[This post originally appeared on Team Tinnitus]

My friend Javan is from Ann Arbor, MI, as are my three other friends Steve, Andrew, and Mark (another one). They also all went to high school together, which is kind of weird given that they all now live in Portland, OR, but such is the strong connection between these two lefty playgrounds.

Lately, Javan has been saying how we need to go to more hip hop shows, so when I saw this one at Berbati’s I was already thinking of him. Then I noticed that openers, Majestik Legend and OnBeLo (AK One Man Army) are both on Ann Arbor-based Subterraneous Records (named in reference to their invented slang term for Michigan : “Water World”), and the deal was sealed.

I mentioned OneBeLo to Javan, and he recognized the name from Binary Star, apparently one of the bigger underground-type rap groups in Michigan. Javan said when he lived there these dudes were merciless performers, gigging any house party or stage they could get on, often multiple times a week, oftentimes donning an oven mitt as a sign of regional pride (Michigan is shaped like a glove). The result of all this was semi-legendary status state-wide (I think).

So I went. Javan did too, but only after breaking the holy “bro’s before ho’s” maxim, forgetting about the show, and going out with his new lady friend for pasta. Turns out OneBeLo and Majestik Legend were performing together, with the latter mostly performing DJ-duties, which mostly consisted of pressing play on a CD player. They were great. OneBeLo has a great flow, able to stop and turn a phrase on a dime, changing up rhythms with perfect timing. The subject matter was mostly braggadocio, except for one song equating love with extraterrestrial contact, and another about media propaganda (or something). The alien lover song was my favorite of the night, both for the clever metaphorical device and the beat, which reminded me of Souls of Mischief’s classic “93 Till Infinity”. The rest of the beats didn’t match this one, and some of them fell into the bin marked “generic underground”.

I had no idea what to expect from Hangar 18. They’re on Def Jux which is a label I know people freak out about, but I haven’t really followed. They weren’t what I think of as Def Jux sounding. They had two MCs named Winterbreeze and Alaska, so right off the bat you know it’s going to be a little less “manly” than the Michi-rap. Both of these dudes were dorky in the extreme, and slightly effeminate. Maybe they weren’t really effeminate, but in a genre as gender-loaded as hip hop, the occasional girly giggle stands way out (yeah, rock is loaded too, but we’ll leave that for now). Being an un-macho myself, I did my best to put aside whatever lame preconceptions might keep me from embracing my own, and focus on how much fun everyone was having.

Stylistically, Hangar 18 reminds me of the Beastie Boys, or maybe their little cousin, Ugly Ducking. If you hate the Beastie Boys, you’ll hate these guys; if you love them, you won’t. I’m somewhere in between, and that’s pretty much how I felt about their set.

Unfortunately, the rest of my Michigan crew showed up right after the Michi-rap and just in time for Hangar 18. This was really their own damn fault for showing up at 11:30 on a weekday for a two-act bill. Some of them were pissed, and some didn’t care.

Drunks drunk: 3 beers (brand names withheld/forgotten), I think.