Thursday: Big Boi at the Bullpen

Nothing can prepare you for when Big Boi drops “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” live, a manic fusion of drum and bass rhythms, guitars, organs, and gospel vocals running at 155 beats per minute. The song is a reminder of how one of the greatest rap duos of all time, Outkast, transformed rap’s flow (which they felt had grown too formulaic) in the early aughts and how talented one half of that duo, Big Boi, is at keeping pace. The lead-up won’t disappoint either. Expect plenty of Outkast and solo hits—“Ms. Jackson,” “Shutterbug,” and “Lower Case (no cap)” likely among them—a testament to the force the Savannah, Georgia, rapper has been over the last few decades. Big Boi has been casually touring since last summer, mostly playing festivals, so Thursday’s show at the Bullpen is a rare opportunity to see him up close in a smaller setting. And he’s bringing guests with him: Little Rock, Arkansas rapper Kari Faux, whose song “No Small Talk” you might remember from the HBO show Insecure. Known for her conversational style of internet rap, Faux’s new LP titled REAL B*TCHES DON’T DIE! was released Friday, May 26. The single “TURNIN’ HEADS” features Big K.R.I.T., a funky bass line, and the no-frills beat we’ve come to expect for a smooth vibe. Doors for Big Boi open at 5 p.m. on June 1 at the Bullpen, 1201 Half St. SE. thebullpendc.com. $35–$40. —Dave Nyczepir

Friday: Friday: billy woods and Kenny Segal at DC9

Twenty years after his first album, D.C.-born rapper billy woods is getting crossover critical acclaim for his artsy, wordy hip-hop verses with Maps, his second album with the co-credited producer Kenny Segal. Based in Los Angeles, Segal supports woods on the album with off-kilter, jazzy beats and polished choruses. Though he now calls Brooklyn home, woods was raised by his Jamaican professor mother and a Zimbabwean activist father in both Zimbabwe and along the East Coast. He briefly attended Howard University before leaving for New York. There, inspired by early 2000s underground rappers, woods released solo projects and made up one half of the duo Armand Hammer. The rapper became known in underground circles for lyrics inspired by authors such as James Baldwin, Flannery O’Connor, Marlon James, and Cormac McCarthy. Released on May 5, Maps is a story of touring life and feeling homesick, and is a contemplation of what an artist does with their downtime. In the track “Waiting Around,” woods, with his distinctive deep voice, raps, “I walked cobblestoned streets alone, old testament stone/ Old poems just out of reach/ Congolese concierge fast asleep/ Big, lonely suite/ From the tiny balcony, I watched my planes leave.” billy woods and Kenny Segal play at 7:30 p.m. on June 2 at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. dc9.club. Sold out. —Steve Kiviat 

Saturday: Eladio Carrión at Fillmore Silver Spring

Puerto Rican trap rapper Eladio Carrión was born in Kansas, where his father was stationed, and moved across the U.S. before settling in Puerto Rico as an adolescent. But his journey to rapping—collaborating with the likes of Bad Bunny and Lil Wayne—started nearly 10 years ago, at age 19, when he quit swimming internationally for Puerto Rico and began making online comedy videos, including ones where he imitated rappers and reggaeton artists. That led to songwriting. Carrión is fond of doing duets with other artists and dropping sports and pop culture references with his baritone flow; his first effort with Bad Bunny, the 2020 song “Kemba Walker,” named after the NBA player, drew critical acclaim, as did his efforts with other Latin stars including J Balvin, and Myke Towers. Carrión’s 2023 album, 3MEN2 KBRN, which stands for “tremendo cabrón” in Spanish (tremendous bastard), contains remixes from his 2022 solo effort, SEN2 KBRN, plus new tracks. In addition to various Spanish-speaking guests (Bad Bunny returns on “Coco Chanel”), the album also includes support from a number of American rap stars including Future, Quavio, and 50 Cent. On these tracks, the American rappers spit verses in English, while Carrión raps in both fast-paced and slower-tempoed, emotional Spanish. Seeing Carrión live will offer a chance to see him make those songs work on stage—just like he did at Coachella and at his own Sauce Boyz fest in Puerto Rico earlier this year. Eladio Carrión plays at 8 p.m. on June 3 at the Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. livenation.com. $176–$420. —Steve Kiviat 

