Porter Ray quietly dropped this video for “Float” (off his BLK GLD LP of last year) back in April. PR’s flow is the aural equivalent of a perfectly meandering channel of water. Smoke one in a quiet forest and watch a stream eddy and progress by. You’ll see what I mean.
Insert coffee to begin.
NEW MUSIC: “Everything” – Thaddeus David (feat. T Spoon & Stewart Villain)
Moor Gang’s Thaddeus David (with help from neighbors in the PDX, T Spoon and Stewart Villain) re-imagines a classic beat for “Everything”, a summer riding anthem suitable for anyone residing on the West Coast of these contiguous states.
VIDEO: “Venus In Transit” – RA Scion & Vox Mod (feat. Blake Lewis; dir. by Casey Sjogren)
(Sorry, can’t get the embed code to work for the full video. Above is a preview clip. View the entire thing, here.)
RA Scion’s new video for “Venus In Transit” — featuring production by Seattle electronic music maestro Vox Mod and vocals by Blake Lewis — premiered yesterday on Yahoo Music. The video, directed by Casey Sjogren, looks and sounds great, and feels different from everything RA has released previously (though his role reprisal as a member of the proletariat class is steadily familiar). Blake Lewis (whose Portrait of a Chameleon dropped May 20) does his best Justin Timberlake impression in the dramatic clip. “Venus In Transit” is from RA and Vox’s Sharper Tool Bigger Weapon.
28HUNDRED PRESENTS: Jake Crocker
206UP and Jae Changehave 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.
In 28Hundred’s latest exclusive interview, we sat down with producer Jake Crocker in New York City to discuss the Seattle native’s earliest days hustling beats on the internet, to getting linked with Raz Simone and his Black Umbrella team. Peep game above. Also check out Jake’s most recent project, the American Dreams EP featuring rapper Ronnie, Dylan below.
SHOW & TICKET GIVEAWAY: Shad at Barboza – Wednesday, June 11 [CONTEST CLOSED]
Shad is huge in Canada. Bigger — in 2010 apparently — than even Drake, when the London, Ontario MC beat out the T-Dot’s favorite son for one of Canadian music’s coveted Juno awards. (My wife, who is Canadian, would not like that I used the ridiculous abbreviated version of her hometown’s name, but she is not here right now and I’m pretending to not know any better.) Shad’s latest album, 2013’s Flying Colours, was similarly well-received in our neighbor to the north and now the self-deprecating, socially-minded rapper is beginning to find buzz in the States.
You’re in luck, Seattle, because Shad is coming to Barboza this Wednesday* (6/11/14), and 206UP is pleased to be offering a pair of tickets to one lucky reader. Here’s how to enter: Send an email or tweet to 206upblog@gmail.com or @206upBlog with the phrase “SHAD >>> DRAKE AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT!” somewhere in the body of the message; OR simply fill out the form below. We’ll pick one name at random this Tuesday and inform the winner by email. Reminder: Just because the legal drinking age in Canada is 18 doesn’t mean this show is for you — sorry, kids, 21 and over only.
*Also on deck for support are Grammy-nom’ed South Sound artist Q-Dot and BFA’s DJ and indispensable music video extra Nick Beeba.
SHOW & TICKET GIVEAWAY: Space Theory Presents MoRuf at Re-Bar – Saturday, June 7
Catherine Harris-White — one half of Sub Pop recording artists THEESatisfaction — will present an assemblage of supreme hip hop talent this Saturday at Re-Bar in Seattle via her Space Theory promotions company, an entity that has sponsored events in Seattle, Toronto and Brooklyn, and which seeks to examine your “perceptions of space through event production and curation”. Sounds dope to us.
Also sounding dope is this Saturday’s lineup which will introduce New Jersey hip hop artist MoRuf to Seattle. His fluid raps and sixth sense-like storytelling ability make for compelling listening. Check for his sounds here and watch the impressively cool video for his track “Buckle Up” below. Also joining the bill are local purveyors of that quality: OC Notes, Porter Ray and Cat’s partner in music Stas (appearing in strict selector form as DJ Stas THEE Boss).
Oh, one more tidbit: 206UP has your exclusive lead on a FREE PAIR OF TICKETS (er, make that guest list privileges — check ’em at the door — see what I did there?). You need only accomplish one of the following two tasks to win: Send us an email to 206upblog@gmail.com OR a tweet to @206upBlog with the words “SPACE THEORY GOT ME HIGH!” somewhere in the body of the transmission. We’ll select one name at random and the winner will get passes for him/her and one co-pilot. This is a 21 and over event, however, so Space Camp kiddies need not apply.
NEW MUSIC: “Nowhere To Be Found” – Avatar Darko (prod. by Southside of 808 Mafia)
Avatar Darko’s Soviet Goonion 3 is set for a mid- to late-June release. Now that that’s settled, “Nowhere To Be Found” lets us know where Av is likely to be, well, found: in speedboats, Audis, and the company of bad women with controlled substances. Who cares if he still can’t grow a beard?
NEW MUSIC: “Nights With Aliens” – Key Nyata (prod. by Maximus Nedrick)
Here’s a vague one-off by Key Nyata about aliens and stuff. It’s bolstered by the frantic pleas of a paranoid alien abductee (I think) rambling about the ETs coming for our populated areas. Bill Pullman, save us.
NEW MUSIC: $WAMP JAM$ II: MORE $WAMP – Don’t Talk To The Cops!
Don’t Talk To The Cops! had their swan song performance a few weeks ago at Chop Suey — such an appropriate place for one last go — and I hear it was a natural and zesty enterprise. Unfortunately I wasn’t there. Relive it though on their $WAMP JAM$ II: MORE $WAMP (capital letters and “$”‘s theirs). It’s possible DtttC! invented the Seattle turn-up, a microgenre of the regular turn-up and, many will argue, superior in most ways to the original.
VIDEO: “Cult Leader” – Sadistik
Fake Four recording artist Sadistik lives up to his nom de guerre in his latest self-directed video, “Cult Leader”. “Meant to cause discomfort,” this is a hell of a way to introduce the veteran MC’s upcoming album, Ultraviolet (due July 1), which features such hip hop luminaries as Nacho Picasso, Tech N9ne, and the late Eyedea.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 