Photo: Matthew Reeves of darkroomdemons.com

Dancehall was obviously conceived in a steamier climate than that of the plains states—its throbbing rhythms are as conducive to bobbing lethargically in the setting sun as they are bouncing spasmodically in the dark. Last week, on Thursday night, the all-star digital dancehall duo of Lynn and Hugo teamed up for a brand-reinforcement party that exceeded all expectations. Hugo’s known for his beat chopping in hipster-adored Radioclit and tonight, he delivered dancehall samples rearranged into peppy, hook-laden club smashes for new-school Jamaican MC Terry Lynn to rhyme and occasionally croon over. Though it felt more like a one-off project to please music fans who live on the bleeding edge than something that would typically go over in Lynn’s native Kingston, the whole party had an anything-goes vibe fueled by complimentary tall pint cans of Red Stripe—which Lynn big-upped in between tracks—that gave it that feeling of the place to be. If you weren’t in Gary paying respects, that is.

The ruff-n-ready Q4, which looks like an art gallery run by the Zapatistas, made for the perfect dancehall-in-Humboldt Park experience. Sticky and sweaty, grimy and colorful—and filled with Red Stripe-loving partiers of all kinds plus myopenbar.com readers, the mood got pretty unhooked. Crisply rendered party starters such as the Caribbean-spiced “Feast Your Eyes” benefited from the venue’s more-raw-than-slick sound. Lynn dropped a cappellas in the free space between tunes and interacted with the tatted and pierced boys at stage front.  Her range was as astounding as her poise was effortless. While the night ended early—the headliners’ set was over by 10:20pm when Hugo settled into a broadly based club set—no one could say they were shortchanged—after all, Fader and Red Stripe picked up the tab.