Devin the Dude at play.

We hear the Devin and Del tour has been plagued by smoky, late-night debates about what it’s cooler to be: a dude or a homosapien, and whether the two can ever coexist peacefully. (Meanwhile, their publicists battle over the relative merits of using “the” vs. “tha.”) Tonight, Devin and Del play the Roseland Theater (8 NW 6th), the site of many a fierce dude vs. homosapien struggle.

As I’ve established many times in this paper, I’ve a big fan of Devin’s hilarious rhymes about weed and women, but I’ve never seen him live because hiphop shows (I can’t speak to those of the backpacker variety) are usually frustrating, ridiculous messes with 12 guys you’ve never heard of holding microphones, barking over the artist you paid to see. But a review of a recent Devin show by one of my favorite music writers, the Village Voice’s Tom Briehan, has me particularly excited for tonight’s show:

But then, finally, blessedly: Devin. Or, rather, Devin’s backup crew, who still effortlessly obliterated everyone who’d been onstage before them… The Coughee Brothaz are a bunch of seriously hungry Southern rappers who can all seriously rap and who include Jugg Mugg and blind rapper Rob Quest, the other two members of the Odd Squad, Devin’s pre-solo-career group. The various Coughee Brothaz took turns doing solo tracks, switching between warm, organic Texas funk and buzzing synthed-out Southern club-rap, all the while hyping Devin’s impending arrival. But when Devin did slide onstage, he did so almost unnoticed. Devin’s stage presence is as cool and unobtrusive as his voice, but when he gets going he’s a joy to watch. Last night, he smoked vast quantities of weed, hit Stevie Wonder high-notes on his choruses, and did the thing where he makes his voice sound like a DJ scratching, which he’s really good at… Last night, he had something like seven guys behind him, but all those guys knew that they were there in a supporting capacity, and none of them got in the way. A whole lot of work obviously went into this tour, and the Coughee Brothaz have a seamless and rehearsed show, something you don’t see too often.

Get a Devin fix on the Dude’s MySpace (or peep his Brothaz here), or if you come down on the other side of tha Funkee debate, this Homosapien has a MySpace as well.