New Orleans may be the birthplace of jazz, but rap and hip-hop are our city’s most popular mainstream musical exports. Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Mystikal, Master P, Mannie Fresh, B.G., Jay Electronica, Curren$y and other heavy hitters are innovators and leaders in the national hip-hop community, known far beyond the Crescent City limits. Tonight, Supreme Street and Traffic Boutique present Certified NOLA, a local hip-hop showcase, at House of Blues. The event will be hosted by Shiny Green with DJ RQaway spinning , and will feature local talent AquaForce, SuperUgly, Kashflow, Dappa, Lil Dee, FlyBoi Tootie, Ayo Millions, Rico Got’em, Deez Blanco, Pitty Tha Kid, Joey Queens, Kayotic The Kid, A.O.B. and more.

Lawrence Parker, Traffic Boutique owner and the promoter behind Certified NOLA, is a New Orleans native and has worked with Three 6 Mafia, Soulja Slim, B.G., Jay Electronica, Curren$y, and other leading names in hip-hop. He recognizes that tonight’s artists don’t have the same name recognition yet, but he suggests connecting to the local scene through social media. “Twitter is a good place right now because you really get in contact with a person’s personality,” Parker says. “They’re actually talking about what’s going on with them at that very moment, so you can actually follow them throughout the day on just their normal tweets.” Good artists to follow include Jay Electronica, Lyrikill, Aquaforce, Dappa and Bzy Bee. “You have to have a Twitter page if you’re into music, I think,” he says.

Doors open at 8 p.m.; Certified NOLA starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10.

Here are some videos from recent summer releases by the headliners.

Aquaforce, “Rebels”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfsHaiHH3qY[/youtube]

Kashflow, “Supreme Street”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICFX5mM-r_M[/youtube]

Lil Dee, “Never Let Go”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbMdQYxuQ8[/youtube]