New hair, new steez. Avatar Darko with a new video directed by Avi Loud. Too many “Chinese Tacos” before bedtime and you end up crashing out in the bed of your El Camino. The beat(s) — and video — are a beast: somewhere between a nightmare and a beautiful sunset.
Established industry beatmaker MTK with a new round of instrumentals for your wanting-ass. Budding rappers go forth and be mediocre over the very non-mediocre Sophisticated Slap 2.
“From The Jump” is all tense keys and victory lap raps by producer Aviel Ben Yamin and Moor Gang rapper Thaddeus David, respectively. Directed by BV Hutch Visuals.
The most buzzed about local crew in recent weeks is the Seattle and LA-based Thraxxhouse collective — though they don’t like to be referred to in that way. Co-ringleader Mackned has a new record called Female making the rounds on your favorite music sites and “Hearin’ Nothin'” is from that. Video directed by Will Hoopes and track by Tommy Kruise. Thraxxhouse had an epic (by many accounts) show at the Crocodile earlier this month. Check out the photo set from that evening here.
Donte Peace has carved out a nice lane for himself in the Seattle rap scene: a little offbeat and streetwise, his self-admitted “conscious” track “Black Jesus” is for nighttime riding and reflecting. Produced by Basquiat.
Joey Kash brought his friend D Valley along. “Real N*gga Ill N*gga” is from Joey’s recent Paid the Co$t. The video was directed by Dylln Greenwood and the track produced by trap maestro Rob Skeetz.
10.4 Rog, the producer behind a grip of quality hip-hop and electronic music out of Seattle, dropped a new collection of instrumental tracks called The Vibe Continuum back in July. Worthy of unwinding while you twist that good, play at a reasonable volume as the sun sets on an amazing Seattle summer.
Raz Simone’s latest video entry, “Oh Lord,” finds the rapper speaking truth to power in a natural setting that looks conspicuously like the one Macklemore and Ryan Lewis used in their “Otherside” video. Raz name checks Macklemore in the third verse, noting the pop star’s as-yet unreleased “White Privilege 2,” a song rumored to be part of Mack and RL’s upcoming sophomore LP. (Some questions, though: How can a track called “White Privilege 2” be anything but reductive in an ongoing conversation about the very topic? At what point does Macklemore speaking openly about his privilege become more about him and less about the actual issue? After all, in about 99% of discussions about race it’s more productive for white folks to just shut the fuck up and listen than it is for them to ramble on about what it means to them.)
In any case, Raz’s output this year has generated more words-per-post from your loyal blogger than any other Town hip-hop artist, which means he’s either really good at pushing buttons, or he’s on to something much larger and provocative than his peers. It’s probably a bit of both. “Oh Lord” finds Raz at his best, reserving valuable bars for conveying concerns both communal and personal (see also: “They’ll Speak”). In other instances he can be frustratingly confounding — though no less visceral and inciting — which, I’ve mentioned before, engenders multitudes. That’s hip-hop, though.
Tracing Kung Foo Grip’s rise from entertaining rap cypher scene-stealers to their newest — and most accomplished — album, The New Flesh, is to witness the veritable growth arc of a duo of uber-talented MCs right before your very eyes. It’s like one of those fast motion scenes in a nature documentary: the caterpillar emerging triumphantly from its cocoon. Or something.
The New Flesh finds KFG making stylistic musical turns without losing its lyrical style which remains deeply embedded in the acrobatic. Once part of the new guard themselves, Kung Foo Grip now helps set the pace for the kiddos coming up behind them.
Gifted Gab — the best rapper in Seattle (yeah, you heard us right) — released this video for “187” back in June and forgot to tell us about it. We forgive her, though. From Gabby’s Girl Rap LP which is aging like a fine wine.
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