DOWNLOAD: For The Glory – Nacho Picasso

Click album cover to D/L.

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.

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VIDEO: “Like A Movie (Steezattle)” – Steezie Nasa (feat. D. Carter)

Here’s guessing the Mariners brass wouldn’t be super happy about Steezie’s guerrilla video tactics in the 300 level. Kids will be kids, though. By the way, hella youngsters rockin’ the Air Max Griffey 95’s out in NY. Last time I was home I spent nearly an hour digging through my dad’s garage looking for my pair of originals and couldn’t find ’em. Damn you, Spring cleaning.

(P.S. Love the Sabzi cameo thrown in for good measure.)

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VIDEO & DOWNLOAD: “Numbnuts” – Nacho Picasso

Nacho Picasso, aka. Jesse James, aka. The Tat in the Hat, has a new video: “Numbnuts.” Nacho is part of Bad Ass Yellow Boys which is part of Cloud Nice, which is part of a greater rap movement in Seattle that is getting progressively harder to cover as just one blogger with a nine-to-five. I need to get paid for this sh-t. Sorry, tangential.

(UPDATE 7.7.11: Oh, now you can download this track for free at Nacho’s Bandcamp.)

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DOWNLOAD: Adventures in a Helluvastate – Thadwick Tristen Trevor III & Swan Coltrane

Click album cover for D/L link.

Here we go rap fans! Thadwick Tristen Trevor III and Swan Coltrane present Adventures in a Helluvastate, a full-length collaborative endeavor between members of the Cloud Nice and Members Only cliques that feels as natural to the dome as caffeine buzzes and misty Puget Sound air.

From the group’s press release:

Seattle emcees Thadwick Tristen Trevor III (bka Young TH of State of the Artist) and Swan Coltrane (bka Tay Sean of Helladope) release Adventures in a Helluvastate, a starkly simplistic approach to hip-hop – two emcees rapping over beats – that comes off as oddly organic, stemming from spur-of-the-moment recording sessions in the Cloud Nice basement.

The duo isn’t apprehensive about their word choice or song structure. The thoughts flow freely from each artist’s brain to the booth with little filtration. Swan casually croons the chorus on “Star Stuff”: We tryna reach the stars so let us grow/ Not so much the body as the soul/ Don’t even think about it we just go

The beats pulsate and morph, experimental and ever-changing, lent from a host of producers worldwide, only a few borrowed from in-house producers Tay Sean, Mikey Nice, and Seven Davis, Jr.

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DOWNLOAD: “Brain Champagne” – Helluvastate

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“Brain Champagne” is the second chemical reaction derived from the most talented elements in Helladope and State Of The Artist. Swan Coltrane and Thadwick Tristen Trevor III (alternately known as Tay Sean and Young TH) have concocted a hazy club joint that borrows the tightly-wound kicks from Illmatic‘s “The Genesis” to great get-buck effect. This track right here bumps for two solid minutes and then leaves your blunted ass grasping for more. Adventures in a Helluvastate is the re-up, dropping soon.

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DOWNLOAD: Ziploc Hip-Hop – BadAssYellowBoyz

BadAssYellowBoyz = BAYB = Jarv Dee + Nacho Picasso + P Steez = Another bad creation from the Cloud Nice clique. BAYB’s Ziploc Hip-Hop is available for FREE download today.

ZLHP slaps your eardrums in a fashion unlike anything else currently doing in The Town — believe it. It’s profane, jocular and a notable sonic departure from what we’re used to hearing from the Cloud Nice space camp. Jarv Dee got jokes and disses, and Nacho Picasso sounds like Redman’s ankle biting cousin. Get it above and below.

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DOWNLOAD: “We Don’t Sound Like Ya’ll” – Cloud Nice

Click image to get this track

I missed this track the first time around. Originally from the 4 The Love of Music compilation album (get that), “We Don’t Sound Like Ya’ll” is a declaration of Seattle’s (and more specifically, Cloud Nice’s) hip-hop independence. It’s easily one of the freshest tracks of last year. Cloud Nice is the clique.

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DOWNLOAD: “Make Moves” – Helluvastate

Click image for D/L link

Helluvastate is Tay Sean (of the Cloud Nice crew) and TH (of State Of The Artist). Get hip now before your friends do. This joint is dope and you can expect the entire mixtape to be, too. I can’t say any more than the homie Joe Gustav (of Posted In The Parking Lot and SSG Music) said in his excellent piece on SSG. Get with that here. And get with the free single by downloading below.

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DOWNLOAD: “Extrahelladope” (State Of The Artist f/Helladope & Jarv Dee)

(Click here or above to download.)

Any group that’s interested in properly representing Left Coast hip-hop should first take a trip down I-5 to the Golden State, the place where the West Coast sound was originally developed, nurtured, and fully realized. Something about the combination of fresh Pacific Ocean air, perpetually sunny weather, and other (ahem) “natural” remedies, fuse to get the creative juices flowing something proper.

(click here to keep reading at Seattle Show Gal…)

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