Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings

Candlelight: 90s Hip Hop on Strings at Unity Temple on the Plaza

Fountain City Quartet takes advertised medleys featuring the Fugees, Outkast and Wu-Tang Clan and hands those familiar sounds to a string quartet. About sixty minutes of instrumental music by candlelight make room for a different kind of Nineties hip-hop tribute.

At Unity Temple's Sanctuary in Kansas City, the candlelit program also includes medleys covering Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott, Nas, Jay-Z, A Tribe Called Quest, 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. Familiar hooks take on a different shape without the original vocals or beats. It's not hip-hop as usual, and that's exactly the point.

This isn't a night for mosh pits or stadium choruses. It's quieter, stranger, and completely absorbing. The arrangements invite you to follow familiar hooks without relying on the words that once carried them. Medleys featuring Outkast and The Notorious B.I.G. leave plenty of room for recognition, even when the material returns in a new form.

Bring someone who loves Nineties rap but has never sat through a chamber concert. Candlelight smooths the formality out of classical performance, and the familiar catalog keeps the experience grounded. The fun is spotting familiar hooks and hearing how four instruments can carry attitude without a single lyric.

Kansas City gets one hour of hip-hop history filtered through an entirely new lens. Get tickets to hear '90s hip-hop favorites reimagined through strings and candlelight.