Rap: It's not a dirty word with this crowd.

Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard

A dozen aspiring hip-hop performers from Eugene showcased their talents Sunday to promote the local urban music scene.

But many of the obscenity-laced performances at the downtown Jungle nightclub would warrant a parental advisory warning label.

Singers performed either free- style (improvisational singing to a rap beat) or beat boxer (a derivative of be-bop music by making vocal sound effects).

The event allowed hip-hop wannabes to network with one another and forge a hip-hop market in Eugene, said promoter Michael Klindt.

"Our goal is to put urban music on the map here in Eugene and provide kids with some economic opportunities," he said. Similar hip-hop gatherings will be held at the nightclub monthly beginning May 29, he said.

In opening the event Klindt, who also serves as a deejay at KDUK-FM, said he wanted "radio-friendly performances" with "no cussing allowed."

Perhaps the admonishment fell on deaf ears amid the steady bass beat reverberating off the nightclub walls.

Several singers bungled in the Jungle with lyrics not fit for a family newspaper.

Ernie Banks, 18, was a big hit among the two dozen or so people in attendance with his extemporization of a Chipmunklike rap song.

"Yo, yo, yo. I kill cats when I'm rapping," went the chorus to Banks' ditty.

Wearing an oversized Chicago Bulls basketball jersey and a white do-rag wrapped around his head, Banks said improvisational hip-hop tests his creative juices.

"My punch line ability and the way I spit about you, it will make you so mad you'll want to fight me," said Banks, who moved to Eugene five months ago from Los Angeles.

"I just had to get away from California. Everybody and their mom raps in L.A.," said Banks, adding he was surprised to find a thriving hip-hop scene in Eugene.

Andy Cox, an 18-year-old homegrown beat boxer, said he's been rapping since he was 12. As he ventured on stage, Cox's alter ego, "Kanacta," emerged wearing a black sleeveless shirt and a visor on sideways.

"That's the two sides of me. Andy is low-key. Kanacta is crazy. Fortunately the two of them get along with each other," he said.

The talent showcase also included dancing, emceeing, disc jockeying and modeling.

Kody Iturra, a 20-year-old Lane Community College student from Eugene, performed a quasi-limbo dance number to a booming hip-hop beat.

"I can get low to anything that has a good beat," he said.

Fellow dancer and LCC student Tiffany Boden of Eugene said she connects with hip-hop music.

"I love getting into the zone and doing what I love to do," said Boden, 20, who was dancing to 50 Cent's "Disco Inferno," featuring the chorus refrain, "Shake that ass, girl."

The media focuses too much attention on rap's negative aspects by assailing the music's misogynistic lyrics, Boden said.

`I respect (hip-hop performers) as artists. It's a scenario that opens people's eyes to something they aren't going to experience in their world.'

Moreover, Boden personally selected the song by 50 Cent.

"I like to shake my ass," she said.

CAPTION(S):

Ernie Banks, 18, formerly of California, performs a rap number at the Jungle on Sunday. Says Banks: `Everybody and their mom raps in L.A.' Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard