With a premium placed on maturity, it’s easy to forget hip-hop’s roots are in the youth. But 22-year-old Fresno rapper Fashawn, who dropped his wave-making debut Boy Meets World when he was still shy of drinking age, proves that age is just a number when the discussion turns to talent. Weaving narratives of his growing pains, tales of a good West Coast kid coming up in a rough world, his songs alternate between harsh realities—born of his upbringing in California’s foster care system due to an incarcerated father and drug-addicted mother—and uplifting reflections on finding his place in a brighter tomorrow. Though the situations may not be unheard of, Fashawn’s greatest talent lies in not only being an admirable storyteller but a unique one. With Evidence, Curt@!ns, Gilbert Forte. NICK FELDMAN

Wed., March 2, 8 p.m., 2011