RNR

Kicking off their set with operatic vibrato, Las Vegas’ own Rhyme N Rhythm (RNR) proved themselves worthy of their name by blending masterful lyricism with engaging instrumentation. As the group weaved about to the beat, the nine performers artfully dodged collisions that could have resulted from sharing such a tight space, all the while exemplifying their undeniable chemistry. Several members jogged in sync during “Jesse Owens,” drawing a parallel between the Olympian’s agility and the swiftness with which the MCs interlaced their lyrics as they alternated bars. They continued to flow lines as sweat dripped down their faces, pausing only to toss CDs to the eager hands in the air. Later, on the rousing track “Hope Alive,” they chanted, We were not built to do the nine to five/we were put here to help keep hope alive. The words rang with conviction, and given that this performance was their inauguration as Red Bull Sound Select artists, they foreshadowed a bright future. ★★★★☆ - Vegas Seven

Local band Rhyme N Rhythm has stayed true to the essence of hip-hop since forming in 2006. Their latest music and philanthropic effort spotlights the key elements of hip-hop culture: MCs, b-boys, beatboxing, DJs, spoken word and graffiti. The show, called The Elements, offers a local lineup and benefits the local Boys & Girls Club. In addition to a performance by Rhyme N Rhythm, you’ll get a solid sampling of Las Vegas’ hip-hop scene. Ras One and Phoenix Orion will host. Highlights include MCs Issaac Sawyer and Marion Write; B-Boys Runaway Tribe; DJs Five Eight and DJ Shanestream; spoken-word artists Misty Reign and Kismet; and visual art from Cornerstone Art Gallery - Vegas Seven

Great local hip-hop was on display at the Jackie Gaughan Plaza on Saturday, and that wasn’t all. In the small lot nestled between Fremont East businesses and the Ogden, Vegas StrEATS offers access to food trucks, local artists, apparel and the best of street culture on a monthly basis. For the July edition, the motor-food-mini-fest joined forces with another cultural powerhouse, Life Is Beautiful, to host a hip-hop showcase, the latest in a string of local-talent-driven performances leading up to the main festival in October.

Our town’s hip-hop community, while not great in size, is very active, and StrEATS offered artists the valuable opportunity to reach beyond their regular Hip Hop Roots and Sunday Skoolin’ fanbases and into the broader Las Vegas audience. One of the night’s performance highlights was Ekoh, who spit continuous flows filled with raw emotion. He performed a variety of tracks off his recently released Zzyzx Road album along with some old favorites, as fans and randoms crowded the stage.

The night’s closer, Rhyme N Rhythm, took the stage at 12:40 a.m., with the entire band wearing black hoodies and offering shout-outs to Trayvon Martin in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman announced earlier that night. The crowd had thinned by this time, but those of us there knew sticking around would be worth it—no backing tracks, no DJ, no unnecessary padding, just what their name suggests: rhyme and rhythm supported by a live drummer, keyboardist and bassist. RNR can lay it down. They are one of Las Vegas’ most celebrated hip-hop outfits, and they proved why again on Saturday, performing soul-filled jams till the early morning as organizers tore down StrEATS around them, capping another great Downtown showcase.

-Chris Bitonti - Las Vegas Weekly

After the eNVy hip-hop showcase Sept. 25 at House of Blues, I was sure my morning write-up would be a gushing report about the genius, ravenous set put on by OLI. Or earlier in the night, when JLC (Shamrock and HighDro) contradicted its “high-hop” roots and crushed an almost-battle-rap set with uncharacteristic vigor. Or even how the show attracted at least 400 people throughout the evening — an awesome start to hosting local hip-hop shows on the strip.
But the real mind-blow was the last act, Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm. You might have seen RNR play their usual funk/soul/hip-hop live show in front of a bail bond office during First Friday. (I did, anyway.) And while their set was well-rehearsed and energetic, it didn’t hold a finger to Sept. 25’s show. Besides the usual four MCs, guitar, bass, keys and drums, RNR employed both a trio horn section and a trio string section, virtually stuffing the stage with talented musicians. Plus, the ladies of the group were eye-catchers alone (if anyone knew the cellist, tell her I say what’s up).
The set got rolling around midnight mostly to OLI’s attendees and a mob of UNLV kids. The energy up on that stage felt like an Ozomatli hip-hop set: Cool, in-the-pocket grooves beneath (and sometimes towering over) solid, intellectu-raps, traded between the verbal quartet tearing into new listeners like that kid from the Nintendo 64 YouTube meme. By 1 a.m., the energetic songs were balanced with ones that sounded like something from Common’s Like Water for Chocolate: smooth and soft, focusing on the horns and some bare-bones drum ‘n’ bass riffs from the rhythm section. It was around then that local soul/R&B singer Brittany Soul hopped up to round out the male-dominated vocalists.
Seeing RNR at the end of the night made up for some of the earlier acts, which had a few too many matching outfits and lyrics boasting name brand apparel (c’mon, you’re local hip-hop heads — your take-away barely pays for gas). For anyone who missed the last set, or even the whole night, it’s time you know about RNR — just don’t get smothered beneath its down beats. - Las Vegas City Life

Go big or go home—that seemed to be the prevailing attitude behind every aspect of Saturday night’s eNVy Showcase performance at House of Blues. Approached by organizer Mark Hornsby to headline a three-band concert, Rhyme N Rhythm said it would rather lead a night dedicated to hip-hop acts. So, the Vegas group brought together an impressive lineup of local beat-boxers, emcees and musicians, including Outside Looking In (OLI), Reallionaire Jream and JLC (Shamrock and HighDro).
“That we’re on this stage is a big deal,” said spoken word emcee Paria B, who performed with vinylist DUWOPRose.
“Some people and venues can be hesitant about booking hip-hop shows, especially since the Bill Young thing,” says Jerry Walker, one of RNR’s four emcees, referring to disparaging comments made in 2006 by then-sheriff Young urging casinos to ban hip-hop for promoting drugs, violence and hatred against women and police.
That the House of Blues and eNVy Showcase welcomed the five-hour lineup of hip-hop speaks volumes, Walker says. Another good sign: The audience of 600-plus, which did a lot more than buy a ticket to support local hip-hop and charity (the night raised $1,320 for local food bank Three Square).
The dedicated crowd screamed and danced, reaching dizzyingly energetic levels during the peaks of OLI and RNR’s sets—and who could blame them? RNR raised its performance to the next level by featuring a string and horn section, which brought an already full sound to epic new levels. Closer “Ridiculous” included a rock edge that almost had the crowd turning into a funk and soul mini-mosh pit. It was, indeed, ridiculous, in the best sense of the word—and the least you should expect from what is likely the first local hip-hop group to headline this prominent Vegas venue. - Las Vegas Weekly

SOUNDING OFF: Turnout spotty for Amplify music fest
JASON BRACELIN
MORE COLUMNSHe held his guitar over his head, like a trophy, like he should have.

It was the end of a fuzz-drenched set of stoner rock thunder, and Torche frontman Steve Brooks had earned the right to a triumphant pose, glistening with perspiration like a sweaty diamond. Driven by a drummer who swung his arms so hard it was as if he had anvils for fists, Torche's set was equally hooky and heavy, a victory lap for the power of the almighty riff.

The band brought the first full night of the Amplify music fest to a fittingly climactic close at the Beauty Bar last Wednesday, turning in perhaps the most compelling performance of the 100 plus bands who showcased themselves at eight different downtown venues over four days.


And then there were smaller pleasures, like Black Army's ennui punk and Peach's Veruca Salt update, though one of the fest's best moments was decidedly more raucous: a combustible set by hip-hop crew Rhyme N Rhythm at the Canyon Club on Thursday.

Backed by a tight four-piece band, including a fierce congo player, R N R demonstrated why they're one of Vegas' fastest rising acts with catchy yet cutting rhymes buffered by a fluid groove.

The MCs traded words like prizefighters trade punches, though at the end of the night, it was the crowd that left a little staggered.

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.
- Jason Bracelin, Review Journal

Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm’s approachable style attracting local fans

Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm features an army of talented artists. The lineup (from left to right): Bob Cane, Michael Evans, Jerry Wayne, Tadow Elliot, DJ C-Quel, Coco Jenk*ns, A1, M-Pala, K-nyce, Julian Tanaka and Freddy Feel Good. Not pictured: Doc T. Courtesy photo
One Las Vegas crew is making music and drowning out local hip-hop naysayers in the process.


Rhyme 'n' Rhythm recently took the stage at the Beatles Revolution Lounge on Nov. 16. Photo by: Steven Lawton
Combining thought-provoking lyrics with jazzy, soulful and funky live instrumentation, Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm, or RnR, offers a sound that reassures listeners that hip-hop in the Vegas valley is on the rise.

