Just before 3 am on Friday at the Bowery Poetry Club, a private Fashion Week kick-off party was starting to wind down. Hundreds of drunk partygoers had left or were on their way out, while several took turns puking and sleeping on the sidewalk nearby. But the dedicated stayed put, waiting for the night's rumored special guest, Harlem rapper Cam'ron.

The non-profit Bowery Poetry Club and its newest tenant — a roast beef sandwich joint called Bowery Beef — were hosting an antidote to the sometimes nauseating, corporate sponsor-heavy Fashion Week events taking place elsewhere across the city. It was a bizarre but refreshing scene.

Cam'ron finally arrived with an entourage of about 20 people, cutting an odd figure through a dwindling crowd of downtown nightlife regulars wearing a flannel shirt and diamond-encrusted jewelry. He quickly settled into a small, hazy backroom with bottles of rosé and assorted Harlem hoods.

With the male-to-female ratio quickly getting out of hand backstage, Cam'ron kicked out most of the former. "What a great party," he told us. "And ay... write some nice shit." His crew stole bottles of booze from Vice magazine girls and put the full court press on an American Apparel model who may have left in their motorcade at the end of the night. One pirate-looking alleged weed dealer told us of his night's take: "I moved over an ounce in about five minutes."

Cam'ron tore through a handful of hits like "Killa Cam" and "Down and Out" on the club's couch-strewn, knee-high stage before rapper Freekey Zekey showed up randomly at around 3:30 to close with "Suck it or Not" (for the ladies). "Alright," he announced. "That's it. I just wanna drink with ya'll. Come up on stage." And with that, the after party started.

[Cam'ron with Walt Whitman via Gawker]