Ludacris & Two Friends @ NBA All-Star Crossover: The Ultimate Fan Experience from The LA Convention Center

(02/13/26)

Greetings!

Los Angeles has been stacked with events recently with no end in sight. We still have FIFA World Cup in a few months, Super Bowl LXI next February, and the Summer Olympics to cap off the festivities in 2028. And despite having multiple stops in LA throughout my lifetime, I'd had never experienced a NBA All-Star weekend. This year's celebration was split between the Intuit Dome in Inglewood & LA Live in DTLA so Sis & I decided to maximize the sports fever at the LA Convention, which hosted their NBA Crossover: The Ultimate Fan Experience.

We're freebie & merch freaks with no itch to spectate the live basketball events at the Dome. I haven't cared about the NBA since the Jordan Era ended in my youth. Luckily, LA Live and the Convention Center had plenty of corporate sponsored booths throughout the areas. The Footlocker Takeover of LA Live was probably the coolest spot to visit as they had specialty basketball courts, expensive clothing, fun Fast & Furious experiences, and Laser Tag. Can you believe it? I grabbed an exclusive All-Star branded shirt from the pricey, high-end, merch tent before taking our journey to the main event: the LA Convention Center.

That's where we continued to visit all the corporate booths in hopes of scoring swag. Sis did really well. We had two full bags full of pins, potato chips, shirts, jerseys, posters, foam fingers, a hat & a key chain from the official merch store... while digesting red wine from a plastic cup... by the time the concert began. We planned the trek so we'd be at the Michelob Ultra Courtside Concert Stage just as Two Friends kicked off the evening BPMs. The low turnout really allowed us to move quickly across the gigantic convention floor. What takes all-day at the various comic book / Anime conventions only felt like an hour here.

We grabbed our spot close to the stage as Two Friends began their lovely, saxophone centric, EDM set. There wasn't much pushing or shoving as the area only hosted less than 500 folks throughout the entire concert block. Most frown upon numbers like that, but that's almost double the size of The Troubadour. I like intimate moments like that. And there will always been space behind this concertholic... as no one wants to watch a concert through this 6'5" giant.

Ludacris was stellar. He played the expected "greatest hits" concert (orchestrated by DJ Infamous) that touched upon almost every billboard hit he ever had. Some they played in full, others (like his pop smashes) had just a few verses. Did I know the lyrics to everything? Absolutely... and proudly rapped them as I "rockaway". Funny enough, I originally became a fan of Ludacris back in High School after hearing an old classmate talk about her & boyfriend's song, which was "What's Your Fantasy". (yep TMI lol) Haven't let it go after all these years. Still makes me smile to this day. Ludacris has been a staple in my CD and mixtape collections ever since.

I miss how unserious that life used to be. Now everything feels so damn real. So reliving these songs surrounded by lifelong fans made for a fun evening! Look forward to capturing more of these special LA events in the seasons to come.

Enjoy the candid photo journal below! More adventures (very very) soon!