POP MUSIC REVIEW : Western Rappers Close Gap With Trend-Setter Act

Because rap music was born on the broken sidewalks of New York, West Coast hip-hop acts seldom get the respect that their Eastern brethren claim as a birthright.

“Try harder” seemed to be the watchword for two California rap groups that held their own with Bronx-based Boogie Down Productions in an East-meets-West bill Saturday at the Celebrity Theatre in Anaheim.

MC Hammer, hailing from Oakland, and the Los Angeles duo of Rodney-O and Joe Cooley both put a good deal of flash and sweat into their sets. They managed to motivate the near-capacity house as effectively as Boogie Down Productions, a crowd favorite that has also won critical applause for its socially conscious album, “By All Means Necessary.”

BDP, led by Kris Parker (KRS-One is his rap-world handle), went on second in a four-band bill and set a solid standard for the Californians who followed. (The opening L.A.-based group, the 7A3, had put on a tepid and puerile display redeemed partly by a finale that spoke out forcefully against gang violence.)

Like all rappers, Parker faced the problem posed by rap’s dual nature: Good rap records are technological fun houses in which studio gadgets and gimmicks keep the sonics varied and innovative. But rap groups can’t bring the studio with them on stage; in live shows they have to make do with bare-bones beats and force of personality.

BDP’s live beats and sonics were not ambitious, but Parker was an effective personality. He set aside any overtly charismatic trappings and adopted an attitude that was unassuming but energetic. Instead of trying to sound messianic or militant, he delivered his message raps in an emphatic but good-natured tone and concentrated throughout on involving the willing crowd in call-and-response chants.

The 23-minute set maintained high energy, but it lacked direction until Parker hit a sustained groove at the end with an extended version of “Stop the Violence.”

Similar difficulty in shaping a coherent set beset MC Hammer. The white-clad rapper was a bundle of swirling, nonstop dance moves who bounded on stage at the start looking like a minister of hip-hop ready to work his congregation into a frenzy.

But despite the support of an eight-member crew that included five dancers and two disc jockeys, Hammer didn’t deliver on that initial promise until the end, as his show proceeded in fits and starts--bursts of energy followed by lulls.

But the finale, “Let’s Get It Started,” was worth the wait, its complex, Latin-tinged rhythms packing the stage with dancers in a nice communal funk workout to end the evening.

Rapper Rodney-O and disc jockey Joe Cooley were a hard-working duo that capped a party-oriented set with Cooley’s flashy solo display of record scratching.