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Cloud Nice: Taking Over In the ’10?

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.)

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INTERVIEW: THEESatisfaction (10.23.09, New York City)

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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!

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Catch THEESatisfaction at their next show on 11.10.09 at Nectar:

THEESatisfaction at Nectar 11.10.09

And buy their album, Snow Motion, online here:

"Snow Motion" (THEESatisfaction)

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REVIEW: Hear Me Out (Yirim Seck)

Hear Me Out (Yirim Seck)

Yirim Seck raps like most people drink water. Or breathe. You know those normal human activities we all do with such mandatory repetition that we forget we’re doing them? Some artists paint pictures, some authors write novels, and some athletes play sports in the same fashion. It just comes naturally. Those folks have muscles that most people don’t. Yirim Seck just happens to have the Emcee Muscle.

Which is why, considering how intensely hungry the 206 hip-hop scene is for music these days, it comes as a surprise (at least to this blogger) that it’s taken this long for Yirim Seck to release a full-length album. He’s mostly known around town as one-third of (now defunct?) Pyrate Radio, an act that, surprisingly for all its considerable talent, has also never released an album (at least to my knowledge). I’m sure the inner-workings of a hip-hop group are fraught with a myriad of reasons why they can’t get their collective act together (Pearl Dragon, after all, has got a pretty good thing going with Champagne Champagne), but the release of a Pyrate Radio record would be cause for celebration for many underground fans.

Instead, we get Hear Me Out from Yirim Seck. And, trust, it’s enough. Here Yirim separates himself, talent-wise, from his Pyrate Radio brethren. In fact, he separates himself from most local rappers completely. Dude is talented. The first time I heard him spit was on the Pyrate Radio track, “Hey You Say You” where I was struck by his effortless, nonchalant flow and clever wordplay. There’s even more of that on Hear Me Out. Yirim possesses that rare rapper’s ability to effectively express himself without sounding like he’s working very hard. It’s a style that draws you in naturally to the music, a voice that complements hip-hop’s indigenous breaks and boom-bap perfectly.

On the album, he puts his talent to good-use. Yirim wants listeners to know he’s a fully-arrived solo emcee who’s legit (“Check”). He also makes clear that his life is filled with very ordinary circumstances, from the unexpected birth of his first child (“Rebirth”), to the struggle of trying to make a living off his art (“Run It”), to the sexual temptations that f*ck-up relationships (“Trust”). Hear Me Out‘s main character is an everyman who says, “See, I have some of the same problems you do.” That this everyman can tell his stories and present his particular ethos more lyrically than others is to the benefit of hip-hop fans everywhere.

The production is generally straight-forward, traditional hip-hop. There are no grand histrionic sonic arrangements or overwrought musical experiments. What it lacks in relative spectacular-ness, it makes up for in well-executed convention, mostly a mixture of DJ Premier-cloned beats with straight-laced underground sensibilities. Yirim Seck doesn’t need fancy sh*t anyway, there’s enough raw personality and talent here to announce a welcome (re-)arrival of this emcee without superfluous musical flourish.

Just because the general public doesn’t know who Yirim Seck is, doesn’t mean he’s an unknown among the members of Seattle’s hip-hop community. He’s been down with The Physics and Gabriel Teodros for years. They all came up rapping together. To fans, however, he appears to be that dude on the low, waiting for an opportunity. Like the ballplayer who’s kicked around the minors for a few years developing his skills, and then all of a sudden he’s in the majors batting .350.

In actuality, Yirim Seck’s just been busy living real life. Very few local artists eat off rap, and those lucky enough to do so are probably both greatly thankful for the opportunity but tired from the constant and necessary grind. Yirim Seck is already worn-out from the hustle, and he hasn’t even “made it” in the music business yet. It’s cats like these, the hard-working underdogs whose talent often makes them more-deserving than those above them, that hip-hop roots for.

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My Hip-Hop Ear Glut

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Real quick: I was making a list tonight of 206 hip-hop albums that I haven’t had a chance to really spend quality time with. Here’s what it looks like so far…

THEESatisfaction – Snow Motion

Grieves – 88 Keys & Counting

Gabriel Teodros – Westlake Class of ’99

Shabazz Palaces – Shabazz Palaces and Of Light

Champagne Champagne – Champagne Champagne

Yirim Seck – Hear Me Out

And that’s not even including new D. Black, Macklemore, and The Physics. (Whenever that’s dropping, which I hope is soon — I consider that CD the last possible ray of sunlight in summer ’09, but I have a feeling it will be more like the first drop of winter slush in 2010. No matter, it will still be absolute fire, I can’t f*cking wait! Physics are about to own hip-hop in this town, and you can put that in your savings account and collect interest on it, fools!)

Now, I listen to a ton of hip-hop; so much hip-hop that I feel like my Elton John CDs are starting to feel neglected. And if you think I’m wack for liking Elton John, just listen to “Kiss The Ring” off OB4CL2 and go ahead and f*ck off.

My point is, there is a glut of hip-hop swirling around the belly of the 206 and it’s a full-time job just listening to all of it. And I don’t mean just putting it on as background music while you Dustbuster your apartment. I mean really spend quality time with the sh*t, which, if you’re even interested at all in appreciating these artists’ grinds and hustles, you will do out of sheer deference.

Anyway, this rant is basically meant as a shout-out to those artists putting in work for the love of the music. As fans, we appreciate it, and we are paying attention. Stay up and keep making music like your lives depend on it.

