Clubland

On any other night, it's the Waxx Museum. Fridays, though, it becomes The Foundation, "a weekly showcase of hip-hop culture" -- or so goes the hype. And more often than not, it lives up to its billing, with DJs, dancers, spray paint and street poetry combining for a compelling urban experience.

"Versus your average dance club/ pickup joint, we have break dancers, graffiti, videos going on," says DJ Cee of Reprogram Hip-Hop Efforts, the promoters behind The Foundation. They have been staging such events successfully for more than four years.

This Friday's Foundation installment is dubbed the Hip-Hop Summer Jam, mainly because it features a special guest performance by San Francisco Bay-area rapper Lateef, in addition to the local dancers, DJs and other not-so-routine distractions. The Summer Jam is also being backed by New York's 3-2-1 Records, the label responsible for the new rap/hip-hop compilation Connected, which features Lateef, former Arrested Development member DJ Kemit and others.