206UP and Jae Changehave collaborated to form 28Hundred, a new media company dedicated to producing original video content and in-depth, personality-driven interviews with some of your favorite artists. Stay tuned here for the latest 28Hundred productions.
In 28Hundred’s latest exclusive interview, we sat down with producer Jake Crocker in New York City to discuss the Seattle native’s earliest days hustling beats on the internet, to getting linked with Raz Simone and his Black Umbrella team. Peep game above. Also check out Jake’s most recent project, the American Dreams EP featuring rapper Ronnie, Dylan below.
The best riding music off Raz Simone’s Cognitive Dissonance now has a slick video to accompany it. “8 Rangs” rattles your cage like a fucking thunderclap.
206UP and Jae Change have collaborated to form 28Hundred, a new media company dedicated to producing original video content and in-depth, personality-driven interviews with some of your favorite artists. Stay tuned here for the latest 28Hundred productions.
We caught up with Seattle hip hop artist Raz Simone at the New York City listening session for his 300 Entertainment debut, Cognitive Dissonance. In the interview, the rapper discusses being contacted by music industry legend Lyor Cohen for the first time, the creative process behind his lyrics, and his hopes for the future of a career in music.
The video for Raz’s “Natural Resources” was filmed over the course of the rapper’s trip to SxSW, both at officially sanctioned festival performances and a series of pop-up/guerilla-style shows in the streets of downtown Austin. Given the heavy subject matter of the track — the get-busy-living-or-die-from-exposure industriousness of this country’s marginalized people — at first glance the concept for the video doesn’t seem to fit the lyrics. But given the rapper’s own diligence and perseverance within the amalgam of humanity and cultural free-for-all that is SxSW, the backdrop for the video comes into greater focus. There’s nothing more natural here than Raz’s own charisma, and few things as resourceful as his live band, PA System, setting up their gear in the middle of the street.
Get Raz’s Cognitive Dissonance: Part One for free, here.
Raz Simone
Cognitive Dissonance: Part One
Black Umbrella; 2014
Score (Potholes In My Blog scale): 4 / 5
Raz Simone’s first album since inking a deal with 300 Entertainment is an instant Northwest classic that also stands as tall as many of the best national releases of 2014. Read what else I had to say about it over at Potholes In My Blog.
Raz Simone has commandeered this blog’s RSS feed over the course of the last week or so. On the heels of the release of his Cognitive Dissonance: Part One, the team at Black Umbrella let loose with the video for “They’ll Speak,” directed by Stephan Gray. Seattle looks like the set of I Am Legend as Raz roams the streets, alone except for his thoughts.
Surprise! Raz Simone just released his new album Cognitive Dissonance: Part One a full three days earlier than expected, and he made the whole damn thing available for free. The early jump did not allow for industrious bloggers like myself to complete a proper album review, but no matter: my first thoughts were imparted last Thursday after I had the fortune of attending the 300 Entertainment-sponsored NYC listening party. More words to follow, but I suggest just going ahead and bumping the shit to form your own opinion.
Seattle rapper Raz Simone held his first-ever private listening session yesterday at Terminus Studios, a glistening recording space in midtown Manhattan. The occasion was to preview his upcoming album, Cognitive Dissonance, in front of a couple dozen industry people, a select group of fans, and a smattering of music writers and bloggers. Through what felt like an egregious error in guest listing, the homie Jason Chen and I found ourselves among the people standing inside the recording room, formed in a loose semi-circle around Raz as he introduced the ten tracks on his soon-to-be-released LP.
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 