POP MUSIC REVIEW : Rap Music Builds Good Rocking, but Delays on Stage Chill Tempo

The dozens of dancers jamming the stage at the end of the rap music show Tuesday at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim served as gyrating evidence that the marathon evening had produced some good rocking.

But while dozens danced, hundreds streamed out the exits--a sign that reflected less on Whodini’s performance as show-closers than on the patience-taxing delays that had gone before.

The four-act program ended nearly four hours after it was scheduled to begin, yet encompassed less than two hours of music--including only 25 minutes by second-billed Kool Moe Dee. Delays averaging about 30 minutes between sets prevented any cumulative momentum from building.

The best rap encodes street realities in a beat. Kool Moe Dee (a.k.a. Mohandas Dewese) reached that level with the evening’s most memorable song, “Wild Wild West.” It is an account--perhaps more wishful than factual--of how Moe Dee and his pals band together to enforce disarmament in a New York City neighborhood plagued with gunslinging gang members.

Far from pacifist, the rap boasts of its heroes’ fighting prowess but draws a firm line against the use of weapons. Moe Dee, clad in black leather from boot to cap, knew his rap had special relevance in Southern California, so he added a commentary after performing the song.

“It’s a way of life, it’s here, it’s real,” he said of gang violence. But by subtracting firearms from the equation, Moe Dee said, “when (the fighting) is all over, you go home. It’s cool.”

The battle that preoccupied Moe Dee during his set had less to do with the street than with tiresome show-biz hype. He couldn’t stop referring to his own self-created dispute with L.L. Cool J over who deserves top ranking among rappers.

There is a place for songs that burst with pride in one’s performing prowess (James Brown, for one, has never been shy on that count), but there ought to be a limit, and Moe Dee far exceeded it.

“How Ya Like Me Now,” a trenchant rap with a crew of four fancily clad dancers joining Moe Dee to key up the energy level, should have sufficed in the braggadocio department.

Whodini’s set began awkwardly, with two backup dancers hoofing for several minutes as their energy and ideas for new moves steadily waned. By the end, they looked like exhausted swimmers reduced to treading water while waiting for somebody to throw out a life line. Things improved after rappers Jalil Hutchins and John (Ecstasy) Fletcher made their belated entry.

Their 40-minute show had a polished cast to it, with quick pacing and melodic refrains that leavened numbers such as “Friends,” “One Love” and “I’m a Ho.” Whodini didn’t match the force of Kool Moe Dee’s peak moments, but they were an earnest, hard-working bunch who stayed in perpetual, well-coordinated motion.

Joining the two top-billed rap acts from New York City were two local groups. J.J. Fad, featuring three young female rappers, offered sharp if lightweight raps accompanied by Motown-style choreography. King Tee and Mixmaster Spade played a set marred by chaotic stage movements and sound distortion.

Whodini and Kool Moe Dee play tonight at 8 at the Hollywood Palladium, along with Zapp featuring Roger.