When the system has broken down, we rely on our artists and musicians to help process the devastation wrought. Gabriel Teodros puts words to the madness of Ferguson.
Category: Audio
NEW MUSIC: 80 Bars EP – Sam Lachow
In which do-it-all Town artist Sam Lachow takes a break from the boards and simply raps over beats you will instantly recognize. Enjoy your weekend, freestylers.
NEW MUSIC: “Moan” – Kublakai
Kublakai samples his all-time favorite song (Charles Mingus’ “Moanin'”) and lovingly re-imagines it as both an homage to the enigmatic jazz hero and a hip-hop call to creative arms. Co-produced by Kubi and Isaak Meek, this song is from the rapper’s forthcoming Wheels Up EP.
NEW MUSIC: Aura – Dex Amora
Dex Amora — Minnesota transplant and Golden Era nostalgist — dropped his eight-piece EP, Aura, earlier this month. The promising rapper finds community with similarly-minded producers Goldenbeets and SoulChef. Vintage samples, turntablism and obscure science drops abound on this worthy effort.
NEW MUSIC: Critical Trap – Mackned
The Thraxxhouse movement, collective — whatever you want to call it — continues to sprout limbs all up and down the West Coast. Mackned (formerly of another active local crew, the Moor Gang) is a key player, and here he is again with a dark, creeping and turnt effort, Critical Trap: Evil Ned Edition.
NEW MUSIC: “If I Fall” – Shelton Harris & Tyler Dopps (feat. Sam Lachow)
Shelton Harris and Tyler Dopps are preparing to release their debut album Lights, and “If I Fall” is the latest one-off from the MC/producer duo. Sam Lachow hops on to offer some insight into the creative process and the pitfalls of risking it all for the art you believe in. This is polished, well-crafted pop-rap and for that reason my cautiously optimistic ass remains, well, cautiously optimistic about what Shelton and Tyler might bring to the proverbial rap table. As the Seattle hip-hop super-continent continues to separate itself from one conglomerate mass into different subsets, acts like SH and TD seem poised to lead the charge for a younger, contemporary fan base whose listening tendencies trend toward the more accessible side of things.
NEW MUSIC: Nephilim & God’s Work – God Roza & Underworld Dust Funk
In fine dining lingo we would call this a “duo of Underworld Dust Funk records.” Or, “Underworld Dust Funk two ways.” This is not fine dining though, this is chilled, hyperbaric, quasi-occult chamber rap from the forward-thinking UDF collective. God and man collide in scriptural hip-hop verse on Nephilim (officially a solo album by God Roza) and God’s Work (branded a joint UDF EP). Pay homage, fuckers.
NEW MUSIC: Fated Empire – Fated Empire (prod. by Graves33)
Seattle rap underground wunderkind Graves33 follows up his Smoke Filled Rooms instrumental effort with a brand new album of nocturnal, headphone rap space: Fated Empire features a who’s who of like-minded rappers parsing somber thoughts over Graves’ un-sanctimonious compositions. Check it out before the fog lifts.
NEW MUSIC: “Do Better” – Perry Porter (prod. by Konrad OldMoney & STINT)
A pep talk disguised as a club track. Perry Porter strives to “Do Better” over upbeat production by Konrad OldMoney and STINT.
NEW MUSIC: 10′ – Bruce Leroy
Tacoma’s Bruce Leroy falls easily in line with the best hardest-working, effortlessly-sounding MCs making music. Think names like Elzhi and Phonte nationally, or Yirim Seck, Havi Blaze and John Crown locally. Bruce’s new EP 10′ is a swift but satisfying follow-up to his 2012 full-length Leroy. For the majority of his new work the currently-buzzing rapper strings together struggle bars and low-key braggadocio into a perfect rhythmic mesh. It’s an easy boom-bap groove for the first two-thirds of the record, until “You Heard Of Us” hits and Bruce Leroy performs a lyrical miracle.
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