Review: Salt-n-Pepa and the Legends of Hip Hop Tour, The Chaifetz Arena, Saturday, March 12

Todd Owyoung

Salt-n-Pepa

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Salt-N-Papa's groundbreaking debut, Hot, Cool and Vicious - and the ladies seem to be finding their second wind. Building on the success of 2010's Fresh Fest tour, the assiduous femcees headlined another all-star roster featuring several acts from Hip Hop's golden era. For those who attended last year's event, most of the concert hadn't changed a great deal. There were, however, a couple of key lineup changes (namely, the tour added Kool Moe Dee and MC Lyte), so old-school aficionados still had reason to dust off their flyest '80s gear and watch the show.

View a slideshow of photos from Salt-n-Pepa and the Legends of Hip-Hop Tour at the Chaifetz Arena

Kool Moe Dee quickly warmed the crowd up with a lot of classic call-and-respond chants. (The roof is on fire!). He was joined on stage by three dancers, and one of his crewmates from the Treacherous Three. It was refreshing to see them throw in a little choreography during the performance; you don't see that very often in rap. Moe Dee paid his respects to acts such as Afrika Bambaataa and former rival LL Cool J during his short set, which included "Feel the Heartbeat," "How Ya Like Me Now" and "Wild Wild West."

Todd Owyoung

Kurtis Blow

Kurtis Blow took the stage shortly after to perform his biggest records "If I Ruled the World" and "The Breaks." Toward the end of his time, he invited several people up from the crowd for a little breakdancing contest; Kurtis went last, and showed off his skills with a few headstands. The rap icon (now an ordained minister) took time to give glory to God after his set, and played host for the remainder of the show.

Every time I see Biz Markie perform, I can't help but wish he'd sing his cover of "Benny and the Jets, but it hasn't happened yet. The "clown prince of rap" played a set that was practically identical to last year's, save from the fact that he didn't even bother to rap the verses for "Just a Friend" this time around - he just sang the hook a few times with the audience. While that was a little disappointing, it was still fun to hear "Vapors" and "Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz."