Brothers from Another first released music in 2009 as high-schoolers, freshmen to the rap scene. Known then as Breez and Goonstar, the two now known as Tiglo and Cole (and forget not DJ Beeba) have grown from scene freshmen to in-demand front-runners of what you could fairly
call the happy-ass rap wave, breezy rhymes about good times next to a body of water, be it Lake Washington or a half-rack of Rainier. On Wednesday,
November 26, they rock with their direct ancestor, Nordstrom model Grynch—at Hollow Earth Radio, in an intimate
all-ages event. While “the Grynch”—even as a pale, grublike young’n—was always a bit of an old soul, BFA’s fresh-faced
good-times vibes explicitly deal in the eternal sunshine of youth. Peep their latest, the Moonrise Kingdom–inspired video for “Running
Home”—Kingdom is about 12-year-olds in love, but don’t all Wes Anderson movies kinda refer to a precious state of arrested
development? Stomping around a deserted beach, dressed as Boy Scouts, BFA rap about the negotiations of love, texting, and trust.
It’s strangely sweet, but big kids in Scout uniforms always make me think of Canteen Boy and the Scoutmaster (ask Siri). Where, I wonder, does all
this go when school’s out forever?
On Friday, November 28, Seattle’s Lizard King, Moor Gang/Black Gypsy cult leader Nacho Picasso makes his return to Neumos with two
of Northwest street/drug/pain rap’s top prospects: Ugly Frank from Tacoma’s ILLFIGHTYOU (whose Bobby Hill was one of the year’s best rap releases—and if you’re hoping he drops anything half as good anytime soon, rumor has
it there’s a new ILLFIGHTYOU tape coming) and the prolific, terrifically slept-upon West Seattle/Moor Gang/Thraxxhouse rep SneakGuapo, whose sharply accented rhymes pack more insight and nuance than most of his peers. As for the main event, the Nacho Man is
promising his fourth album with cohorts Blue Sky Black Death—whose gunship-flying-through-fog atmospherics best define the Nacho
sound.
I should note that Nacho’s subject matter isn’t any more of a paragon of thematic growth than BFA’s, either—he’s been rapping
about drugs and sex since 2010’s Blunt Raps; it’s just that being a drugged-up misanthrope (lycanthrope?) is possible
to do till you’re old and gray—being a spring chicken is not. These two shows illustrate the “day and night” (no Cudi) dynamics
I’m seeing in our scene today. Guess it all depends on when you choose to sleep.
Take naps, though, and you can see it all, if you want—let’s see, Fly Moon Royalty are at the Crocodile on Friday, November
28, with Dave B and Otieno Terry; Fly Moon Royalty’s Adra Boo and Mike have been
touring and moving around properly in 2014, no doubt polishing their thing to a fly gloss.
On Saturday, November 29, Neema is doing one of his patented “Unplugged” sets at the Crocodile with the plugged-in Glasses Malone and Keyboard Kid; the Flavr Blue (who’ve been on their tour/PR grind themselves)
play Neumos; and Sam Lachow—who thematically almost bridges the worlds between BFA and Nacho, and whose fan base keeps
growing—plays the Neptune with the Moors’ Gifted Gab and Brothers from Another. See? As always, you can choose your own
adventure. 