Sir Mix-a-Lot takes it indoors in Kalamazoo for an old-school, fan-inspiring rap show

Rain forced Wednesday’s concert at Bell’s Brewery inside, where the Seattle-bred rapper unleashed a storm of classics, from “Baby Got Back” to a rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

 

“I do not come to play for you, I come to play with you,” Sir Mix-a-Lot declared to a fired-up, cell-phone waving capacity crowd in the Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe Back Room Wednesday night.

While the energy was high all night long, many fans were left, literally, out in the rain. To the disappointment of many, the venue made the call earlier in the day to move the show from the Beer Garden inside due to the forthcoming thunderstorms, resulting in 480 purchasers of non-weather-protected tickets being left home as only 420 weather-protected tickets were honored.

For the lucky ones inside, the 54-year-old rapper pulled out old-school hit after old-school hit from the set-opening “Buckin’ My Horse,” to “My Hooptie,” “Testarossa,” “Beepers,” “Jump on it,” “Posse’s on Broadway,” and of course, his chart-topping Grammy-winning, “Baby Got Back.”

It’s not hard to keep it old school when five of your six studio albums were recorded between 1988 and 1996, but after the Seattle rapper payed homage to his hometown brethren Nirvana with a rousing thrash rap rock version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” he reminded those in attendance that while Kurt — and Jimi too — had died at 27, he himself had turned 27 twice.

Mix played with the crowd throughout the night, giving those up front with their phones out close-up cameos, jumping into the audience and sharing the mic with fans at one point, and inviting a dozen or so ladies on stage during “Baby Got Back” to shake their things.

He did have one semi-gaffe on the night after he appeared to ask a fan what her area code was and she may have taken it too personally, telling him Lansing’s “517” instead of Kalamazoo’s “269.” The result was Mix firing up the crowd during “Jump on it” with a repetitive refrain of “What’s up Kzoo, what’s up? … What’s up 517, what’s up?!” Fans seemed unfazed though, continuing to wave their arms in the air, letting him know they truly didn’t care.

Mix wasn’t the only rapper dropping rhymes on the night. Those who arrived early were treated to an inspiring opening set from Kalamazoo’s own hip hop artist DC, who threw down to the beats of DJ Disobedience for what was truly a “family affair” as she invited her older brother Kevin Lavender Jr. of Truth Tone Records and cousin Yolonda Lavender up to share the stage with her.

PHOTO GALLERY: Sir Mix-a-Lot, DC at Bells Brewery
Photos by Derek Ketchum

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