Peace!

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Yirim Seck’s Solo Debut

Yirim-HearMeOut-flyer-back1Damn, 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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Listening to this…

…on my way to work:

Wale – Back to the Feature Mixtape

The Physics – High Society EP

The Saturday Knights – Mingle

(Doesn’t it seem like Wale’s been “the next big thing” for a minute now? He’s already dropped two incredible mixtapes and his official debut, Attention: Deficit, is set to be released on September 22. I don’t see how he can possibly outdo his mixtapes, though. The Mixtape About Nothing will probably go down as one of the best ever made — and it’s FREE on his website!)

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My Hands is Full

Yo. Back on the blog after a few days’ absence.

What began as an ambitious endeavor (the genesis of yet another 206-dedicated hip-hop blog) turned quickly from a new labor of love into straight-up work. A regular nine-to-five coupled with two blogs (I keep a personal one as well, but I’ll never tell you where it is!) is nearly too much to manage, especially if you are a notoriously slow writer like me.

But anyway, I just read Charles Mudede’s column in The Stranger (titled “Renewed School”), in which he summarizes the year thus far in Seattle hip-hop, calling it the “most important” since 2005 (uhh, wasn’t that only like four years ago?). And, while I very rarely agree with the majority of what Chuck says, I still hold his opinions valuable and let them help shape what I am currently pumping into my ears.

That being said, I’ve only sampled a couple of the albums he mentions among the best of ’09, and certainly haven’t listened to enough to formulate adequate reviews. (For example, I’m super late to the boat on Fresh Espresso’s debut, Glamour, as well as Khingz’s From Slaveships to Spaceships, two local releases that are, for better or worse, very important to the 206 scene this year.) I’m an amateur operation here, yo! I already have my hands full with the new Grynch and Physics EPs!

Anyway, I’m going to take Mudede’s advice to heart and go “cop these joints” (to use the parlance of our times) and, after so doing, submit proper reviews. But first I think I’m ‘a start with GMK’s Songs for Bloggers. It’s short and sweet and only costs $5.94 on iTunes. (Anyone wanna hit me with freebies?? Pretty please??) I’ll be back later with my thoughts. Until then, tell your friends!

Peace!

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Blessed With the Beats in Summer ’09

Soon as I figure out how to install the Twitter widget on the blog, I’ll post it up. For now, though, here’s the announcement, direct from Prometheus Brown (aka Geo, aka Geologic, aka the emcee 1/2 of Seattle’s favored hip-hop sons, Blue Scholars) on their forthcoming EP, OOF!.

And I quote: “Plotting the OOF! EP Campaign. Official announcement coming soon but I’ll tell yall now: it’s dropping Aug. 25!”

The Physics, Grynch, and Blue Scholars all dropping new EPs this summer? I’m ‘a hafta ride around for days just to have enough time to bump all this sh*t. Mom, I need more gas money for the Caravan!

For now though, I’ll just take a stroll down “The Ave” (Memorial Stadium, Bumbershoot 2006, opening for Kanye — who was completely wack in concert that night, by the way):

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New School/Old School

Grynch releases his new Chemistry EP tonight at 9:00 pm. Chemistry, along with The Physics’ High Society EP are two more great leaps forward for Seattle’s new school of hip-hop.

To tide you over until Chemistry‘s release, here’s one of the architects (albeit a younger, slimmer version) doing his thing on Broadway, circa 1988:

“Do you rememmmber the time???”

(I’ll post a review of Chemistry right quick tomorrow – just need to spend some time with it on my morning commute!)

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REVIEW: High Society EP (The Physics)

high society cover

Fans of the smoothed-out Physics debut, Future Talk rejoice! The High Society EP is a little something to hold you over until the trio’s next full-length comes along. And, just like their debut, you can groove along to High Society with your headphones plugged in, or in your car cruising down Alki Beach. Either option succeeds in delivering the new Seattle summer soundtrack for 2009.

The music on High Society is Seattle’s own updated version of early to mid 90’s Native Tongue-style hip-hop. The influences are all here, including the jazz inflections, laid-back flows, and straight-up J. Dilla/Ummah-style beats. Thankfully, the production respectfully imitates more than it mimics, which means the music is allowed to proudly display its roots while still remaining mostly fresh.

Standout tracks include “Back Track” which is specifically an homage to The Physics’ influences (Wu and Tribal are named) and “The Session,” an addictive fusion of jazz instrumentation and futuristic sound effects where the rhymes are delivered two and four bars at a time via a playful back-and-forth between all three members of The Physics and a catchy saxophone riff.

There is one annoying track, “I Just Wanna Beat.” Ugh, once again it’s the dreaded Sex Joint. You know, the one about picking up shorties at the club and taking them home “just to hit it?” We’ve all done it, we all know it happens, so why do rappers insist on making songs about it? (Actually, the track “Good” is based on the same concept, but at least it’s done cleverly and with a hilarious verse by Macklemore.) Anyway, that’s just a minor complaint among an album full of great music.

High Society is just an EP, so it’s easy to play through the whole record two or three times and not even realize it. The only thing really holding it back is its short length (better to keep fans hungry) and the aforementioned sex talk (typical, so — whatever). This is actually a pretty exciting release because it shows The Physics truly have the chops to succeed in the industry. They exist in a well-defined hip-hop niche but still manage to stand outside of it because of their raw talent. Their follow-up sophomore album can’t come soon enough.

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