Nearly four decades after his come-up as a member of the Ultramagnetic MCs, veteran rapper Kool Keith remains one of the most enigmatic and singular personalities in all of hip hop. The shape-shifting wordsmith has continually reinvented himself over the years, cultivating alter egos like Dr. Octagon and Black Elvis while displaying a creative restlessness that has constantly kept fans and critics on their toes. In concert he cranks up the weirdness to the max, shrouding himself in a sequined hood and spitting his mind-melting rhymes with razor-sharp precision while the crowd bounces to the bass-heavy beats. His verses feature a mix of incisive puns, bizarre imagery, and off-the-wall non sequiturs, but despite the lyrical inscrutability fans still know every word to tongue-twisting favorites like "Sex Style" and "Blue Flowers." With a hype man riling up the crowd and a DJ on the turntables chopping and screwing his beats, Kool Keith always brings an epic and totally surreal party to the stage.

BACKGROUND SNAPSHOT:

Bronx-born Kool Keith, aka Keith Thornton, rose to prominence in the late '80s as a member of pioneering NYC hip hop outfit Ultramagnetic MCs. After releasing a trio of now-classic albums with the group, he kicked off his solo career under the name Dr. Octagon with 1996's Dr. Octagonecologyst. The album found a cult following thanks to the underground hit "Earth People," and Keith continued to make waves in 1997 with his sophomore album Sex Style, a controversial collection of racy tracks he described as "pornocore." Chart success followed in 1999 with Black Elvis/Lost in Space, a critically acclaimed concept album that featured his signature use of creative samples and peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Since then Keith has maintained a prolific recording and performance schedule, releasing more than a dozen albums and bringing his weird and wonderful sounds to fans on tour.