Photo by Alex Markow

Meek Mill salutes the crowd. Two times.

See the full 51-photo slideshow from Best of the Best 2012.

Best of the Best 2012
With Fabolous, Meek Mill, French Montana, Fat Joe, 2 Chainz, Ace Hood, and others
Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park, Miami
Sunday, May 28, 2012

Better Than: If you know what this was better than, "MAKE SOME NOIIIIIISE!"

The occasional drizzle extinguished neither piff, nor spirit. These were no ordinary concertgoers. These were the Best of the Best.
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See also "Top Ten Dance Moves at Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Animated GIF!"

Memorial Day weekend 2012 on South Beach was a big-ass block party. Lots of em' really.

Ocean Drive was all action. Collins and Washington had more Chevy's riding high than a Trick Daddy video. Every rapper from Two Chainz to Gucci Mane to Lil Wayne was on the island popping bottles by the truckload.

The sand and surf were full of tourists swimming with locals. And the atmosphere was chill, open, and friendly. Just check out Crossfade's 11 sexy dancing GIFs.

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Photo by Jacob Katel

Cameo is to Washington Avenue what sand is to the beach. And Saturday night's YMCMB party proved it.

StrongArm DJ Entice celebrated a birthday, Flo Rida got hype, and the Young Money crew bought so many bottles that the club ran out of sparklers. Even Gucci Mane came through stunting.

We never did see Birdman. He was hiding out. But his friends, like Lil Wayne, were in full force. And so were all these other party animals.

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Photo by Jacob Katel

Gucci Mane at The Colony on Ocean Drive.

Ocean Drive was closed to motorized traffic for the duration of Memorial Weekend 2012, which meant a nearly 24-hour street party.

Asses shook, outdoor bars and clubs were packed, and people from Dallas to London came together.

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Photo by Hannibal Matthews

Have a supa holiday with the supa thug, Young Jeezy.

See also "Memorial Day 2012: Six Best Electronic Music Parties Around Miami."

The Beach is about to get flooded, son.

At this very moment, there are 250,000 rappers, DJs, celebs, porn stars, strippers, and regular people packing the Hummer full of champagne, cash money, and 12 changes of clothes. They're making last-minute adjustments to the party plan. And soon, they'll be cruising across the causeway to Miami Beach for Memorial Day weekend.

Meanwhile, Miami Beach Police, city manager Jorge Gonzalez, and the Unity Coalition's anti-Urban Beach Week activists are frantically prepping for this human tsunami by organizing an onslaught of cops, DUI stops, and other emergency security measures.

But shit, we here at Crossfade just wanna non-violently wild out. So let's all just chill and keep the peace. There are way too many holiday throwdowns to even bother beefing.

Check out the fifteen best parties for Memorial Day weekend 2012 in Miami.

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Via facebook.com/Shaggy

Shaggy gets around.

You might see him eating teriyaki chicken on South Beach. Or hitting the stage in Eastern Europe. Or headlining a show at the Olympic Games. But this weekend, he'll be in Downtown Miami at Bicentennial Park for the Best Of The Best fest, partying, picking up chicks, and avoiding the hectic scene across the bridge.

We here at Crossfade just got off the phone with the Shag man. And here's what he had to say about living on the road, staying out of the madness, and the finest girls in the world.

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Via statigr.am/sj24k

DJ Khaled relaxing in the club. Not doin' work.

DJ Khaled and French Montana
Cameo Miami
Thursday, May 24, 2012

Better Than: We want to say anything, because "We da best!" and all. But we would have much preferred to see Khaled do work.

Yeah, Memorial Day weekend is upon us. And last night, we were all pumped up and ready to pop bottles at Cameo with French Montana and Miami's favorite braggart, DJ Khaled.

But it turns out that Khaled is the reigning peek-a-boo champ. And while Montana threw us a couple of tracks, we hardly knew Khaled was there. More »

You might not know the name Mr. Vegas. But if you've been within earshot of a dancehall DJ in the last 15 years, you've heard his music.

Though little acknowledged in the broader music world, the singer is a Jamaican icon thanks to "Heads High," "Hot Wuk," "Bruk it Down," and other hits known for inspiring female dancers to remarkable feats of flexibility.

Out Tuesday on his own MV Music imprint, new double-disc album Sweet Jamaica (sample some via largeup.okayplayer.com) is timed to coincide with this summer's 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence.

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Like Fernando Perdomo, Crossfade's gonna be "305 til we die."

Less than two years ago, Miami music's biggest cheerleader, Fernando Perdomo, penned a track entitled, "I'm Not Gonna Move to LA."

To his credit, Perdomo's kept his promise. But had the track been called, "I'm Not Gonna Move to LA (or Any of Its Suburbs)," he would've had some serious 'splaining to do.

Earlier this week, the Forward Motion Records' chief and Dreaming in Stereo frontman announced via Facebook that he's moving to Reseda next month, a suburb of Los Angeles.

"I hope everyone knows that I will now be [a] soldier [for] the scene and will find every possible way to make South Florida music global," he said. "305 til I die."

Though Perdomo may be on his way out, live music in Miami is all but gone. Check out this week's ten best music-related things to do in Miami under $10.

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Via facebook.com/AceHood

Ace Hood at the bank.

See also "Best of the Best 2012: A Five-Part Guide" -- plus "Memorial Day 2012: Fifteen Best Rap Parties in Miami and South Beach."

He's socially conscious, believes Mitt Romney doesn't stand a chance against Barack Obama in the general election, and would totally buy Facebook stock despite its slow start, saying, "Hell yeah, Facebook is a great investment." He's Ace Hood.

At 24 years old, this Broward County, We the Best, and YMCMB MC is one hip-hop's most promising talents. Discovered by DJ Khaled in 2007, Ace rose to prominence in 2009 after XXL Magazine featured him in its annual "Freshman Issue."

Three studio records and a shit-ton of mixtapes later, Hood's still hustling hard, paving his way toward hip-hop superstardom verse after verse after verse.

We caught up with Ace ahead of his Best of the Best appearance, Memorial Day weekend parties, and discussed everything from strippers to politics.

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