“The hip-hop scene has been deemed something evil here in the city,” said Bob Cane, one of the four emcees in the band.

The band wants their music accessible to those restless fans that feel like the scene of offensive rhymes and 20 homeboys on stage yelling into a microphone is not cutting it.

“There needs to be an uplift of good and positive music,” Cane said.


Rhyme 'n' Rhythm recently took the stage at the Beatles Revolution Lounge on Nov. 16. Photo by: Steven Lawton
Although the eclectic bunch that comprises RnR has only been together officially since late 2007, they have already done more than 50 performances at venues all over town.

It seems their approachable style is in demand.

RnR consists of four guys on the mic: A1ne, Bob Cane, Freddy Feel Good and Jerry Wayne.

Backing the four emcees is the gifted band: Julian Tanaka on the sax, Kay-Nice on keyboard, Michael Evans on trombone, M-Pala on guitar, Tadow Elliot on drums and Coco Jenkins, the only female in the group, holding things down on bass. Over half of them attend UNLV for music.

Adding to the musical recipe, DJ-C-Quel brings out the hip-hop feel with his skills on the turntables.

Most of the band members and the production team are long-time friends and/or UNLV fraternity brothers. They have been making music for quite some time.

Jacob Bryant and Jolani Childs (aka Only Paulson and DJ Petey Sherm) run eLAy Be Records, the label RnR is signed to. The two have been recording music for fun with the emcees of the band since 2002.

DJ Petey Sherm, Jerry Wayne, A1ne and Freddy got together at the time, and recorded for a hobby Bryant said.

“We had turntables and we would put on records so that they could freestyle,” Bryant said. “Then we would drink 40s and do the whole stereotypical rap thing [laughs].”

Years passed and the sound improved. They came to the realization that the music had more potential than a simple pastime could contain.

Cane, a childhood friend of Only Paulson came to town from Colorado one weekend in 2007 and after laying as many tracks as he could, it was evident that he would be an amazing addition to the band as the fourth emcee.

That same year, when the group got a chance to open up for Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at Rebelpalooza, Cane flew back to perform and couldn’t help but stay.

“We played Rebelpalooza with our drummer and our guitar player backing up the DJ, and once we did that we knew we wanted to have a full band,” Jerry Wayne said recalling the event.

They began dreaming up the concept of having a live band to complement it all. In November 2007, the dream came true with the addition of Kay-Nice and Coco Jenkins.

“This is what we always wanted. Now we finally have it and the public loves it,” Bryant said.

Easily displaying similarities with other hip-hop groups of its kind, RnR is not keen of comparisons to other artists.

“We have that laid-back kind of groove that The Roots, Jurassic 5 and A Tribe Called Quest have,” Wayne said, “but we also have intense songs.”

A great addition to Las Vegas hip-hop, Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm is definitely on its way up.

“There’s really no one you can compare us to,” Wayne said.

Catch the RnR crew live on Nov. 26 at ROK inside the New York, New York Hotel & Casino.

ON THE WEB:

Rhyme ‘n’ Rythme: www.RNR702.com or www.myspace.com/rhymenrhythm
- Tifani Tamayo, Rebel Yell

Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm’s approachable style attracting local fans

Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm features an army of talented artists. The lineup (from left to right): Bob Cane, Michael Evans, Jerry Wayne, Tadow Elliot, DJ C-Quel, Coco Jenk*ns, A1, M-Pala, K-nyce, Julian Tanaka and Freddy Feel Good. Not pictured: Doc T. Courtesy photo
One Las Vegas crew is making music and drowning out local hip-hop naysayers in the process.


Rhyme 'n' Rhythm recently took the stage at the Beatles Revolution Lounge on Nov. 16. Photo by: Steven Lawton
Combining thought-provoking lyrics with jazzy, soulful and funky live instrumentation, Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm, or RnR, offers a sound that reassures listeners that hip-hop in the Vegas valley is on the rise.

“The hip-hop scene has been deemed something evil here in the city,” said Bob Cane, one of the four emcees in the band.

The band wants their music accessible to those restless fans that feel like the scene of offensive rhymes and 20 homeboys on stage yelling into a microphone is not cutting it.

“There needs to be an uplift of good and positive music,” Cane said.


Rhyme 'n' Rhythm recently took the stage at the Beatles Revolution Lounge on Nov. 16. Photo by: Steven Lawton
Although the eclectic bunch that comprises RnR has only been together officially since late 2007, they have already done more than 50 performances at venues all over town.

