It got colder than a mufucka and the weather turned to utter shit.
Hella people you talk to are suffering from colds, flu, and whatnot,
not to mention the usual autumnal citywide crisis of faith—shit,
include me on that one right there. I’ve done it before; I’ll do it
again and quote my favorite Boom Bap Project song—”Welcome
to Seattle where the sun don’t shine.“
You’ll recall N/NW, those fellas whose crib and studio burned
up earlier this year, subsequently inspiring a cross-crew benefit
concert a couple weeks ago in a fit of heretofore unseen local
solidarity. I finally peeped their debut album, 20 the Easy Way.
The crew is composed of six MCs: Abstract, DI, Johnny
Concrete, Lokeye, Mic Lee, and Raw Jawz.
Abstract has a dope voice and good delivery on the record, and live he
rocked quite ill over some surprisingly Mobb Deep–esque beats. My
opinion on this crew after hearing their record is the same I had after
seeing them rock: There’s a good duo or trio somewhere in there, but a
portion of the crew thins out the focus and the quality. At least half
the group fails to distinguish itself to any extent (and a couple stand
out negatively, but you don’t know who’s who), and the ballast
(in personnel and songs—20 tracks is a lot) bogs down the
works. When it works though, it’s fun and charismatic. A charming air
of “what the hell” pervades the record and there’s working-class
weekend party joints with sing-songy hooks that work even better
onstage. I’m not counting these dudes out by a long shot, but I sure
wouldn’t be mad if they trimmed their roster a bit.
The Seattle/Ashland, Oregon, hiphop crew Eastern Sunz describe their music as “political and environmental activism meets
hiphop.” I must report that their new LP, Nine Triangles, sounds
exactly as preachy and didactic as that description, with boilerplate
put-your-hands-up anti-Bush spiels (“Yo God/I got some unresolved
serious beef with politicians”) and eco finger wagging, topped off with
nuff Illuminati references and Orwellian movie sound bites.
Paint-by-numbers “conscious,” “underground” subject matter aside, MCs
Courage and TravisT unfortunately suffer from a common
malady: unremarkable vocal tone and unconfident flows. When a more
polished and assured voice like Macklemore or Ricky
Pharoe (who’s sadly since moved to the LBC) comes on (as on
“Understand” and the title track, respectively), the two Sunz’s
shortcomings glare. I will say it’s sonically overall an improvement on
their debut album. There’s some solid boom-bap-type production, and
even some flashes of inspiration, such as Courage referencing Killah
Priest‘s verse on the remix of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s
“Greyhound” on track 9… I think. I hate to trash the work of what are
clearly a couple of very earnest dudes, but for me Nine
Triangles just fails to stack up.