I've probably said this before—shit, I've probably said everything before by now—but my biggest pet peeve when big rappers come to town is that part of the show when they display how much they looove Seattle by desecrating "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with their raps. I instantly feel pandered to, and weakly so—like, you ain't no real Nirvana fan, bruh. So my first groan came early with Jay-Z's Magna Carta Holy Grail, with Justin Timberlake singing Cobain's words on the opening track—basically the express lane to my brain's indifference center. I caught a few things as my illegal download of the Grail (fuck your Samsung, fuck my iPhone, too) sped through my iTunes, though. "Beach Is Better" is actually perfect, but it's less than a minute long, and the hook on "F.U.T.W." ("Let's fuck up this world") already seems like the war cry of the ruling class. Shine on, you crazy billionaire! Meanwhile, the dude known to most as Mos Def—you know, Yasiin Bey— underwent force-feeding via tube-in-nose, strapped into a chair, to protest what's happening to hunger-striking detainees in Guantanamo Bay. Which is more revolutionary—that, or being an ultra-rich black ex–crack dealer with the juice to make up so-called #newrules? I don't know if either act—and they are both acts—really are revolutionary, or at least a tenth as revolutionary as an actual hunger strike is. Shouts to the 30K inmates throughout California's prisons refusing meals.

As soul-lessening as it is for me to think about shows when we're hurtling toward a police state, it's important that I remember how inspiring and life-giving live music can and should be, so let me get back to the lecture at hand. Rumored Greek god Nacho Picasso, the Odd Future–affiliated hardcore maniacs Trash Talk, young mystic Key Nyata, and #WaterGod Keyboard Kid are all playing at Neumos on Thursday, July 18. A classic rap-show clusterfuck is upon us, however, as veteran spit-slingers Grayskul play at the Crocodile that very same evening with the indefatigable RA Scion, the frankly baffling Continental Soldiers, the spiky electropop of Clutch Douglass, and DJ Phil Anthony. At Nectar, you'll find ChiTown indie mainstays Qwel & Maker on their Beautiful Raw tour, with Th3rdz, Qwazaar, Batsauce & Lady Daisey, Jewels Hunter, Suntonio Bandanaz, and MomentumX. And Macklemore & Ryan Lewis added a third show at the KeyArena in December—c'mon, they already knew the first two would sell out.

To take it back to the top—it's damned clear that the Run the Jewels (El-P and Killer Mike) album positions itself as the anti-all-that. Killer Mike snapped on "Sea Legs": "When death run in the distance, there will be no mercy mes/There will be no reprieve for the thieves/There will be no respect for thrones/No master mastered these bones/Your idols all are my rivals/I rival all of your idols/I stand on towers like Eiffel, I rifle down all your idols/Niggas will perish in Paris, niggas is nothing but parrots/I write for the writers that write for the liars that impress you and your parents." Same.