My man Charles Mudede sometimes harps about how few great MC-slash-producers there are—he really puts Pete Rock up there as a rapper (yeesh), doesn't think much of RZA on the mic at all (that's insane, especially if you ever heard the first albums from the Wu or the Gravediggaz), and is wholly dismissive of Dilla's (super-slick and wildly underrated) bars.
Crazy, but I'm not just here for refuting my colleagues: I really thought it'd be a good segue into one of my all-time favorite hiphop artists, who has been a monster in both arenas since before most of you reading this were able to read. I speak of Compton's son David Blake, the legendary DJ Quik—coming to the Crocodile on January 24. Proudly repping the class of '91, Quik has withstood a lot of things: the march of time, the media-hyped coastal rap wars from which hiphop's collective psyche has never fully recovered (and in which he was a bit player/scapegoat), and enough drama, beef, and heartbreak to break a man. (The latest in a sadly dogged saga of familial trauma was the 2013 arrest of his daughter for her alleged involvement in the beating death of her own 2-year-old son.) But still he remains, an OG whose rep holds his weight in platinum, plaques, and respect. From Quik Is the Name to the album he put out 20 years later (his latest, 2011's The Book of David), Quik's catalog is as shiny and thick as his mane ("Best Hair in Hiphop," he tweeted)—he still perms and/or braids to this day.
Opening up for this one is Raz Simone, the powerfully gifted Seattle rapper who I've reductively called "Blacklemore" before—and who is reportedly the first rapper signed to 300, the new label from industry big (like huge) dogs Lyor Cohen, Kevin Liles, and Todd Moscowitz. Also on the bill, one Gifted Gab (fka Gift Uh Gab), Moor Gangstress and noted Lil B hater—soon to drop a very heavy sophomore album, titled Girl Rap.
LA's Hopsin is hitting the Showbox at the Market on January 25 with Dizzy Wright, our own Neema, Knothead, and DJ Hoppa. I haven't slept on Hopsin's rise through the underground, and it's great to see him owning his own label now (Funk Volume), but MAN is his shit insufferably corny to me. Imagine mid-2000s-era Canibus, dressed in Tech N9ne shock-accoutrements (his white contact lenses), doing a bad Slim Shady LP impression, complete with knockoff Dre beats and really shitty rapper disses—that's the impression that I get, Bosstones. Las Vegas's Dizzy Wright, though, is definitely worth your time.
Sunday, January 26, brings Seattle the Ying Yang Twins up at Nectar, and Layzie Bone over at Neumos, while Kentucky's Nappy Roots are returning to Nectar on January 28. Do with this info what you will. Furthermore, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law. Love is the law, love under will. I dunno what that means, I think I read that on somebody's sweatshirt or something? 
