Nothing smart-ass this week to kick it off, kids. I’d like to send my sincerest condolences to Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, his wife, and his entire family. During Mrs. Simmons’s C-section last week, doctors discovered that her baby daughter was born with organs outside of the body; the baby died shortly thereafter. God bless.
No matter how mediocre his albums have been since Tical, I think we should all be excited that Method Man is coming to the Showbox Monday, October 9. Okay, I’ll admit, the real reason I’m going is because of his opener, the cat on whom a lot of people pin their hopes for NYC rap: Saigon. The rapper many of you first saw on Entourage is one of Gotham’s most promising rhyme slingers, blending gutter, street-bred, prison-refined hardcore and real, early-’90s-style consciousness into one tasty package. The buzz is that his looong-awaited major-label debut, The Greatest Story Never Told, is an instant classic. I’m saying whatever to all that noise. First, I need to hear… something! Just Blaze, hurry this shit up, man! Sai’s almost used up all his goodwill, taking this damn long.
Thursday, October 12, and Friday, October 13, at Chop Suey, Neema of Unexpected Arrival celebrates 10,000 units independently sold of his My Life for Sale LP. Even his many detractors can’t be mad at that—or maybe they could. The all-ages Thursday-night show features D. Black, Byrdie, Grynch, Rubio, HD, and Cop n Flip Records; the 21+ Friday-night show features the Parker Brothaz, Cool Nutz, Mr. D.O.G., Futuristic, and Stre Loc and Five One of UTI. In his defense, Neema contends, “Look, I include everybody. I put 15 million cats on my shows, I never took nobody’s money, I ain’t rapin’ nobody, I don’t sign artists. I’m a team player. See, this whole scene is bubbling and I love that. What’s more, I’ve been so blessed to have the team I have. I’m not a one-man show by no means.”
When it comes to the question of local politics and media coverage, however—both of which have not exactly been friendly toward him—Neema grows visibly agitated. “That’s honestly a source of frustration for me, dog. I think Seattle, in my god-honest opinion, a lot of time, they don’t wanna be leaders; they wanna be followers. If a lot of the media outlets decided to not follow trends, there’s a lot of good shit everybody could get put onto. I’m not gonna sit here and be mad because I’m not getting my shine, because I get it in other ways; I am getting my love, but there’s still a grip of local tastemakers that sleep hard on me.” Seattle’s most-hated-on MC even has words for some of those tastemakers in question: “Yo, Seattle Weekly, Stranger—when your ‘best-ofs’ come out, I need to see Unexpected Arrival in there, because in the last five years, nobody has moved more records. I’m sorry, but it is a factual statement.” Duly noted.