Masters of Ceremony Hip Hop Reunion comes to Foxwoods

November 26, 2014 11:00 pm • Last Updated: November 26, 2014 1:23 pm

Big Daddy Kane performs in August at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia.

It's a bit melancholy to imagine the original gods of hip hop reduced to package tours that we associate with "oldies acts" - but here we are.

Somewhere out there, I suspect, there are platinum-status young artists at the top of the Billboard rap charts who've never heard of Chuck D or Rakim - much as many of today's young Major Leaguers wouldn't know Ted Williams if his cryogenically-preserved and severed head rolled down the tobacco-juicey Fenway Park dugout like a grisly bowling ball.

Yo! Listen up!

The Masters of Ceremony Hip Hop Reunion, taking place Saturday in Foxwoods' Grand Theater, sports a bill of older stars who not just changed the world of popular music but also engineered seismic shifts in American politics and popular culture. Indeed, Chuck D and Public Enemy and Rakim will perform, along with similar icons such as MC Lyte, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Special ED, Black Sheep and Slick Rick.

Whether you go for the nostalgia, the history lesson, the groove - or just enlightenment - this is a world-class lineup.

- RICK KOSTER

Masters of Ceremony Hip Hop Reunion, 8 p.m. Saturday, Grand Theater, Foxwoods Resort Casino; $55-$95; 1-800-200-2882.

MC Lyte performs in September at the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards at the Atlanta Civic Center in Atlanta.

Chuck D, left, and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy perform in April at the 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans.

A large crowd is reflected in Rakim's sunglasses in March 2006 at Calle Ocho in Miami's Little Havana.

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