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Rap masters jam, thrill Detroit fans

Some one thousand hip-hop revelers packed St. Andrew's Hall Thursday night to partake in a feast for rap music kings. The very thought of seeing the Fugees, Goodie Mob and Roots share the stage and rock the mic one after another was a sellout guarantee. Everybody expected one helluva show, especially since it started over a half-hour late. The show was -- with a couple of glaring exceptions -- live.

The Goodie Mob opened things up. Now, of course nobody could wait to hear Lauryn of the Fugees sing, but people quickly learned not to discount the Goodie Mob's ability to sing and rap with equal lyrical dexterity. Performing the title track of its debut album, "Soul Food" (LaFace), Goodie Mob hyped the crowd with this song's old-school feel. After listening to a nice little jazz-funk musical interlude, the standing room-only audience heard the Goodie Mob question of the decade: "Who's that peeking in my window? / Pow / Nobody now." You know the crowd had to erupt when this, Goodie Mob's final song, was performed.

After a rousing Black Power speech made by Goodie Mob's sole bald member, the Roots took stage. Well, actually one-half of the Roots duo showed up. Guess the other one has some sort of fear of packed audiences. Nevertheless this lone star rocked the house with the widely heard "I Shall Proceed." He also performed a very upbeat "Throughout Your Section," which will be the first single off the duo's next album.

Taking the absent Malik's place was the new female rap sensation Bahamedia. While her on-stage style was nothing to gloat about, Bahamedia could sport some powerful rhyming geniusness, which she displayed while autographing pictures on the side.

Eventually, my man returned and asked the question everyone who has seen Roots perform live has heard before: "How many of y'all wanna hear some classic hip-hop shit?" Wearing a brown "Made in Detroit" T-shirt, this non-Detroit native began his oft-done "Old School 101" lecture. He then went into a series of old-school remakes. He sampled everyone from Doug E. Fresh to L.L. Cool J and rapped everything from "My Adidas" to "Ain't No Half Steppin'."

Granted, this homeboy brought back a load of stuff from back in the day like an Amtrak train; he was on stage performing this stuff for nearly an hour. After a while the stuff just got tired, but he wouldn't get off the stage. He does this same segment at every concert, and you'd think he'd realize by now that you can only go so far rapping other people's music. Some people never learn.

Finally, out came the group everybody was waiting for: The Fugees. They are riding the fame that has smothered them ever since their sophomore LP, "The Score," was released earlier this year. First came Wyclef, a.k.a. the Preacher's Son. After praising the rap star Slick Rick's release from prison earlier that day while "Bedtime Story" played in the background, Wyclef demonstrated his skill at playing the electric guitar with his teeth by performing a chorus from "America the Beautiful."

Eventually out came Lauryn who looked good as hell despite the weaved-in "doo-doo" braids I'd hoped she'd cut by now. Member No. 3, the emaciated-looking, circular braids-wearing Prakazrel (Pras), waltzed out looking ... well, not since my last Cypress Hill concert have I ever seen a person walk out on stage so obviously blunted.

Never mind that the Roots took up more time than was allotted so the Fugees had to cut their show short. Never mind that Lauryn actually made more than one noticeable error when singing "Killing Me Softly." Never mind that Pras' freestyle attempts and idiotic booty-shake dances best exemplified his condition. The Fugees were still the bomb.

All because of Wyclef.

Everybody talks about how Lauryn is the best rapper of the three and how she should just dump her Haitian companions and tour alone. If you were at St. Andrew's Thursday night you might have changed your mind. If anyone had the right to do some dumping, it was Wyclef. His display of music-performing diversity (he can play the keyboard as well as the guitar) and rapping superiority made this concert all that it was. All praise goes to him, making up for his fellow group members' weaker performances.

Wyclef was the Fugees. You could see it when the group performed "Vocab" and the title track from the debut '94 album, "Blunted on Reality." And you could see it when the group rapped "How Many Mics," the eerily-relaxed-on-a-heavy-dub-sack-tip cut from "The Score."

The inclusion of a no-name twerp who kicked some reggae funk like I'd never heard earned the Fugees big props, too.