The audience already knew what to do.

But Latour, a disc jockey on Lansing's hip-hop radio station WQHH (96.5-FM), just wanted to make the rules clear.

"Now if it's good, you clap. And if it's wack, you boo. Now let's practice," he said, as the crowd proceeded to clap and boo.

About 2,000 students and Lansing-area residents piled into the Auditorium to see "Puttin' on the Hitz" Saturday night, a talent show that showcases singers, dancers and rappers from around the state.

"Hitz" was modeled after amateur talent shows at the Apollo Theater, a fixture in New York since the 1930s. In 1983, "It's Showtime at the Apollo" debuted on national television.

No matter what the act, the performer is in jeopardy of being booed off the stage by the crowd.

If any performer missed a step, hit a wrong note or forgot the words, the crowd of onlookers would show no mercy. Their loud boos would bring out someone known as the Sandman, who would jump out on stage with a broom and sweep the unlucky performer off stage while a police siren blared in the background.

Singer Nick T. fell victim to the audience. He stepped on stage and rubbed a knee-high log called "the lucky stump," which is supposed to ward off the audience's boos. But before he could complete one verse of Jaheim's "Anything," the Sandman got him.

Performance after performance, the audience grew more and more restless through the night. Some were booed, some were applauded.

And then Charise Miles took the stage.

The 1993 MSU graduate stood in the middle of the stage. Murmurs of "Who is she?" and "She better not mess up" buzzed through the room.

She went into a version of Yolanda Adams' "Open My Heart" and won the audience after the first line.

Miles ended up winning the contest, taking home a trophy and $500. She said she has been singing gospel since she was 2.

"God is good," Miles said. "I just use what God gave me and use my voice to God's glory."

Miles added she didn't feel out of place singing a gospel song among the numerous hip-hop acts presented that night.

"It's like 'Star Search,' where you lump it all together," she said. "The modeling, the singing, the dancing - and they pick who's the best."

Proceeds from the show go to Advent House Ministries Inc., Relay for Life and Lansing City Rescue Mission.

Joshua Gillespie, the event's organizer, said this was a prototype for bigger things to come.

"We'll definitely do it again next year," he said. "You can tell by the audience's response that it was successful. We really had the Apollo effect."