Shabazz Palaces, Macklemore, and the Stars of 206 Hip Hop Come Together for the Boys & Girls Club, Last Night at Neumos

Review By Todd Hamm

View a slideshow of images from the show.

Some community centers put on car washes for cash. Others sell candy bars by the box, or dive into the tumbling world of bingo for extra revenue. The Rainier Vista Boys & Girls Club opted instead to put a dozen of the town's most popular rap artists on stage last night at Neumos to help fund it's programs, and walked away with an oversized check for $8,000, which will reportedly be used to re-imagine its music program with the help of it's music and arts director, Shabazz Palaces' Tendai Maraire.

Very little of the night appeared to have been mapped out before hand, and the parade of artists and friends across the stage took on an air of community talent show, which was very fitting and endlessly entertaining.

Among the chaos, highlights emerged:

Early on in the night, the not-very-broken-up looking Mash Hall let fly an extended remix of "Can't Stand the Reign" with a guitarist and female vocalist in tow, the latter of which showed off some astonishingly fresh footwork along side MH's infamous dance champ Bruce Illest.

Champagne Champagne followed with a short set of new material, that was nothing if not promising. The well traveled/bearded DJ Gajamagic threw in a heavy dose of guitar fuzz over the usual knob effects for MCs Pearl Dragon and Sir Thomas Gray to stomp around/revel in.

Later, Shabazz Palaces played a puzzling set that mainly featured Maraire on a number of percussion instruments as well as spitting verses, all while primary Palaceer Ishmael Butler stood off stage right, smiling quietly as his friend carried the performance.

Soon after, Macklemore rocked favorites like "Irish Celebration" in impressive fashion (although giant Irish flag-less), before eulogizing late Mariner announcer Dave Niehaus with his compilation-gracing "My Oh My", during which famous play-by-play calls of the announcer were replayed to tear-jerking affect.

After a group picture and ceremonial check handing-over ceremony to RVB&GC director Rick Dupree, Mad Rad closed the night with four songs from their latest album, which prompted wild flailing in the crowd.

Reporter's Notebook:

Apologies to any and all acts I didn't mention, as there were many a fun moment packed into a short amount of time.

Overheard In the Crowd: "That sounded like a cross between Lil' Jon, T.I., and that band that got in trouble for fucking on stage in the '90s," after Young Fast's set.

Adlib From Stage: "Where the fuck where all of you a few weeks ago?" Spoken by Mad Rad's Terry Radjaw while looking out over a packed house