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He possesses a presence that commands attention. But Lamont "Monty-G" Anderson has had a lot of practice honing his crowd-pleasing antics. At 17, the South Philly native decided to participate in a talent show, which also doubled as his first live performance. Anderson was a nervous wreck. He prayed in the bathroom beforehand and sought advice from a friend in attendance.
"My friend told me to go up there," said Anderson, of 20th and Tasker streets. "She said, ‘If they don’t like you, we can just get out of here.’"
The teen faced his fear and hit the stage. He began rapping and beatboxing, or creating beats and rhythm’s using his mouth. The crowd responded with applause and deafening cheers. The club owner even asked Anderson to serve as the opening act for all other performances at the establishment.
But the experience was just a stepping stone for Anderson, who has gained notoriety for entertaining hoards of people. His newest venture is with the Philadelphia 76ers as one of their Broad Street Beefcakes, a 10-man dance team set to perform at 10 home games this season. The group made its inaugural appearance at last Friday’s match-up with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Anderson is encouraged to entertain and amuse the crowd with dances, raps and sidesplitting moves. The group performs before and after the first period at specified games.
Noting the Beefcakes’ sizes, Anderson – himself 5-feet, 11 inches, and 369 pounds – said their builds range from "small to medium to large to extra large."
The performance is a bunch of "big guys turning it around, sticking it out and breaking it down," Anderson said. "People will be surprised."
The entertainer enjoys the response he has been getting for years from audiences and this new venture will only add to them.
"I want them to enjoy me and like what I’m doing," said Anderson, 36. "I’m getting through to them and making somebody’s day. If they’re feeling down and see me and start laughing for something I’m doing, that makes me feel good."
ANDERSON IS NO stranger to the limelight: he joined the rap group Tuff Crew in 1988 after meeting with its management at a club. Its debut album, "Danger Zone," soon went gold and the rapper fondly remembers opening for DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (the latter more popularly known as Will Smith) at the Spectrum.
The South Philadelphia High graduate also appeared on "Soul Train" and "The Arsenio Hall Show" during the group’s heyday. Embracing its stardom, the group occasionally took part in celebrity outings and enjoyed free meals. The group remained together for five years before disbanding in 1992, which allowed Anderson, then 21, to pursue new endeavors.
Left with a love for entertaining, he formed his own promotions company, Monty-G’s Entertainment, in 1999. Anderson has organized parties and promotions for rap groups throughout Baltimore, New York City and Philadelphia. The company is still in existence.
Since he was serving a more behind-the-scenes role, Anderson yearned to perform again. He began taking part in promotional gigs for various radio and TV stations, including dressing up as Big Momma from the Martin Lawrence flick "Big Momma’s House." He even utilized his talent of impersonating voices, which he has perfected since the 1980s, when he remembers imitating Bill Cosby and the late Rodney Dangerfield.
"I entertain. I hype the crowd up," Anderson said. "Most people … can’t entertain the crowd like I do."
And his presence is what landed him the gig with the Sixers. While performing on a WTXF Fox-29 news segment "So You Think You Can Dance?" he was noticed by the team’s officials. He was immediately asked to attend tryouts for the Beefcakes in September with about 50 others.
"We just danced to certain songs and they saw how flexible we were and see if we had a problem being choreographed," he said.
Even so, he was not satisfied with his performance.
"Me being big, I do have some health problems, so at the time of the audition, I had sores on my feet from the shoes I was wearing," he said.
After a call back for a second audition, he received word from a Sixers employee he was a member of the Beefcakes.
"She doesn’t know that the time she called I was soaking my feet," he quipped.
Anderson, who practices with his group roughly three times a week, wants to endorse his new gig the biggest way he knows how.
"I’m hoping they wrap my truck up in the Beefcake logo so I can really promote it," said Anderson, who also works as a security guard at the Rock School, Broad and Washington streets.
While happy with the fame, Anderson simply wants his three children, Donté, 6, Dominique, 12, and Donald, 21, to be proud of their father. And purchasing a new home for his mother would be an added bonus.
"That’s what I’m hoping, to buy a nice house, a single house she wants with a nice picket fence with a nice backyard – not a bunch of dirt and trees in a back lot," he said.
