'Love & Hip Hop NY' Stars: Pre-Prison Parties Are All The Rage

Now we know "Love & Hip Hop NY" star Yandy Smith's reaction to her husband Mendeecees Harris going to prison for 8 years -- turn down for what??!!

We got the couple outside Stage 48 in New York where they each had their own ideas about why raging before incarceration for drug trafficking ... is the only way to go.

You gotta see it, Yandy's reason is more about celebrating life, but Mendeecees'? His explanation is way more mercenary.

Maybe that's why he's going away for a bit.