…are two of my favorite things. Caffe Vita knows whassup with both. Check out their charitable GIVE project here. It’s a downloadable music compilation (with both mp3’s and videos) featuring over 30 local artists. It includes a bunch of hip-hop: D. Black, Common Market, Fatal Lucciauno, Champagne Champagne, and Fresh Espresso, among others.
All proceeds go to the non-profit, Arts Corps and four local food banks.
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:
(Note: This review also appears on national hip-hop blog abovegroundmagazine.com.)
In previous posts I’ve championed Khingz and his music because of the overarching sentimentality that drives it. Whether it’s an unabashed embrace of his sci-fi nerd tendencies, fastidious examination of his race, or total lack of fear over expressing the fact that he’s in love (be it with the woman of his dreams, or a fraternal love with his homies — minus the bullsh*t “no homo”/”pause” bigotry that poisons the hip-hop lexicon). Honesty in music breeds quality product. This has been the consistent ethic throughout Khingz’s career, and to his credit he’s achieved it without ever coming off as self-righteous. He’s walking a tightrope over mainstream hip-hop with his self-respect, principles, and integrity balanced on his back; and he seems to be doing it with ease.
Khingz is also having the most prolific year, musically, he’s ever had. From Slaveships to Spaceships jumped out of hyperspace in the first half of the year to a hungry Seattle hip-hop scene that I personally don’t think was ready for an album of such heavy-handedness. Folks around The Six were too busy taking their clothes off at Mad Rad and Fresh Espresso concerts, acts that feed the debaucheric tendencies of Seattle’s most over-caffeinated scenesters. Not saying there isn’t a time and place for that, but in a town that prides itself on being “conscious” and “progressive,” you’d hope an album like Slaveships would be gobbled up by those same scenesters who are, by-day, members of the supposed coffee-shop intelligentsia. Endless ruminations followed by due shine in the local press would hopefully have followed. In the Weekly’s Best of Seattle Reader’s Poll, Khingz was named “Best MC,” which is certainly a strong statement considering how saturated the local hip-hop market is, but simply being dubbed “one of Seattle’s wittier wordsmiths” in the brief write-up didn’t exactly speak to the complexities of Khingz’s album. No matter. If hip-hop culture trends toward justice (and I believe it does), From S to S will endure the test of time and ultimately be realized as a local hip-hop classic.
Now enter the follow-up to From Slaveships to Spaceships, Cold Hearted in Cloud City. While not as fully realized conceptually as From S to S (a Star Wars/Khingz-as-the-Blaq-Han-Solo theme loosely holds the sci-fi element together), this record may represent more of a transition in musical styles for the emcee. Gone is the frantic urgency of previous beats, and taking that place is a far mellower vibe. It is, dare I say, more sonically “accessible.” The fact that his rhyme style still meshes well with the more delicate production, only confirms my argument that Khingz is one of the most versatile emcees currently active in Seattle. (Though to be fully accurate, I should qualify that statement by acknowledging he’s since relocated to Vancouver, BC.)
The shift in musical styles is also accompanied by a slight shift in subject matter. Gone is the powerful declaration of liberation, which Khingz presumably nurtured to fruition on Slaveships. Cold Hearted finds Khingz getting more comfortable with his current place in the rap game. He shows he can body wack rappers with ease on “Carbonite Flow;” he confidently declares his journey through hip-hop has been unlike any other on “Kessel Run;” and shows he will gladly rock a party if motherf*ckas just wanna dance on “Devilish Grin.” It’s all done with an undercurrent of trepidation, however, which never allows levity to fully embrace the record. Khingz knows there’s a poison goin’ on (in the world and the rap game; see: “Hybernation Siccness”), and he’s too much of an introspective soul to allow himself to forget it, even for a moment.
On his blog, Khingz says he’s still searching for his “true” sound. It seems Cold Hearted is a brief stopover on that trip. My impression of his last two albums is that he’s found his proper voice, but perhaps his creative muse hasn’t shown him/herself yet. Or, could be that Khingz will realize an entire career with various collaborators and never get comfortable with one particular “sound.” That would be okay with this listener. For a genre that so prides itself on progression and “changing the game,” it possesses few artists that actually deliver on those maxims. In Khingz, it seems hip-hop has found someone that can truly, and willingly, carry that banner.
