The Hiphop Tip
Since the late '90s, Ayinde Howell has been involved in more than just running a cornerstone of Seattle vegan cuisine, Hillside Quickies. He also performs on the spoken word scene and runs Pure Love Entertainment with fellow singer/spoken word artist Jennifer Johns. Pure Love is kicking off the start of the sunshine season with the Spring Classic showcase, featuring headliners De La Soul at Premier on Thursday, March 18. While De La's DJ Maseo has begun to make his presence felt out here in a major way by spinning at popular club nights like Jumbalaya and Yo, Son!, his crewmates Posdnuos and Trugoy the Dove haven't rocked it in Seattle since last year's Bumbershoot show, when they brought a whole batch of surprises to the stage, including Phife from A Tribe Called Quest. There's no telling what De La plan to do this time around, but supporting them is an insanely impressive group of talent. Portland's own Quannum Projects artists Lifesavas will perform with the legendary Native Tongues movement, as well as 2004 World B-Boy champions Massive Monkees, Silent Lambs Project, and Johns, with Howell as the host and Vitamin D as the musical selector for the evening.
Two nights later, on March 20 at the Vera Project, you can catch Vitamin D show another side of his many talents as he steps in front of the turntables to perform with his nationally acclaimed group Source of Labor. The SOL show at Vera will be the last all-ages performance for the group, and they're going out with damn near the entire Jasiri roster supporting them. Beyond Reality, who really rocked it last January at the Chop Suey, will be performing, as will the Boom Bap Project. And the new- and old-school generations of the Northwest DJs will represent as DJ Kitman and DV One trade off duties that night. DV has been back in the local mix as of late, hosting a Thursday-night weekly with DJ Tone at the Bada Lounge called Bada Bing and releasing a new Yo, Son! Farewell mix CD.
Aceyalone has been making moves since being Okayplayer.com's featured artist a few months back, and you'll have a chance to see what all the hype's about when he performs at Chop Suey on Monday, March 22. Opening for him are the SoCal crew Visionaries, who recently dropped the new album Pangaea on Up Above after a long hiatus while most of the members dropped solo efforts or side projects. The one to look out for on this lineup will be opener Maineack Be, as it'll be interesting to finally see what Vitamin's rhyme partner comes up with. The rapper has a new song, "Memories," on the Bean One-produced Sport-N-Life sampler that's been flooding the streets recently. I'm sure you will be hearing much more from Maineack in the near future.
