FRIDAY

>> Rapper Dumbfoundead puts focus on social issues

Korean-American rapper Dumbfoundead brings his socially aware rap to The Republik on Friday.

Born Jonathan Park in Argentina and raised in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles, Dumb, as he refers to himself, grew up listening to classic rap and participating in b-boy jams and performing at private parties. He’s known for winning some classic rap battles, many of which appear on YouTube. Video of his 2015 battle against the rapper Conceited has more than 5 million hits.

He’s also provided social commentary in many of his videos. In last year’s “Safe” he appears first as a father watching an Academy Awards-type television show with his family, then as a character in a series of classic films such as Captain Jack in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and Rick in “Casablanca.” The video is a commentary targeting the fact that “the only yellow men were all statues” at the 2016 Oscars, and a response to host Chris Rock’s joke about child labor in Asian countries. “I just felt like we became this punching bag,” he told the Los Angeles Times, “the ‘safe’ race to make fun of.”

FRIDAY-MARCH 11

>> Circular keyboard plays muse for aerial troupe, balladist

Aerial troupe Samadhi combines with musician Kurt “Kenny Keys” Kaminaka for “Tales of the Circle Keys,” a work featuring a rare keyboard instrument.

Samadhi’s artists will perform to new music composed by Kaminaka, known for his romantic ballads, and performed on his circular keyboard, known as a PianoArc. The instrument, which has 264 keys arranged in a circle, was invented by Lady Gaga’s keyboard player Brockett Parsons, who was seen playing it during her Super Bowl halftime performance. Each key can be programmed to create a different sound effect, allowing for maximum creativity by the performer, and Samadhi’s aerialists took full advantage of that.

“Usually we pick some music and then we create an aerial piece for it, but in this case, working with KK, he was very collaborative,” said Marie Takazawa, director of the show for Samadhi. “He would watch and say, ‘I think you should use this sound here.’ That’s the special part of it. It’s all original music that he’s written for it.”

The performance will take place at Kaminaka’s ArtZone Hawaii, a circular building with a large circular performance area in the center. Visitors can get a 360-degree view of the aerialists from both the ground and the second-floor balcony. Performers will use both silks and stationary trapezes in their routines, Takazawa said, adding that there will be some opportunity for audience participation, too, though not aerial work. “We’ll be on the ground for those,” she said.

SATURDAY

>> EDM pillar brings Grammy-nod beats

DJ Paul Oakenfold, one of the seminal figures in electronic dance music, comes to The Republik on Saturday.

Starting in the mid-1980s, when the U.K. native spent time first in New York and then on the Spanish island of Ibiza, Oakenfold helped develop the EDM genre into one of the most popular forms of club entertainment. His record label Perfecto, founded in 1989, has featured some top names in EDM, such as Tiesto, who performed here to a huge crowd two years ago. Oakenfold has won several awards in trance and techno music and twice was ranked No. 1 in DJ Magazine’s list of “World’s Top 100 DJs.”

He’s received three Grammy nominations, for his 2004 compilation “Creamfields,” his 2007 album “A Lively Mind,” and in 2009 for his production work on Madonna’s “Celebration.” Madonna asked Oakenfold to open for her at her 2008 concert at London’s Wembley Stadium.

His pulsating, driving beat is featured on scores for films including “The Bourne Identity,” “Matrix Reloaded” and the Tom Cruise-Jamie Foxx thriller “Collateral.”

>> Katt Williams likes finding comedy material in our commonalities

Comedian Katt Williams has a special feeling for Hawaii, so he’s happy to be returning to perform at Blaisdell Arena on Saturday.

“Hawaii is one of my top two places in the whole world, and personally, I use the islands as a reset for me because it forces me into a refresh mode,” he said in an email. “And each time it brings out a different sense of appreciation for me — just because Hawaii proves that people are the greatest influence of a place/location.

“As a comedian, I used to find most of my funny in the differences between people’s cultures and beliefs, but in these days I find the audience and I far more appreciate the similarities between all of those things, as well as the things we all have in common.”

Williams had a turbulent 2016, with several run-ins with the law — they’ve plagued him throughout the past decade, but he’s managed to stay onstage. He expects better things this year. “I think we got a certain numbing strength out of the fact that no matter what happened in 2016, somehow we made it through,” he told vegasseven.com. “Change is inevitable. It doesn’t always have to be pleasant, it can be painful, but this too shall pass.”

He said to expect “nonstop laughs the entire show, but not so high-brow” from his performance, which is part of his nationwide Great America Tour. Much of his sharp wit will be aimed at the recent election. In recent shows he’s called President Donald Trump “the first flaming-hot Cheeto president” and blamed him for “threatening to blow your high every morning.”