of straight promotion.
That night we attended her studio recording for The Friday Night Project on the South Bank, where hosts Justin and Alan had us wetting ourselves laughing. The show was fun and MC threw in a few sharp, fast comments of her own.
Then, we were all whisked to the second posh eatery of the week, Cipriani for a 30-strong group dinner to celebrate MC'S 18th number one hit in the USA. We all got a little greedy with the Cipriani calamari, coz it was so yummy. (Even in one of London's finest restaurants, we still craved "the deep fry".)
The champagne flowed (and overflowed) and my cup really did "runneth over" with laughter, stories and fun. Alongside Matt Voss (Universal), our host for the night and Mariah's manager Benny Medina (the managers of all managers) gave a very suave speech about MC. She then she returned the favour and before we knew it, we were all getting emotional.
Benny brought nuff Polaroid cameras and we all remembered just how much fun it can be to snap away. Brat had us all laughing when the photos slowly developed and we could see her face popping up in the background, sticking her tongue out. Many, many Polaroid pictures later, we all staggered back to MC'S penthouse suite at Claridge's, before collapsing with exhaustion at 5am and getting ready for another manic day.
My first job today is to wait until the record store opens to cop Mariah's new album E=MC2. The title is deep but true. Our girl is truly a musical genius. (The Voice)
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