Somewhere in the UK, Gary Numan is smiling. And somewhere in the Tri Cities, a white dude in a lifted pick-up truck is celebrating. For Sir Mix-A-Lot recently dropped a new video, “Carz,” which has affirmed to said white dude that his well-worn copies of Mack Daddy and N2DEEP’s Back To The Hotel are still relevant. (“Been playing these tapes since ninety-two, bro!”)
Category: Video
VIDEO: “What’s My Name” – Rihanna f/Drake
Shot on the streets of the city I now call home, this song sounds so damn good when it comes on my headphones at 1:30 am, walking half-drunk through the Lower East Side. It’s a New York thing, baby.
VIDEO: “To The Top” – Ripynt
At some point local rappers’ music video cameos won’t be cameos anymore because everyone will have cameo’ed in everyone else’s videos. Follow me?
Anyway, the task at hand for an emcee on the local come-up like Ripynt, is to get his voice heard. He does just that in a fresh way in his new video, “To The Top.” Play the game that’s sweeping the Puget Sound, “Find Your Favorite SEA Rapper” in this clip!
VIDEO: “Upside Down” – J. Pinder
Maybe it’s all in my head, but when local emcees go ex-pat from The Six and I hear them again later after so doing, their voices sound much bigger than our humble hamlet. Like our area code can’t contain ’em anymore. Such is the case for J. Pinder, whose transition to the ATL has left the SEA feeling a little colder this winter.
Check the new video, “Upside Down,” directed by Jon Augustavo.
VIDEO: “Constellation” – Katie Kate
Delightfully low-budget and mostly pleasing, Katie Kate’s video for “Constellation” annoyed me the first time I watched it. Upon repeated viewings, however, I’ve become amused and charmed. You might know Katie from her scene-stealing guest shot on State Of The Artist’s “Jealous.” (Come to think of it, all of the guest shots on SOTA’s album were scene-stealing. Hmm…) Listen to that track here:
And peep the “Constellation” video here:
VIDEO: “4 AM Phone Calls” – Neema
You know those LiveLinks advertisements that come on television at around three am on channel 13? Yeah, this video kinda reminds me of those. Good thing Neema’s killer double-time flow saves the track from being a complete waste of time. “4 AM Phone Calls” isn’t nearly the best track off his otherwise solid LP, The Essence, but someone must’ve thought it would make the best video.
(What am I doing up at three in the morning watching LiveLinks ads on channel 13, you ask? Why, waiting for my four am phone call, of course!)
VIDEO: “Hip-Hop Shit” – Eighty4 Fly
I still contend Eighty4 Fly is a mediocre lyricist. An off-brand version of Drake for the 2-0-6 Clear Channel rap heads. Still, I really dig his cut “Hip-Hop Shit,” where the rugged production makes him at least sound more interesting. Not that he cares, but if Eighty kept it grimier, 206UP.COM might become a believer.
(Jon Jon behind the lens, yet again.)
VIDEO: “Wishing On A Dream” – Avatar Young Blaze f/Isabella Du Graf
Mainstream x Gangsta. It rarely works better than Avatar’s “Wishing On A Dream.” Two questions, though: 1) Why did director Jon Augustavo choose to shoot in b&w with the beautiful California coast (not to mention the lovely Isabella) as a backdrop? 2) Think that Porsche was a rental or does Avatar just got it like that?
VIDEO: “Coffee & Snow 2” – Blue Scholars
Cabin fever strikes Blue Scholars again. The recent inclement weather in The Deuce Dot had Geo and Zia feeling restless and creative. The recent unseasonably warm weather in The Empire City had Sabzi dancing on rooftops and playing with a pineapple (?). The result: a Pro Brown freeverse over a loping Sabzi track that sounds like a OOF! throwaway. (Also, the DJ raps — well, sorta — for the first time.)
Peep the clip below and download the track, here.
VIDEO: “Imaginary Stereo” – Candidt
Photo from The Stranger
Candidt’s Sweatsuit & Churchshoes, one of the Northwest region’s most expansive-sounding hip-hop albums of recent memory (read the SSG Music album review, here), achieved something the majority of contemporary rap albums fail to do: successfully construct a bridge from hip-hop’s past to its present day. Candidt rooted his 21-track salute deep in his old school sensibilities, but also managed to freshen up the West Coast sound with his left-of-center flow and versatile production choices.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 