WAKA FLOCKA FLAME
9 p.m. • First Avenue • 18-plus • $25
Best known for his rather unintelligible but charmingly off-the-cuff rap style in his 2009 breakout hit "O Let's Do It," Waka Flocka Flame is starting to make a little more sense. The Atlanta party-rapper's second album, "Triple F: Fans, Friends & Family," dropped over the summer with both Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida on the single "Get Low" and less of a madcap sound overall, for better or worse. Nobody will mistake it for the rap album of the year, but it sounds tailor-made for igniting an explosive party onstage. Wooh Da Kid and Reema Major open. CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
KURT ELLING
7 & 9 p.m. • Dakota Jazz Club • $25-$40
Elling's fresh album, "1619 Broadway, The Brill Building Project," is a tribute to his new hometown of New York City, and its rock 'n' roll-era songwriting savants. Elling often struggles to put his jazz auteur stamp on songs that have been done to simpler perfection, but it's interesting to hear him swing and miss. And there are some doubles and home runs: Carole King's "So Far Away," the Coasters' jivey gem "Shopping for Clothes" and "I'm Satisfied," an obscure uptown blues romp by Lou Rawls.TOM SUROWICZ
