My Philosophy

So I spent last week in the 1990s. We ll, no, actually, I
just saw the Breeders and Digable Planets on consecutive
packed nights at Neumos, and it did indeed take me back to high school,
Cross Colours, and checking out cassettes from the Columbia Branch
Library. (Coincidentally, I dubbed both Last Splash and
Reachin’ back in the day, then switched out the tape reels so
I’d have the better-quality joints and future library goers would have
my 99-cent TDK copies. Sorry, I didn’t have a job yet.) The Breeders
were terrific. Digables were great—it struck me how unique their
shit sounded in 2008, and Ish, Mecca, and Doodle were crazily on point. The petition to recognize Ishmael Butler as
Seattle’s GOAT MC definitely bears my signature, sorry Mix.

Oh and speaking of the ’90s, I got linked to a new local crew called
96 Pickup that includes Lock N.E. Style,
Certs, El Prez, Malcolm, Language Arts, and Def
Dee. The tracks on their MySpace page (/96pickup) sound like
vintage indie East-Coast vibey-vibe brag rap (think, say, Natural
Elements, Polyrhythm Addicts, etc.), and while I revile
dinosaur hoppers, there’s some real-dope old-school shit right here
from these new-school cats—check “Starvin for Mine.” Keep it
up.

Grieves, who called the Emerald City home for some time, is
coming back to town with Soulcrate Music and Rhymesayer
Entertainment‘s battle-proven, barbecue-lovin’ shitbag Mac
Lethal. Across the nation for months upon months is where they’ve
been catching wreck, and Mac’s label Black Clover is where
Grieves and Soulcrate call home—you can catch them all repping
their set on the brilliantly titled “Black Clover Posse Cut” (check
around for the sweet video), not to mention Chop Suey on November
26. “Posse Cut” is the bonus track you’ll get when you cop the new
album-length collaboration between Grieves and Budo, titled
88 Keys & Counting—an album the two recorded in a
month-long break from touring (talk about Protestant work ethic). What
struck me right away about this record is its considerable
warmth—Budo, one of Seattle’s favorite producers, went way
analog on this project, and it shows. The vibe is a great
counterpoint to Grieves’s signature brand of emo politick ditto,
as his lyrics most often convey the sort of cold, rainy desperation
that Seattle is exemplifying as we speak. Together, they find a
satisfying, soulful middle ground—though maybe Grieves could’ve
laid back on the singing tip a tad (word to Kanye). Still, it’s
Grieves’s best work by far, and his best moments are, as always, where
he breaks from the poetics and just real-talks, as on “Identity Cards”
with Living Legends’ Luckyiam: I don’t go to the club,
I don’t fight for fun/Shit, I’m almost 25 and I ain’t never shot a
gun/But I do like drinking and shopping on the internet…. Oh
shit, son—Karmaloop swagger on a hundred, thousand,
trillion!