My LOVE/hate relationship with Fresh Espresso continues! Hooray!
Check out this post on Winners Circle (Blah Blog) for the download links to “Something New (Remix)” and a brand NEW Fresh Espresso track, “Bedroom”. P Smoov and Rik Rude (aka Fresh Espresso, aka The Boys I Love to Hate) made some more fire — damn, man.
The three dudes that make up the group Champagne Champagne (emcees Pearl Dragon and Thomas Gray, and DJ/Producer Gajamagic) must find themselves in a weird space these days. Their shows are usually populated by twenty-something hipsters of the fairer complexion, rocking out with their cocks out, overjoyed at being at a hip-hop show, and certainly proud to tell their unlucky (and much less-cool) co-workers the next day about how “real” the experience was. Yet there’s this verse, from “Soda & Pop Rocks,” the very first thing Pearl spits on Champagne Champagne’s self-titled debut album:
You can see me leapin’
My words creepin’
Slowly
Now they know me
When my whole influence was
“Rollin’ With The Homies”
First off
One of the best to ever touch off
You can see me touchdown anytime
Randy Moss
You can take what you git from it
My words influenced by
The slums and they love it
Hip-hop no hipster
Words flip back you can see I rip through
Haters innovator rock paper scissor
See me as I
Cut up my nigga!
Take note, white hipsters, this is not your music. (Pearl even says so!) This is black music — a cousin once or twice-removed from Jimi Hendrix, Living Colour, and Outkast. Witness the emphasis of the N-word, not meant to make you feel down with the cause, but as a proud (however polemic) declaration of blackness. The word’s strong assertion made me feel uncomfortable and alienated from the track, which is exactly how anyone who is not black should feel. So, while the demographics of the audience probably accurately represent the consumers of Champagne Champagne’s music, the joke’s ultimately on you hipster motherf*ckas. Pearl’s city “isn’t pretty, it’s gritt-y.”
Fresh Espresso, the other Seattle hip-hop group that most closely resembles Champagne Champagne, probably faces fewer such dilemmas. While FE’s music is far more party-friendly (virtually no references to blackness that would inconveniently clutter their feel-good vibe), the afro-eccentricities of Champagne Champagne add a welcome layer of complexity to their music. Without it, there would only be the left-field hip-hop punkiness of the sonic arrangements and little to no traceable DNA leading them back to the revered architects of black music mentioned above.
Not that the hipsters are all in the wrong for digging this sh*t, they should. The group is, after all, called Champagne Champagne, a moniker that bestows upon them the responsibility for starting the party. And this does sound like party music. Live hip-hop is more about the beats than the lyrics anyway, anyone who attends the shows can attest to that. The distorted bass at the beginning of “Soda & Pop Rocks” sounds like a mic’ed-up human heart sitting on top of an 808 kick drum. It’s not only the best track on the album, but also Champagne Champagne’s official declaration of non-whiteness in a city full of white fans — nonetheless, I’m sure it rocks the hell out of their parties.
After the opening track, things immediately get more complicated. Is “Molly Ringwald” really a heartfelt tribute to falling in love with girls who look like the innocent sweet-sixteener? Or is it a perverse acknowledgment of the white-girls-who-love-black-men phenomenon that only Spike Lee has been brave enough to flesh-out in front of the general public? Pearl’s heartbroken vocals suggest the former (“I left a message but she never called me back”), while Gajamagic’s sinister production suggests the latter.
Later, Pearl lightens-up a little and does his best Andre 3000 impression on the guitar-driven, “Hollywood Shampoo,” and further tributes are paid to the fairer sex as the pitfalls of showbiz-life and love are lamented and celebrated on “Cover Girls” and “What’s Your Fantasy.” The production trends toward hippie futurism, and contains all the references to space and aliens that would be expected from such music. Yes, the hip-hop UFO thing is getting tired and it’s been done better before, but Champagne Champagne uses the levity in such themes to elevate the music to the upper reaches of that particular quality.
Finally, while “Soda & Pop Rocks” is the group’s declaration of identity, “Radio Raheem” is the frontman’s heart, exposed and bleeding for all to see. On it, Pearl raps about the shooting death of his older brother, Samuel Curry, by an off-duty Seattle police officer. The song plays its ironic and tragic part in inextricably linking the rapper’s proud declaration of blackness to the all-too-frequent instances of police brutality that grievously help define the black experience in America. Indeed it’s a heavy track, yet a vital addition to an album that would, however regrettably, be incomplete without it.
