hip-hop

When word went around that Heyday booker Bryan Dilworth was looking for a headliner for his tropical-relief bill, one man came to the rescue. "Bryan needed some help. I'm in town. I'm down," said Blue Maxx Goat Stoyanoff-Williams. You probably know him better as Madd, from his days with Philadelphia's legendary The Goats, an unholy troika of wordy rapping hoods that included Oatie Kato and Swayzack.

Both chronologically and spiritually, The Goats made a place for themselves between the gangster sociology of Schoolly D and the post-Native Tongue/live hip-hop band theology of The Roots. Their sharp, sociopoliticized rhymes were as militant as they were stooopid.

"I can't stroke my own shit," laughs Maxx, in town on holiday from his Berlin home, where he makes apolitical, electro-based hip-hop under the name Hack-Tao. "But we were doing that hard punk-rock shit before anyone else. We were just, like, six months too early." In reality, their spittle-spraying texts, nipple-twisting hardcore instrumentation and cinematic samples—check "Do the Digs Dug?"—was as much a part of industrial hop as it was rap. "I could be mad at Columbia for trying to make us into a hip-hop act, but I'm not," says Maxx.

Instead, Maxx is content. 1992's Tricks of the Shade and 1994's No Goats, No Glory (both on the Ruffhouse label) stand as a testament to the group's raw, live power. "We even came before The Roots on that tip. And I'm proud of that. Proud to be in their company as part of Philly's live-music heritage." Original members Mark (Krass Bros.) Boyce, Derek (EJ, Maggi) Pierce and Shaun (DJ) Smooth are all part of the Khyber reunion, with Oatie (currently an actor/biology teacher in Manhattan) hopefully dropping by for the fun. As for Swayzack, the mysterious third mad rapper of the bunch, we still think he's stuck at the ashram. "We haven't really all played together since 1995," says Maxx.

But the Maxx saga doesn't end with this benefit. Currently, he's cobbling together a Goats/Incognegro reunion effort (the latter were Maxx and Boyce's metal-rap ruffians who recorded with Chuck Treece) for a live tour and a new album. That should further edutain hip-hop youngin's as to who did what first, hardest and live-est.

Benefit for Tropic Relief with The Goats, Snake Handlin Preachers, DTO, Discount Heroes and Rio Vouga, Fri., Jan. 13, 9 p.m., $8, The Khyber, 56 S. Second St., 215-238-5888, www.thekhyber.com.