AUDIO: Son of Barkada – The Bar (prod. by DJ Nphared)

SON OF BARKADA COVER LG

Prometheus Brown and Bambu are The Bar. They are on a West Coast tour. They have a new EP. Son of Barkada is a self-referential curio; an objet d’art for the Filipino community (and those desperately wanting to be down). Maybe, just maybe, if you’re on that Tyrese artwork, you too could be baptized in The Bar’s holy rap waters.

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AUDIO: This Summer – Brothers From Another

This Summer - BFA

Brothers From Another waited for the perfect moment — and the perfect Seattle summer — to drop their best work yet. The trio of Isaiah, Cole and DJ Beeba is billing This Summer as their “debut album,” certainly a debate-able declaration considering the group’s extensive back catalog, but let’s not split hairs here. Summer is the feel-good Seattle rap record of the year — hands down — and you don’t need to look any further for the perfect soundtrack to bump with the sunroof open. BFA makes the Town living so easy.

[Update, 8/2/15: Click here for our full album review of BFA’s This Summer, published on City Arts online.]

Album Reviews Audio Audio / Video

VIDEO: “Beautiful Scene” – BenadriLL

If you’re a rapper from the Town this is about the only way to get a Macklemore feature these days.

Lakehouse Entertainment’s BenadriLL enlists the help (sort of) of Ben Haggerty and the Goonies — a dream team if there ever was one, amirite? — to realize a brighter future.

Audio / Video Video

AUDIO: Personal Sunlight – SassyBlack

SassyBlack - Personal Sunlight

The women of THEESatisfaction are finding their respective grooves outside the bounds of a creative union and that’s fresh as hell.

SassyBlack (aka. Catherine Harris-White) has a few projects under her belt. The most recent is Personal Sunlight, a brief 6-song EP that bends, flows and stutters in many unexpected directions. Sassy’s self-reflection and free form vocal instincts set the pace, which isn’t necessarily beholden to a metronome. The record is simple, yet oh so complicated, as anything so Personal should be.

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AUDIO: “Crushin'” – Malice & Mario Sweet

Malice & Mario Sweet - SMS

Malice and Mario Sweet have added a third vocalist, Shelby Poole, to their already dynamic R&B/hip-hop/soul mix. The trio’s new EP is called S.M.S. and you can grab it on iTunes here. Preview the group’s latest single “Crushin'” which documents the temptations that arise when your significant other brings their sexy friends around. Ruh roh.

Audio Audio / Video