Screamfest '07

It's not every day (or month, or — let's be honest — year) that a uniformly dope hip-hop tour comes to town. Usually, you get one decent emcee or crowd-drawing diva, and the rest of the bill inspires a collective "meh." Not so Screamfest '07, which is headlined by the tough, charismatic T.I. and the equally tough, talented Ciara. T.I. consistently creates singles that retain their hard edge even after hundreds of radio spins, and Ciara's look-but-don't-touch attitude recalls the ladies of TLC and Salt-N-Pepa. Joining T.I. and Ciara are fellow Atlantans Yung Joc and Lloyd, and the Florida-based R&B vocalist/rapper T-Pain. The opportunity for onstage collaborations seems prime; Lloyd's sultry croon could be the perfect complement to Ciara's strong vocals, and T-Pain could do some killer hook-work between T.I. and Yung Joc's fiercely spit verses. Whatever happens, it's gonna be good.