Happy Thanksgiving, turkeys. All the colonizing, rape,
murder, genocide, football, domestic abuse, green-bean casserole, etc.
aside, you should still see the upshot of this would-be day o’ plenty:
a chance to think of all that you are thankful for. I am particularly
thankful for my family, my crew, my city (for real!), and all things
pertaining to music; but I’m also deeply grateful for all of you who’ve
been reading this column all this time, everybody who hits me up with
feedback, and everybody who’s shown me love on the streets (in a
noncreepy way). Seriously, though. And, as always, I’m not
accepting bribes, but I most certainly am accepting drinks. Cheers.

I’m thankful that Candidt has been doing the Corner for 20 straight months of dope up-and-coming local hiphop at the
Rendezvous—and that homegirl at the door of the Jewelbox doesn’t
sweat me for the fiver anymore. Damn, that was like the hardest door to
grease in the whole city! On November 27 at the Corner, shake off the
gravy-induced ‘itis and catch Indijinis, Soul the
Interrogator, Olympian talent Dan Fajans, and proud Tacoma
MC EvergreenOne. Evergreen, an entertainingly unpretentious live
performer, is working on something with MC/producer Todd Sykes,
and the few tracks I’ve heard are dope—jazzy, sloppy, drunk 253
b-boy shit-talk and half-crooned, for-the-ladies jams.

Yo, so I’ve been getting hit up by a local group called Sex
Panther (originally hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan) for a
little while now. I wasn’t sure it was gonna be my bag of schwag,
especially when I saw that they sold branded thong underwear on their
MySpace page. But upon further review, I can fuck with this.
Infer-know and Action Jackson are kind of bro-gimmicky
(see thong), but the beats are solid and the rhymes funny and well
spit. Plus they have a yen for funny movie samples—there’s the
Army of Darkness–sampling “Boomstick” and the Old
School jawn “Scorpion Woman” (incorporating a yelling Bruce
Campbell or Will Ferrell into your hook is a plus in my book). If
you’re out in the West and want to see if they really do work every
time (60 percent of the time), they’re playing the Skylark (known to
many West Side shitbags as the former Legends) on November 28 with
Luxury A.K., Taybot, and Three Ninjas.

So those guys are from Grand Rapids, not to be confused with local
duo Gran Rapids (who’ll be at Hell’s Kitchen December
2)—that is, MC/producer Jay Battle and MC/Judd Nelson’s
illegitimate child Leach. I just got ahold of their debut album,
Saturday Mourning, a properly goofy, rowdy set blending
house-party-rocking instincts with shit-talking rhymes and slick
delivery (I can deal without the double-timing on “Sudden Death,” but
that’s me). Good chemistry, big hooks, and original production are all
here—it definitely feels like a freshman set, and they could home
in on their thing more, but I look forward to hearing more from these
two in the future. I, uh, can’t say that about a few of y’all. recommended

8 replies on “My Philosophy”

  1. I saw Sex Panther play at the Comet Tavern on Monday and the dudes lit it up. Went to their MySpace page & sure enough, thong underwear. Also some nice tracks. I’ll be interested to see what they can do out here in the NW, where we already know sex sells…

  2. Look out Seattle, Grand Rapids, MI is taking you over… your about to have America’s High-Five show you why their the bitch-slap state. Emerald-Mitten represent!

  3. “…they could HOME in on their thing more…”? It should be hone, you ignorant fuck. Are you really this uneducated? Go along and perpetuate the myth that all of us blacks are uneducated fucks. Don’t you have an editor? Let me guess, you were too busy eating/getting fat/not exercising to care, Larry? Too close to home?

  4. @3 you sound like the ignorant idot, if you have that much hate arise from the supposed misuse of a single word you should probably be seeking medication immediately.

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