Yerba Buena Center for the Arts wrapped up its season with the West coast premiere of Marc Bamuthi Joseph's "the break/s," a multimedia melange novelty described as a "mixtape for the stage." Interweaving live percussion and DJing, video interviews, modern and hip-hop choreography, spoken word and informal storytelling, Bamuthi's latest work is an enthralling piece of performance magic.

Inspired by Jeff Chang's definitive account of hip-hop's birth, "Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation," "the break/s" presents a collection of anecdotes that explore how hip-hop both carried Bamuthi across the world as a performer and teacher-a hip-hop ambassador serving as "the surrogate for Allen Iverson and 50 Cent"-and shaped these experiences. If "Can't Stop Won't Stop" tells hip-hop's grand narrative, "the break/s" zooms in on the details of a specific personal history.

"The break/s" begins with Bamuthi rotating on the floor beneath a spotlight, reflecting the LP spinning on the three large screens behind him and marking a transformation from performer to tool for narrative relay. Bamuthi proceeded to tell his stories over simple but effective choreography with the telltale cadence of a spoken word poet or using a more conversational style and putting the dancing on hold. To impart the story of blowing a chance encounter with then-unknown rapper Jay-Z as a young, intrepid journalist-in other words, meeting the business man before he became the business, man-Bamuthi brought out a chair. Throughout the evening, he goes from the agility of a modern dancer and the playfulness of hitting the floor of a night club with such ease that the styles melted seamlessly into one another.

The beats were provided by DJ Excess on the ones and twos mixing such iconic tracks as the 1986 remake of Aerosmith's "Walk this Way" featuring Run-D.M.C. and the superb beatboxing and percussion of Soulati (Tommy Sheperd of Oakland crew Felonious). At one point, Soulati uses live vocal looping to recreate the unmistakable opening of "Act Too (Love of My Life)," the Roots' indispensable ode to hip-hop.

On top of the dance moves, poetry and autobiography, Bamuthi's earnest and impeccably-timed humor was on full display. The comedy-and the evening's performance as a whole-culminated in the recounting of an uproariously funny and inexplicably random dream about Prince and the Mona Lisa. "When you're a Scorpio and your ruling planet just got demoted," Bamuthi explained, "Well, you have freaky dreams about Prince."

The account hilariously staged da Vinci's X-rated tryst with Mona as inspiration for "Darling Nikki" with Bamuthi starring as all the characters-his wide-eyed dream-self hanging out at Prince's crib, Prince (complete with an idiosyncratic squeal at the end of every sentence), Mona Lisa as a diner waitress who gets picked up by a geeky Leonardo da Vinci nasally sputtering something about Fibonacci numbers.

But don't be mistaken, "the break/s" isn't all laughs. Bamuthi also touches on the homogenizing effects of globalization, cultural hubris, crossing over, the struggle of self-identity, W.E.B. DuBois' double-consciousness and commitment phobia with the insight of a street corner philosopher. Altogether, "the break/s" showcases Bamuthi's past life as a Broadway dancer and his current life as an art activist and celebrated slam poet with equal force.

At the beginning of the evening, Bamuthi jests, "I've been able to convince the performing arts machine that I am both high art and hip-hop ... Shhhhhhhh," putting a knowing finger over his lips. Wry as the sentiment is, "the break/s" successfully reclaims hip-hop from the clutches of mass culture by bringing it back down to earth and grounding it in real life and personal experience, while simultaneously elevating hip-hop to the level of art-something worthy of its place on the stage.

Tags: YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS