Last Night: Lil Keke & Friends All-Star Birthday Bash At House Of Blues

By Nathan Smith Thu., Mar. 29 2012 at 9:10 AM

Categories: Aftermath, Last Night, Only In Houston

Photos by Marco Torres

Lil Keke

Lil Keke & Friends All-Star Birthday Bash
House of Blues
March 28, 2012

Screwed Up Click veteran Lil Keke has been helping shape the sound and style of Houston rap for better than 15 years. That's long enough to make a lot of friends in the game, and a whole bunch of them showed up onstage at House of Blues last night for Lil Keke's Birthday Bash.

Don Ke is either a truly terrific guy or the kind of man owed a lot by a lot of people. Maybe both. The show featured a who's-who of local rap luminaries, easily packing out the venue on a Wednesday night.

After well-received sets from openers Propain and Marcus Manchild, among others, DJ Michael "5,000" Watts took over the decks and the H-town superstars began hitting the stage one by one.

First up was Keke's S.U.C. compatriot Lil' O. Street bangers like "Back Back" and "I Can't Leave Drank Alone" served to seriously whet the crowd's appetite for a night chock full of familiar Houston hits, one that the astonishing number of artists on the bill came fully prepared to deliver.

Paul Wall hit the stage next, riling the crowd up with his 2007 collaboration with Lil Keke, "Break 'Em Off."

Paul Wall and Slim Thug

The crowd really went nuts, though, when North side boss Slim Thug was brought out on stage next in a wheelchair, fresh out of surgery and wearing protective boots on both feet. If your partners show up to your birthday party even though they can't walk, you can probably feel pretty good about yourself, Keke.

Thugga's flow needed no medical attention as he promptly stepped on his classic verse from "Still Tippin,'" the track that put Houston back on the national hip-hop map for good back in '04.

The birthday boy himself arrived next, showing off the flow that he perfected working alongside the legendary DJ Screw. The audience nearly crapped its collective pants, however, when he was followed on to the stage by none other than Z-Ro the Crooked, who eschewed the night's informal dress code of T-shirts and caps for a stylish black silk suit.

It might've been a birthday bash, but the intimidating Rother showed up dressed for a mob funeral, instead.