Music Apr 8, 2010 at 4:00 am

Blue Scholars Aim to Scuttle Seattle Hiphop's Space Program

Space shuttle challengers.

Comments

1
Vitamin D, Blue Scholars, and Macklemore are Seattle hip-hop's best! we need more like them!

hella dope sucks, dyme def is lame, they both are space cadets out of touch with REAL LIFE!!!
2
oh yea... space aged ain't new, they jacked it from OUTKAST.... ATLiens (1996)
3
I will never forget watching Bishop-I from Oldominion eat Geologic up at the Bumbershoot freestyle battle of 2001. Those were good times!
4
oh Charles. LOL
5
I'm from space
6
what is this can o wermz
7
What a timely article, given that there will be a talk about this exact subject at the Pop Conference at EMP next week (http://www.empsfm.org/education/index.as…

Jerome Dotson

Hip-Hop Layerings
Friday, April 16, 2010, 10:45 - 12:45
Abstract:

"''Embrace the Martian'': Hip Hop, Outer Space, and Post-Gangster Subjectivity"
Hip hop in outer space? Step aside Sun Ra and Parliament…today's MC's have designs on Mars. Exploring the music of Lil Wayne, Kid Cudi and emerging Houston MC Darian, this paper seeks to understand the significance outer space holds for promoting post-gangster subjectivities in modern hip hop. Rappers become aliens as a way of embracing alterity; they can avoid convention by promoting their oddness.
8
Lil Wayne kinda reminds me of ET.
9
I am disgusted when people say to me, "Seattle doesn't really have a hiphop scene." Where does this ignorance come from? Here we have two different creative approaches to address the political and social problems that surround us. But! still, some Seattleites disavow the works of Blue Scholars, Helladope, to name a few, as being representative of our city. Own it Seattle, before they actually take off for outer space and leave us with nothing to show.
10
When Khingz says, "They say, Yes you gon' die here. I say, No, I'm gon' fly here," how is that not powerful and inspirational?
11
DOT GOV FOR THREE !!!
12
space age goes back to the funk obsession with space - you can see it in parliament/funkadelic.
13
"When Khingz calls himself "the black Han Solo," he is using a popular culture code to explain or express his urban mode.... It's the same thing, but different ways of reflecting."

The point is that that this "way of reflecting" is limited and severely compromised from the start. I would like to hear from Mudede just what he thinks can be reflected this way.
14
so basicaly now their telling white/asian kids how black kids should or should not express themselves....
15
Let's not forget Blondie's 'Rapture' (1981), the first rap-influenced single to reach number one on the US Billboard Chart. And what is she mostly rapping about....?

"Go out
to
the parking lot
And you get in your car
and drive real far
And you drive all night
and then you see a light
And it comes right down
and lands on the ground
And out
comes
the man from Mars
And you try to run
but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead
and he eats your head
then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night
eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs
Lincolns too
Mercuries and Subaru
And you don't stop..."
16
U guys for real? U wanna diss on part of one of the illest crews in the 206? And these privy hip hop heavyweights who wanna start something even though I know that they're working for peanuts? Want war? Its on!
17
positive vibrations sent out to this thread. it ends here.

peace.
18
Damn, I thought Blue Scholars were friends with all of these emcee's they're taking shots at. Are y'all mad cause your time has came & went? Y'all were SEMI-good in 2004!!!
19
lets be clear. NO where on here does geo or sabz say they are taking shots at us. That is mudede's interpretation. Media out lets in Seattle have a strange tendency to attempt to place different movements in our city's hip hop scene against each other. They did it with massline and sport n life. than mass line and dime def. and now its massline and the whole next crop of cats. Also No one is under any obligation to like ho we decide to get down. None of us need or look for blue scholar approval of our music. and very few of you give them yours.instead of making this into a beef situation lets recognize it for what it is. A journalist opinion of a song that he wrote up probably with out even consulting the people who made it. Also look at it this way. NO one in they're right or wrong mind would ever diss space, dyme def, cloud nice collective, thee sat and me in one song (except hans millionaire whose name doesn't even sound like real life) that's suicide. Lets not let our scene kill its self over little innuendos.
20
"Getting." The sampled phrase is "Getting closer to God in a tight situation." Not that it matters in the whole scheme of things, but if you're going to act like you know everything, you should get the quotes right.

What was your goal in writing this article? It seems like another article about Charles Mudede.
21
The author does get the function of space/utopian imagery correct: "this form of space travel is still very much about the planet Earth." So while acknowledging the enormous potential of this genre to critique and reflect imperfect conditions in our own everyday lives, Mudede falls short in his attempt to situation Geo and Sabzi against the space-hop movement. Perhaps it would have been beneficial to consult the Blue Scholars' own commentary on the Paul Valery track as it was released.
25
if u trace the lineage, all these artists and groups bit off the flow of an obscure early 90's rapper Me Phi Me
26
To the author of this piece. You failed to do your research on this topic. There is extensive materials written on this subject within Black culture and you failed to point out that the cosmos serves as a vessel for liberation. Robin Kelley's "Freedom Dreams" is a good start to understand why Black music took a turn into the stars. Good luck!
27
Let's not forget about Specs, Seattle's Original Space Neighbor!
28
check out L.A.C.O.S.A on myspace..those guys might be onto something..i saw them in concert opening for 88 keys and kidz in the hall..they kinda mix that mainstream sound with some conscience hip hop..and theyre from seattle
29
man this shit(article) is lame...all these artists are expressing what they have seen and been through in their lives and this no talent "writer" sounds like he just wants to start some shit. it's all dope music just listen and chill.
30
I love helladope and Blue Scholars can fucking suck it. Why on earth would one style of hip-hop in this city feel the need to disparage the other when there is room for both? It's like the Paramount ragging on 5th Avenue Theater for only playing musicals, or Reggie Watts hating on The Bad Things. The Scholars need to quit acting like they're everyone's dad.
31
@12 FTW. P-Funk was in this before these kids were born. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothership_…

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