The Flavr Blue inhabit the spirit of DJ Mustard on “Pretty Girl,” a new single from the trio featuring Oakland’s YMTK (Young Murph The Kid). The recipe here is simple — bounce + synth + four-note key progression — but the result is resplendent like the late afternoon sun setting on the Pacific.
New Yorkers: Catch The Flavr Blue’s DJ gig at Brooklyn Bowl, April 10.
Bruce Leroy’s 10 Feet was one of this blog’s favorite hip-hop records from the Northwest last year. Go get that now. The track “Nutrition” gets a set of appropriately chilled-out visuals courtesy director Lea Godoy. Tragedy Jones on the production tip.
206UP extends our reach into the South Sound region and into the realm of electro-power pop with Vicci Martinez’s latest track, “Unleashed.” This is the third release from the former The Voice contestant’s collaborative project with fellow Tacoma artists Enter-Exit-Stay. My recent listening habits have trended deep into radio-friendly territory and this track scratches that itch and then some.
Spekulation samples local indie rock hero Prom Queen for his latest treatise on America’s assortment of fucked-up scenarios. “Only You” is depressing, but seductively so.
Filmed on location in some scrap yards in Queens and what appears to be the dankest house party in Long Island City, Seattle native and NYC-based Aaron Cohen and his Inner City Kids teammate ABGoHard with a new track and video, “Right Here” from their upcoming Ugly Boyz EP.
Black Magic Noize and Filthy Fingers United cohort Araless dropped a beat tape, Filthy Digits, which is a compilation of his instrumentals produced in conjunction with FFU. Aspiring rappers, go in.
“Highly anticipated” is a hyperbolic phrase that gets thrown around too often, much like “hottest rapper in the game” and “New England Patriots dynasty.”
The Cigar Room, Neema’s (ahem) highly anticipated album with producer Keyboard Kid, has simmered somewhere on a hard drive for a long enough stretch of time that the street’s anticipation for the conspicuously missing album has come in, out and back in fashion like a pair of acid washed jeans. So the phrase is still apropos, especially on the proverbial eve of the record actually hitting pavement via an appropriately provincial debut at The Jet Bar & Grill in Mill Creek tonight (which also serves as the kick-off of a regional mini-tour). The online release via iTunes is set to happen in a week.
Score one for the slow rap movement*.
We’re especially happy over here at 206UP because Mr. 10K himself has graciously allowed us to premier the latest single from The Cigar Room: “SuperSonic Keyboard” which features guest shots from fellow Seattle rap populists Grynch and Prometheus Brown. This track finds the three posted up in the backroom, preferred carnal delights being enjoyed by the respective rappers: a surprise striptease for Neema, open flask for Pro Brown, and bitch-slaps for subpar MCs trading in his style for the King of Ballard. It’s all adorned with additional vocals by Latin Rose and J Landis, and Keyboard Kid’s reclined production, which vaguely references the best R&B stylings of the mid-’90s. Smoke one, as they say.
UPDATE (11:21 AM PST): Catch Neema answering questions on the Hip-Hop Heads Northwest Reddit board #AMA today at 4 PM PST.
“SuperSonic Keyboard” – Neema (feat. Grynch & Prometheus Brown; prod. by Keyboard Kid):
*I may or may not have just coined this phrase. Shout-out to the slow food movement for the inspiration.
Sam Lachow and buzzing (and buzzed) Tempe, AZ rapper Futuristic are profane party rap soul mates and soon-to-be tour buddies. Check their new video “Watch Yo Mouth” below and catch them causing trouble in your town soon. Man I hope they paid that mini Mr. T a fair appearance fee.
You might remember Stoned Ape (fka HD Thuro) and his collaborative project The Stone Tape with producer Ill Pill. If not, refresh your memory with the rapper’s new electro-tinged single “Waves” produced by Nima Skeemz and from Stoned’s upcoming This Is Not For Your Entertainment which also features production work by Elan Wright and Ill Pill.
Certified Outfit are Church (rapper, producer) and Swindle (rapper), two Spokane natives who are currently based in Seattle. Their new EP, True Grit, is the latest in a long line of releases from the duo that rarely see shine on the local blogs. Certified have a relatively light digital footprint which means once removed outlets like 206UP (our editor-in-chief is New York-based, as you may know) must rely on trustworthy word-of-mouth conduits like underground media connect — and friend of the blog — Shao Sosa, who hipped us to the group.
True Grit is a testament to the craft of street rap, an indicator that a nuanced approach and very specific framework is always necessary to producing a worthy entry to the revered (and much maligned) sub-genre. This belies the nature of the music — at least on a superficial level — which is generally aggressive and willfully violent. Where True Grit succeeds — and I’m sure how Certified Outfit would emphatically describe themselves — is in its bullish, naked honesty. Here, veracity is not only a principle under which Certified operates, it’s a necessity.
The eight tracks on True Grit are hulking street anthems. Each moves at a deliberate pace with heavy keys, perfectly interpolated sample loops, and raps that claim painful histories while simultaneously seeking the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. There’s also a melancholic soulfulness to many of these tracks which adds additional dimension and just the right amount of levity; Church and Swindle represent themselves as hardened street soldiers but you never get the sense they’re broken souls.
Stream True Grit below and watch the video for “So Real” below that.
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