TrackMeet back again. For the uninitiated: this semi-regular feature is a song competition in which three up-and-coming Seattle-area artists are pitted against each for ULTIMATE RAP SUPREMACY! Or something.
Voting is left to you, the readers, to decide who has the freshest track. Polls stay open for exactly one week and each winning song (see past editions here) will be featured on an upcoming mixtape from 206UP.COM. If you’re an artist interested in submitting a song for competition, get at me with the mp3 and a press photo at 206upblog@gmail.com.
Three new artists, three new tracks. You know what it is.
The dude Nam, in collaboration with The Physics crew, are responsible for the track “#106” and accompanying video and t-shirt.
Nam pretty much said everything over at his blog so I won’t say much more here other than after living in New York City for the last four years I understand the value of public transportation so much better now. It’s a humble yet socially responsible endeavor that I unfortunately never engaged in when living in Seattle, mostly due to the nature of my work.
The daily pilgrimage becomes mundane after a while, but there’s also something oddly romantic and meditative about having those bus or train routes become so familiar to you. Hopefully someday I’ll get to experience that in my Northwest home.
Vegas native turned Seattle spitter Logics rides for his hometown on “Miles on the Dash,” off the Problematic EP available for free here. (Spotted today at Northwest State of Mind.)
Been a minute since we’ve heard from State Of The Artist. Courtesy the good folks at Members Only, stream and download SOTA’s latest single, “High In The Air” (featuring Sol). A smoothed-out love jam to cure your end of Summer blues.
Check the preview video for SEALAB 2012 (officially dropping tomorrow). This album marks La’s third time out with his third different producer. Jester gets behind the boards for a full 12 tracks this time, lacing the MC with sample-heavy joints that are less aggressive than Roll With the Winners but more contemporary than Gravity. The title of the album references the eponymous cartoon series from the early 1970’s and the Adult Swim redux from 2000.
La is still a problem on the mic, his metaphors and boasts sticking to the beats like darts on corkboard, but LAB is definitely the weakest of his three LP’s. It’s become clear that La can outpace the majority of Town rappers and it’s this blogger’s belief that dude can rhyme about anything and make it sound interesting. For the duration of LAB, however, La concerns himself mostly with two things: weed and sex. And, while this may have been the point, it doesn’t mean it’s as engaging as his previous albums.
The other issue is with Jester’s production. What made Winners such a dynamic listen was the jab-hook-uppercut combination of La’s all-out rhyming-like-his-life-depended-on-it steez and Blu-Ray’s throwback sample slap. Jester’s beats often lack the same authority. Not to say there aren’t highlights: “Dutches” and “Magnums” feature heady, hazy synth and both tracks refreshingly stand apart from anything found in La’s back catalog. And “Goods” is the most radio-ready the MC has ever sounded with a track that pops along in the same mode as Biggie’s “Juicy.”
The other notable aspect of LAB is the presence of some fairly heavy-hitting cameos. I won’t ruin the surprise in advance of the album’s release, but I will say “Diamonds” is a triumphant posse cut that features two of La’s prominent brothers in both rhyme and ethnicity. It’s dope to see accomplished MC’s co-sign for La on his own album, but the greater testament is the fact that their presence isn’t (and never was) necessary to affirm his skills. On his way to local rap stardom, La has held his own consistently. With a few adjustments on the next go-round, his star will grow even brighter.
Nacho Picasso’s proper debut LP, For The Glory, was one of 206UP.COM’s most anticipated SEA releases of 2011. Talk around the office water cooler mostly centered around the crew handling production on the album: Blue Sky Black Death. Seattle’s most well-known unknown production outfit is the party responsible for the greater majority of sound on FTG, one that pairs the duo’s well-developed ominous electro with Southern trap’s familiar slap and bounce.
The idea of coupling of Nacho’s Wayne-ish rasp and punchline flow with BSBD’s dark atmospherics sounded odd at first, but FTG shows the Cloud Nice-affiliated MC is the perfect man to handle the job. His toned-down flow suggests rap vocals set on a low boil. Dude is subtle enough to hypnotize at times but maintains a heinous wit that borders on the sociopathic (or at least darkly comedic). It’s true the act wears thin after a while — the album could have benefited from a bit more diversity in sonics — but with tracks like “Bad Breaks” (which sounds like the score to your most frightening Halloween night, ever) and the get-lifted-with-me slow crawl of “NumbNuts,” most repetition can be forgiven.
206, meet your newest and most charismatic rap star, Nacho Picasso.
Producer 10.4 Rog sets his blissful pop and slap against Sean Symphony’s soulful baritone to terrific results. “Dreams” is the first single from Symphony’s eponymous debut EP, coming soon.
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