25

SATURDAY

Pedigree isn’t worth much in the fickle world of hiphop, but Los Angeles trio La Paz has familial baggage that instantly sets it apart. One MC, Kool-Aid, is the son of Dolores Huerta and nephew of Cesar Chavez, founders of the legendary United Farm Workers Union; the group’s other rapper, Dez, is Kool-Aid’s nephew. Despite those powerful Latino bloodlines, La Paz’s sound is decidedly nonethnic: The rhymes are in English, and DJ Sloe-Poke keeps his beats crisp, arid, and jazzy. Its debut disc, Earwigs, and its upcoming release both take an activist stance, though: Kool and Dez address personal complacency, economic injustice, and the subtleties of racism without sounding like overamped revolutionaries. La Paz plays with Sabina and Girl @ the Bus Stop at 8 p.m. at Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th St. NW. $10. (202) 547-8435 (ext. 16). (Joe Warminsky)