This show interested me because it gave me the chance to check out two local hip-hop acts I hadn't really written about before, Oso Negro and Exit Prose. As an added bonus, it gave me the chance to see local electronica act Hey V Kay again and to show a little support for the good folks at Go Listen Boise, who had set this deal up.
I got down to Neurolux at about a quarter past eight and counted a little over thirty people. That number would more than double as the night wore on. That's what you'd hope for with a Friday night show. It was kinda refreshing to plenty of unfamiliar faces too (in my experience, you don't often see Tapout T-shirts at Neurolux).
Oso Negro performed first. His smooth, catchy beats, his warm timbre, his quick, assured flow and his smart rhymes got the night off to a fine start. A couple raps about living on a budget and what'll happen when all the bees die off were particularly impressive. This set also featured a one-song team-up with Exit Prose and Dave Boutdy from Dedicated Servers.
Exit Prose performed two sets this night, one after Oso Negro and another after Hey V Kay. This gave him ample time to show off his effectively spare beats, forceful flow, sharp lyrics and sung chorus hooks. The audience really started to warm up during his first set: about a dozen people moved up to the dance floor to groove and wave their hands in the air. He may have stumbled at a couple of points (decided to skip one track, had to start over a couple of times), but overall, Exit Prose did more than enough to prove that he's been keeping it real since his Kamphire Collective days.
Hey V Kay's somber electronic tunes sounded just as sexy as they did when she opened for Friends back in October. Karen Havey's booming, intricate beats, elegant synth and guitar lines (performed both by her and her brother Owen) and low, sultry murmur elicited plenty of dancing and loud applause from the crowd. This set featured an astute recasting of Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams," but that song sounded outclassed next to Havey's originals. Beguiling stuff.
(Sidenote--Somebody out there oughtta set up a bill with Hey V Kay and Edmond Dantes. Mmm, that'd be something...)
You can find info on these acts and Go Listen Boise on Facebook and elsewhere online.
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