Hip Hop Night Out: Fabolous Chamillionaire and Mya at Mezzanine

It was a wild night at Mezzanine, the premier South of Market San Francisco nightspot when New York city rap star Fabolous, r&b diva extraordinaire Mya and surprise guest Chamillionaire threw down at a rowdy, raucous hip hop party. The club was packed out with hip hop heads, and impresario/radio personality Big Von kept things moving with a couple of DJs playing crowd-pleasing hit after hit. The crowd most definitely came to party and party they did, shouting out the lyrics to the rap and hiphop standards at volumes that rivalled the rafter shaking bass lines. Mya took the stage about 90 minutes after the doors opened, and she is finer than ever, dancing, singing and seducing the crowd with her latest "Lock You Down" and "Ridin'," which whet our appetites for her forthcoming "Liberation" set, and working the crowd with some of her signature tunes like "Case of the Ex," "Fallin'," "If I Was Your Girl" and "It's All About You." The dancers and backup singers did their duty above and beyond the call, and left us begging for more.

Shortly after Mya exited, super surprise guest star, Chamillionaire, bounded onto the good-sized Mezzanine stage, unexpected and unannounced and thrilled the crowd with his hits, "Ridin'" and a preview of his upcoming "Ultimate Victory" CD, which drops September 18. Chamillionaire convinced the amazed audience that he has real star power with his brief and roof raising set.

At 12:10 AM, headliner Fabolous came on and did a blistering 25 minute set of truncated versions of several of his many pop hits, including his interpolation of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party," "This Is My Party" and a number of key cuts from his superb "From Nothin' to Somethin'" certified gold outing. Fabolous is one of the most underrated rap stars. He comes out with hit after hit and still is not typically listed among the rap giants, perhaps because he does so well on radio, or maybe because his flow elevates him past P Diddy, who wishes he could touch Fab's trouser cuffs. The set was brief, but exciting, and the price for a hot night of hiphop in one of San Francisco's best clubs, Mezzanine, was oh so right: $10. Top that!