Opens Tuesday: Hadestown at the National Theatre

By the time Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell’s Americana-inflected retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, opened on Broadway in the spring of 2019, the Vermont singer-songwriter had been tinkering with the project for more than a dozen years. The long gestation period paid off with a Tony Award-winning production that’s still running at the Walter Kerr Theatre. But if you’d rather skip the train ticket, the touring production is landing in downtown D.C. at the National Theatre for a two-week engagement. With its meditation on the cyclical nature of joy and sorrow, Hadestown is well-suited to travel. Wherever you see it, you might marvel at the chilling accuracy with which Mitchell seemed to foretell much of what was to come when she started working on the show midway through President George W. Bush’s second term. Mitchell’s lyrics are pithy, and her music is enveloping and propulsive throughout, relying more heavily on brass and percussion than guitar, despite callow Orpheus’ mastery of the lyre. “Livin’ It Up on Top,” one of Act One’s sprightliest numbers, introduces the concept of Persephone’s part-time marriage to Hades, who has turned the underworld into a giant fossil fuel-powered factory built on the backs of laborers who he’s convinced to be grateful for their low wages and seven-day workweek. When Persephone is with Hades down below, it’s a cruel winter up here; when she returns to the surface, the sun shines. The Act One finale, “Why We Build the Wall,” features Hades’ low-information subjects obediently parroting back to him his teachings about how isolationist policies keep poverty at bay. Eventually, we come around to the part of myth you might remember—Orpheus’s journey down to Hades to “rescue” his beloved Eurydice after she chooses sunless subsistence living below over starvation above. Just because you know how it ends doesn’t mean it won’t break your heart all over again. Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown runs from June 6 to 18 at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. broadwayatthenational.com. $70-$130. —Chris Klimek

Through June 11: This Is Britain at the National Gallery of Art

Like the punk music scene and the class- and race-based skirmishes of its era, the National Gallery of Art’s exhibit This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s packs a punch, leveraging just two modest-size galleries—plus a makeshift film theater—into a collection of works by nearly two dozen photographers. If there’s a common theme, it’s unease: Chris Killip’s documentary images of people supporting themselves by scavenging cast-off coal; Giles Peress’ photographs of Northern Ireland’s Troubles; Graham Smith’s images of pub denizens in the decaying industrial city of Middlesbrough; Pogus Caesar’s depictions of riots in Birmingham (a city home to large Caribbean and South Asian communities); Sunil Gupta’s semi-fictional conceptual project about the era’s discriminatory anti-gay laws; and Anna Fox’s photographs of alienation in the workplace. The downside of such an expansive selection of artists is that none is showcased in much depth, including several artists whose oeuvres are wide-ranging and deserve more sustained attention. One is Paul Graham, who spent that period producing striking yet understated documentary work showing life along a bypassed highway, as well as run-down welfare offices and subtle indications of tension within the neighborhoods of Northern Ireland. Another is Martin Parr, whose projects included photographing a run-down resort area near Liverpool and the stiff backyard parties of the rising Tory middle class. A third is John Davies, who brought a skillfully detached eye to the land-use absurdities of the era’s deindustrialization and suburbanization. The exhibit offers one image by Davies of a soccer game in the shadow of four nuclear cooling towers, and another of a pub cut off from foot traffic by a vise-like intersection of motorway lanes. It’s a taste, but the exhibit leaves a viewer hungry for more. This Is Britain runs through June 11 at the National Gallery of Art, 6th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW. Daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. nga.gov. Free. —Louis Jacobson