As night falls, clarity in vision and mission become apparent to young Porter Ray. “Faces In My Memory” is more short film than music video, hinting with well-developed suspense at the cold necessity of life-altering decisions. On the brink of music stardom will Porter risk it all?
Deftly handled direction by Malcolm Procter and Astro King Phoenix. Song from Porter’s recent and excellent Nightfall EP.
Sub Pop recording artist Porter Ray and his intrepid team are warming up for his “official” Sub Pop debut this summer. The six-song Nightfall EP is a primer, suitable for kicking it indoors and in rides as the darker winter days descend on the Six.
Sasquatch! | The Gorge | May 22-25, 2015
Photos by Rafael Ochoa.
Armed with a press pass for the weekend, 206UP sent our intrepid photographer Rafael Ochoa into the Sasquatch! fray. He emerged exhausted and sunburned, but triumphant in his efforts to grab some dope shots of Seattle hip-hop artists doing their thing. Check it out below.
Porter Ray on his Veuve Clicquot, model intellect shit. Get it… “Model” intellect? From last year’s more than decent Fundamentals tape.
The things that occur in mom’s Volvo. SMH. Porter Ray and partner making that “Corner Bop.” Directed by Black Constellation collective’s Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes. From Porter’s Fundamentals mixtape of last year.
Hollow Earth Radio: Magma Fest, feat. Porter Ray, Astro King Phoenix, OCnotes, and JusMoni | Hollow Earth Radio Studios | Friday, February 13, 2015
Words by Emery Desper. Photography by JK Scroggins.
Young padawan Porter Ray, freak of rap nature (and, as of two hours ago, Sub Pop Record’s newest signee) with a new collection of songs for your head piece. Fundamentals picks up where RSE GLD and WHT GLD left off: Our young g rising in the music game, seeking redemption from the streets, a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, and a couple shorties’ worth of math to text in the after hours. Porter’s Twitter handle is @porterbeplayin but this young man is decidedly not.
Aesthetically, Fundamentals is cleaner around the edges as compared to the MCs trio of 2013 EPs. The sample-based, jazz and boom-bap has been tightened up and the mix is far cleaner. This is where I say something about artistic growth and bigger budgets, and blah blah blah, and all of it would be true. But it still feels like Porter is finding his footing, which might be the most exciting part of his narrative thus far. Lyrically, you would be hard pressed to find a Seattle rapper with a better handle on words; his level of articulation falls somewhere categorically Nas-like.
Porter triangulates wizened block business (“Dice Game Diagrams”), matters of friends and family (“Ruthie Dean,” “On The Slick”), and several doses of horny defamation (“Fatal Attractions,” “French Kiss”) into a singular worldview considerably more sumptuous and unstable than yours or mine. If this is a lifestyle actually being lived, it’s hard to imagine finding any peace, which is what Porter Ray seeks at the conclusion of Fundamentals. The three songs that close out the album — “Searching,” “Sunrise” and “Meditate” — find him asking for some type of spiritual blessing, which is just fine. He’s been the one doing all of the blessing to this point, anyway.
Porter Ray quietly dropped this video for “Float” (off his BLK GLD LP of last year) back in April. PR’s flow is the aural equivalent of a perfectly meandering channel of water. Smoke one in a quiet forest and watch a stream eddy and progress by. You’ll see what I mean.
Catherine Harris-White — one half of Sub Pop recording artists THEESatisfaction — will present an assemblage of supreme hip hop talent this Saturday at Re-Bar in Seattle via her Space Theory promotions company, an entity that has sponsored events in Seattle, Toronto and Brooklyn, and which seeks to examine your “perceptions of space through event production and curation”. Sounds dope to us.
Also sounding dope is this Saturday’s lineup which will introduce New Jersey hip hop artist MoRuf to Seattle. His fluid raps and sixth sense-like storytelling ability make for compelling listening. Check for his sounds here and watch the impressively cool video for his track “Buckle Up” below. Also joining the bill are local purveyors of that quality: OC Notes, Porter Ray and Cat’s partner in music Stas (appearing in strict selector form as DJ Stas THEE Boss).
Oh, one more tidbit: 206UP has your exclusive lead on a FREE PAIR OF TICKETS (er, make that guest list privileges — check ’em at the door — see what I did there?). You need only accomplish one of the following two tasks to win: Send us an email to 206upblog@gmail.com OR a tweet to @206upBlog with the words “SPACE THEORY GOT ME HIGH!” somewhere in the body of the transmission. We’ll select one name at random and the winner will get passes for him/her and one co-pilot. This is a 21 and over event, however, so Space Camp kiddies need not apply.
Today concludes 206UP’s Year End feature on the Best Seattle Hip Hop Albums of 2013. Below the jump you’ll find the blog’s Top 10 Albums of the Year (including a master list of all the albums considered at the very bottom of the post). Click on the album artwork or artist-titles for links to download or purchase.
Thanks so much for checking out the site! In 2014 there are some new features and — hopefully — big surprises to come, so keep visiting 206UP.COM throughout the New Year.
Peace, family!
A SEATTLE HIP-HOP BLOG 