Pharoahe Monch & The Oddibles ~ Long Beach

Queen's Pharoahe Monch and Surrilla & C-Spills from Gardena's The Oddibles are MCs you want to see to really believe, spitting entire sentences that rhyme in nature-defyingly fast delivieries. Thursday night saw Downtown Long Beach hosting both furious flow-throwers.

The Oddibles killed it again, coming on after 11:30 and delivering a short, sharp, mind-bending set of songs with an aggressive groove that showcased both MCs' dancehall-quick staccato flow and the textural beats of Steady P. I again suggest picking up their CD The Arrival for just $7, if a barrage of verbal darts and great beats is what you seek. This trio is dope and home-grown! I paid a short visit to Surrilla earlier in the day, who was as pumped up to see Pharoahe play as he was to hit the Long Beach stage that night.

Pharoahe Monch is one big, wild-looking dude, stepping on around 12:30 with two back-up singers and a DJ, all hailing from the East Coast. He sure enough delivered his frantic, master's style with polish and a deep well of emotion, switching from deeply pained expressions to a sweet gap-toothed smile, and back again, running through hits like "Oh No," and "Simon Says," songs from his new album Desire, bigging up fallen rappers from both coasts, and even singing in a good voice more than a few times.

As nice as it was to see Pharoe in Long Beach showing love and spitting fire, we expected more than a scant 30-minute set, having waited so late and so pumped-up for this show. My counsel that night, Taco litigator Lane Lopez, was complaining about a recent MF Doom show that saw some masked villain play for just 15 lame minutes. With all due respect, bring your inhaler next time Mr. Monch. With that kind of endurance, no wonder the Oddibles had the hottest following in the room!