OG rap freak Kool Keith makes it up to Orlando (Will's Pub)

THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND 
Kool Keith was originally scheduled to take the stage here earlier this month but some flight issues forced an 11th-hour cancellation. We probably shouldn’t have expected anything regarding perhaps the oddest ball from the golden age of hip-hop to go normally anyway. Well, he made it here this time to the make-up show (July 27, Will’s Pub).
Ever oblique and proudly strange, the Bronx MC is an original gangster of the left-field rap that’s practically de rigueur in indie circles. The fact that this out-there, shapeshifting weirdo has operated for decades with no apparent regard for constancy or convention makes him as much of a miracle as it does a hero.
But here’s his deft little trick: Despite his outside ways and sometimes inscrutable thoughts, the man’s flow – crammed with complex meter and watertight execution – is technical enough to pass old-school muster. He even showed off some legit freestyle chops.
A nice local touch was having Orlando’s DJ Cub – one of the city’s most tasteful turntable jocks – run the decks and make the cuts for him in a rapid-fire, quick-shuffle, pulse-keeping set.
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This Little Underground is Orlando Weekly's music column providing perspective, live reviews and news on the city's music scene.

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