Fab Five Freddie told me everybody’s high
DJs spinnin’ are savin’ my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
François c’est pas flashe non due…
Well, people, it’s that time. Looks like you can see the great Grandmaster Flash in Heaven. No, not RIP, fool—shut your mouth—he’s spinning at the Pioneer Square hotspot Heaven on February 12. It’s bound to be some good times in store with one of the true deities of this hiphop shit at the helm, so sit back, relax, sip your cognac. Or dance, dance, I said!
That same night over at Neumos, big beat-rock crazies Head Like a Kite, the 206 kings of dirty audiovisual electro Truckasauras, and Out for Stardom‘s own Glamour boys Fresh Espresso are teaming up for an epic collaboration, Head Like an Espresso Truck. “It’s a roundhouse kick to the face as [all three bands] blur their borders,” says Fresh’s P Smoov. “Drinking, drums, a hellish input list (sorry, sound man), and lots of collaborations are to be expected.” Trent Moorman, HLAK drummer (and Stranger contributor) says, “All three bands are going to set up onstage at the same time… The idea for this was hatched by Steven Severin at Neumos, who wanted to mix things up and make it a unique event. He wanted to shake up the format where one band plays, then breaks down, the next band sets up, et cetera.” I’m there.
That same night (I know, I know, but maybe you got a car, or a motorcycle, or something), P.O.S., Grieves, Budo, and Dessa will all be at Nectar. Big ol’ fat, greasy shout to Ben “Grieves” Laub, the Chicago-born, Colorado-bred, Seattle-schooled MC/producer who recently inked a deal with the independent-rap superlabel Rhymesayers Entertainment. It’s a great fit, as Grieves possesses a similar strain of heartache and humor as RSE’s bread-and-butter MC/cofounder Sean “Slug” Daley of Atmosphere. But Grieves’s producer Budo differs from Atmosphere’s Ant; Budo’s a Seattle-born, generally sample-free multi-instrumentalist equally slick with the keys, trumpet, and guitar. Their 2008 release, 88 Keys & Counting, is going to be reissued by RSE in March, and having seemingly been on the road steadily for three years, they know how to turn the party out and hang it to dry. Here’s a tip: Request Grieves’s smooth take on Westside Connection’s “Bow Down.”
Dessa, repping that same Doomtree that P.O.S. does, just dropped A Badly Broken Code, a showcase for her dreamy singing and her particularly MPLS poetic rap flow. I definitely like the former more than the latter, but Dessa’s got some dope shit here—”Dixon’s Girl,” for example, or “Matches to Paper Dolls”—and “The Chaconne” has a bittersweet, almost Mono in VCF or maybe Handsome Boy Modeling School vibe going, and I dig it, you dig? 
Davee C !