Art Basel Miami Beach Was Bananas

Photo Credit: Dania Montejo

Photo Credit: Seth Browarnik/Worldredeye.com

Art Basel was bananas—literally, making even the biggest celebrity sightings seem, well, mundane. But the star power was high. Over at Rockwell for its 1 OAK collab, a star-soaked party Thursday hosted by Gucci Mane, who arrived at the club at 2 a.m. and performed hits such as “St. Brock Intro,” “Fresh Out,” and “Wake Up in The Sky.” Leonardo DiCaprio, whose own Warhol raised a big bounty for Lenny Kravitz’s Bahamas fundraiser, and Sean Penn were there too, but no biggie.

Photo Credit: Seth Browarnik/Worldredeye.com

On Friday, rapper 2 Chainz also showed up around 2 a.m. and sang “I’m Different” and “Watch Out,” before bringing on stage a couple new artists from his label (T.R.U Label) to sing “Shoot it Out,” “It’s a Vibe” and “Birthday Song.”

Photo Credit: Seth Browarnik/Worldredeye.com

Last, but not least, a slew of bold faced showed up Saturday for the club’s ‘Ended up at Art Basel’ closing party hosted by Fabolous, who performed for an audience that included Paris Hilton, (who told the bouncers at Wall not to let her ex-fiance Chris Zylka into the club for her DJ set), Tory Lanez, and singer/newly minted IMG model, Teyana Taylor.

Arlo Beach Club hosted the Up&Down Cabana Beach Club Friday night with all-star DJ rosters helmed by Heron Preston, Hank Korsan and Pedro & Friends. Comedian Nick Kroll and his landscape designer girlfriend Lily Kwong were there, making a beeline for the dance floor. Hilton and Britney Spears popped in with pals on Saturday night.

Photo Credit: Phelan M. Ebenhack/Invision for Courvoisier®Cognac/AP Images

Def Jam Recordings artist Teyana Taylor took the house down during a private Courvoisier and Def Jam concert Friday at the Faena Forum. We asked Taylor how she felt about Art Basel Miami Beach as a vehicle for musicians and she said, “Art Basel is an incredible platform for musicians to share their work with a community of artists and like-minded creative thinkers. This weekend in Miami was a perfect opportunity to present my new single, “We Got Love,” in a creative and special way. Courvoisier and their ongoing support of hip-hop were ideal partners for this celebration of music, art and emerging talent.”

Photo Credit: Don Diablo

New Calle Ocho hotspot Don Diablo had a huge party on Saturday night, with Alexander Delgado of Gente de Zona, El Tiger, Guaynaa and Lenier arriving directly from the AAA’s Amor a La Musica, each performing their biggest hits as the DJ Mario Duran spun their tunes.

Photo Credit: Dania Montejo

The Bonnier Gallery Inc. hosted a celebratory block party Saturday, featuring the work of artist, model, and star of AMC’s Walking Dead, Norman Reedus, to mark the end of Art Week. Reedus’s photography included portraits of fellow actors Diane Kruger, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Hideo Kojima, Lena Dunham and many more.

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

And what’s Art Basel Miami Beach without DJ Khaled? Nonexistent, really. We The Best Foundation and Haute Living celebrated both DJ Khaled and his wife Nicole’s birthdays with a fancy fete Sunday at the Perez Art Museum in Miami. Among those there to celebrate: Future, Fat Joe, Ray J, Bryson Tiller, Tyson Beckford, Teyana Taylor, Busta Rhymes,  Alec Monopoly and Younes Bendjima. The highlight was when Monopoly created a work of art, live, in front of the entire crowd, which was then auctioned off on stage and sold for $20K to Simone Luca Sestito, Founder & CEO of PLACES.CO. The $20K went directly to We The Best Foundation. As a birthday gift to Nicole and Khaled,  Sestito donated a week-long PLACES.CO experience on a 150ft. private yacht to the Khaled family. Khaled was also presented with a discrete briefcase in which he opened up in front of the entire crowd to unveil a gifted $40K golden lion figurine.

Photo Credit: Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Haute Living

Market America | SHOP.COM’s co-founders, JR and Loren Ridinger had a big bash Saturday at their waterfront spread for America | SHOP.COM’s President of Urban & Latino Development, Joseph Cartagena, aka Fat Joe, who officially released his 11th and final album, “Family Ties,” a  collab with Dre of Cool & Dre. Fat Joe’s been busy, recently palling around with the pols and pundits on superfan Ari Melber’s MSNBC show. Among those at the soiree:  DJ Khaled, Fabolous, the original “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort, Winnie Harlow, Jeezy, Bryson Tiller, artist Alec Monopoly, Too $hort, Swizz Beatz, and Daymond John. Fat Joe jumped on the mic and entertained the audience with some of his greatest hits as well as some of his new songs such as “Projects,” “Heaven & Hell,” “Deep,” “Big Splash” and “Hands on You,” while Dre and Swizz Beatz jumped on stage, joining Joe for a few songs to close out the show.