Take Super Hyphy 17, an all-ages, alcohol-free event held Memorial Day weekend at Petaluma's Phoenix Theater. That's where about 1,000 youngsters of various ethnicities went dumb, shook their dreads and made thizz faces all night to live performances by Mistah F.A.B., Zion-I & the Grouch, the Pack, Haji Springer, J-Billion, J. Diggs and other local acts.

A palpable surge of energy moved through the crowd when the DJ spun the late Mac Dre's now-classic 2002 anthem "Thizzelle Dance"; live renditions of recent hits like the Pack's "Vans," Zion-I's "The Bay" and F.A.B.'s "Kicked Out Da Club" were greeted with equal exuberance. Though the tightly packed crowd was "in the building and feeling itself," as they say, the negatives associated with hyphy were absent -- there were no fights, no gunshots and nobody spinning doughnuts after the show.

"Is hyphy over? Not in Petaluma," said concert promoter D-Sharp, looking around at a hall full of excited youngsters sporting multicolored hoodies, special-edition Oakland A's hats, shiny grill pieces, Thizz Fo Life T-shirts and the oversize sunglasses -- called "stunna shades" -- which have become ubiquitous to hyphy culture.

Backstage, even more of the culture was on display, much of it emanating from Mistah F.A.B. The 25-year-old Oakland native who's become hyphy's official spokesman held court, dressed in a brightly colored airbrushed T-shirt bearing his likeness and sporting a matching bejeweled chain.

"How can hyphy be dead? They ain't seen hyphy yet," F.A.B. insists