It seems their approachable style is in demand.

RnR consists of four guys on the mic: A1ne, Bob Cane, Freddy Feel Good and Jerry Wayne.

Backing the four emcees is the gifted band: Julian Tanaka on the sax, Kay-Nice on keyboard, Michael Evans on trombone, M-Pala on guitar, Tadow Elliot on drums and Coco Jenkins, the only female in the group, holding things down on bass. Over half of them attend UNLV for music.

Adding to the musical recipe, DJ-C-Quel brings out the hip-hop feel with his skills on the turntables.

Most of the band members and the production team are long-time friends and/or UNLV fraternity brothers. They have been making music for quite some time.

Jacob Bryant and Jolani Childs (aka Only Paulson and DJ Petey Sherm) run eLAy Be Records, the label RnR is signed to. The two have been recording music for fun with the emcees of the band since 2002.

DJ Petey Sherm, Jerry Wayne, A1ne and Freddy got together at the time, and recorded for a hobby Bryant said.

“We had turntables and we would put on records so that they could freestyle,” Bryant said. “Then we would drink 40s and do the whole stereotypical rap thing [laughs].”

Years passed and the sound improved. They came to the realization that the music had more potential than a simple pastime could contain.

Cane, a childhood friend of Only Paulson came to town from Colorado one weekend in 2007 and after laying as many tracks as he could, it was evident that he would be an amazing addition to the band as the fourth emcee.

That same year, when the group got a chance to open up for Three 6 Mafia and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony at Rebelpalooza, Cane flew back to perform and couldn’t help but stay.

“We played Rebelpalooza with our drummer and our guitar player backing up the DJ, and once we did that we knew we wanted to have a full band,” Jerry Wayne said recalling the event.

They began dreaming up the concept of having a live band to complement it all. In November 2007, the dream came true with the addition of Kay-Nice and Coco Jenkins.

“This is what we always wanted. Now we finally have it and the public loves it,” Bryant said.

Easily displaying similarities with other hip-hop groups of its kind, RnR is not keen of comparisons to other artists.

“We have that laid-back kind of groove that The Roots, Jurassic 5 and A Tribe Called Quest have,” Wayne said, “but we also have intense songs.”

A great addition to Las Vegas hip-hop, Rhyme ‘n’ Rhythm is definitely on its way up.

“There’s really no one you can compare us to,” Wayne said.

Catch the RnR crew live on Nov. 26 at ROK inside the New York, New York Hotel & Casino.

ON THE WEB:

Rhyme ‘n’ Rythme: www.RNR702.com or www.myspace.com/rhymenrhythm
- Tifani Tamayo, Rebel Yell

Hip-hop crew takes in everything

Rhyme N Rhythm finds its groove with music that people want to hear

By JASON BRACELIN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
MC Jerry Wayne Walker, center, rehearses with other members of Rhyme N Rhythm, a seven-piece hip-hop crew.
Photo by Jason Bean/Review-Journal

They're a seven-piece hip-hop crew funkier than morning breath. MC Jerry Wayne Walker breaks down one of Vegas' best live acts, Rhyme N Rhythm.

What does Rhyme N Rhythm sound like?

We take a little from everything. Rhyme N Rhythm is easy like Sunday morning. We sound like the music you want to hear at a barbecue, chilling with your family and friends, that turns into a poppin' house party everybody in the neighborhood wants to come to. It's groove music.

All-time greatest hip-hop septet? Stetsasonic or The Roots?

Definitely The Roots. They are The Ultimate, rock-rocking it!

What's the best and worst thing someone has ever said about your band?

The best was at the Bunkhouse. Some guy told us that he had given up on the Vegas music scene. After he heard us, "His soul smiled." The worst was at a battle of the bands at the Cheyenne Saloon. A judge, who was a death metal expert, said that our song "Hello Groove" sounded like Soulja Boy's "Superman." Ridiculous!

What's your guiltiest musical pleasure?

We're not ashamed of anything that we listen to. If it sounds good, we dig it. Well, maybe the theme song to "Jeopardy!"

Name five must-have hip-hop albums.

This question almost broke up the band. You could name the greatest albums of all time like (2Pac's) "All Eyez on Me" and (Nas') "Illmatic," but we decided to pick albums that related to our music: 1) Every Roots album; 2) OutKast, "ATLiens"; 3) Dr. Dre, "The Chronic"; 4) "Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections," "Cee-Lo Green is the Soul Machine"; 5) "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Blackstar."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@review journal.com or 702-383-0476.

