Proto-Hip Hop legend/innovator Blowfly returns to Newport, Ky., tonight for a show at the York Street Cafe. The altered-ego of Clarence Reid, who wrote and produced R&B tracks for artists like Betty Wright and Wilson Pickett, "Blowfly" began releasing cult fave "adult" material in the ’70s/’80s, his cool, spoken flow setting a blueprint for rappers to come. Blowfly (who appeared at York Street Cafe last September) has continued to put out albums, notably 2006's classically ridiculous Blowfly's Punk Rock Party, which featured reworked satirical renditions of hits by The Clash ("Should I Fuck This Big Fat Ho"), The Dead Kennedys ("R. Kelly in Cambodia," featuring Jello Biafra himself as a guest) and the immortal "I Wanna Fuck Your Dog," based on The Stooges' seminal "I Wanna Be Your Dog." Reid was also the subject of the interesting and acclaimed documentary, The Weird World of Blowfly, which you can watch through Netflix.Tonight's show kicks off at 8 p.m. and features special guests Hurricane Hot Pants and Vampire Weekend at Bernie's.

Blowfly hatched from Soul songwriter/producer Clarence Reid’s depraved imagination as his alter ego who loves to make parodies about, well, getting off. As Blowfly, he rapped nasty ditties decades before Too Short and 2 Live Crew. In the ’70s and ’80s, Reid released a slew of Adults Only party records as Blowfly on his own Weird World record label, all the while writing and producing for R&B artists like Betty Wright, Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett, KC & the Sunshine Band — and himself. At the time, fans of Reid (and even his family) didn’t know about his career as Blowfly. His appeal remained underground. Like Rudy Ray Moore, who also built his following imitating the street culture of signifying, Blowfly’s poetic toasts were tall tales about size and strength. On “Rapp Dirty,” he spits an outrageous storyline of him as a sexual superhero whipping the Ku Klux Klan with his tool. A 45 spelled “Rap Dirty” from 1965, with him rhyming to a beat like Southern radio disc jockeys, is considered by many collectors to be the first Rap record.Even bawdier at 73, Blowfly still makes music, and in 2011, he was featured in a documentary about his career, The Weird World of Blowfly. (The film is available on Netflix; check out the trailer below). In it, the caped crusader’s very elderly mother remembers that he said his first cussword when he was 9 months old and told her his okra tasted “ass-ty.” Blowfly is currently touring the Midwest and Canada on his “Porno Freak” tour.