2 Chainz plays at Metroplex Saturday night.

  • 2 Chainz plays at Metroplex Saturday night.

2 CHAINZ
9 p.m. Metroplex. $20-$75.

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What to think of rapper-of-the-moment 2 Chainz?

He idolizes 2Pac, if his frequent references to the seminal rapper are any indication, and he rhymes with similar punch, but slower and with a decidedly un-Pac-like goofiness. Consider lyrics from “Birthday Song,” the latest single from 2 Chainz debut “Based on a T.R.U. Story”: “All I want for my birthday is a big booty ho…/When I die bury me inside the Gucci store/…When I die, bury me inside the booty club.”

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Either this is a satire of mainstream rap’s fixation on consumption and strip clubs, or it’s the stupidest song you’ll hear on the radio all year. That 2 Chainz used to go by the name Tity Boi (a terrible name or a knowingly terrible name?) doesn’t clear things up for me.

What about his explanation for how he picked his name? “People ask me where the 2 Chainz came from. I tell them I always talk about jewelry, and I always been saying 2 Chainz in a lot of my songs. But lately like the last year or so I’ve been saying it in introducing my records like ‘2 Chainz!’ and kinda making it family friendly.”

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Call it willful suspension of disbelief, but I’m going with elaborate joke. The Andy Kaufman of rap?

2 Chainz plays in Fayetteville at the Highway 62 Event Center the night before.

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