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Area15\u2019s outdoor A-Lot is full of \u201cLove\u201d at the moment\u2014Keyshia Cole\u2019s, to be exact. The crowd\u2019s a throng of swaying bodies, harmonizing to the chorus of one of the R&B singer\u2019s most acclaimed singles of 2005\u2014and that\u2019s before she even hits the stage.<\/p>\n
From an outside perspective, this is surely a Keyshia Cole concert. But in all actuality, it\u2019s another night at Simp City, Las Vegas\u2019 leading R&B party, where fans of everyone from Trey Songz to Bryson Tiller and Jeremih gather under one roof to run back the classics that put us in our feels.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are at the forefront of R&B in Las Vegas right now. I want to make the claim that we brought it back as young\u2019uns,\u201d says Dame Dacuma, who founded Leverage Events and Simp City with his friends, Brilan Kelly and Jay Esguerra, in 2018. \u201cWe were the high school kids that always listened to what our parents or what our older siblings were listening to. So we got to enjoy that and kind of bring the 2000s, \u201890s music back into Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Simp City, in many ways, has changed Dacuma, Kelly and Esguerra\u2019s lives. It\u2019s also what has kept Esguerra feeling connected to his late father, who shared his love of R&B. \u201cHe showed up to Simp City even when he was sick, and supported it from the beginning,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Six years in, and with an increasingly growing guest list, Simp City has touched down at some of the best venues on the Strip, but its crowning achievement has been clinching a residency at Drai\u2019s Nightclub and Beachclub. The significance of that isn\u2019t lost on Dacuma, who says Drai\u2019s was the first nightclub to host Simp City.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was cool touching a lot of these different venues, and then finally circling back to Drai\u2019s and being able to call it home,\u201d Dacuma says. \u201cDrai\u2019s was always the club to go to, being younger. So to finally be able to sign a residency and party at the highest level as a 26-year-old in Las Vegas and to see how much the city\u2019s grown, it\u2019s super dope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done Daylight. We\u2019ve done LIV Nightclub. We\u2019ve done Hard Rock Live. But Drai\u2019s has that presence of we\u2019re touching some of the stages of the biggest acts ever,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cIt holds that weight to know we\u2019re creating this type of feeling and energy in the No. 1 hip-hop club.\u201d<\/p>\n
In college, Kelly remembers attending R&B Only, a renowned R&B party in Los Angeles with a \u201cdope, nostalgic dance hall type of vibe,\u201d and that experience alone was enough to convince him Vegas needed and deserved something similar.<\/p>\n
Within months, Esguerra had flyers ready to go for what would eventually become the fastest-growing R&B party in town. \u201cI don\u2019t think the goal was to throw a crazy big party,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cI think it was really just to always have a space that we could go to. The party gets bigger, but we\u2019re really just kickin\u2019 it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demand has grown for R&B-centric events in a similar way goth and emo nights have become such a hit. In the last year, Seven:45, an R&B speakeasy, has garnered a following for its vinyl listening lounge. And with Strip residencies from New Edition, Jodeci and DJ Cassidy bolstering the scene, there\u2019s no limit to what a party like Simp City can achieve. Kelly shouts out new clubs like Downtown\u2019s Substance, which he believes will bridge the gap between smaller theaters and larger venues for more eclectic events, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s where you could test a lot of stuff like afrobeat, amapiano. We plan on tapping into a lot of different genres other than Simp,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The founders have started expanding Simp City into San Diego, Orange County and Salt Lake City, with more cities to come. And as with Keyshia Cole, star-studded appearances are to be expected. It\u2019s a Vegas party, after all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m from LA, or if I\u2019m from Arizona and Texas, I\u2019m looking at Vegas like, yo, it\u2019s a different style of nightlife and people expect that,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to give them the highest form of entertainment that we feel is worthy of saying that it\u2019s from Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n
SIMP CITY\u00a0<\/strong>September 1, 10:30 p.m., $20-$30. Drai\u2019s Nightclub, leveragepresents.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n