(Click here or above for the download link.)
When folks in this country think about the future, the privileged and well-to-do have the luxury of considering shiny spacesuits, hover-cars, and freeze-dried meals of prime rib and asparagus tips. The working-class, poor, and other marginalized groups of people, have other future fish to fry, however. Like contending with disparate opportunities when it comes to education, health care, and housing.
A young local cat looking to find his voice and place in Seattle’s crowded hip-hop market, Antbeezy, and fellow baby brethren like Brothers From Another, are looking to go straight from high school to the pros.
Success will probably be fleeting at first, but it should be interesting to see who emerges an All-Star. Download the first track, “The Becoming” off Antbeezy’s forthcoming mixtape of the same name:
(UPDATE: 2.18.10, 8:40 am) Antbeezy and BFA linked up for this track, “Holla.” A little something to look forward to at the 80’s Babies show tomorrow night. Click below to download:
BFA have already rocked a few shows around Town, but this one might be their best look yet. Catch Breez and Goonstar (and ‘Beezy, too) at the 80’s Babies benefit show in the U-District. According to this flyer, Macklemore and Blue Scholars will be there. Oh, word?! Check it out this week on the 19th!
“…the sum of its parts” is certainly an adage applicable to the best hip-hop groups. Still, Sabzi and Geo (aka. Prometheus Brown) are pretty f*cking great when they’re doing their own thing, too.
Pro Brown drops some of his solo guest shots on this post from his personal blog, Prometheus Brown — with commentary (love that!).
Photo jacked from the blog, "Prometheus Brown".
Contrary to what some prominent journalists and bloggers would have you believe, hip-hop in 2009 is not dead. At least not in regions like the Pacific Northwest, areas that aren’t traditionally associated with carrying hip-hop’s proverbial torch. While Seattle’s rock-oriented past certainly qualifies it as one of those regions, in 2009 The Six definitely showed it can at least fan the genre’s flame, if not assume a lead position for helping advance hip-hop even further into the 21st century.
It was not always like this, however. I remember back in 2005, browsing the hip-hop section at the (now defunct) Tower Records on lower Queen Anne and pulling a relatively unspectacular-looking CD from the shelf. That CD was Blue Scholars’ self-titled debut album. I’d never heard of Blue Scholars prior to that chance encounter, and I decided to take a gamble on the record. I hesitantly spent my twelve dollars on the CD (remember those?), basically on a whim and with a sliver of hope that I might find something to help rescue me from the doldrums of mainstream rap. See, I was getting so bored with the genre at the time that I was starting to turn my attention away from hip-hop and more toward indie rock. (As the Thornton brothers would say, “Eeyyyechh!”)
That Blue Scholars album eventually led me to Common Market; which led to Cancer Rising; which led to Abyssinian Creole; which led to Macklemore; which led to Grynch; which led to Dyme Def; which led to Sportn’ Life’; and on and on, eventually to me deciding to start this blog. I still credit that first Blue Scholars album for single-handedly renewing my faith in hip-hop music. Sounds rather dramatic, doesn’t it? Well, it was. In 2005, as far as I was concerned, hip-hop was dead, or dying. I realize now that that simply wasn’t the case. I was just looking for good music in the wrong place. I was spending too much time on MTV and BET, and not nearly enough time in the place where the art form was still being practiced with love and care: the underground.
The most incredible thing about Seattle’s hip-hop movement has been the relative speed at which it’s gained momentum. Blue Scholars dropped their debut in 2005, a mere four years ago. That was essentially the beginning of a sustained explosion. The next two years saw the further rise of Sabzi and Geologic, and then the emergence of others I mentioned above. The culmination of the decade’s Town movement has undoubtedly been 2009. This year we’ve seen an abundance of talented artists rise seemingly from out of nowhere. Who knew there was this much talent lurking under Seattle’s perpetually gray skies?
I credit Seattle’s hip-hop movement for my re-discovery of the art form. What began for me as an infatuation with golden-era NYC hip-hop and Cali-gangsta rap over twenty years ago, has become much more. More than just a pastime or hobby. It’s the music I ingest every day. The soundtrack to my morning commute and when I walk down the street at night. It’s something that I consume. Just as much as coffee in the mornings and football on the weekends, hip-hop music is part of my life. And I’m thankful that artists from my native city are the ones to have brought me back to the beats and rhymes.
Hip-hop: dead in 2009? I say f*ck that. As evidence to the contrary, I now submit the following list of Seattle’s best hip-hop albums of the year. Hip-hop is alive and breathing today — and not only that, it’s progressing. Here are 206UP.COM’s Top 10 reasons why:
10. OOF! EP (Blue Scholars)
An experiment of sorts by Seattle’s most nationally-relevant hip-hop group. I wrote previously that this is what it sounds like when Blue Scholars go on vacation. They accomplish their musical goals with mixed results. “Coo?” and “HI-808” are two of their best songs ever, but I still don’t like “New People” (though it has grown on me a little). Sabzi remains the best hip-hop producer in the Northwest. And Geo is one of the three best emcees. Now, can we have more of the normal Scholars revolution in 2010, please?
9. Songs for Bloggers (GMK)
An offbeat trip down the broadband wire, courtesy of talented up-and-coming rapper/producer, GMK. Songs for Bloggers charms upon repeated listens and verifies the unlimited potential of the Golden Mic King. On Songs, he takes the listener into the World Wide Web, poking fun at bloggers like me who enjoy the luxury of anonymity and the (sometimes) unfair categorization of rappers into niches that conveniently serve to fit our expectations. GMK is unique, though. A dual threat who is capable of going in any number of directions.
8. Ali’Yah (D. Black)
Ali’Yah represented a shift in tone and lifestyle for Sportn’ Life lead dog, D. Black. A man whose rap career began with aggressive, street-oriented rhyming seems to have made a 180-degree turn. He’s still aggressive and street-oriented but now moving in a different direction, urging his fellow soldiers to step away from the drugs and guns and toward the redeeming light of personal and social responsibility. There was a lot of uplifting hip-hop in Seattle this year and D. Black’s Ali’Yah proudly led the way.
7. Panic EP (Dyme Def)
The best Emerald City sh*t talk always comes courtesy the three bad brothas of Dyme Def. On this album, however, it’s sh*t talk with a purpose. Normally as confident as tigers in a room full of injured gazelles, Brain, SEV, and Fearce Vil are filled with a little trepidation given the condition of America’s financial system. The seven tracks on Panic are loosely built around a recession theme. They urge us to ease our “Foot up off the Gas” to save some scratch. But, in true Dyme Def fashion, they never tell us to stop partying.
6. Glamour (Fresh Espresso)
Easy to hate on and equally as easy to dance to, Glamour simultaneously represents all that is right and wrong with hip-hop. P Smoov and Rik Rude’s hipster musical stylings bring more folks into the 206’s glorious hip-hop sphere — and this is a good thing. The duo have virtually nothing of substance to say, however — and this is a bad thing. Doesn’t matter, though. The relevance of Fresh Espresso is firmly established in The Town, so soapbox bloggers like me can step the f*ck off, I guess. Plus, P Smoov’s already prodigious talent and still-to-be realized potential are undeniable.
5. Hear Me Out (Yirim Seck)
The most underrated Seattle hip-hop album of the year. An unexpected dose of raw and real, Yirim Seck is an everyman emcee that just happens to be more talented than, well, almost every man in the local rap game. Like an expanded and Northwest-relocated version of ATCQ’s “8 Millions Stories”, Yid Seck experiences more lows than highs on his debut album, yet still perseveres like a champion. Hear Me Out neatly captures the pathos of the struggling working class as well as the current unbounded optimism of the local hip-hop movement.
4. High Society EP (The Physics)
The trio of Thig Natural, Monk Wordsmith, and Justo captured lightning in a bottle on this EP. Simply put, they found sonic perfection for seven whole tracks. There isn’t another album in Seattle, let alone the entire country, that had me craving more after I got to the end than The Physics’ High Society. If their sophomore full-length delivers the way HS did, we might be looking at the group that could carry Seattle hip-hop (popularity wise) higher and further than any other.
3. From Slaveships to Spaceships (Khingz)
To listen to From Slaveships to Spaceships is to hear a man being liberated from his paranoia, self-deceit, doubt, and culturally-imposed expectations of who he “should” be. That’s all. Probably the most intensely personal hip-hop album of these ten, it’s a brave exercise in therapy on wax for Khingz, an artist who is always thinking of ways to express personal growth in his music.
