Rahzel
Choclair
DJ Curry
March 19
Agora
Talk about stereotypical crowds. Most of the audience at the "Electric Boogaloo" concert, which featured Rahzel and Mix Master Mike, looked like high school and college-age white boys, and virtually every one of them was wearing his hat backwards. But despite the relatively small crowd at the show, which took place at the intimate Agora Ballroom (it was originally scheduled for the larger Theatre), there was a lot of energy in the room, and by the end of the night, the scene was more like a rave than a concert -- which, perhaps, was the goal of the performers. Mix Master Mike, who is known for his work with the Beastie Boys and, more recently, Tommy Lee's new incarnation Methods of Mayhem, provided a good background beat to the main leg of the show. Several times he made errors, though they merely added to the event's charm. Rahzel performed a rather short, dull set and was more or less overlooked by the crowd, after all the techno-mayhem that preceded him.
Among the several other acts, the Canadian rap group Choclair fared well. Surprisingly, the techno-loving suburban boy crowd responded favorably to the heavy hip-hop stylings and expletive-laced lyrics spouted by the two main gangstas, and they were happy to repeat every one of those lyrics when prompted. Despite the similarities to almost every other group of their kind, Choclair's members did have one trait that set them apart: They didn't move. Most hip-hop concerts are full of stage-crossing and jumping, and even crowd surfing, but there was no sauntering across the platform, and there was no jigga-bouncing, and most disappointingly, there was no head-shaking and gestures of violence. The guys just stood there and did their thing. DJ Curry, one of the several DJs to perform briefly in a quick barrage of record-scratching, showed the most talent of the opening acts. The local DJ spun records and made otherwise monotonous techno beats interesting. Usually, music that is made up of repetitive beats and quick samples is good only as music for a dance club, but DJ Curry made it accessible and enjoyable in a concert setting.
