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Boo-Yaas Take Gangster Chic to Logical Extreme

By JONATHAN GOLD
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What would happen if you crossed the gangster style of N.W.A with the lightweight novelty hip-hop of the Fat Boys? Something like the over-hyped Samoan brothers from Carson who call themselves the Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. The Boo-Yaa brothers, who headlined the Palace on Friday, are massive guys who dress like executioners and advertise their former gang affiliations: L.A. gangster chic taken to its logical extreme.

While they crooned about M-1s, Uzis and AK-47s, their dancers swayed as if kissed by a tropical breeze; while they rapped about taking people out with sawed-off shotguns, they grinned and pumped their ham-size fists as if firing weapons. The Boo-Yaas aren’t only the size of an offensive line, they utter plenty of them too. While N.W.A and Ice-T go over the same turf, no go-go dancers, costume changes or meandering guitar solos (the Boo-Yaas perform with a live band) trivialize the ominousness of the subject. At a Boo-Yaa concert, gangbangin’ ain’t nothin’ but a party.

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Jonathan Gold

Jonathan Gold was the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2007 and was a finalist again in 2011. A Los Angeles native, he began writing the Counter Intelligence column for the L.A. Weekly in 1986, wrote about death metal and gangsta rap for Rolling Stone and Spin among other places, and was delighted that he managed to forge a career out of the professional eating of tacos. Gold died July 21, 2018.

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