The Holla feat. Spoken Nerd, Swordplay & W.T. the Musical Mastermind

Our main man from Murfreesboro, MC 24/7 has taken over the talent booking at Café Coco and his tenure looks to be an exciting one, bringing a little bit more art to the local hip hop scene—and by "art" we mean an unfettered flouting of rap conventions and championing of the outer fringes of the form. The Holla is the first event on the docket and features a variety of acts that have us digging deep in our bag of critic-speak searching for an appropriate descriptor for the mélange of influences that runs through this gang. Spoken Nerd, Swordplay, Me A.K.A. I, W-T and the rest of the crew diverge in so many interesting directions—acoustic rap, sci-fi jazz, broken beats—that maybe we shouldn't even bother to tag this show as anything other than dope.
Fri., Aug. 8, 8 p.m., 2008