My Philosophy

If you read last week’s column, you read my words about Tyrone
Love (RIP). Well, if you’re one of the lucky, lucky people who gets
this fish wrapper hot off the presses on Wednesday morning—as
opposed to you sorry suckers who get it cold on Thursday—you
should know about the benefit show going down at Nectar on Wednesday,
March 4. Called The Peace Project, it features Khingz,
D.Black, and Dyme Def, not to mention an all-star edition
of Big World Breaks, featuring Okanomode, Sirius,
Toni Hill, GodSpeed, and Yirim Seck. The proceeds
are to directly benefit the families of Joseph “29-E” Ryan and
Tyrone Love. If you get this message in time, be there! Also, I wanna send out a big shout to everybody involved with the
fundraiser at Columbia City Theater from last week—they raised a
lot for Tyrone’s family.

That said, I know you need some soul therapy as much as I
do—let me suggest peeping out the one and only Raphael
Saadiq down at Showbox at the Market on March 5. My man put out one
of my very favorite records of 2008, The Way I See It, a
collection of songs truly deserving of the title of his earlier solo
record Instant Vintage: just gorgeous, earnest, heart-stirring
soul, evoking the ghosts of ’60s Motown and beyond without resorting to
mere emulation. Go see him—ideally with somebody you really like
to kick it tough with—and breathe a little.

Our guy Greevy-Grieves is back, swinging through Nectar on
March 7 on his Winters and Losers tour with Soulcrate Music and
Type (he of male-pattern baldness) of the Let Go. The Let
Go recently had their song “Booty Fiend” featured on The City,
that fucking Hills spin-off that all of your girlfriends love
and you (hopefully) openly despise. (It plays at the 10-minute mark for
you DVR-ing sons/daughters of bitches.) Despite my slight distaste
(yuck, puke, death) for scripted “reality” shows, I nonetheless
applaud the gentlemen for that mighty good look. Like
ewmigawd!

Another cat you might catch on your TV is K’naan; the
Mogadishu-born MC has recently been burning up MTV like Winona Ryder in
the ’90s, and now he’s coming to Neumos on March 10 to rock for you! My
man Gabe Teodros, Yze (who I saw tear it up a few Corners
ago with Orbitron—look out for mami, y’all), and that dude
DJ Daps1 open up. I was tripping just recently because I
happened to catch the video for K’naan’s “ABCs” and my fucking guy
Chubb Rock was on it, spitting over its updated “Treat Em Right”
drumbeat! I guess it takes someone born outside the U.S. to show proper
respect to a legend, but hopefully others will follow suit (yeah
right)—when are we gonna see Hot Dog dancing in a video?
I’m sure Soulja Boy is a big A.T.E.E.M. fan… and if you
get that reference, my friend, you are old.