R&B singer Ray J celebrated 45th birthday at Casa Moreno in Phoenix

While waiting for Ray J to hit the stage in Phoenix on Jan. 16, one question plagued my mind: Why was Ray J celebrating his birthday in Phoenix?

Just a week prior, while in Las Vegas, the singer was reportedly hospitalized with pneumonia and heart pain. The emergency sparked fears that he wouldn’t even make it to the Valley for the birthday bash with supporting acts Parrish Allen and Bobby V. (formerly Bobby Valentino).

From then until the show date, fans wished for the beleaguered star to get well and recover in time to deliver a night of lusty R&B nostalgia at Casa Moreno, located on 27th Ave. The collective wish paid off.

And there I stood in the back of the nightclub — bottle service girls parading to and fro, supplying VIPs with refreshments, getting hefty bills in return — eager to see Ray J light the place up with the catchy tunes I reluctantly knew all the words to. How any person escaped the snappy chorus of “Sexy Can I” in the early 2000s is beyond me. And while security at Casa Moreno was anxious and armed to the teeth for any sign of trouble, the club atmosphere was more than congenial.

The millennial-dominated crowd was all smiles, awaiting Ray J’s larger-than-life persona in such an intimate venue. Fiddling with my camera near the reserved booth seating, several fans smiled and chattered with me, expecting to hear some of their favorite cuts live amongst like-minded Ray J enthusiasts.

The night kicked off with short sets from Phoenix locals SheLovesSwayy and Jrue, who both delivered spirited performances.

SheLoveSwayy crooned while a pair of backup dancers flanked him, but Jrue impressed even further by being the only performer the entire night with choreographed routines with dancers. Parrish Allen, an R&B newcomer out of Harlem, NY, followed with his offering of ’90s-inspired R&B. With singles like “Bed” and “Lay Yo Head Back,” I was reminded of the energy singers like Avant and Donell Jones used to bring to the table in the early aughts.

While fans were responsive to the openers, they were clearly assembled front and center for the birthday boy to hit the stage. Surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, Ray J and Bobby V were brought on stage together for the headlining moment. Although the night was billed predominantly as Ray J’s night and the expectations were for him to take the spotlight, it made sense that the two would go hit for hit and deliver a much more electric act to the stage. 

Ray J and Bobby V are no strangers to collaboration, having formed a supergroup in 2022 with fellow early 2000s standouts Pleasure P of Pretty Ricky fame and Sammie, whose debut single “I Like It” made him the youngest of the quartet to make an entrance on Billboard Hot 100 charts at just 12 years old. On stage, Ray J would refer to Bobby V as “my brother” several times, interspersed with funny, candid revelations about his health and life.

Ray J is funny as hell. It’s hard to tell if he intended to make people laugh as he hemmed and hawed about not being able to drink alcohol because of prescription medications from the prior week’s hospitalization scare, but from a standup comedy standpoint, he was killing this audience.

For the unfamiliar, Ray J has maintained relevance throughout the years with straight-up goofy moments. From his meme-worthy moving hat incident on an episode of “Love & Hip Hop” to his unforgettable sales pitches for his all-purpose reading glasses on The Breakfast Club and Complex News, where he bluffs that his tilt-down glasses are unbreakable just seconds before host Speedy Morman effortlessly snaps them in two, he’s maintained his presence in pop culture.

In recent years, the pop icon has had fewer hilarious moments make their way to headlines, including a scary moment where Ray J is seen brandishing a gun while on a livestream in a domestic incident that earned the singer a permanent ban from the livestreaming platform Twitch in November 2025. And while scandal has always been a part of Ray J’s career dating back to his bombastic early 2000s scandal with Kim Kardashian up to his many feuds with rappers like Fabolous and rapper/producer Yung Berg (now known as Hitmaka), many view the R&B star as a bit of an architect of the modern day version of “any publicity is good publicity”.

But why Ray J was celebrating his 45th birthday at a small nightclub in midtown Phoenix was still the unanswered question. Negotiations with Ray J’s publicist to get an interview with the birthday boy to illuminate the decision, unfortunately, did not yield an answer to my burning question.

I would have to settle for a volley of hits from Bobby V like “Slow Down” and “Tell Me” while Ray J giddily changed shirts on stage three times, seemingly just happy to see another year. A highlight of the night was when Ray covered Lil Wayne’s “Mrs. Officer,” of which Bobby performs the classic chorus “Wee-Oooh, wee-oooh, wee, wee-oooh, wee-oooh, wee, wee-Oooooh, wee-oooh, wee… Like a cop car.” A refrain that has infected my mind for the entirety of my adult life.

Ray J closed the night with his newest single, “Stripper Bowl,” and revealed the after-party would be at Jaguar’s. I guess you’re never too old for the strip club.