Last Friday night’s Black Clover Beer Fest at the Record Bar felt like the beginning of summer should: sexy, sweaty and fit for a party. A refreshingly diverse, sold-out crowd packed the Westport venue (Volker if you’re picky) and had the good fortune to watch performances from Joe Good and Mac Lethal. And as pints of discounted Flying Monkey beer flowed from taps manned to the hilt, the bar still proved to be ill-equipped to handle the demands of such a thirsty crowd with some waiting upwards of twenty minutes for libations.

DJ Sku held down the pre-show crowd with a skilled ear and sticky fingers. As guests entered single-file, Sku was there to greet them with an appropriate mix of whistle-whetting jams and teases, priming the audience for a night of fresh beats and rhymes all the while showcasing his own skills on the wheels. As the time came for the main event, Lawrence microphone magistrate Approach, on assignment to hype the crowd, took up the mic and rapped to many an eager ear. Approach had motivation enough for five shows despite the stifling heat and smoke inside the club. His five-minutes of funk were full of good vibes and a love for the music and scene he’s helped create.

Without letting the vibe die down, out stepped Joe Good and Mac Lethal—together representing Black Clover Records—to take the crowd up, up and away like a b-boy superhero team. The two MCs swaggered around the stage, trying to gauge whether the night was yet truly theirs. As Joe Good launched into his anthem for a united KC hip-hop community, "In Ya Mouf", and the entire floor chanted along with him, there was no question that this was exactly the audience Black Clover had hoped for. Song after song, line after line, rhyme after rhyme, almost everyone in the crowd rapped right along with Mac and Joe. It was the sort of response that every local musician hopes for but rarely gets to watch play out before them. Doubly impressive was that not only did the vast majority of the crowd know the songs enough to sing along, but they danced and moved and wholly gave themselves over to the artists on stage. Even the aloof facade of nonplussed hipsters sprinkled here and there throughout the crowd couldn’t withstand the heated energy infusing the Record Bar’s smoke-soaked air. Mac’s forceful, funny and sometimes far-out delivery blended perfectly with Joe’s potent and inspiring vocal style as the rappers traded the spotlight and the mic without seeming to care whether they were rapping a Joe Good or a Mac Lethal song.

Such energy (and such cheap drink specials), however, often prove to be too much for a select few numbskulls and Friday night was no different. A fight broke out down in front, interrupting the concert and getting some kid ejected from the club. The show carried on and the energy level shot right back up as Joe Good and Mac Lethal finished their show with a closing number that included several other area MCs. At the end of it all, Joe and Mac breathed heavily and smiled a sweat-drenched satisfaction, pleased to have kicked off the summer of 2006 for Kansas City hip-hop as well as offer this town a bangin’ benchmark rap show.

—Jason Preu (email)

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