New Year’s Eve prediction #1: In 2010, hip-hop in Seattle will be ruled by two entities — rap veterans The Physics and the (relatively) new-school Cloud Nice collective. (Thig, Monk, and Justo just need to get that sophomore full-length out pronto to claim their spot!)

Tay Sean and company have already done an excellent job of keeping it moving with a series of free leak, mixtape, and EP drops, with no real prominent LP release. That will change in early 2010, with Helladope’s already highly-lauded Return to Planet Rock. There’s gotta be something in the air up on Beacon that’s causing all of this dopeness. (Come to think of it, the cause of the dopeness might actually be dope — but whatever.)

Cloud Nice is positioned to take over hip-hop in The Six with their brand of futuristic, highly-danceable northwest-coast g-funk. Tay Sean’s production is simple enough to appeal to the young kids, yet advanced and clever enough (musically that is) for older heads to appreciate. If TS were an NBA player, he’d be Chris Paul: playground flashiness combined with a heavy dose of old-school fundamentals.

Here’s the latest from CN’s Beacon Hill lookout, a brief six-track EP from Mister Mikey Nice called Chillin’ In the Future. Click on the album cover below for the DL link.

(A quick note on my download posts: one of my few rules for linking to these downloads is that I absolutely must listen to the material, preferably a minimum of two times, before I comment or post on it. I hold to this philosophy because the whole point of 206up.com is to provide thoughtful commentary and criticism on the music. And how can I do that if I haven’t actually heard the ish? Anyway, my point is, I’m trying not to get caught up with being the fastest blogger [I don’t have time for that anyway] or the most exclusive — though I do appreciate being included on artists’ email lists with the more venerable local bloggers. Anyway, that’s all. Just wanted to share.)