Two peculiar things happened before Th' Corn Gangg entered the stage. First, the friends I went to the show with narrowly escaped a carjacking, thwarting the would-be assailant with a barrage of high-pitched squeals and ferocious hand-slapping. Second, a girl in her early-twenties, smoking Capris, called me "sir". I'm entitled to a little respect, but beating back a street tough by treating him like an unruly older sibling? I mean, I'm glad they're OK and everything, but this is Los Angeles. Ninas, straight trippin' and whatnot? Point being, nothing quite prepares you for a Unicorns rap cavalcade like sensitive thugs and courteous debutantes.

Luckily for the 'Corns, Ratatat's remix album from last year set a precedent for two skinny white dudes rocking over legitimate emcees. Otherwise, I would've expected two skinny white dudes flowing like the progeny of Debbie Harry and Paul Barman. Not good.

I'm not sure what the crowd was expecting-- maybe an impromptu Unicorns reunion-- but it definitely wasn't three black men standing at the front of the stage. The look on the girls' faces in the front row when Busdriver, Subtitle, and Vick Booz stepped onstage was one of the funnier things I've seen in awhile. Not knowing that these three were among the most formidable emcees of the L.A. underground, the crowd looked like they thought Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur were going to get beat up. A few left instantly, but those who stayed saw three breathless wordsmiths make the Unicorns sans the Unspeakable Third Member sound like the Bomb Squad (not really).

The concept of Th' Corn Gangg seems to be intelligent dudes rhyming insanely fast over instrumentals from some of the Unicorns best songs. They played songs like "Tuff Ghost" and "Ready to Die", but the rhyme caliber was seriously jawdropping. When Subtitle convinced the crowd to chant "Gangbangin' is Back!", I wanted to quit my job and make Th' Corn Gangg t-shirts.

To give the fellas a rest, Mr. Diamonds brought on Steve MacDonald of Redd Kross and Bicycle Thief's Josh Klinghoffer to play a couple covers. But I was in full Corn Gangg mode at this point, so I have no idea what that sounded like.

Word on the street is that a legitimate Corn Gangg album is in the works, and if that means more ridiculous shit like this, then me like. As long as every show ends with a confused roomful of young'uns, I'm thrilled.