Mystikal bringing that big-booty bomp

The reason I prefer New Orleans rap to West Coast and East Coast rap is, New Orleans musicians grow up hearing tubas and trombones in street jazz, so they make music that's got bassier, big-booty fat bomp to it. It's funkier.

That's why I dig the rap of Mystikal, who is in Las Vegas this weekend to perform a concert after 7 p.m. Saturday at the Foxtail Pool nightclub in the SLS hotel ($22-$701).

Mystikal told me he knows what I'm talking about with that big-booty bomp.

"We're just so deeply rooted in soul and funk. The blues was birthed there" in the Delta, he said.

Music, he said, "It's gotta have soul. It's gotta make you change how you were feeling before that music came on."

In fact, Mystikal's favorite thing about fans is when he sees how he is changing their moods at shows.

"A lot of times, when I start off, they try to be cool. Everybody can't be jumping around," because jumping around might seem not-cool, he said.

"But by the time I get to 'Here I Go,' they'll be on one leg," dancing like mad. "I like that moment right there, when I get a fan that's trying to be cool."

Mystikal is having a resurrection moment in music. More than a decade ago, he rose to the top with "Shake Ya Ass," and "Danger (Been So Long)."

This year, he's got two great funky songs with "Feel Right" (for a Mark Ronson production) and "Rain Dance" (an insane collaboration with Stevie Stone and Tech N9ne).

Mystikal's rebirth comes with a continuing contriteness for sexual battery and domestic battery, which he served time for behind bars, after his initial rise to fame.

So now, Mystikal, 44, has been given another chance by pop culture to the point that even Ellen DeGeneres had him on her show to perform again.

Mystikal told me he never forgets the lessons of his faults from his first go-round with fame.

"Man, I was, hooo, I was a multimillionaire at that time. I came off the throne to do the things I did to get in the situation I got in. I never lose sight of that," he said.

"I'll never take advantage of this moment, and this opportunity, that I have, in a bad way," he vows to himself and the world.

He's got a reinvigorated sound, thanks to his newfound gratitude, he said.

"I messed around and fell back in love with the music, so it's just coming through like that. It's been great. I've been really excited and having a whole lot of fun," he said.

He's releasing new music on Sept. 15 under the title "Strength in Numbers."

"I guess it would fall under 'mixtapes,' But I don't come from that (particular hip hop mixtape) era, so it's an album," he said. "This is not something that's been thrown together. This is for the fans that have been waiting."

He's confident.

"When I'm excited, Doug, rappers get nervous. For real," he said. "I think they're scared. They know what I bring to the table."

And he's promising his best to people who go see him.

"You make sure you let them know they are in for it: Las Vegas, he is back in rare form!"

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman. Find him on Twitter: @VegasAnonymous.