Breakout Tour

Eminem is currently the biggest thing in rap, selling millions of his albums and drawing many of the fans who bought tickets for the Dr. Dre-headed Up in Smoke summer tour.

But Eminem’s formal introduction to U.S. audiences was less splashy. It came when he was part of the bill on the Lyricist Lounge tour in 1998.

It’s that kind of booking that has given the annual tour--and the Lyricist Lounge name--a reputation as the premier showcase for rap acts on the brink of a breakthrough. While Up in Smoke and 1999’s Hard Knock Life tour brought some of rap’s most commercially successful artists to arenas across the country, the Lyricist Lounge tour brings a number of the music’s most talented acts to more intimate club settings.

On that 1998 swing, Eminem shared the bill with fellow up-and-comers Infamous Syndicate and Defari, as well as host De La Soul and guest headliner Slick Rick. This year, the 18-city tour--which stops at the House of Blues on Sunday--features another batch of promising underground talent, including Bahamadia, Slum Village, Major Figgas, Ali Vegas and headliner Mos Def.

“It concentrates on the talent and leaves aside the politics and everything that comes along with dealing with corporate structures,” says Bahamadia, a respected Philadelphia rapper whose second album came out recently. “It’s getting us in some reputable venues and having us at events that have been promoted properly. You get a chance to see more of a variety of acts.”

The Lyricist Lounge began in 1991, the brainchild of amateur rap fans Danny Castro and Anthony Marshall. It was initially held in a Manhattan studio apartment, where about 25 would crowd in to hear unsigned artists do battle in rapping contests.

“In the beginning, our goal was to put together good open-mic events and create showcases for up-and-coming talent,” says Castro, 26. “We wanted to invite [record label scouts] to come check them out and they could possibly give them a record deal.”

The plan worked. In 1992, Castro and Marshall relocated to a 200-capacity hall called the Muse, where they started doing more formal sessions and requiring artists to submit demo-like tapes. After the chosen acts performed, the mic would stay open for anyone who wanted to stick around at the end of the evening.

The Lyricist Lounge scored a major coup when legendary rapper Doug E. Fresh agreed to host its first showcase in 1993 at the Village Gate club. That event helped transform the Lyricist Lounge from an underground phenomenon into a hip-hop sensation.

Soon such rappers as Foxy Brown, the Notorious B.I.G. and Mobb Deep were appearing at the Lounge. Rah Digga also competed there, while she was pregnant, no less. Realizing they were entering an untapped market, Castro and Marshall launched a national tour in 1998 and released a compilation album of the acts who appeared at the Lounge.

“We thought that we were filling a void,” Castro says. “We felt that there were hip-hop heads nationwide that want to see new acts. People want see new artists perform, and we thought that it was very much needed.”

The artists agree. “It was a helpful vehicle in terms of me getting exposure in New York, getting my name out there in a market outside of Philly,” says Bahamadia, who appeared at the Lyricist Lounge in 1994, two years before the release of her debut album, “Kollage.”

The Lyricist Lounge’s first compilation, “Lyricist Lounge Volume One” was released in 1998 and featured Kool Keith, KRS-One and Bahamadia, as well as aspiring rappers. It became one of the bargaining chips that led to a weekly Lyricist Lounge show on MTV--a sketch comedy program rather than a rap showcase.

The second album is scheduled to be released in November, with an impressive roster of stars including Redman, RZA, Dead Prez and Mos Def. Although the Lounge is on hiatus from its its New York base (where the free-floating club rotates from venue to venue) while the tour is on, Castro and Marshall plan on doing more shows there next year.

And Castro hopes to move the tour into bigger venues next year, a move he believes will help not only the Lounge, but underground hip-hop.

“We wanted to make this as big as we possibly could,” Castro says. “We’d seen the potential and how powerful it was, so we just wanted to monopolize it.”

BE THERE

Lyricist Lounge, Sunday at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 7:30 p.m. $25. (323) 848-5100.