Pay attention, this is the next big thing

After nearly a decade of listening to NWA wannabes, let’s just face it: hip-hop is suffering. Though it seems that over the past few years, after bearing the scars and stains of gangsta rap, hip-hop has been rebuilding its form with diverse, original and genuine sounds.

After nearly a decade of listening to NWA wannabes, let’s just face it: hip-hop is suffering. Though it seems that over the past few years, after bearing the scars and stains of gangsta rap, hip-hop has been rebuilding its form with diverse, original and genuine sounds.

Mickey Avalon is just such a mold breaker, straying from what one would expect from the genre. It’s not often you come across someone dropping rhymes while wearing a fur coat or relating their experiences turning tricks on Hollywood Boulevard, but Avalon is exactly what hip-hop needs right now.

Someone original�� who can rock the mic with a ferocity and depth that hits just as severe, but outweighing the most hardcore hip-hop stereotype.

Does he have something to say? If he does, it is something as of yet unheard.

Since the release of his self-titled debut in 2006, Mickey has sent shock waves throughout the underground, so much so that Dante’s booked him for two nights straight this weekend. Little by little, he has crept up through the underground scene and will most likely cement himself as the next big thing, or at least some sort of indie icon.

You may have heard his song “Mr. Right,” or perhaps you caught him on the end of that Boost Mobile commercial and wondered to yourself, “who the hell is that guy?”

It seems lately I can’t shoot a game of pool at the Marathon without his collaboration with Dirt Nasty and Andre Legacy titled “My Dick,” coming over the jukebox.

By the time I’m knocking down the eight ball, I’m mumbling “my dick, so hot, it’s stolen. Your dick look like Gary Coleman … My dick need no introduction, your dick don’t even function.”

The difference with Avalon is not only what he is saying, so shockingly tackling the realms of sex, drugs and prostitution, but also that he brings back a sense of hip-hop’s roots mingled with good old classic punk rock. His sound is certainly something novel, yet listening to him re-ignites the spirit of Grand Master Flash, and watching him one can’t deny the resemblance to Iggy Pop.

Should you make your way down to Dante’s to catch his show, and you should, be prepared. If the rumors hold any truth, his performances bear the spirit of the ’60s free love, only with a creepy twist of a good ol’ hot and greasy orgy.

He has been known to tote around scantly dressed female dancers on stage, and will occasionally make out with the various ladies at the front of the audience. The air of sex definitely runs rampant at his shows.

Perhaps Mickey knows he’s a bit different, maybe just the right amount of strange, and he flaunts it. But never forgetting to remind us all that everyone is a bit strange.

Mickey AvalonDante’sNov. 14, 9 p.m.w/ Beardo and FoatronNov. 15, 9 p.m.w/ Dirt Nasty and BeardoShows start at 9:30 p.m.$17 in advance, $20 at the door21-plus