Another Artifakt Art Show is going down at the
awesomely cozy Lo_Fi on Friday, June 13, and, among other things, it’s
the CD release for Tacoma crew Life Cycle, who are
dropping their debut album, City of Rust. City is a
mellow affair that’s got a jazzy, late-’90s indie sound down pat.
DJ Hanibal provides turntable support to the
trade-offs of MCs Joshua Jay and Burn
One‘s sober, hand-to-mouth everyman observances. The first
thing that came to mind when I checked City of Rust: Philly’s
Mountain Brothers (the underrated crew
CHOPS was in before he was making beats for
Young Jeezy and Bun B). Sure, the MCs
can use a little more seasoning, and the production perhaps a little
more variety, but Life Cycle have a good thing going with their
distinctive sound-bed and ground-level perspective. If you’re looking
for some brand-new local hiphop, City of Rust is a great place
to start. Hit up their MySpace (www.myspace.com/lifecycle465)
and hear what I’m talking about.
Noise for the Needy is going hard this year—this time to
benefit Seattle nonprofit Urban Rest Stop. A good four days of shows is
highlighted by an all-ages bill at Showbox at the Market on Sunday,
June 15, featuring the world’s number-one most mispronounced rapper,
Talib Kweli. If you’re not hip, Kweli is currently
cookin’ up the conscious-rap Best of Both Worlds—the
album Party Robot by Idle Warship, a group
consisting of Talib, Canadian rapper/singer Graph
Nobel(?) and slept-on R&B singer Res.
This kind of has my curiosity piqued, but then again they’ve already
done a song with nerdcore icon MC Chris, so I dunno.
Talib is also currently enjoying his “MCEO” status of his label
Blacksmith, and actually appears to be putting out Jean
Grae‘s revamped collabo LP with 9th Wonder,
Jeanius. (Didn’t she retire?) Her video for “Love Thirst” is a
sexed-up traipse through Taxi Driver in which she doesn’t
really once rap. Still—not mad. Opening up is a dope bill in its
own right—Common Market (fresh off the release
of Black Patch War), Grayskul (fresh off a
huge crowd at Rhymesayers’ Soundset festival in
Minneapolis), and Gabriel Teodros (just plain
fresh).
If you want a prefunk for all that, and you’re of an open-minded
bent, go slide into the Comet at 5:00 p.m. for Punk Rock Matinee
featuring Champagne Champagne. “The Pain” make some
sweet music together, an arty, ass-shaking house-party-friendly
cocktail of MC Pearl Dragon and
DJ Gajamagic (formerly of a li’l band
called the Blood Brothers) that makes
all the hipster ladies dance. This is a very fine line to walk, as you
know, but Champagne do it right for my money, with a basis in real
skill; Pearl is a deeply talented MC, and has been since his days in
the Prophetics waay back. Their
MySpace has a new jam, “Cali Bud,” that features Jewel
B from NYC’s Fader-favorites Yo
Majesty—I’ve been bumping it all morning. All
rainy, gray-ass morning. Sigh.