2. Graymaker (Grayskul)
The duo of JFK and Onry Ozzborn prove yet again that they are light years ahead of most other hip-hop groups. It’s difficult to keep pace when their philosophies and creative eccentricities are coming at you in so many scattered images and metaphorical tangents. Paired this time with producer Maker, a Chicago native, Grayskul unites the Northwest and the Midwest in a way only they are capable of. The moody production and dark-themed rhymes belie a hint of optimism that isn’t readily apparent but is ultimately responsible for some of the most lively hip-hop out of Seattle, ever.
1. Of Light/Self-Titled (Shabazz Palaces)
One of the five most creative and forward-thinking hip-hop albums of the decade. Everything about this album seems like it was pre-meditated. From the esoteric packaging, to the intentionally-veiled identity of the project’s main participant, to the deliberate pace of its “marketing” roll-out. Shabazz Palaces represents everything that is good about hip-hop. It casts a dark shadow over the genre’s vapid and disposable popular product, and illuminates hip-hop’s unlimited potential as a subversive course to self-awareness and urban pedagogy.
Three more for good measure…
Snow Motion (THEESatisfaction)
Self-Titled (Champagne Champagne)
The VS. EP (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis)
(And finally, a shout-out to They Live! I’m sure They LA Soul is dope, but I didn’t hear it in time for this list. Surely it’ll be a best of 2010…)
That’s all she wrote for 2009! More to come from 206UP.COM in the ’10.
Peace!
Geo sounds right at home trading bars with KRS-One, Talib Kweli, and Buckshot on the track “Oh Really (Remix)” (click on the pic below for the DL link).
And why shouldn’t he? He’s probably the best rapper in the 206, and a track featuring those heavyweights deserves our very best.
Which reminds me, why doesn’t the Who’s The Best Rapper debate come up more often on the blogs? I’ll start it: Geologic, of Blue Scholars, is the BEST EMCEE IN SEATTLE. I know I’m not breaking any new ground with that statement, but we should at least be having the argument. Shouldn’t we? Who else is in the Top Five?
Seattle hip-hop had a nice showing at this year’s edition of the CMJ Music Festival here in New York City. Performing alongside Champagne Champagne — but not officially on the bill — were THEESatisfaction who actually came out to NY over a week before the October 24th CMJ show to network, chill with friends, and just enjoy everything this amazing city has to offer. The ladies of THEESatisfaction, Cat and Stasia, were gracious enough to reach out to me for an interview. These two women (girlfriends, for those that don’t know) are funny, charming, creative, and beautiful. And it’s apparent, after spending a little over an hour with them, that they’re in this hip-hop sh*t strictly for the love. I met them for lunch at a diner in the Financial District a few blocks from my work the day before they were scheduled to share the stage with Champagne Champagne.
Talk a little about how you came to be involved with CMJ. Did someone associated with the Festival hear you and ask you to be involved?
Cat: No, nothing like that. We’re doing CMJ through Champagne Champagne, because they asked us to do a song with them that we perform all the time called “Magnetic Blackness.” Basically we’re just like a family, so whenever we have an opportunity to do [that song] together, we do it. It’s a really great opportunity, we appreciate Champagne Champagne for letting us be a part of it. I’ve known Pearl for years, before THEESatisfaction and Champagne Champagne [formed], and Thomas [Gray] is like family. He’s like my best friend’s cousin.
Stas: Yeah, those are our brothers!
The stuff Pearl Dragon was doing before Champagne Champagne is much different than what he’s doing now.
Cat: He’s really creative. He and Thomas and Mark [aka DJ Gajamagic] are all really, really creative.
What’s your take on the Seattle hip-hop movement right now? It’s really blowing up.
Stas: I think it’s amazing. I remember a time when I didn’t listen to anything [from Seattle], except for Blue Scholars and Cancer Rising. Now there are shows every weekend, everybody is collaborating with each other. It’s like a huge family. People are on the move. Everybody is coming to Seattle to do shows. Wu-Tang has been here [a lot]. It’s just bringing more attention to Seattle. [Before] we’d have to go to Portland or LA to see a good show.
It does seem like there are very few prominent female acts in the spotlight, though. I mean outside of you guys.
Stas: I’m blessed to be an example and inspiration for more of them.
Do you think more female emcees are out there and just not receiving the proper exposure?
Stas: There are a lot of artists out right now.
Cat: A lot of female artists have been sheltered or pushed to the side.
Stas: Not just being a [female] hip-hop artist, just being a female musician of any kind [is difficult].
Cat: It’s starting to change, though.
Stas: Another prominent group is Canary Sing. They just did a show at The Rendezvous.
Cat: JusMoni, too.
So you guys are now in the Bay Area, right?
