Underworld Dust Funk’s Paid Roza made a love song. It’s moody and dark as fuck. And you expected something different?
Insert coffee to begin.
VIDEO: “Our Dream” – Mostafa & Deep Lemon
From the recesses of the deep underground Pacific Northwest rap scene, Mostafa (MC) and Deep Lemon (producer) with their new video “Our Dream” from their full-length collab, Calendar Year Vol. II.
SHOW REVIEW: Yasiin Bey at Showbox Market – Wednesday, 10.8.14
Showbox, Dead Nation and Reign City Present: Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) with Lilla & Raz Simone | Showbox Market | Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Show review by Emery Desper. Photography by Rafael Ochoa.
One could argue that it is hard to be innovative when it comes to rap music. It might even be harder to be innovative when performing rap music. Most musicians stand on stage, hold the mic, walk around a little bit, and then take a pause to say, “How y’all feel?” This is not bad of course. There is nothing wrong with just performing your songs; that’s what people are there to see, after all.
But Raz Simone impressed me by stepping out of the box and, in this case, off the stage to do something that never even crossed my mind until I saw it with my own eyes. Midway through his opening set last Wednesday night at Showbox at the Market, he hopped off stage after he had been working the entire room, and asked the crowd to gather in a circle. He rapped passionately in the middle of the floor, the highlight being when he performed his love letter to Seattle — a cover of Adele’s “Hometown Glory” — standing eye-to-eye with the audience. He hugged people in the crowd, jumped up and down and even finished his set by being hoisted up, literally on the shoulders of the people he was performing for. Call me sentimental, but this gave me a lot of hope for rap music in general and made me proud of Seattle rap in particular.
NEW MUSIC: “Animals” – Doze (feat. Onry Ozzborn & IAME)
Onry Ozzborn and Portland’s IAME hop on the track “Animals,” from Sioux Falls-based producer Doze. His compilation album, Hell Is Hot As Hell, Boss, also features an appearance by Graves33. Preview and download this worthy banger below.
VIDEO: “Gone” – Lo Down (dir. by Dyllyn Greenwood)
Lo Down’s is a voice you’ve probably never heard before. Dyllyn Greenwood directed “Gone,” the first video by this up-and-coming Seattle rapper, and DJ Vega produced the track. You can grab it for free here if you’re feeling it.
NEW MUSIC: A Beautiful Funeral – Ripynt
From the depths of the neglected email inbox: Ripynt’s latest, A Beautiful Funeral. More hard-edged, technically proficient, big beat and synth hardcore from the North End native. Rapper, producer and studio engineer Carl Roe again rides shotgun throughout this 18-track effort. Worth your time.
And check out the music video/short film for the track “Never Give It Up.”
NEW MUSIC: “DB Shooter” – Nacho Picasso (feat. Jarv Dee; prod. by SAT Beats)
We missed this Nacho x Jarv x SAT Beats one-off when it dropped back in early August: “DB Shooter” (not to be confused with DB Cooper or DB Sweeney.)
NEW MUSIC: Nick Johnson EP Vol. 1 – EarDr.Umz & T-Bone Steak
Bonafide Seattle crate-digger EarDr.Umz and fellow beat cohort T-Bone Steak sampled, chopped and looped together this collection of head-nodding instrumentals and tagged it with the furtive title, Nick Johnson EP Vol. 1. It’s a passing homage to Captain Baltic (government name, you guessed it: Nick Johnson) who began his run as a resident jazz DJ in 1963 at KRAB, a listener-supported FM station with a politically subversive bent. This dusty sprinkling of classically-minded boom-bap rolls along in that spirit. Good stuff.
NEW MUSIC: Symbiosis – Araless
Black Magic Noize crew member Araless dropped his new album, Symbiosis, earlier this week. Unsurprisingly, it nods to the Golden Era of hip-hop with a sample heavy, boom-bap aesthetic. There are a some nice surprises in here, like the Charlie Brown Christmas hack “Brutal Murder” (featuring Hash Adams), and the previously released “Cloudcatchers” (featuring New York MC Mike Larry Draw), a meditative, philosophical stroll through the rap haze. Ara does his due diligence with a studied, diverse flow. A solid project all around from one of the Town’s lesser-known artists.
NEW MUSIC: Maladjusted – Mega Evers
Mega Evers — relentless street rapper, unofficial official Central District reporter — follows up his No Concept The Mixtape with this six-piece EP, Maladjusted. Featuring production by Nima Skeemz and Fano, this eyewitness account of the CD is crucial to the conflict going on in the Town.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 