There's a lot of exciting traditional hip-hop going on in KC. And then there's
Bacon Shoe. This trio — consisting of an MC (Lethal D) who raps about sex and disease, a hype man ('Toine) who shouts out the number of beers he happens to be holding and calls himself "the cocktopus" (
because I got eight dicks), and a guy in a paramedic suit and mangled dog-head mask (Mr. Ruggles) who cooks bacon on a griddle onstage and distributes it to the crowd — treads the line recklessly between insult and tribute. Beloved by local indie-rock stalwarts — in fact, all three of its performers
are local indie-rock stalwarts — Bacon Shoe presents a major mindfuck for anyone set on comparing the group with notions of serious hip-hop. The band is thoroughly absurd, but is the absurdity ironic or avant-garde? Is there a difference? And what qualifies as "serious hip-hop," anyway? These questions and more (especially a hushed
Is that dude really retarded?) abound at Bacon Shoe concerts, but the bottom line is that these guys are weird, hilarious and always entertaining. Contemplate the paradox of the Shoe's nature or throw your hands in the air between bites of greasy pig flesh at this show, where the Shoe crew will film footage for a promotional DVD.
