Miami Vice!

As soon as March makes its mark on the calendar, the music industry start deliberating- whether they will or whether they won't. Go to The Miami Winter Music Conference, that is. Countless renditions of "I'm going to Miami, Bienvenido a Miami" (à la Will Smith) later and the thought of missing out on the WMC seems almost unbearable. And then: poof! As if by magic, Radio 1 and 1Xtra call to invite Knowledge mag to hang out with them in South Beach.
Well, it would be rude...

Thursday
After meeting several other music bods 30,000 feet up (and discovering not one of them will actually be attending the illusive 'seminar' the WMC apparently once stemmed from), it's time for customs. Paranoia arrives. "What if someone stashed a kilo of smack in my suitcase?" Scenes from 'Bangkok Hilton' seem plausible. After all that stress, the cheesy American smile -from our ride the other side- is pretty comforting.

One 20-minute, air-conditioned journey later and it's a quick change inside our spacious, downtown hotel room. Then back in another chilled car and straight to South Beach's Park Central Hotel. This will be the hub of Knowledge mag's WMC action for the next few days. Upstairs, the BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra peeps have converted a small, yet sunny, meeting room into a makeshift studio. Right about now 1Xtra's Semtex is mashin' up the speakers.

Guests on his heavy hip hop slot include the dirty south's Pitbull, Irie and Grand Daddy Souf. Representing the UK are Fallacy and Tubby T- performing their smasher, 'Big and Bashy'. Heavy. 29 year-old Mancunian Semtex tells Knowledge he's loving the Miami vibes, but not the South Beach superficiality, "It's more about how you look, than how you are."

Before we have time to discuss, 1Xtra's Benji B hits us with his 'Deviation' show (hip hop, soul, broken beat...) alongside extra special guest; the legendary Jazzy Jeff. The vibe is priceless.

After getting caught up in a whirlwind of excellent hip hop, it's time for what Knowledge love best. A little bitta bass and drum... 'The World of Drum 'n Bass' is where we will spend our messy evening. Outside the massive Billboard Live club, the queue looks... scary. But what do you expect with Radio 1's Fabio and Grooverider, Shy FX, SS, Krust and Die, 1xtra's Bailey and L Double, Bad Company's Fresh, plus many more credible names on the line-up? And then there's the MCs... Inside, the stage is a who's who of the D 'n B emcee fraternity. Skibadee feeds the mayhem, with high-speed lyrics and stylish rhymes, while MC Tali, MC MC and any other host worth their salt compete for the overcrowded mic. Hundreds of sweaty, mad-fer-it ravers scream their socks off, nod their heads, and hug and kiss each other. We need some air.

After a bit of stumbling around, we find the Breakbeat Science room, hosted by a medley of US and UK DJs. Plus a VIP room, where Emma Feline is reppin' for the UKG masses. Back in the main room Bailey and L Double are collectively flying the 1xtra flag and tearing up the dance-floor in the process. After several hours of jumping up and down religiously, dawn is upon us and sleep is calling...

Friday
Friday starts early, with nearly the entire Radio 1/1Xtra team heading down to The Essential Selection at Opium. We follow suit and find ourselves in the middle of a house (yes, we said house) rave! But wait a minute... the sun is shining, the Pina Coladas are working and we are dancing to DJ Lottie's set! Scary. Very scary. Time to leave.

Back at the Beeb HQ, Westwood and Miami co-host, DJ Khaled offer some much needed hip hop. "Ugly joints" are fired at us from the Radio 1 Rap Show, while guest rapper Cognito rolls in to spit some ill lyrics. Nasty.

As the sun sets on South Beach, it's time to head down to 'Contagious Musiq' at Level. 1Xtra's Bailey is our chaperone, accompanied by the lyrically sick MC Tali. Inside, hard and fast Drum 'n Bass is tearing up the main room. Bailey climbs aboard to do the decks justice. After nodding our heads, quite commendably, at 1000mph, we venture briefly into the breakbeat room, upstairs. And then quickly back downstairs- this time to the vibalicious hip hop room. Here we find headz like Shy FX and L Double hanging out; relaxing after their power-packed sets.

It's early (ish) to bed for Bailey; he's playing at the massive outdoor Ultra Festival tomorrow (erm, today, sorry) and Knowledge hit the sack too. The Radio 1 Rap Show is rumoured to get even messier tomorrow (erm, today).

Saturday
Westwood is on a mission. In between interviewing Fat Joe, Lisa Maffia and So Solid's JD, he drops his producer deeply in the doo doo for accompanying him down to Miami's infamous strip club, Rolexx. Cheeky. Just like Fat Joe, we "got a lotta love for Tim Westwood." As do Lisa Maffia and JD. In between promoting their debut solo singles, the pair laugh and joke like best buddies with Radio 1's hip hop Daddy. Lets just say, the show is lively...

...Like our evening is destined to become. Yes, it's time for another free party, with another free bar- this time on top of a stunning hotel. It's a hard life. The night is a bit of a blur, dotted with extremely important (at the time) conversations with the 1Xtra press office, Rodney P and out-of-it ravers. Time for bed.

Sunday Sunday is already here and somewhere along the hazy line, Knowledge missed the all-important Metalheadz party. Woops! Like you need to be told it was wicked anyway. We're slightly gutted. But never mind; there's always 2004.

Listen to 1Xtra on digital radio, www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra or through digital TV
Listen to Radio 1 on 97-99FM or check www.bbc.co.uk/radio1 for more info

Words by Elle J Small