We know you’re still doing the happy dance over Obeezy’s big coming out, but it’s time to ficus on important stuff, like chocolate and drinking outside. Herewith, our critics’ best bets for the following 72 hours:
Skins & Needles
The title of this event is a wincing lesson in bad marketing, but the musicians behind it are no joke. DJ Zeph has been a fixture in the local hip-hop scene for more than a decade, best known for his collaborations with the vastly unheralded emcee Azeem. (Their 2007 Om Records collaboration, Rise Up, is still a knock, five years later.) Drummer Max MacVeety is equally respected, both for his Berklee College of Music credentials and for his work with the hip-hop band Crown City Rockers. In fact, both of these artists have an enviable talent for flitting between the jazz, soul, and hip-hop worlds. In Zeph’s case, that amounts to having ample knowledge of several different genres, and a penchant for blending them — he does that with alacrity in “Floorwax,” a disco track sutured to a looped backbeat. (It’s enhanced by verses from Crown City rapper Raashan Ahmad.) Similarly, MacVeety improvises with free-jazz saxophonist David Boyce just as easily as he pumps the snare and high-hat for underground rappers. Together, these two percussionists make a formidable, if unorthodox, combination. They’ll play with the Afrofunk Experience at Vitus (201 Broadway, Oakland) on Saturday, May 12. 10 p.m., $5. VitusOakland.com — Rachel Swan
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