Written by Noah Goodbaum | Photography by Philip Litevsky

It was a jammin’ evening at Revival on Monday night. Uncharacteristically for both the night of the week and for this city’s rap crowds, those gathered were brimming with enthusiasm, and the acts onstage deserved the love. This city’s own Notes To Self went in and wrecked shop.

Their content is a little pedestrian, but there’s a reason that the call-and-response chants, the crowd-pleasing fast-rap, and the familial crew vibe have turned into clichés: it’s ’cause they’re seldom not fun to watch unfold on stage.

As lyricists and as mic presences, the Notes fellas are perfectly legit– not always exciting, but better than your average T-Dot cats, and more than good enough to be worth supporting, especially Roshin, whose lightning-fast spitting was what turned the Notes’ appearance on fellow local celeb Abdominal’s recent “T. Ode” cut into pure win. And it was big homie’s birthday, to boot.

As much as there was to like about Notes, and about the awesome scratch set by the estimable (and, as a stage presence, very personable) DJ Babu, the night was stolen outright by a guy I’d barely heard of, a name most of us won’t know, whose song titles I couldn’t even name, but who absolutely ripped shit up.

Brothermack’s name was Rayhaan, and he let fly with a series of dope joints, including some resickulous rhyming over that amazing Shawty Lo “Dey Know!” beat. I’m not sure about what his personality’s like on-record, but his live show was electric, and in a city of likable but humdrum rap cats he’s someone who has the spark to be able to go places. Watch the sound!