My Philosophy

Last December, the Great Blizzard of 2008 shut our city down,
resulting in epidemics of cabin fever, snow rash, some light instances
of cannibalism, and what most would have thought impossible: the
cancellation of Blue Scholars/Common Market shows. Well, mend
your hearts, kids, and learn to trust again, because that rescheduled
three-night run at Neumos is now upon us—I hope you got your
tickets. On March 14, Geo, RA Scion, and Sabzi are joined
by electro-hop-instrumental freakoids Truckasauras (reportedly
bringing out some guest MCs!). On March 15, the Mass Line familia is
joined by Macklemore and the Physics (both reportedly
sitting on a metric shit-ton of awesome new material), while on March
16, it’s Macklemore and Dyme Def (who are themselves
already a couple EPs deep—it’s gonna be a hot summer). Oh, and
speaking of Common Market, those dudes are totally touring the East
Coast with Digable Planets after SXSW; additionally, the
always-bearded RA Scion is teaming up with the sometimes-bearded
slapmaker MTK to make the RA Scion Is Victor Shade project, due out spring or early summer. Expect a departure from RA’s
established CM vibe on this one.

There’s a lot of hiphop and beautiful music going on this week,
though, and not just at Neumos. Right up the hill at Chop Suey on March
13 is the CD release for Only Love, the solo debut of
honey-throated songstress Toni Hill. Only Love‘s gorgeous
backdrops are the work of 206 original Amos Miller (who y’all at
least know for the organic thump of Gabe Teodros‘s
Lovework album), who leads a live band featuring members of
Big World Breaks to back up the divine Miss Hill. Lauryn who?
Also expect the powerhouse team-up of Toni and spittin’-ass
Syndel that’s known to mortals as Siren’s Echo, as well
as the one and only Christina Orbé, plus DJs
Topspin and B-Girl.

The next evening, Macklemore and Ninjaface (aka our
guy JFK) are hosting the Qualified beat battle (brought to you
by the good folks of Triple Crown, aka Laced Up) over at
Nectar, and it’s looking kind of major. Cali’s beat-bully Exile (you know, Below the Heavens with Blu, Emanon)
will be in the house, housing you. The producers duking it out that
night include P Smoov, Brainstorm, Ohmega Watts, Blast Off, MTK, Rudy
and the Rhetoric, Joey Defone, Scenik, DJ Charma, Jack the Ripper,
Buddy Ross, Tay Sean, Tope, Marcus D, Nphared, and D-Sane. Sounds
fucking serious—beat connoisseurs aren’t going to want to miss
this one.

Finally, on March 15 at Nectar, Speedy the Artist is
celebrating the release of his album While You Were Sleeping with Portland’s don Cool Nutz, Neema aka Mr. Ten
Thousand, machine-gun spitter George Zelaya, and the devastating
swag of Spaceman. Maybe you’ve caught some of my man Speedy’s
exclusive video blog posts (speedytheartist.blogspot.com) promoting
this show. Lazy rappers take note! The game is officially 2.0—get
your blogs up, fuckers.