- Jason Bracelin, Review Journal

June 1st 2009 - 944 Magazine

Old school
Local act Rhyme N Rhythm teaches skeptics about the merits of real hip-hop
The quest for good Vegas hip-hop can gear down this week. For now, it's been found. Then again, one man's meat is another man's poison, so let's define our terms, using eight-to-12-member (personnel tends to be fluid in the genre) local outfit Rhyme N Rhythm for illustrative purposes. After a year and a half together and nights spent opening for acts like Ghostface Killah, Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J, hard-working RNR is throwing its Hello Groove debut CD release party at Hard Rock's Wasted Space this Sunday, May 17. A recent visit to its practice space at MDV Entertainment Studios helped clear a few things up with regard to what this rock- and punk-fixated town just might need to get over a lingering hip-hop aversion.

Good Vegas hip-hop is compositionally interesting.

It's Monday night around 11 p.m. during rehearsal time at the fluorescent-lit MDV space, and most of the band (guitarist Ryan Mappala and saxophonist Julian Tanaka couldn't make it) is at full tilt. It's cranking out something new, smooth and vaguely carnivalesque -- not so much that it sounds clownish, but enough to keep you from writing it off as stock R&B backing. True, most of these players are current or former UNLV music students, but don't let that throw you; the band's sound sensibility stays as street as it wants to be, despite the academia underneath.

"The formal training helps us convey the message," says drummer Renaldo Elliott, aka Tadow. "We can play what people without years of study might not be able to do. We can take a progression and think, 'How can we make this more contemporary?' It's about having the knowledge to play what we want."

"I'm a student of hip-hop just like I'm a student of jazz, R&B, funk, reggae, classical, Latin, et cetera," adds keyboardist Zach Porter, aka K-Nyce. "If anything, my musical training strengthens my creativity and expands my musical capabilities ... which helps lead to our specific brand and sound of hip-hop ... "

RNR really does sound like the product of disparate influences at this moment. During a break in the rapped lyrics traded off among four distinctly styled MCs -- Dominick Jackson (aka Bob Cane), Freddy Tiff, Jerry Wayne and Allan Turner (aka A-1ne) -- the vibe changes for an instant, courtesy of a K-Nyce major-minor-7th organ chord (happy and sad at the same time) coupled with a note that bassist Courtney Thomas, aka Coco Jenkins, knows full-well doesn't quite fit the key signature. Like a reset switch that freshens without killing the groove, it works. How many instrument-less local hip-hop DJs even think to pull that off, and with such subtlety?

Good Vegas hip-hop is truly collaborative.

If you've ever cringed at a local stage full of MCs chomping at the bit for their respective turns without really acknowledging the one who's up, know that RNR won't do that to you. Four guys with mics is an ego-fueled train wreck waiting to happen, and yet they don't let it. While Jackson flows with a kind of barked, hard-enunciated KRS-One style -- quick, then almost stuttered, then quick again -- the other three watch, featuring him with their own bouncy body language rather than pulling attention toward themselves. The same thing happens when higher-registered Turner does his more languid thing, then twice more when Tiff and Wayne are up. At times, all four MCs sync up their waving arms during blow-ups and even in this featureless practice room, the intended hypno-effect is there.

"They're getting some help from a choreographer friend with some of that," says RNR manager Shawn Denard.

Musically, the same collective mind is on display, each player (including trombonist Mike Evans, who's just joined in with a long, swelling "I'm here" note) watching the others patiently, looking to offer complementary juice to the jam rather than steal someone else's. If you listen closely you can hear a bit of Elliott's reggae leanings mesh together with a bit of straight psychedelia from Porter, a "big Mars Volta fan."

"We have diverse tastes," grins Thomas.

"Verrry diverse," adds Porter, and both chuckle at the simple truth of it.

Good Vegas hip-hop is energizing, not enervating.

Watching this group rehearse tonight is entertainment in its own right, but also comes with a sense of big, happy potential. You get the feeling that the increased floor space, better lighting, higher wattage and far larger crowd they'll find Sunday at Wasted Space (RNR is opening for Street Sweeper, featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine) will fit this sprawling band perfectly -- maybe even better than a nearby and somewhat cramped Body English environment fit The Roots during their secret show there in 2007.

