In case you’ve been snoozing, Ann Arbor emcee Vital, along with his Athletic Mic League rap crew, has been, over the past couple of years, igniting veritable bonfires in hip-hop scenes around the country. After inking with Barak Records and releasing the group’s third album, Jungle Gym Jungle, last summer, AML’s nationwide popularity isn’t just limited to fan letters from whale-tailed girls and sweaty, status-addicted boys. It’s true. Dig this: PBS reached out to the League to lend their hip-hop vocab to a PBS special on linguistics called “Do You Speak American?” In it, Vital is seen attempting to explain to a woefully out-of-touch show host the merits of being sick, ill, nasty and raw. But enough about flu season; here are Vital’s 5 monomanias of the week, all relating to the city of trees.
5. Crip walking frat boys — only in Ann Arbor.
4. I’d rather eat raw pork chops smothered in chitlin’ gravy than go to the Blind Pig.
3. We’re just trying to get in on that new craze ... what’s that called again? Oh, yeah, techno.
2. “Dude ... you’re part of that one group right? The Mic League, you guys fuckin’ ROCK!”
1. Nervous club owners scared to attract the “Ypsi crowd.”
Performs with DJ Graffiti on Friday, Feb. 4, at the Majestic Theater (4140 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-9700).
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