What's your favorite Nas album? Hold on, let's think on it. I will always give it up for Stillmatic; there's just something about seeing a fallen-off rapper come back with that Dhalsim "Yoga Fire" that always does my heart proud. Cuts like "2nd Childhood" (incredible Primo/Nas team-up), "Rewind" (rap Memento!), "You're da Man" (gorgeous Large Professor beat), and of course "Ether" make Stillmatic hold more classic Nas cuts than any of his albums—except for his first, the only correct answer to my original question: 1994's Illmatic.
But unlike the absolutely essential classic Illmatic (which even Mr. Jones recently admitted made fans expect too much from him for the rest of his career), no album sums up Nas better than his 2001 "comeback" album. While it held some of Nas's best work, period, it also held some of his worst, most ill-considered duds ("Smokin'," "Braveheart Party"). Simply put, Nas is best embodied by something as tragically inconsistent as Still.
Besides all that, you know and I know—and you know that I know—that Nasir is a notoriously spotty performer. Bad breath control, raggedy voice (too many White Owls, god), lackadaisical movement, and overbearing hypemen have typified every Nas show I've ever seen. I'm not saying that because I don't want you to go see Esco at Showbox Sodo on Friday, May 16—I do! I want you to support the openers, my man D.Black, my dudes Grynch, and DJ Nphared. I want you to scream your lungs out when the man many of you proclaim as hiphop's greatest MC emerges onstage. I just don't want you to be disappointed. No expectations.
Turntable disciples may want to head out to the University of Washington HUB North Den that same evening, where you'll find celebrated turntablists D-Styles, Ricci Rucker, Mike Boo, and Ace, collectively known as Gunkhole. The G-hole create structured yet spontaneous symphonies with drums and expert turntable manipulation, wowing crowds of devotees. Also testing the limits of steel and vinyl that night are DJ Vajra, Ced and Waymond, and DJ Dyce.
Graffiti Rock up at the Sunset is still goin' strong, and this month's edition is Saturday, May 17, featuring the considerable talents of the Physics (who I just heard rockin' The Morning show on KEXP), Phil in the Blank, and Party Time. Man, those cheap Pabst tallboys are a surefire way to achieve a state of holy hiphop rapture.
Oh yeah, Seattle's sons D.Black, Cancer Rising, Neema, and Kublakai are all hitting the road this month on the 206 Degrees and Rising Tour, rolling throughout this great NW of ours, from here to Big Sky Country (aka Bozeman, Montana) and back. The first gig is here in Seattle on Sunday, May 18, at the High Dive. It's topped off by the powerful vocals of JFK, so come on out and help finance our gas money, please. 
