It’s All Good, but Live, East Coast Style Is Better

Thursday night’s hip-hop lineup at the House of Blues, headlined by Long Beach native Warren G, proved almost too attractive for its own good.

A chaotic atmosphere surrounded the show as dozens of fans without tickets tried to burst through the doors, and those inside jockeyed for space in the overcrowded club, creating tension and a few minor physical skirmishes.

But despite all the drama, cooler heads prevailed and the music won the night, with Warren G and his East Coast counterparts, Foxy Brown and Redman, establishing these truths: The harder-edged East Coast rap style shines onstage, while the bass-booming West Coast sound is oft-times better served by the car stereo system bumping down the boulevard.

By rights, the night should have belonged to the lanky headliner. Warren G had the most impressive DJ, has sold the most records and counts Snoop Doggy Dogg and Nate Dogg among his posse. As a performer, however, he lacks fire. It’s not his funky songs that lack punch, because his remake of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” and the new Nate Dogg collaboration, “Annie Mae,” almost guarantee platinum status for his “Take a Look Over Your Shoulder” album, which is due March 25. But his music was too laid back for a crowd that had been worked to a frenzy by the sultry Brown and the rambunctious Redman.

Sexual innuendo, of course, always gets a rise out of a crowd, and when it’s delivered with skillful sass by a seductress such as the 18-year-old Brown, it can’t miss.

Dressed in a short, black mink coat and tight, leather hot pants, the diminutive rapper sent testosterone levels through the roof as she strutted her stuff. She also showed off an ability to command a microphone with impressive authority. Busting a written freestyle and hot renditions of her songs “I’ll Be” and “Foxy’s Bells,” she showed why her “Ill Na-na” album is so hot.

Following Foxy, Redman bounded out on stage and ripped the place up. Keith Murray and Erick Sermon joined him to form an Eastside Connection, rolling through the many songs they’ve written and performed on each other’s albums with energetic ease.

But the night’s most electrifying moment came when the Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man stepped from the wings and joined Redman on a duet of their 1995 hit, “How High.” The two funk brothers traded verses and bounded around each other, filling the crowd with manic energy as patrons danced on tables, caught up in the rapture.

* Warren G, Foxy Brown, Redman and Richie Rich play tonight at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 9 p.m. $22.50. (213) 650-0476.