P Smoov and Rik Rude of Fresh Espresso are the guys you would most want to party with and the guys whom you would never trust around your girl. This social quagmire could certainly create some problems on a Saturday night, especially if your lady isn’t looking to be left home alone while you’re out carousing with the two guys who are quickly becoming the hottest hip-hop act in the city. Curiously, the social contradiction also mirrors my relationship with their debut album, Glamour: I simultaneously love and hate it. Read on to understand why…
The Hate Side
I think Fresh Espresso are a couple of posers. There, I said it. In their live shows, they own the stage like real rock stars, which (presumably) affords them the affinities of many women. And, while they may be taking said groupies out for a nice steak dinner after the show, their music would have you believe they can afford Filet Mignon at El Gaucho, when, in reality, it’s probably more like a nice sirloin at The Keg.
Which begs the question: Are they keeping it real?
The answer: Sometimes. Maybe. I think.
On one track, P Smoov isn’t ashamed to declare that he’s been homeless and had to resort to selling his mattress to pay the bills, yet on most others, he’s shooting off “Diamond Pistols” and riding in fast cars with topless women, presumably on his way down the California coast to a beach house somewhere in Malibu. These worlds are in direct contradiction to each other, yet this crew exists in both. I expected some tongue-in-cheek/nudge-nudge-type lyrical musings to offset all the Diamond Life talk, but there’s none of that. We’re allowed to believe they somehow have it both ways. Oh well, maybe there’s a simple explanation, like Rik Rude’s side hustle is investment banking or something.
The Love Side
These dudes are supremely talented, and they’ve created what might be, to date, the most mainstream-friendly rap album to emerge from Seattle. It’s an unapologetic slap in the face to the other section of 206 hip-hop that would prefer to remain progressive and conscious, a huge above-ground guilty-pleasure for a hip-hop fan like me who tends to spend most of his time underground.
Smoov’s production is incredibly glossy, the aural equivalent of what the lips on one of his groupie’s might look like. Some of the tracks are busy and over-produced (“The Lazerbeams,” “Vader Rap”) while others are just right (“Elegant,” “All Around The World”), but the majority of the album is top-shelf, high quality hip-pop, music you’d expect to hear on a rap album with mass-market appeal. On the boards, P Smoov is definitely not a faker or an amateur, he’s an absolute pro, and it shows.
Rap-wise, both Espresso boys have confidence and swagger for days, and both are competent on the mic. Rik Rude, who handles most of the rapping, is a seasoned emcee and his stream-of-conscious flow fits nicely over P’s slick beats. Sometimes, however, he sounds tongue-tied, like maybe he didn’t loosen-up his chops with enough Hey-Now-Brown-Cows before stepping into the booth. P Smoov actually holds his own alongside Rik. His high-pitched flow is natural and engaging, and often he’s more interesting to listen to than his partner.
Back To The Hate
Unfortunately, lyrically, there’s not much substance here. It’s mostly talk about women, sex, haters, women, coming up in the rap game, fast cars, and women. This crew will not be encouraging us to vote for a particular mayoral candidate and a lot of what comes out of their mouths is just hot air. But then, so is a lot of good party music.
And Back To The Love
My final analysis is, you need to own this album. If not for the quality of music, then for the “f*ck you, pay me” statement it makes to all other major urban centers across the country that produce the majority of popular hip-hop. This album proves that Seattle is more than backpacks and Birkenstocks, REI and snowboards. We can be cocky, too, see. Even if it takes a group like Fresh Espresso to blow some hot air up your ass to prove it.
Alright then, I’m back on the blog after a brief hiatus. Went camping east of the mountains (that’s the Cascades) with The Lady and some good friends. Lots of good eating, swimming, and lounging around in 100-degree weather, but very little in the way of Seattle hip-hop. (Lake Chelan might have the only bars left in Washington that Fresh Espresso hasn’t played.) And, while it was nice to be away from technology for a while, it’s good to be back on the blog, once again connected and in-the-loop with the goings-on around town. So without further ado…
Since it’s all about Geo and Sabzi today (and most likely tomorrow as well), I might as well hitch my wagon to the OOF! train and do my part to plug our favored sons of hip-hop in the 206.
