“I heard that someone from the South got booed last night,” Kam Moye said to a nicely filled house at Brooklyn’s Southpaw on Thursday night. The North Carolina rapper, formerly known as Supastition, was referring to the well-publicized incident in which Atlanta’s OJ da Juiceman was booed off the stage at B.B. King’s the previous night (as we reported here). But Moye had nothing to worry about during a CMJ showcase sponsored by local entertainment marketing and PR firm Audible Treats. As he pointed out, he got “nothing but love” from a crowd primarily drawn in by three marquee acts—Bay Area combo Souls of Mischief, the local heroes in Tanya Morgan and a newly formed supergroup, Trinity, featuring Sadat X from Brand Nubian, A.G. and DJ Jab.

In fact, if Wednesday night’s imbroglio was seized upon by some observers as lending credence to a spreading meme about hip-hop’s marginalization, dissolution and impending irrelevance, Thursday night at Southpaw amounted to a four-and-a-half hour “yeah, right”—or stronger words to that effect.

Admittedly, the crowd took a while to warm up: West Coast MCs Truthlive and Jern Eye had to work hard to get onlookers involved in their brief opening sets. Jern Eye leaned on material from his newly issued sophomore CD, Vision (just out on MYX Music), a mature, confident effort. Detroit rapper Finale—who’d arrived from Motor City shortly before his performance, and announced he’d be heading back home directly after—ripped through a fiery set previewing material from his upcoming disc, A Pipe Dream and a Promise, as strong a debut as any we’ve heard this year. (We missed the opportunity to buy a copy of the CD from him, but were relieved to find it in our complimentary Tokidoki swag bag at the end of the night.)

DJ Keelay kept the energy high between sets, and showcasing new material was a theme that extended throughout the evening: Washington, D.C.’s Oddisee just dropped a new EP, Odd Autumn, but kicked off his set here with even newer material and welcomed Diamond District bandmate yU to the stage for a cameo. Then came Kam Moye, who declared he was representing for “grown-ass men,” and Trinity, who presented an explosive set and flung almost as many T-shirts as syllables. (Hell yeah we grabbed one.) Tanya Morgan was down a member—Ilyas, stuck at home in Cincinnati—but compensated with tons of attitude and energy, not to mention an oversize cadre of Lessondary cohorts. By the time Souls of Mischief took the stage with a mix of fresh tracks (from Montezuma’s Revenge, a Prince Paul–produced disc due in December), deep cuts and repeated salutes to the late turntablist Roc Raida, the crowd was whipped up to an ideally receptive fever pitch.

But hey, don’t take our word for it; watch this…