Be sure and check that Zion I/Opio show at Chop Suey on Thursday, May 12--besides those damn fine headliners, you're also gonna wanna see the 206 rhyme animal H-Bomb. You might've heard him ripping it down on "Touch the Sky," the B-side to Vitamin D's Rhymesayers 12-inch "No Good," or on any of the classic Tribal comps; maybe you've even caught him eviscerating some luckless kid at any number of local battles. The veteran MC will soon be releasing Untranslated, an LP entirely produced by Bean One, on longtime compatriot DeVon Manier's Sportn' Life Records. Excited to be dropping an album on his lonely, H (AKA Hussein) knows all too well what short memories Seattle hiphop goers can have. "It's good to rock this new material for heads," he says. "There's a lotta cats from the younger generation here that may have heard of me from the compilations and whatnot but they gotta see it to believe it, know what I'm sayin?" Hussein is ready to flood the streets with his material; just wait for the bomb to drop.

Yes, the impact of KRS-One's recent visit continues to be felt as SCIONtific Records brings us the Eighth Annual Hiphop Appreciation Week (sponsored by the Temple of Hiphop) May 15-21. The kickoff is on Sunday, May 15 at the Vera Project and hosted by our poet laureate Laura "Piece" Kelley. Peep selections spun by DJs B-Girl, D-Doxx, and Dirty Dev among others, and b-boying from members of the top 206 crews; not to mention performances from (among many others) Silent Lambs Project, dRED-i, Cyphalliance, Nocturnal Rage, Cancer Rising, RA Scion, Gabe Teodros, Altered States of Consciousness, Mind Movers, and Unexpected Arrival! All you have to do is be there.

The video for "Suburb Thuggin'" by El Pus is currently MY SHIT… it's not Jay-Z/Linkin Park bullshit, it's just DOPE. Check www.elpus.com now or front like you knew later. I must thank monsieur Barfly for the heads up.

It's been said that creating hiphop is driven by that primal urge to leave an individual imprint, to say to the universe "I am here--this is my name." Maybe that's why Mike Jones feels the need to scream his name, the name of his album, and his goddamn phone number hundreds of times on his major label debut, Who Is Mike Jones. I thought he was an idiot when I peeped him batting second on his Houston anthem "Still Tippin'"…but dammit, I like this record. Not because I think he's any great lyricist (like, at all--without his patented repetition gimmick, each verse of his would be eight bars, tops), and not in an ironic way, either. It's fucking fun, he's not killing mufuckas nonstop (refreshing), and damned if the "Cuttin'" remix ain't the first rap song to freak a yodeling sample since "Potholes in My Lawn." Besides, bruh-man closes it out with a song about his grandma! C'mon man, you love your fuckin' grandma!

hiphop@thestranger.com