Big shout to all my Seattle peoples moving and shaking, and bringing their town folk with 'em. I know the Physics crew and Grynch and Sol recently got back from a tour with the Blue Scholars (and Bambu), and right this very moment XP and Champagne Champagne are on the road with rising star Macklemore (who is regularly reporting that his dates are all-caps SOLD OUT), and of course THEESatisfaction have crossed the pond with big bros Shabazz Palaces, who are on their second jaunt through Europe in just a few months. The process of progress continues. If you're one of those morons still complaining about Seattle's national profile, somebody "putting us on the map" or whatever... you clearly #Occupy the space under a rock and probably think there's still a Taco Bell on Broadway.

Did you catch that thing in the most recent SPIN magazine breaking down all the current players (from their perspective) in hiphop, and their mentions of locals Shabazz and BAYB braggart Nacho Picasso? That totally happened. Also, Kingston of Nacho's producers Blue Sky Black Death recently reported (okay, tweeted) that they're 13 tracks deep on a sequel to For the Glory (also named by SPIN as one of the top 50 mixtapes of the year).

Shows to hit: Immortal Technique and Chino XL bring bruising reality to Neumos on Wednesday, November 30, and—holy shit—the reunited Latyrx (Lateef and Lyrics Born, fool) are at the Crocodile on Saturday, December 3, with Dyno Jamz.

Have you done your homework? That is to say: Hiphop's prime directive is to flip shit, reanimate the lost and dead, breathe new life. So you have to know what came before in order to keep it all moving. The huge groundswell of town pride is the biggest sea change in our landscape, but it's nothing without the knowledge to back it up. Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to go and download a couple seminal Seatown albums from 1995–96: Narcotik's Intro to the Central (found at www.gunzandbutta.tumblr.com) and Candidt's Dookiebraid Soul (snatchable at www.candidt.bandcamp.com). Candidt was then, and is now, an indefatigable flagship of true Seattle b-boy soul, possessing funk unknown to most. Narcotik's album is a Vitamin D and Topspin–produced classic, very much the 101 class promised by the title. Study the flows and sounds going on here, follow all the branches of the family tree that connects those albums and vibes to what we have cooking today. Get a sense of the whole and you'll be all the more whole for it, as an artist, fan, or what have you. Dead ass. The truest thing ASAP Rocky said on his whole tape was, "If you listen to your old head talking, you'll be straight."