Although the multitiered dance floor of Tatoo, 420 E. College Ave., may not have been the ideal setting for a live band, A Tribe Called Quest proved Monday night that the band, not the venue, makes the show.

Starting just after 11 p.m., Tribe kicked out the jams to audience members who found themselves crowded into small dance confines after enduring up to an hour in a line outside in the freezing cold.

But as soon as the rappers began playing, the crowd warmed up and began moving as best it could. When Tribe wrapped the show up soon after midnight, many people stayed to dance as Tatoo continued playing hip-hop until 2 a.m.

Tribe frontmen Phife-Dawg and Q-Tip proved they knew who made up most of their audience. They asked about upcoming midterms and wondered, "What the hell is, 'We are?' " leading into a round of "We are . . . Penn State."

Attempts at dancing -- or even moving -- were severely hampered around the stage. But people tried their hardest to groove when Tribe broke into songs such as "Electric Relaxation" and "Award Tour" from the band's latest album, Midnight Marauders.

Most of the crowd recognized songs from Midnight Marauders, but the number of people who recognized songs from the band's older albums seemed to surprise even the band members.

Ever since they first hit the scene with those older songs --and continuing today with the new album -- Tribe has been known for playing the cool, jazzy hip-hop that bands such as Us 3 are capitalizing on, rather than the gangsta sounds of rappers such as Dr. Dre or Ice Cube.

Before the show, Phife-Dawg commented on current trends in rap music.

"Some of it's cool -- if you give me two sides to the story," he said about gangsta rap. "I shot this bitch and I got away, that's not reality -- reality is, I shot the motherfucker and now the cops are after me."

As for the mellow sounds of Tribe, De La Soul, Us 3 and other non-gangsta types, Phife-Dawg didn't have as strong an opinion.

"It's cool," he said. "The more the better."

The success of these bands has resulted in their playing almost anywhere -- even in State College.

State College's own attempt at this rap style, Deep Thought, warmed the crowd up before Tribe. Scott Jung, the group's producer, said he was excited just to get the exposure in the relatively poor local rap scene.

De La Soul was also supposed to play last night, but canceled because rapper Posdnuos tore ligaments in his knee. Dante's Restaurant's Inc., owner of Tatoo, wants to reschedule the show.