Are your ready for a weekend of beats, rhymes, and mayhem? Dust off your flyest kicks and your Cazale shades, because it’s summertime, and there’s rap in the air. New York boom-bap demigod El-P (video below), who recently released his 5th solo studio album on Fat Possum Records, “Cancer 4 Cure,” will rock Irving Plaza this Friday the 13th. If post-apocalyptic jazz-rap is not exactly your bent, then you can skip over to the Mercury Lounge for a heavy dose of Funky with Brooklyn’s dance-rap outfit Deathrow Tull and funk-damentalist Bernie Worrell (P-Funk, Talking Heads). Saturday you can revisit your roots at the 8th Annual Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest. You’ll see a diverse array of new and old-school artists including Maya Azucena, Freeway, and the mighty Busta Rhymes. Later Saturday night, test your mettle as east village gem NUBLU hosts the bombastic Underground Horns in what will surely be a sweat-drenched carnival of hip-gyration and swagger. After a rejuvenating Sunday afternoon BloodyMary-soaked brunch, saunter over to Brooklyn Bowl at 6pm where Queens legend Pharaohe Monch (pictured) will be rocking alongside Olamide and J Ross Parrelli as part of a fundraiser for MORE THAN ME, a local non-profit which builds schools for orphans in war-torn Liberia. Monday, unfortunately, you might have to go back to work. -=brokeMC
