Master P w/Silkk tha Shocker, Mia X & Scarface

For a certain generation of Southern hip-hop fans, No Limit Records was everything. While the coasts dealt with the fallout of losing both Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur in quick succession to the gangsta rap arms race, the South prepared its insurgent claim for the hip-hop crown — led in part by Master P and his No Limit Soldiers. Master P raps like a sputtering chainsaw, raw and jagged with all the finesse of a punch to the throat, but his talent was never in rap — it was in treating rap like a business. His best records were gang cuts, teamed up with a posse of New Orleans’ finest to deliver refrains like “Make ’Em Say Ugh” like a jackhammer straight to the dome. That’s what makes Master P’s gig at the fairgrounds worth your time: He’s not coming alone. OG No Limit artists Silkk the Shocker and Mia X join up with Geto Boys pioneer Scarface for a Southern rap show that will almost certainly be ’bout it, ’bout it. LANCE CONZETT