Ola-Ola-Ay! War Room’s popular Wednesday night 2080s was recently made so official—’cause a party ain’t a party till Christopher “Kid” Reid (of Kid ‘N Play, crumbs) pops in. (Yo, Pinderhughes—seriously, why has Class Act not come out on DVD yet?!!) Sadly I missed it, but hopefully nobody got 2 Hype and accidentally sweep-kicked Kid while trying to spring an impromptu kick-step on him. See, 2080s is a real interesting night simply because it’s basically an all-’80s night promoted by, spun by, and attended by local hiphop heavies, not to mention a gaggle of heads of all stripes. It’s basically just a fun-ass dance party where you might catch members of Massive Monkees gigging to Journey or Thompson Twins right alongside Cap Hill’s finest and most skinny-pantsed. The whole WTF atmosphere of it just makes for a very chill, no-frills night where cats can wild out and definitely get their swerve on; peace to the unnamed homey who tapped that Yellow Cab while he was trying to say wassup to me outside! Easy!
Speaking of the War Room: Friday, May 18, marks the two-year anniversary of that venerable nightspot, and the good folks over there are ringing it in in style, blessing you with a FREE—I say, FREE—night of mind-bending audio-visual propaganda. That legendary Beat Junkie and Invisibl Skratch Pikl, Shortkut, will be warping tonearms and fader knobs with his world-renowned skill set; our guy DV One and L.A.’s DJ Roam will be repping lovely as well. On the strictly visual-type tip, Obey impresario Shepard Fairey and his team are flipping all the artwork, remixing the club’s motif with the new-car smell of Obey’s ’07 culture-jamming steez. A real feast for the senses, so eat food, son.
Be careful, tho—this week you’re looking at enough live hiphop to make ya puke (in a good way). On Wednesday, May 16, Chop Suey welcomes ATL/Kentucky’s Cunninlynguists, those Southernunderground favorites, along with NYC’s well-known open-mic shredder Pack FM. The NW underground gets down, too, as the Step Cousins, as well as Grieves and Type (who’s already set to drop his second LP, Well Known Secrets) open up. Midwest is in the mufuckin house too—on Sunday, May 20, Detroit’s favorite Chevy shillers, the incomparable Slum Village (since whittled down to the very very ill duo of Elzhi and T3—if you didn’t get their last album, be ashamed) breeze into Chop Suey, along with Xola (aka Sir Mix’s homey Kid Sensation), my man Macklemore, up and comers Muridian, and DJ Indica Jones, all brought to you by Jones’s Iller Clothing. Through all their different incarnations, Slum Vill has always rocked a show lovely, but since Elzhi joined up, they also benefit from having one of the illest fucking MCs out. But we’re not done here! Don’t miss the Vera Project benefit show at Chop Suey on Tuesday, May 22, with Seattle’s own denizens Terry Radjaw, North by Northwest, Graves, the Eastern Sunz, and Eastern Parallel. So get lit for the kids, kids! 