Seattle: Gifted Gab and Spekulation both have their album-release parties this Thursday, June 23, at the Crocodile and Barboza, respectively.
Somewhat different crowds and community/fan love going on. Gabby is Moor Gang’s first lady, one of the city’s best rappers—and her Gab the Most High (whose cover sees her styled in the manner of the Afrocentric divas of the 1990s) is her most complete work, full of her reveling in her mastery of words, voice, and flow.
But why does it seem like Gabby is barely celebrated in her hometown? (If this was Minneapolis, she’d be on the cover of City Pages.) Simple: She is unapologetic, outspoken, raw as hell, and straight-up rap (besides her leavening touches of R&B)—no artsy alternative tags could be applied to her Bandcamp description. Maybe she’s not the acceptable kind of Black by Seattle standards, the kind that gets that critical love, those main-stage headlining slots, those major looks. Nah, that couldn’t be it…