The 57-city BudFest tour that hits the Rosemont Horizon Sunday has an overabundance of good sounds and fresh grooves for fans of R&B and hip-hop. Among the acts is Chicago homeboy R. Kelly, whose “12 Play” album has already sold three million copies due to such lascivious-minded singles as “Your Body’s Callin.’ ” Also on the bill is the young hip-hop group Coolio, whose “Fantastic Voyage” single just cracked the pop Top 10, and veteran rappers Heavy D & the Boyz, who recently hit with “Nuttin’ But Love.”
Said to be causing the biggest stir on the tour, though, is 23-year-old Warren G, whose first album, “Regulate . . . The G-Funk Era,” debuted at the No. 2 spot on the pop chart. The first single, “Regulate,” reached the No. 1 spot, while its followup, “This DJ,” is currently ensconced in the Top 10. One can safely say that the rapper from Long Beach, Calif.’s meaner streets is a hot item.
“A lot of my friends look at me like I’m some big star now, but I keep telling them, `Ain’t nothing changed. I’m still the same old Warren Geezie-Weezie,’ ” said the man whose full name is Warren Griffin. “It’s just that I can do what I want to do now. If I want to buy a car, I can go buy a car. If I want to take my mama out to dinner, I can do that. That’s basically it.”
Griffin appeared headed for a life of gang-banging until he discovered he had a talent for rapping and putting together hip-hop grooves similar to that of his best friend, the currently beleaguered Snoop Doggy Dogg. He closely watched the ascension of half-brother Dr. Dre of N.W.A. fame and was part of a rap duo with Dogg called 213. An introduction through Dre to director John Singleton resulted in Griffin’s producing the song “Indo Smoke” by Mista Grimm for the “Poetic Justice” soundtrack. Griffin’s appearance in a video for “Indo Smoke” led to his signing with Def Jam Records.
Despite the Dre and Dogg associations, Warren G’s “G-Funk” is very much his own. Both “Regulate” and “This DJ” are miles away from the Compton/Long Beach “gangsta” rap sound as practiced by N.W.A. and Dogg. Instead, Griffin’s music has a lighter touch, paying a strong debt the R&B and funk of the ’70s he heard growing up, especially in the elastic bass lines.
“My sound is straight G-Funk with an R&B touch,” said Griffin. “It’s hip-hop, but it has an R&B sound to it rather than being straight hip-hop.”
Griffin’s lyrics and themes, though, are a bit grittier, dealing with the realities of day to day life as he’s lived it in the inner city. But regardless of how you try to define his sound, what really matters is that boom boxes and car radios across the U.S. have been blasting that “G-Funk” sound all summer long. Soon to be released is the album’s third single, “Do You See.”
For now, Warren G is enjoying life on the road, going to places he says he never thought he’d see. Still, he says he’d rather be back home working in the studio than performing for the masses.
“I like working in the studio better because it’s more creative,” he said. “I can create onstage, but I can really create in the studio. It’s just me and my drum machine, my keyboards and my engineer. That’s all I need. I just get busy.”
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Other concerts of note
Boingo, Friday at Metro: Boingo (formerly Oingo Boingo) vocalist/songwriter Danny Elfman has spent most of his time writing scores for such films as “Batman,” “Edward Scissorhands” and “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.” Expect plenty of material from Boingo’s tepid, self-titled current album and exuberant, danceable past favorites like “Dead Man’s Party” and “Not My Slave.” Opening is Fretblanket, who ought to appeal to fans of the Replacements.
Public Enemy, Saturday at the Riviera Theatre: Is Public Enemy leader Chuck D. mellowing with age? A quick listen to the group’s new “Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age” album shows that one of rap’s premier voices is still as angry as ever. He rails against the “racist” government, incorrect history books, the white-controlled media, supposed organized international conspiracies against people of color, and what he sees as the white-controlled drug trade, rapping over the group’s trademark hard-rocking beats. Luckily, second banana Flavor Flav is along to add a bit of comic relief to the polemics.
Barenaked Ladies, Saturday at Metro: Major stars in their native Canada, where their last album topped the charts, modern rockers Barenaked Ladies are hoping to duplicate their success here with their new album, “Maybe You Should Drive.” Their witty, ironic style and radio-friendly sound place them somewhere between Crash Test Dummies and Toad the Wet Sprocket. Our current favorite from the album is “Alternative Girlfriend,” with the inspired opening, “You’re in an all-girl band/Your futon’s second hand.”
Sebadoh, Saturday and Sunday at Lounge Ax: Despite a history of constantly changing lineups (drummer Bob Fay is in his third go-round with the band), New England’s Sebadoh are one of the rising stars of the alternative scene. They have that rough-around-the-edges, “indie rock” sound, albeit with some excellent material from vocalist/writers Lou Barlow and Jason Loewenstein. The lyrics are a bit on the mope-rock side, but that’s par for the course.
The Band and James McMurtry, Thursday at Park West: With a couple of new biographies out as well as their recent album “Jericho,” the Band is undergoing something of a career revival. Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson still have that timeless sound together, but the continuing absence of Robbie Robertson still makes this more like “The Band-Lite.” They’ll be joined at this benefit for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless by droll singer-songwriter McMurtry.
Indigo Girls, Thursday and next Friday at the Arie Crown Theatre: Indigo Girls’ current “Swamp Ophelia” album has received mixed reviews, in part for its denser and more highly produced sound than past efforts. At these two acoustic shows Amy Ray and Emily Saliers will strip the new songs back down to their essence, as these two leading lights of the “new acoustic” movement return to one of their more partisan markets.