Old school Latino rap comes to AVA

We're not talking about old as in elderly, although Marco Cardenas — aka MC Magic — admits he and his "Latin Legacy Tour" mates "are definitely from the '90s."

Musically, "we are from the old school, and we are more traditional, more love songs, proud to be our culture and really raising up our kind in so many ways," he said. "We're not young kids, so obviously we're not going to be talking about smash and grab type things or murdering somebody. That's a different audience, a different generation, different mindset."

Cardenas comes here with Baby Bash, Vallejo, California, native Ronald Ray Bryant, best known for his 2003 hit "Suga Suga" with Frankie J; and Lil Rob, Solana Beach, California, native Roberto L. Flores, who broke into the mainstream with his 2005 hit "Summer Nights."

Videographer-turned-standup-comedian Cristian Gutierrez, who performs under the stage name Concrete, opens the show. 

The Mexican-born, Phoenix-raised Cardenas, whose mainstream success came with his 2006 solo album "Magic City," said the trio of rappers will be accompanied by a full band and backup singers on Friday. All three are on stage together throughout the performance, with Cardenas opening the show with his popular song "Pretty Girl." 

"Then from there it just snowballs into a Baby Bash song, a Lil Rob song," he said. "In some parts of the show, you might hear two Lil Rob songs in a row, you might hear two MC Magic songs in a row, but predominantly we're really just passing the mic and keeping the show going that way."

That's kinda old school.

"The beautiful thing that I like about it, it almost seems like you're listening to a playlist from an era, and it's really dope," said Cardenas, who heads to Mexico City on June 10 to make a music video for his new Bolero-inspired song "Todas las Mujeres" (All the Women). Cardenas is releasing the song on his Nastyboy Records.

Tickets for Friday's show, which begins at 8 p.m. at the AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road, are $32.40-$107.40 through casinodelsol.com.

Also on Friday:

• Singer-songwriter David Huckfelt is back in the Old Pueblo with his newly outfitted band The Tarantula Hawks and special guest Gabe Rozzell for an 8 p.m. show Friday at the Pidgin Palace Arts, a contemporary art gallery at 1110 S. Sixth Ave. that doubles as an intimate concert venue and gathering place for like-minded social activists.

  Huckefelt, who called Tucson home in the early 2000s and now lives in Minnesota, played a homecoming show with fellow former Tucsonan Tom Walbank at La Rosa last December. He returned to La Rosa in early April for a show with folk singer Keith Secola. Tickets for Friday's show are $16.92 through pidginpalacearts.com. 

• The all-female Cali trio LA Witch (“Kill My Baby Tonight,” “Gen-Z”) brings its mix of garage rock, psych and surf noir to Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St., for a 7 p.m. 16-and-older show. Tickets are $18 in advance through hotelcongress.com, $22 day of show.