Busta Rhymes, Ty Dolla $ign, and more partied til the wee hours.
Somewhere along the line, Met Gala after parties became more about the performance or the documentation of fun, rather than just having it. It’s a complaint that’s infected many festivals and events of late. However, hedonism, debauchery, and pleasure lived on at Richie Akiva’s after party at The Box last night. And it was thrown together just mere hours before doors opened at 1:30am to an exclusive list of partygoers and celebrity friends.
Hosted by Kate Moss and Teyana Taylor—in a venue with a capacity of just 300 guests—The Afters became a sweaty playground of champagne and burlesque dancers, loosened ties, and even looser rules.
While the crowd outside fought to get in, by 2 a.m. the Box was already enveloped by plumes of cigarette smoke while barely-dressed dancers adorned in flowers, nipple tassels and dainty, bejeweled thongs shimmied and twerked across the room.
Akiva, who spent most of the night on the mic hyping up himself, his guests, and teasing impending celebrity arrivals, announced singer Leon Thomas to the stage, who treated the late-night crowd to a live rendition of his viral hit, Mutt. “Baby take your time what’s the rush” is the chorus of the song, but also quickly became the emerging theme of the night.
Especially once Busta Rhymes climbed onstage. “This is the real New York,” Akiva bellowed as Busta snaked behind Kaytranada at the DJ decks and snatched the mic away. What proceeded was a very pointed rant about young people disrespecting OGs and hiding behind Instagram, but refusing to name names. While Akiva attempted to reclaim the mic, the crowd cheered and filmed, before Kaytranada spun Mariah Carey’s 2002 banger, I Know What You Want and Busta treated the crowd with a live rendition.
On stage Ty Dolla $ign, Destin Conrad, and Evan Ross danced and laughed as beautiful women were pulled from the crowd to join them. Dancers shook their hips and swayed to the beat of Lil Kim’s The Jump Off, Nelly’s Flap Your Wings, and Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall.
Once Kaytranada dropped Freakum Dress by Beyoncé all bets were off, with attendees heaving at the front of the stage, inches away from the gyrating dancers and sunglass-clad celebrities.
The woozy energy of hip hop, R&B, and soothing pop was soon thrown upside down, as Diplo took over the decks with raucous EDM remixes of Justin Bieber’s Beauty and The Beat, bass-heavy Brazilian funk, and grooving house beats from Dennis Ferrer.
Shrouded in shadow, some celebrity guests like Trey Songz slinked down a hallway leading downstairs flanked by models in sequin mini skirts. Laura Harrier, Edward Enninful, and Lila Moss eschewed the back passages to stay and sway to Diplo’s infusion of driving basslines, while to the side of the stage Fai Khadra and Blackpink’s Lisa cheesed and posed for photos. I caught a quick glimpse of someone in a slogan hoodie that simply read: Stop making bozos famous. It turned out to be Lauryn Hill’s daughter, Selah Marley.
As the room began to thin following an abrupt end to Diplo’s set, DJ Cruz took over at 4am with crave-worthy hits, playing Drake, Sexyy Red, Rihanna, and Travis Scott, feeding the audience exactly what they wanted.
With my feet beginning to hurt, it was time to snake back to the bar, where a new crop of guests, like Rick Owens muse Tyrone Dylan and Cardi B stylist Kollin Carter, as well as Zack Bia, Shaboozy, Imaan Hammam, and Georgia Fowler laughed over cocktails. A new burst of energy had filled the room, but the sun was just starting to come up. It was time to go home and let the late night stewards take over—which they did until 7a.m.
