Mickey Avalon

It’s easy to buy that Mickey Avalon is a former heroin junkie and prostitute. The rapper is notorious for lewd lyrics meditating on sex and drugs—subjects he’s an expert on, thanks to his upbringing in Hollywood. What is hard to buy is that Avalon rarely listens to hip hop. He loves country music; Gillian Welsh and Lucinda Williams especially. But the disconnect isn’t at all evident on hook and beat-heavy tracks like “My Dick” and “Jane Fonda.” Avalon excels at crafting grossly offensive rhymes, and he has a teasing drawl that’s appropriate for delivering such raunchy content. Then again, the inflection might just be a result of all the tequila he drinks—and soaks the crowd with—during live shows. With Beardo, Ke$ha.

Mon., Nov. 2, 7 p.m., 2009