A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG

January 30, 2015February 8, 2015

TICKET GIVEAWAY: The Value of Black Life Art Showcase at EMP Museum feat. Talib Kweli & Draze – Saturday, February 7, 2015

206UP has partnered with The Brand Kings to bring you EMP Museum’s Black History Month kick-off event: Through the Eyes of Art featuring The Value of Black Life art showcase, on Saturday, February 7, 2015. Talib Kweli and Seattle’s own Draze are the featured performers.

Enter to win a pair of tickets courtesy of 206UP!

Fill out the form below for a chance to win a pair of tickets. Names will be drawn at random on Thursday, February 5 and winners will be informed by email no later than 5 pm PST the same day. Deadline for entry is 12 noon PST, Thursday, February 5. All ages.

Thanks for entering and we’ll see you there!

Details from the EMP Museum website:

The Brandkings and EMP Museum present Through the Eyes of Art, the kickoff event for EMP’s Black History Month celebration.

This year, Seattle’s premier Black History Month celebration brings together work from regional artists and photographers in The Value of Black Life art showcase.

The second annual Through the Eyes of Art will feature a keynote address from the former National Director of Youth Engagement at World Vision Derrick Wheeler-Smith, remarks from City of Seattle Mayor Ed Murray and Seattle City Council Member Bruce Harrell, and a live performance by hip-hop heavyweights Talib Kweli and Draze.

Ticket Giveaways

January 30, 2015February 17, 2015

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INTERVIEW: “Week 147 – The Seattle Episode” – Razor Tongue Radio (feat. 206UP… Hey, that’s ME!)

In which I try to say some intelligent things about police brutality, hip-hop music and the temperatures of football fandom in New York City and Arizona. Listen to the podcast here.

Many thanks to B-Dub and Shao Sosa of Razor Tongue Radio for having me on again!

Interviews

January 30, 2015

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AUDIO: Under The Sea – Keyboard Kid

The Thraxxhouse collective finished off 2014 with a roundhouse of dank, nocturnal uppercuts. Listening to these releases feels like being gently knocked in the head by a brick wrapped in hot wet towels and fragrant lemon peels. Check the turnt somnambulance of Keyboard Kid’s Under The Sea.

Audio Audio / Video

January 29, 2015February 13, 2015

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AUDIO: Cognitive Dissonance: Part 2 – Raz Simone

You’ve probably seen Raz Simone lighting up this and other online outlets with his song drops over the course of the last ten weeks. It all culminated yesterday with the official free release of his Cognitive Dissonance: Part 2, the sequel to last year’s initial foray into a major label partnership with Lyor Cohen’s 300 Entertainment.

Taken in its entirety, CD2 makes for an even greater cinematic listening experience than its predecessor. Things sound a little bleaker this time around. The record finds Raz holding more folks at arms length, and he’s often acting out with impunity against enemies both real and perceived. Might this have something to do with hard lessons learned in the proverbial rap game?

Maybe; maybe not. As with hip-hop’s other great narrators, sometimes the most formidable enemy is the one encountered within, and Raz’s greatest asset as a writer remains his ability to remain brutally honest not only with his audience, but himself. His dedicated Black Umbrella family (that would be Sam Lachow, producer Jake Crocker, and a grip of other behind-the-scenes capos) is also on hand to provide backup.

Stream Cognitive Dissonance: Part 2 below, or grab the download here.

Audio Audio / Video

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

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AUDIO: “Thanks For Asking (Won’t Get Fined Remix)” – Spekulation (feat. Marshawn Lynch)

Consider these the motions then…

Again, from the region of socked-in cloud cover, emerge heroes bedecked in blue and green,

Statements of purpose made in bygone Roman procession (XLVIII).

The royal legion. The taciturn pivot-er.

If insanity is the repetition of action with recapitulated stead, then let us suffer again as ignoramuses,

Of Spekulation and Marshawn. Of Seahawks and Champions.

Audio Audio / Video

January 28, 2015January 28, 2015

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AUDIO: Sirens – 88 Ultra

88 Ultra (also known as Kingston) is one half of production duo Blue Sky Black Death, the outfit responsible for some of Seattle’s most memorable hip-hop of late (see: Nacho Picasso). BSBD has a knack for churning out atmospheric and nefarious digital soundscapes, building off certain on-trend production values in a way that channels the oft gothic-like cloud cover of the Pacific Northwest. Sirens continues in that mode albeit reigned by 88’s hazy sensibilities alone.

Audio Audio / Video

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

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AUDIO: “Smoke Pt. 1” – C. Ray

Channeling the meanest of the Death Row-era SoCal rap artists, Tri-Cities MC and producer C. Ray conjures the anti-hero we need in these trying times in “Smoke Part 1.” Thanks to Shao Sosa for putting 206UP onto C. Ray. The Tri is a little outside the perimeter, but then again so am I. Ha.

Audio Audio / Video

January 27, 2015

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AUDIO: “The Lights” – Raz Simone (prod. by Raz & Jake Crocker)

The final episode (number 11 if you’re counting) in Raz Simone’s lead-up to the release of his Cognitive Dissonance: Part 2, is a quiet moment. “The Lights” reminds me of Wyclef Jean’s best ballads: half sung, half rapped, with a spiritual heaviness and weary resilience that conjures rap music’s mighty forebear, the blues.

Audio Audio / Video

January 27, 2015February 3, 2015

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THE SIX: Jake Crocker

206UP first met hip-hop producer Jake Crocker in February 2014 at a 300 Entertainment listening session for Raz Simone’s Cognitive Dissonance: Part 1. Jake was barely out of high school and about to embark on a bonafide real-world education with his close music partner, Raz. The classroom? The notoriously lecherous music industry.

By all accounts, Jake is an honor roll student, having survived a months-long tour in 2014 with Raz (whose team served as the opening act for Rittz’s OD Tour) and as an instrumental player in the roll-out to the hotly anticipated Cognitive Dissonance: Part 2, set to drop online for free tomorrow (Wednesday, 1/28). Jake again plays an integral part in the production of the new album, his dramatic musical backdrops lending emotional heft so vital to Raz’s confessional style.

Focused, dedicated and refreshingly earnest, Jake Crocker hopped on 206UP’s THE SIX to provide insight into his new life as a working creative.