Go outside, y'all, it's crazy beautiful. Wait, now not so much. Wait, it's gorgeous again... wait? Spring has surely sprung.

Shows, then: Grayskul are doing their "Birthday Party" at Barboza on Wednesday, March 26. Damn, has it really been 10 years since their amazing first show at Chop Suey, and since they announced their signing? Damn, it really has. World done flipped two, three times since then. Ripynt (with his patnas Carl Roe and DJ Rize), Shorte, and Imaginary Friends open. That same night, Chop Suey will be occupied by SF's scrappy rapper/producer K.Flay, whose Doomtree-esque sounds would've actually made her a great match with the 'Skul this night.

Hard-spitting, Cali-bred, Houston-based motormouth Snow tha Product is bringing her tough stuff to Neumos on Thursday the 27th. This is also the release party for Neema's long-rumored The Cigar Room album with producer and Basedworld legend Keyboard Kid.

Love & Hip Hop's Joe Budden and Tahiry are coming to Trago Cocina (it's in South Lake Union) on Friday the 28th, Joe fully embracing his disgusting lane as an American reality TV star, long years from any respectability he had as a rapper. If you came looking for any of his trademark street-emo lyricism, you'd probably be better off just fucking with Grieves over at Easy Street in the West, where he's doing a free all-ages in-store for his latest Rhymesayers LP, Winter & the Wolves. The G-man is magnanimously taking Fearce Vill and BeanOne on tour soon, and they have an Indiegogo for said jaunt needing your love.

Heartfelt Tacoma mainstay John Crown and troubadour Jasper T. headline Barboza on Saturday, March 29, blending their hiphop and folk styles—my first reaction being "yikes," but followed with a strong and sincere "do you." Sunday the 30th brings the legend Bun B, Kirko Bangz, and Jarv Dee to Neumos. Bun, owner of one of the most recognizable voices in rap ever, is one-half of Port Arthur, Texas, pioneers UGK, and is part of the reason some of you non-identity-having dickheads drink fucking cough syrup out of a Styrofoam cup today, though he'd never claim y'all on his taxes.

Speaking of Texas—how was SXSW, rappers? Did you eat BBQ? Did you see a bunch of famous and semi-famous people who now won't hit you back on Twitter? Some say it's a must-do, some call it a glorified music-biz spring break—and some say that, at this point, it's totally useless for unproven artists, and unless you're already on tour or really moving, it's a waste of your time, money, and liver. It certainly was a good opportunity for Raz Simone, though, who is definitely on the move these days with the backing of big dogs—besides his official shows, he did a grip of outdoor guerrilla performances in the street with his band, resulting in the video for his aspirational "Natural Resources" (a proper review for his Cognitive Dissonance coming soon) and likely some good word of mouth. I'm sure you won't try to emulate that and aggressively push your self-interested struggle bars to an uninterested Sixth Street next year. Ha-ha, yeah right.