By Chayla Furlong

While a 5.6 level earthquake rattled San Jose and the outlying areas at about 8pm Tuesday evening, Oct. 30, the HP Pavilion was packed with hip hop and R&B enthusiasts who may not have given much thought to the shaking, passing it off as powerful bass system reverberating around the stadium.

Dancers never missed a beat as the pavilion shook, chanting “You wanna know what we say in da club (ay bay bay), White folks, gangstas and the thugs (ay bay bay),” with hip hop artist Hurricane Chris.

Hurricane Chris, whose summer 2007 single “Ay Bay Bay” thrust him into the spotlight, was not the only top artist in attendance at The Bay Area Boo Bomb, an annual Halloween themed concert which boasted ten of R&B and hip hops hottest artists this year, including T-Pain, Fabulous, Rihanna and Neyo. Also performing at the Boo Bomb were Kat de Luna, The Dream, Natasha Bedingfield, Soulja Boy and Baby Bash.

The show opened with Kat de Luna’s single “Whine Up,” a club song which got the crowd moving and on their feet. The next performer to hit the stage was The Dream, followed by Hurricane Chris.

The show slowed down a little with a few songs from Natasha Bedingfield as the fourth artist, but hit one of its two highs with T-Pain as the fifth. T-Pain, who made his debut in August 2005 with his first solo, “I’m Sprung,” is currently riding #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with Chris Brown for their collaboration on “Kiss Kiss.”

He stole the first half of the show performing his own work along with current songs he’s featured in with Chris Brown, Kanye West, and other various artists. His performance included “Kiss Kiss,” “I’m Good,” “Shawty,” “Two Step,” “Ima Flirt,” “Bartender,” “Buy You a Drank,” and “Pop, Lock and Drop It.”

The second half of the show began with artist Neyo performing “Sexy Love” and “All Because of You” along with his first solo “So Sick.” Following was Fabulous with a booming display of bass, and then the new favorite on the scene, Soulja Boy.

A recent addition to the music industry, Soulja Boy’s current single “Crank Dat Soulja Boy,” is a sing and dance-along number which has people across the nation looking up the instructional video on YouTube to learn the dance steps.

This song from Soulja Boy is currently #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 countdown, and had the entirety of the stadium out of their seats and working the dance moves.

Following this burst of energy from Soulja Boy was Baby Bash with his hit “Cyclone.” The finale was awarded to female artist Rihanna, who has had six top-ten songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 since her debut in 2005, including two that reached #1.

Her set at the Bay Area Boo Bomb included five of these hits, including “Pon de Replay,” “Hate that I Love You,” “Unfaithful,” “Shut Up and Drive,” and her most recent success, “Umbrella.”

Given the number of sought-after artists performing at the Bay Area Boo Bomb, the concert was a huge success for lovers of hip hop and R&B in the bay area, even though they had to enjoy the show and an earthquake at the same time.

Marketed largely by Jammin’ 97.9 and Wild 94.9, the concert proved to be an event with widespread interest among the stations’ listeners.

Jammin’ 97.9, the station that broadcasts hip hop in Santa Cruz, handed out tickets in the Monterey and Santa Cruz counties, which included winners from those two cities, Salinas, and Watsonville.

Ant thee Infamous One, a Jammin’ 97.9 on air DJ and assistant promotional director for KWAV radio (home of Jammin’ 97.9), said the station got involved with the annual concert to please it’s listeners.

“As a station we’re trying to provide the hottest venues, prizes and everything for the listeners and let them know that we are around,” he said. “We want to give them the opportunity to become our faithful listeners because we provide for them what other stations don’t.”

Whitney Moore of Salinas, who participated previously in the Central Coast Idol competition through Jammin’ 97.9, won tickets to the Bay Area Boo Bomb with the same station. 	“I always listen to 9.79, they have great tickets,” Moore said. 	

Ant thee Infamous One says that’s the point.

“We know that the Boo Bomb offers the best lineup for a concert at this time,” he said. “The concert was near sold out, and we want to give our listeners what they want; each year in October, it’s the Boo Bomb.”

To find out more about “The New Jammin’ 97.9, Where Hip Hop Lives,” check out their website at http://www.jammin979.com.