Steezie’s co-pilot is his plug and his plug is “The Chemist.” Sometimes his girl will go get it. That’s about it for this one.
Insert coffee to begin.
NEW MUSIC: Get A Real Job You Fucking Losers – Ricky & Mark
Ricky and Mark are Ricky Pharoe and Mark Gajadhar (of Art Vandelay and Champagne Champagne, respectively). Their new EP, Get A Real Job You Fucking Losers, dropped last week and it’s a real peach of an album — a half-eaten, partially-bruised, disco ball-encrusted peach. Ricky called it “accessible” in an email to me which is true: it’s easily the most danceable collection of tracks he’s ever been a part of (see the new wave-ish “In The City” and thrashing pop of “Round n Round”). Luckily he also takes time out to rap hard (“Family Matters”) in his trademark half-empty beer glass pathos. Mark’s production is on point and displays his wide range of influences and far-flung methods of meshing different sounds into something resembling pop music. If you’re a “struggling artist” trying to convince your unimpressed parents that you indeed have a future career in music, maybe Get A Real Job will finally make them see the light.
Preview the EP below and check out Ricky and Mark’s latest video for “Round n Round” below that.
28HUNDRED & PASSION OF THE WEISS PRESENT: Adrian Younge
206UP and Jae Change have collaborated to form 28Hundred, a new media company dedicated to producing original video content and in-depth, personality-driven interviews with some of your favorite artists. Stay tuned here for the latest 28Hundred productions.
For 28Hundred’s latest trick, Jae and I managed to talk our way into interviewing producer/composer Adrian Younge — favored R&B, soul and hip-hop renaissance man — for Passion of the Weiss, one of my absolute favorite hip-hop sites in the world. Owner, editor and journalist Jeff Weiss even let me write a few words and you can read all of those, here. As far as Adrian Younge goes, he was cool as a cucumber and his new collaboration with seminal Bay Area outfit Souls of Mischief is more than worth your time. Check out their There Is Only Now, here.
NEW MUSIC: “Action Figures (Remix)” – Sam Lachow (feat. Mario Sweet & Sol)
Sam Lachow’s glistening Seattle summer anthem gets the remix treatment courtesy of himself, co-producer John Martin and local favorite Sol. Mario Sweet is still around as well to provide the necessary back-up vocals. Grab Sam’s excellent Huckleberry, here, and watch the video for the original album version of “Action Figures” below.
NEW MUSIC: Enemy Within The Original Soundtrack – Nate Omdal & Spekulation
Seattle-based producers/composers Nate Omdal and Spekulation scored the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed short film Enemy Within, an engrossing allegorical quasi-documentary featuring four of the most accomplished dancers in their respective genres. Even if dance isn’t necessarily your “thing” — and I’m certainly no expert on the art form — this film will hold you rapt for its entire 18 minute running time. That’s owed to the incredible ranges of motion exhibited by the film’s principle dancers who interpret Omdal and Spek’s vital instrumentals beautifully and evocatively. Enemy Within The Original Soundtrack shows the impressive range of these two Seattle musicians, both known for their work in hip-hop; here their compositions are also informed by jazz, classical and electronic music.
NEW MUSIC: “Lonewolf And Cub” – Lonewolf And Cub (prod. by Jazzper Hop)
Wu-Tang worship abounds on “Lonewolf And Cub,” the self-titled debut track from Tacoma via Tri-Cities representative Shao Sosa and his real-life kin Nobi. This is the first release in a series of joints by the father-son duo that will trace the lineage between Golden Era and modern-day hip-hop. We can dig it.
NEW MUSIC: Locals Only – Donte Peace
Seattle rap upstart Donte Peace dropped this new EP, Locals Only, last month. According to the artist, there are two sides to this album’s story: Side A is “relaxed” and “chill,” and Side B is full of “bangers.” You be the judge.
NEW MUSIC: “Future is Bright” – Theoretics (feat. Shelton Harris)
Fresh for your Monday: the Theoretics with their latest One A Month drop, “Future is Bright,” featuring young Shelton Harris. Grab it for free below.
206UP FIVE YEAR (2009-14): The Top 15 Albums
Better late than never … 206UP concludes its run of special features in celebration of the blog’s five-year anniversary. For all past related entries, see here. For yet another controversial, internet-exploding list of music-related opinion, see below.
Herein lies The Top 15 Seattle Hip-Hop Albums of the Last Five Years*, according to the often-tardy but never half-formed opinions of 206UP.COM. We present 15 because ten seemed too few and 20 too many. If an album made this list, we wanted it to actually mean something.
These are the albums that spoke to us the most over the course of the last five years. In revisiting these records — and many, many others — during the formation of this list, it was interesting to track how the perception and opinion of the music changed from the very first listen to the umpteenth spin. The benefit of hindsight and the context in which you’re experiencing the music is always in play when compiling a list like this, which might help explain why the album that originally held the unequivocal top spot in our minds, in fact changed upon later re-visit, replaced by a collection of tracks that — in our opinion — stands impervious to criticism in their breadth of creativity, profoundness and accessibility. If you’re an everyday reader of this blog, you probably already know what record I’m talking about.
And with that, hit the jump to read the rest.
*7/5/09 through 7/5/14
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 