All this gesturing, twisting and weaving around each other while rapping and playing needs a proper space if its going to properly infect an audience. And it's not just the ease of physical m - Las Vegas City Life

Old school
Local act Rhyme N Rhythm teaches skeptics about the merits of real hip-hop
The quest for good Vegas hip-hop can gear down this week. For now, it's been found. Then again, one man's meat is another man's poison, so let's define our terms, using eight-to-12-member (personnel tends to be fluid in the genre) local outfit Rhyme N Rhythm for illustrative purposes. After a year and a half together and nights spent opening for acts like Ghostface Killah, Snoop Dogg and LL Cool J, hard-working RNR is throwing its Hello Groove debut CD release party at Hard Rock's Wasted Space this Sunday, May 17. A recent visit to its practice space at MDV Entertainment Studios helped clear a few things up with regard to what this rock- and punk-fixated town just might need to get over a lingering hip-hop aversion.

Good Vegas hip-hop is compositionally interesting.

It's Monday night around 11 p.m. during rehearsal time at the fluorescent-lit MDV space, and most of the band (guitarist Ryan Mappala and saxophonist Julian Tanaka couldn't make it) is at full tilt. It's cranking out something new, smooth and vaguely carnivalesque -- not so much that it sounds clownish, but enough to keep you from writing it off as stock R&B backing. True, most of these players are current or former UNLV music students, but don't let that throw you; the band's sound sensibility stays as street as it wants to be, despite the academia underneath.

"The formal training helps us convey the message," says drummer Renaldo Elliott, aka Tadow. "We can play what people without years of study might not be able to do. We can take a progression and think, 'How can we make this more contemporary?' It's about having the knowledge to play what we want."

"I'm a student of hip-hop just like I'm a student of jazz, R&B, funk, reggae, classical, Latin, et cetera," adds keyboardist Zach Porter, aka K-Nyce. "If anything, my musical training strengthens my creativity and expands my musical capabilities ... which helps lead to our specific brand and sound of hip-hop ... "

RNR really does sound like the product of disparate influences at this moment. During a break in the rapped lyrics traded off among four distinctly styled MCs -- Dominick Jackson (aka Bob Cane), Freddy Tiff, Jerry Wayne and Allan Turner (aka A-1ne) -- the vibe changes for an instant, courtesy of a K-Nyce major-minor-7th organ chord (happy and sad at the same time) coupled with a note that bassist Courtney Thomas, aka Coco Jenkins, knows full-well doesn't quite fit the key signature. Like a reset switch that freshens without killing the groove, it works. How many instrument-less local hip-hop DJs even think to pull that off, and with such subtlety?

Good Vegas hip-hop is truly collaborative.

If you've ever cringed at a local stage full of MCs chomping at the bit for their respective turns without really acknowledging the one who's up, know that RNR won't do that to you. Four guys with mics is an ego-fueled train wreck waiting to happen, and yet they don't let it. While Jackson flows with a kind of barked, hard-enunciated KRS-One style -- quick, then almost stuttered, then quick again -- the other three watch, featuring him with their own bouncy body language rather than pulling attention toward themselves. The same thing happens when higher-registered Turner does his more languid thing, then twice more when Tiff and Wayne are up. At times, all four MCs sync up their waving arms during blow-ups and even in this featureless practice room, the intended hypno-effect is there.

"They're getting some help from a choreographer friend with some of that," says RNR manager Shawn Denard.

Musically, the same collective mind is on display, each player (including trombonist Mike Evans, who's just joined in with a long, swelling "I'm here" note) watching the others patiently, looking to offer complementary juice to the jam rather than steal someone else's. If you listen closely you can hear a bit of Elliott's reggae leanings mesh together with a bit of straight psychedelia from Porter, a "big Mars Volta fan."

"We have diverse tastes," grins Thomas.

"Verrry diverse," adds Porter, and both chuckle at the simple truth of it.

Good Vegas hip-hop is energizing, not enervating.

Watching this group rehearse tonight is entertainment in its own right, but also comes with a sense of big, happy potential. You get the feeling that the increased floor space, better lighting, higher wattage and far larger crowd they'll find Sunday at Wasted Space (RNR is opening for Street Sweeper, featuring Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine) will fit this sprawling band perfectly -- maybe even better than a nearby and somewhat cramped Body English environment fit The Roots during their secret show there in 2007.

All this gesturing, twisting and weaving around each other while rapping and playing needs a proper space if its going to properly infect an audience. And it's not just the ease of physical m - Las Vegas City Life

March 19th 2009 - Las Vegas City Life