Stas: No, actually we’re just traveling.
Cat: We were going to move to the Bay, but we never even wound up going there, [laughs] just to LA. We came back to Seattle for a show and now we’re in New York.
How’s the life of a traveling musician?
Stas: I love it. It’s exciting. I knew I’d be a wanderer, nomad child, that got into all sorts of crazy shenanigans.
Cat: It’s cool. At some point you just realize there’s so much more to see.
Stas: It’s nice to have friends to stay with. We have friends in LA and friends out here that we’re staying with.
Musically, what’s your background? Are you formally trained or self-taught?
Cat: I’ve been in choirs forever and I studied Jazz in college.
Stas: I didn’t [study music]. But I’ve been around music all my life. My mom is a choir director and plays the piano, my dad plays the piano and has been in multiple choirs. I’ve been a poet for about eight years.
I was wondering about that. Your music seems inspired strongly by Spoken Word poetry.
Stas: Yeah, absolutely. We both do Spoken Word.
Cat: That’s how we met actually, through the Spoken Word circuit.
What venue?
Cat: It was Retro Open Mic night at U-Dub.
Did you both go to the University of Washington?
Stas: I did.
Cat: I went to Cornish. But I was always at U-Dub events. [laughs]
I read that your most recent album, Snow Motion, was recorded in a basement when you were snowed-in during the famous Seattle Winter of 2008.
Cat: Yeah.
Stas: We recorded [the songs] in a closet.
Cat: Some of the songs were recorded on Beacon [Hill], some of them were recorded in the house. It was crazy. That was all bad. We moved into this house, it was on 23rd and Madison [in the Central District] and it was sunny and nice and everything when we checked out the house. It looked nice in May or June, and then it got to wintertime, and the house had no insulation. And then the rats came. It was infested with rats. You wouldn’t want to leave your bedroom at night because there were rats running all through the house. There were holes under the bathroom sink and they would come in through the cabinets and they would get in our food. Our refrigerator stopped working three times.
Stas: Then our laundry machine stopped working.
Cat: Yeah, it just filled up with water. And then, it didn’t just freeze over, it was a solid block of ice.
Stas: We were working at Costco.
Cat: Pushing carts outside. Our buses weren’t running, so we had to walk halfway [to work], from 23rd and Madison to Downtown to catch the bus. If you didn’t come in, you’d get fired or written-up. They were really determined to be open.
Stas: We recorded [Snow Motion] because we were fed-up and depressed. We had family members passing away. One of our friends was murdered in February [concert promoter Tyrone Love], literally down the street.
Cat: It was a really tough time. We were working all the time, too. It was really hard to finish the album.
Stas: There was no sane place for us to be.
Cat: No there wasn’t, because we had to find somewhere else to live, too. We were working all the time. We’d always come home tired. We just had to decide what we were going to do.
For as much of a horrible time that was, Snow Motion come across, to me at least, as a really optimistic record. I read an article on a blog that said something like, “THEESatisfaction creates Snow Motion while they descend into madness.” But I thought it was a pretty coherent record, for the most part.
Cat: Thanks! [laughs]
So nowadays, the life of aspiring musicians sounds busy.
Stas: It’s pretty hectic. We book our own shows.
Cat: We don’t have a manager or anything. Everything is just us two, researching things and at the same time making music, trying to keep it fresh.
Stas: It’s challenging, but I couldn’t ask for more. I’m having the best time of my life. I’m having so much fun. I can’t imagine ever working at Costco again.
Cat: I’d rather work my ass off at this than work a corporate job again.
When do you find time to write?
Cat: We write all the time.
It’s not a process for you? Like, I must write at nine in the morning every day?
Cat: No. The whole thing is a process. From updating the website, to writing the press releases, to burning the CDs, to mixing it down. We try to let things just come naturally.
What’s the first hip-hop music you remember listening to?
Cat: First stuff was like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. I have an older brother who’s 36 so he was putting me on to a lot of stuff.
Stas: I wasn’t even listening to hip-hop. My parents were only listening to gospel and r&b. I didn’t really get into hip-hop until Snoop Dogg and Death Row Records. That was my first exposure, that gangsta rap. Then, once I started seeking out on my own, I got into Tribe and De La.
Cat: I listened to only De La Soul and Tribe when my brother lived with us and then [after he moved out] it went back to jazz and, I don’t know what to call it: alternative folk music [laughs]. It was like hippie music, James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
Stas: I remember my mom got a hold of my Doggystyle album cover. Remember the cartoon? She was like, “What is this?!”
