After putting together a successful private dinner for Washington Redskins Santana Moss and Houston Texan Andre Johnson, it was time to quickly change gears for the highway 95 North initiative entitled #AR10RoadTrip. Our partner in crime for the 48 hour journey was the 2012 BMW 650i Coupe xDrive with the M Sport Package; a Monster of a Machine!
Saturday, June 2nd
Saturday at 1p.m. our journey began. Traveling from Bowie, MD, our chariot charged up I-97 to I-95 via 695 with consistent horsepower and technology to compliment the drive. Cruising at an average speed of 75 mph, we arrived in Philadelphia at 4p.m, specifically at Chickie & Petes located in the heart of the Italian District in South Philadelphia. A standard act of eating once in my second home was in order.
Shortly after lunch we drifted to the annual Roots Picnic to support our friend Wale, Tre, and Big Wes. The Roots Picnic is a two day music festival with over 10,000 music lovers in attendance each lead by the legendary Roots Crew. This year Wale, Rakim, De La Soul, Marsha Ambrosius, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Yasmin Bey (Mos Def) and many more graced the stage and performed hit after hit. We couldn’t get enough so I synced my iPhone to iDrive with BMW apps so we could play more music from the Roots on Pandora. A quick wardrobe change lead us to streets of Philly so the 650i could enjoy some night life. We visited a friend’s new venue on 19th & Chestnut called Industry XIX with the resident DJ playing all genres from Hip Hop to Reggae and even a splash of Techno!
Sunday, June 3rd
Have you ever risen in the morning on the 22nd floor of a Penthouse Bachelor Pad overlooking the Delaware River, Ben Franklin Bridge, Camden, NJ and Downtown Philadelphia all in the same view? That’s exactly how our Sunday began. Next we quickly jumped into photo shoot mode around 10am with the subject being the all-new 2012 BMW 650i xDrive. With the Delaware River as the picturesque backdrop, we snapped up to 20 crisp, clean shots of the interior/exterior and a few lifestyle images for effect.
Once complete we jumped on 95 North once again and drifted up the New Jersey Turnpike to Metlife Stadium for the main event, the Hot 97 Summer Jam Concert! My drive partner LaVan Anderson was handpicked by Hot 97fm’s management to shoot the concert in entirety. As soon as he received credentials around 1pm we were granted a media parking pass which allowed for supreme placement at the festival grounds and a high traffic area where a majority of attendees would enter the stadium for the main event. The view of the Bimmer from the outside looking in simply had thousands in awe. The intimidating grille with or without the fog lights on made for an intimate eye arousing experience!
The concert was full with talent from Rick Ross, to Wale, to T.I. and Young Jeezy, and the perfect placement for over 60,000 fans in attendance to take in the latest and greatest in Hip Hop music collectively. The concert ended shortly after 11:30pm with intensity. Considering the gridlock, we decided to stand our ground and have all eyes set on the stand alone 650i stationed at the corner parking lot as traffic slowly cruised by. As the rain started to fall slowly but surely, it was time to hit 95 South, East Rutherford to East Bowie, in just under 3 hours.
When asked if this was one of the greatest 48 hours spent? My response: “Only in the 650i would this xDrive be so fly!”
Photography by: LaVan Anderson
