The concerts, also titled …and then you shoot your cousin, will be presented May 13 and 14 at 8:30 PM in the Anspacher Theater. The engagement is offered as a benefit for the Public Theater, which presents the concert along with The Roots and Def Jam Recordings. The concerts will feature Roots members Black Thought on vocals and Questlove on turntable; along with sampling artist Jeremy Ellis; the chamber orchestra Metropolis Ensemble; jazz pianist, composer and arranger D.D. Jackson; dancer/motion artist Storyboard P; musician and beatboxer Rahzel; and jazz trombonist and composer Craig S. Harris on didgeridoo.

According to the Public, "…and then you shoot your cousin is a satirical look at the Dionysian impulse in contemporary hip-hop told through a series of ne’er-do-wells and outlaws. The characters are dysfunctional, alienated, occasionally mean-spirited, but always meaningful – denizens of the permanent underclass who have become lost in history’s shuffle without losing their sense of the broader comedy of existence. They look at their own life both from within and from without, self-possessed and self-aware in ways that set them apart from the standard hip-hop protagonist who rarely attempts to scale the fourth wall. Some of them may even have shot their cousins."

For tickets phone (212) 967-7555 or visit PublicTheater. The Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan.