Old-School Hip-Hop Featured As De La Soul Takes the Mic at Insert Coin(s)

De La Soul Screen Ad

by Julie Kasperson

One of my photographer friends, Ambrose, tipped me off to the fact that De La Soul, a very popular hip-hop group from the late-eighties and early nineties, was going to be performing at a local downtown club called Insert Coin(s). These three rappers from Long Island have been blending bizarre humor and social commentary for over 20 years.

Kelvin Mercer, David Jude Jolicoeur, and Vincent Mason have performed under different nick names within De La Soul since they formed the group in Long Island, NY, in 1989. Their debut album, 3 Feet High and Rising, is considered a hip-hop masterpiece, and spawned the hit “Me Myself and I.” Other hits include “The Magic Number” and “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey).”

While rap and hip-hop are not my favorite genres of music, I do enjoy the “old-school” sounds and raps from artists such as Curtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and MC Lyte. Rap and hip-hop from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s was not about poppin’ bottles, designer labels and “hoes”; it had humor and a social conscience.

When De La Soul wasn’t performing on the club’s small stage, DJ88 kept the crowd happy with old-school rap and hip-hop and even blended in some Snoop Dogg and DMX. Insert Coin(s) was a great venue for this appearance; it’s a small, popular videolounge gamebar on East Fremont that features all the old video game machines we grew up with when video gaming was in its infancy. If you pay for bottle service you are able to enjoy playing the video game console of your choice, from the comfort of your leather couch, complete with HDTV.

Rap and hip-hop acts are for the most part not looked upon very favorably in the Las Vegas community, especially by Metro Police. But as I enjoyed the show, I was impressed by the fact that even though the crowd was young, they were very well behaved, just enjoying the beats and the rhymes. It was a dose of nostalgia for me.

Photos (click photos for larger image)

Kelvin Mercer AKA Pos, DJ88, -- and David Jude Jolicoeur


David Jude Jolicoeur AKA Trugoy

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All photo credits: Julie Kasperson,

© 2012 Julie Kasperson - All rights reserved.

-VegasJules ( Julie Kasperson ) can be contacted through her facebook page.