Cat: I was like the prude kid. Like, “I can’t hear that stuff, it’s bad for my ears!” I didn’t know about 2Pac or Biggie, or most other rap other than De La and Tribe until I moved to Seattle. [Cat grew up in the Bay Area and Hawaii]. I listened to Chaka Khan, TLC, Technotronic. I know about hella random groups like Pet Shop Boys [laughs]. Lately, we’ve been switching it up, listening to all different kinds of stuff but we’ve always listened to a lot of different [music].
Stas: A lot of soul music.
Cat: Yeah, a lot of soul. Temptations, The Spinners, old Chaka Khan, Al Green. A lot of Michael Jackson and a lot of Jackson 5. I mean, we typically listen to Michael Jackson all the time, anyway. On our first mixtape [That’s Weird] we sampled Thriller.
Where were you guys when you heard he passed?
Cat: We were in our house on Beacon Hill and Stas got a text message or something. We got a text message and I was like, “This is a joke.” So we got on Twitter, we started googling everything, turned on the television and saw that he’d been hospitalized.
Stas: Then we started playing his music videos.
Cat: It was too much, it was very overwhelming. It’s still overwhelming.
Stas: I still haven’t watched the funeral in its entirety. I’ve been watching it on Youtube. I think I got maybe halfway through.
Cat: I don’t think so. I think you only got a third of the way through.
Stas: It’s still emotional.
Cat: It is. I watched [the funeral] on CNN while Stas was at Costco and it was really crazy. I didn’t think it was going to happen in my lifetime.
Stas: Nice shirt too! [laughs]
Yeah, that’s why I asked. [Cat is wearing a Michael Jackson t-shirt she purchased at a thrift store.]
So what’s next for THEESatisfaction?
Stas: We have a new mixtape coming out.
When?
Stas: We’re thinking December, January, February.
Cat: One of those three months! [laughs]
Stas: The beats are pretty much finished. We’re teaming up with OC Notes. We hooked up with him for this next mixtape. We’re trying something new.
Cat: It’s the first time [we’ve worked with just one producer]. It’s cool, especially when that person knows your groove and knows your sound and it fits. A lot of artists will just work with whoever, you know?
So, one more question. You’ve already experienced a small amount of fame in Seattle. What’s that been like?
Stas: I wish I could enjoy my life a little bit more. It’s weird. You have to watch what you say all the time. But I don’t, really. [laughs]
Cat: You just have to be yourself. Some artists are controlled by other people, their managers, their band mates, by their producers. For us, we have freedom. We can say, “I’m not feeling well today so I’m not going to that event.” I think that gives a different spin to it. It makes it a different experience. It doesn’t make it easier though, that’s for damn sure! People used to come up to us all the time in Costco. It was weird, the contrast between working at Costco and being on stage. There’s a different amount of respect people have for you when at work. There you’re just Joe Schmo. It’s like, “Go over there and fold those clothes!”
Stas: When we’re at shows it’s, “Can I get you a drink? Can I get your autograph?” At work it’s totally the opposite. You’re just a robot again.
Costco seems like a major formative experience in your recent lives. What else happened at Costco?
Cat: When I was at work one day, Justo [of The Physics] came in and was like, “Hey, what’s up?” We didn’t even really know The Physics.
Did you know who he was?
Cat: I’d heard of The Physics and seen their picture, but I was really tired at work that day, so it took me a second to put it together. [laughs]
Was that how the collaboration on “Radio Head” came about?
Cat: [Justo] came into the store just in general and recognized me and said he’d been meaning to get in contact with us. But yeah, that’s generally how it started. After that we went and got in the studio together.
Stas: That’s where we met Rik Rude from Fresh Espresso, too.
Cat: Yeah. We saw Sabzi in Costco. All of Seattle goes to Costco!
—–
Catch THEESatisfaction at their next show on 11.10.09 at Nectar:
And buy their album, Snow Motion, online here:
The Big Apple and the Emerald City are trading hip-hop artists this week.
