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. 