It got colder than a mufucka and the weather turned to utter shit. Hella people you talk to are suffering from colds, flu, and whatnot, not to mention the usual autumnal citywide crisis of faith—shit, include me on that one right there. I've done it before; I'll do it again and quote my favorite Boom Bap Project song—"Welcome to Seattle where the sun don't shine."

You'll recall N/NW, those fellas whose crib and studio burned up earlier this year, subsequently inspiring a cross-crew benefit concert a couple weeks ago in a fit of heretofore unseen local solidarity. I finally peeped their debut album, 20 the Easy Way. The crew is composed of six MCs: Abstract, DI, Johnny Concrete, Lokeye, Mic Lee, and Raw Jawz. Abstract has a dope voice and good delivery on the record, and live he rocked quite ill over some surprisingly Mobb Deep–esque beats. My opinion on this crew after hearing their record is the same I had after seeing them rock: There's a good duo or trio somewhere in there, but a portion of the crew thins out the focus and the quality. At least half the group fails to distinguish itself to any extent (and a couple stand out negatively, but you don't know who's who), and the ballast (in personnel and songs—20 tracks is a lot) bogs down the works. When it works though, it's fun and charismatic. A charming air of "what the hell" pervades the record and there's working-class weekend party joints with sing-songy hooks that work even better onstage. I'm not counting these dudes out by a long shot, but I sure wouldn't be mad if they trimmed their roster a bit.

The Seattle/Ashland, Oregon, hiphop crew Eastern Sunz describe their music as "political and environmental activism meets hiphop." I must report that their new LP, Nine Triangles, sounds exactly as preachy and didactic as that description, with boilerplate put-your-hands-up anti-Bush spiels ("Yo God/I got some unresolved serious beef with politicians") and eco finger wagging, topped off with nuff Illuminati references and Orwellian movie sound bites. Paint-by-numbers "conscious," "underground" subject matter aside, MCs Courage and TravisT unfortunately suffer from a common malady: unremarkable vocal tone and unconfident flows. When a more polished and assured voice like Macklemore or Ricky Pharoe (who's sadly since moved to the LBC) comes on (as on "Understand" and the title track, respectively), the two Sunz's shortcomings glare. I will say it's sonically overall an improvement on their debut album. There's some solid boom-bap-type production, and even some flashes of inspiration, such as Courage referencing Killah Priest's verse on the remix of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Greyhound" on track 9... I think. I hate to trash the work of what are clearly a couple of very earnest dudes, but for me Nine Triangles just fails to stack up.recommended

hiphop@thestranger.com