Seattle will receive Ghostface Killah in exchange for Blue Scholars, D. Black, Grynch, Champagne Champagne, THEESatisfaction, and a player to be named later (just kidding). And, from my point of view, while Ghost is a heavy-hitter and obvious future hall-of-famer, that deal seems kinda f*cked-up. Sounds like a trade Woody Woodward would’ve made (Heathcliff Slocumb, anyone?). Good thing it’s only for one day. The line-up goes like this:
On Saturday, 10.24.09, at Showbox at the Market, Ghostface Killah headlines a show that also features Town dudes They Live!, 503 feel-good outfit Animal Farm (who I’m pretending I’ve heard of, but in reality I just sampled their sh*t on Myspace — I like!), and 206 rapper Cheezaleo (who I won’t even pretend to be hip to).
A few weeks ago I finally took a listen to some of They Live!’s material (go to their blog here for a bunch of FREEBIES). They’ve been dubbed “weed rap” by a few local blogs and writers and, I must report, it’s true. They rhyme about (and presumably smoke) weed on a very consistent basis. I expected to be bored (and hungry). Surprisingly, I was not. They Live! are just good got-damn party music. And I should have known better than to doubt them, if only for the fact Seattle hip-hop renaissance man, Larry Mizell, Jr. is mixed-up in their shenanigans. Props to They Live!
This pic by Rabid Child Images and stolen by me from They Live!'s Myspace page.
Also on Saturday the 24th, and this time in NY (my current home, in case you didn’t know), Blue Scholars is scheduled to play the Duck Down NYC Showcase at The Gramercy Theatre in Manhattan. (I say “scheduled” because I’m hearing reports now that they might have backed out. As of this writing they’re still listed, but I’ll update if the opposite is confirmed. UPDATE, 10.20.09, 11:12 pm: a little Twitter told me that Geo will be there solo to rock a short set — and I’m not talking about the kind Fresh Prince buys at the mall in “Summertime.”) With ELEVEN different acts, this show will be bonkers. Click the photo below and check the list. I wonder how much stage time our dood will even see?
And finally, on the same night at The Suffolk, D. Black, Grynch, Champagne Champagne, and THEESatisfaction will play a Seattle showcase for CMJ. Here’s a good write-up on Publicola about the evening. How’s about that for an opportunity for Seattle hip-hop to shine?
Just viewed this video on Blogs is Watching (courtesy The Long Pilgrimage on Vimeo).
Blue Scholars is my favorite hip-hop group out of the 206. I make no secret about it. Of all the local acts, I relate the most to Geo and Sabzi’s brand of political-minded, progressive rap. My affinity and loyalties within hip-hop music are inextricably linked to my constantly-evolving view of what’s going on in the world around me. I’ve found that the music I favor on my iPod is a function of where my consciousness is in the world. I’m incredibly thankful that groups like Blue Scholars exist. They serve to further confirm certain value systems and principles that I’m steadily learning about and striving to adopt or, in some cases even, reject.
How many of you out there used to read the Massline Blog? Back when the Massline fam-damily were presumably much-less busy, they kept us Townfolk informed and entertained by posting the latest on artist news, shows, and album releases. They also kept us in stitches from the hilarious photo diaries and funny-because-it’s-not-funny social commentaries that Sabzi and comedian Hari Kondabolu would post. (Not to say Geo doesn’t also have a sense of humor, but it’s unclear if he’s as funny as Sabzi and Hari because his posts were far fewer in number. And Hari is, after all, a comedian, while Geo is a very serious and political-minded rapper.)
It was good stuff. My Lady even had a brief conversation with Sabzi himself last year at the Mercury Lounge in Manhattan’s East Village, just before Blue Scholars headlined their very first show in NYC, where she told him how funny the Massline Blog was and that we both enjoyed reading it. Sabzi told her, “Thank you for the excellent feedback” (<— actual quote from DJ Sabzi). Alas, it appears the Blog is no more.
Tonight I was mindlessly surfing the internet and somehow ended up on Hari Kondabolu’s Myspace page. Much to my delight, Hari has included one of the funniest of the aforementioned posts. (Click on the photo below to read it.) In this adventure, Hari and Blue Scholars journey into Queens (where Hari grew up) in search of the best Masala Dosa and Burfi, and then to locate a bottle of the (apparently) elusive Mazaa Mango Juice, the magical elixir of Hari’s youth.
Enjoy. And RIP Massline Blog.
Didn’t get your fill of Jawaiian-style hip-hop from the OOF! EP? Then check for the Blue Scholars/Sabzi Selectah 69 Rolls & OOF! mixtape, here.
I’m one of those rare dudes who’ve never been into reggae. Maybe that’s why my college experience was so boring (that and I hate any sport that involves throwing a frisbee).
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 