Twitter-Happy Rapper Flaunts His Verse

By JON CARAMANICA

The greatest disappointment of Fabolous’s show on Wednesday night at B .B. King Blues Club & Grill was the lack of Twitter updates. He is the most engaging rapper on Twitter (twitter.com/myfabolouslife), unafraid of detailing even his most mundane thoughts and activities: griping about someone stealing his Louis Vuitton flip-flops at a pool party, taking a family trip to Medieval Times and likening the jousts to gang wars. Two days before the show he fessed up to a Nickelodeon habit: “Take a Backyardigan melody, Tpain it! Thats a hit!!”

The night before, it was strip clubs in Atlanta and memories of flusher times: “Flooded Onyx, then went 2 Club Miami ... Stayed til 6am. Felt like back in the BMF days, Free Big Meech!!”

But nary a peep after his performance until a blasé post on Thursday morning. The quiet was unlike him. Words mean a lot to Fabolous, the Brooklyn rapper who even after four albums and several hits still thrives at the margins, a cult figure operating in plain view. Fabolous is never better than when dropping a verse on someone else’s song, as if the freedom from ownership is liberating. And while he’s an astonishingly technical rapper, he’s never stiff, as good at chest puffing as at seduction.

Still, for all his skill, Fabolous can also be spotty. How can his remix version of The-Dream’s “Rockin’ That Thing” be so clever while “Throw It in the Bag,” their collaboration from Fabolous’s forthcoming album “Loso’s Way” (Def Jam), be so dim?

Fabolous was playing with a live band as part of a series sponsored by the hip-hop radio station Power 105.1, and it was an asset, particularly on songs like “Make Me Better,” “Breathe” and “Keepin’ It Gangster,” on which the guitar added a texture of rage. Fabolous himself is always calm, but his hypeman Paul Cain huffed and puffed, and a pair of bodyguards coldly stared down the crowd for the duration of his set.

That air of darkness was a rebuke to F.L.Y. (Fast Life Yungstaz) — Mook, Myko McFly and Vee — the wide-eyed Atlanta trio that performed before Fabolous. The latest in a series of Southern M.C.’s as interested in dance steps as raps, maybe more, F.L.Y. was lost on this crowd, which is a shame. The group’s debut album “Jamboree,” (Def Jam) is a compelling blend of contemporary Southern boasting — the song “Mr. Lenox” in particular was received with crickets, maybe because the name refers to a mall in Atlanta — and the musicality of Nappy Roots.

“Swag Surfin’ ” is F.L.Y.’s hit, and when the group performed it, the three did the song’s steps, with Myko McFly bending lower and undulating harder.

Later, when Fabolous performed his remix verse of “Swag Surfin’ ” during his set (“They said he wiped out his old chick and got a badder broad/ Heard that when she riding you would think she had a board”), F.L.Y. did not join him onstage, but Fabolous did bring out a couple of artists he’s lately assisted, or overshadowed, with guest verses. The young R&B singer Jeremih sang a delicate version of “Birthday Sex.” And Red Café emerged to perform a handful of his collaborations with Fabolous. (No “Bling Blaow” though?)

“Hottest in the Hood” is Red Café’s latest single, and with a song so titled, inviting Fabolous to add a verse is foolish. Such is the case here, with Fabolous nibbling at the song until it’s his own:

Hey yo truthfully

How can they mistake you for me?

You’re a joke, a imitation, a spoof of me

Call a referee, I consider it foul

They just follow my swag, Twitter my style.