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For the shoppers among us, Black Friday is the annual opportunity to wrestle fellow bloodthirsty consumers to the department-store floor in return for a bounty of discounted holiday swag. Some local musicians, however, hope to make this year's Black Friday a different type of celebration. A cadre of inspired players join mics, horns and genres to honor hip-hop and jazz (two of America's finest homegrown musical forms) and three of rap music's most legendary figures: J. Dilla, Common and Biggie. Local hip-hoppers Reach, Les Izmore and Ataxic are putting on "Black Friday" at Crosstown Station. The 21-and-older event also features jazz duo Diverse and jazz artist Mark Lowrey alongside artists Logan Richardson, Dominique Sanders, Peter Schlamb and Schelli Tolliver. DJ Ataxic watches over the wheels of steel, and it's a good bet that rhymesayers Izmore and Reach may spit enough verbiage to set Black Friday aflame. Ditch the shopping bags and cut up the credit cards because rap-jazz fusion is the gift that keeps on giving.
