Attention: We have all recently been exposed to high levels of cabin fever. Snow shut this motherfucker down, and all I had to show for it was a bunch of canceled places to be. Immediately followed by Christmas—which was cool, but not long after that people were praying for the thaw, trying not to shoot anything that played Christmas music, trying to shake it off. Hopefully you managed to accomplish all of that by New Year's Eve—and hopefully that went off without a hitch.
I spent the first second of the New Year (by this imperialist Western calendar) kissing my girl at the 10th edition of the Corner, which my bro Candidt only premiered in March and has managed to pack with local talent both tested and new jack in the months intervening.
Another "10" that rings to mind is the (Jeremy Piven voice) 10 years that Cool Nutz has thrown his PDX rap fest POH-Hop out in Portland. Nutz is truly a NW classic and a leader of men—he puts on for his city, as you should. He puts on for the whole of Cascadia, too, currently with his NW Breakout show (107.5 FM or www.jamminfm.com) airing the best of northwest hiphop, prime time on Saturday nights. Catch Nutz in Seattle on January 12 down at the Contour with Onry Ozzborn, Spaceman, Kenny Mack, and Language Arts, for a listening party for his upcoming The Miracle LP. So peep NW Breakout on Saturday, peep B-Mello on Street Sounds, and DJ Hyphen and J. Moore on KUBE's Sunday Night Sound Session the next night (and if you're sleeping on these, you're already basically in NW-rap special ed), then check out the King of NE Portland downtown on Monday night. See, I just planned your weekend. You're welcome, chumley.
If you're feeling especially spry, Sunday, January 11, would also be a good time to take in some 253 hiphop, right here in Seattle. No less a 253 boss than General Wojack will be rocking at the Rendezvous, with Life Cycle and Josh Rizeberg. Let's run the numbers a touch on the rapper/producer known as Wojack—dedicated to his craft since "Rapper's Delight," Wo was a part of Nastymix's classic Tac crew Criminal Nation, which caught some good burn for its albums Release the Pressure (1990) and Trouble in the Hood (1992). After the house that Nes and Mix-A-Lot built crumbled, he came out with the hood classic Where Ya Goin Wo? in '96, the first of a string of solos. Not for nothing, neither—Wo has the authoritative voice and hard West Coast bounce to his flow everyone needs in their diet. Check out an OG and tell a friend—'cause it's all about a well-connected NW in 2009. Vancouver, where you at? 
