POP MUSIC REVIEW : Surprise Run-DMC Set Upstages Brand Nubian

Rap fans who came out to see Brand Nubian on Wednesday at (Jewel’s) Catch One club left with a slice of hip-hop history.

But it had little to do with the New York trio’s brief performance. Run-DMC was in the house, and the elder statesmen of rap blew the roof off the packed club with a surprise appearance highlighted by a greatest-hits medley and a reworking of “Beats to the Rhyme.”

Performing for the first time on the West Coast without former frontman Grand Puba, Brand Nubian--headlining a benefit for Rue’s House, a Hollywood shelter for women and children with AIDS--had the dubious distinction of following Run-DMC’s high-energy act.

Although Nubian’s powerfully unsettling “Allah U Akbar” and “Punks Jump Up to Get Beat Down” were embraced by the audience, the evening’s climax had clearly come earlier with Run-DMC’s set.

Nubian, however, held their own against Los Angeles rappers Freestyle Fellowship and New York-based Onyx, who were so aggressive they toppled their deejay’s equipment.

Each of the four performances was intensely raw, a quality enhanced by tinny microphones and broken speakers. The battered equipment caused the groups to simply rap louder and improvise the feedback into their sets.