In November of 2008, Derek Brisson hosted Boston's first Under-21 club event, Throwdown '08. The event took place at Clubs Rumor/Venu on Warrenton St. Downstairs there was a hip-hop DJ from Boston's Mike FM and upstairs was a local Boston DJ spinning House Music/Electro. The club reached its capacity of 1,000 people 45 minutes into the event. After the bouncers shut the doors there was a 300 person mob loitering outside the club who didn't get in. The crowd was so massive that the Police department showed up to escort the crowd off of the small one-way street safely.
Throwdown raised $26,000 in profit and was donated to the Genocide Intervention Network. Kids across Massachusetts raved about the party and blasted Derek with messages and emails asking if and when another Under-21 party would ever happen again. This made Derek realize even more that these parties must continue in Boston.
Derek joined First Class Entertainment and helped create the Under-21 branch as well as FIRST-CLASS TV. Derek became the Under-21 event coordinator and head promoter. Derek and Darius Gregory (C.E.O. of FCE) knew that topping Throwdown would be difficult, but all would agree that Paparazzi, Derek and Darius' first event together, did just that.