The local rap giant that is Blue Scholars is once again coming down from the mountain to drop their highly-anticipated OOF! EP tomorrow. The limited edition disc will be available at the Capitol Hill all Caffe Vita locations. Get yours, son. All the information that’s fit to print is here on the group’s blog.
The Scholars crew is on their grind again, promoting the hell out of the EP, encouraging us fans to basically stalk them around The Town all day, and topping off the release date with a performance at local Hawaiian outpost Ohana, in Belltown. I’ll be there, hyped up on Caffe Vita espresso with loco moco in hand. Show your love, too!
I haven’t heard the entire EP yet, but if the first two pre-released tracks (“Coo?,” “HI-808”) are any indication, then it’s likely this disc may be the most light-hearted and party-rocking collection the crew has released thus far. Granted, my affinity for the duo lies mostly in the fact that they choose to be so intensely political and *ahem* conscious, but lighter subject matter is always welcome from any of my favorite hip-hop groups. It is party music, after all.
After I get in a few good listens, your faithful 206-UP!’er (that’s me) will be offering his always over-opinionated opinion. Until then, however, check out Andrew Matson’s (Seattle Times) review here. A-Mats also interviewed our favorite doods and both offered insight into the direction of the group, its evolving musical stylings, and the 206 hip-hop community in general. Peep those interviews here and here, they’re both worth reading.
More later — enjoy the sun and the OOF!
Well, being on vacation is not conducive to keeping up regular posts on the blog, so, apologies to those who read me on the regular and have caught me slippin’ as of late. Plus, I am without my personal laptop and regular access to the internet, so I’ve mostly been Twittering and nothing really beyond that. The ironic part of all this is that I’m finally back home in Seattle, where the hip-hop that I write about is actually happening, and yet I haven’t had time to really partake of the scene.
Anyway, I’m on my way to Easy Street Records (Queen Anne) to catch up on my local record browsing. I’ll probably cop a few discs while I’m there including a *ahem* legitimate copy of Glamour (BTW, I swear my full review of Fresh Espresso’s seminal work is coming soon…).
For now, click here for Seattle’s flavor of the week, a track called “Robin Hood” by local hero Tay Sean. It goes nice with this 90-degree weather and an iced tall Americano from El Diablo.
Now, which bag did I pack my iPod in??…
As expected, my coffee intake has increased at least three-fold since arriving in Seattle on Wednesday evening. I’m perpetually caffeinated now — not that my state of consciousness in NYC isn’t usually thrown off-kilter by the country’s most dangerous legal stimulant, but I’m just sayin’, out here, fresh espresso (for better or worse) is a way of life. (Ha! Get it?! Fresh Espresso/fresh espresso — a way of life for better or worse?!…Uhh yeah, so anyway, moving on…)
The weather, thus far, hasn’t exactly been conducive to summer riding. In fact, I don’t think I’ve rolled down the window once yet in my 1984 Toyota 4WD wagon (the whip that I’m currently pushing [actually more like gently coaxing] through the city — thanks to my Lady’s parents for providing me with yet another reason to be self-conscious as I drive through Downtown, Fremont, and New Ballard).
Anyway, all this to say, it’s good to be back in The Town! Good to be gorging myself at breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe, good to be eating a Dick’s Deluxe with Bill Gates at 10:00 at night (no joke, he was really there at 45th Street on Wednesday), good to be sinking my teeth into a Paseo grilled pork sandwich yesterday afternoon. (There seems to be a theme developing here.)
And good, of course, to be back in the city where the hip-hop movement is as fresh and optimistic as a box of newborn kittens.
So, if you see an idiot in the front row at Yirim Seck’s album release party who seems to be on some sort of bad drug trip, don’t worry. That’s just over-caffeinated me, enjoying the realness.
Damn, this show will be off the hook*: Yirim Seck‘s album release party featuring The Physics and Fresh Espresso. This makes for a DO. NOT. MISS. event at the Chop!
(*Do the kids say “off the hook” these days?…I don’t care, I’m still usin’ it…)
From the (slightly) Back-In-The-Day Files, here’s a clip from Pyrate Radio, “Hey You Say You.”
(Another shout to Ian, director-extraordinaire, for the visuals!)
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