It's hard to believe that a year ago today one of the most inspirational and pivotal figures in hiphop had his life taken from him at such a young age. The night of October 30, 2002. I was checking my e-mail and opened a 2way alert that said Jason Mizell, Jam Master Jay, had been shot in the head in his New York studio. I was in complete shock and disbelief until the facts were unfortunately confirmed by MTV news. It wasn't the same as Pac or Biggie--this was like somebody shooting your fourth-grade teacher. Whereas the Middle America housewife baked her flag cake when 9/11 hit, the night following JMJ's death, I took my Stan Smith Adidas (didn't have any shelltoes at the time), marked my RIP JMJ on them, and proceeded to catch DJ Scene and DV One at Stuck Under the Needle's Holla-ween at the Showbox. The Yo, Son! selectors paid tribute to Queens' finest with a Run-D.M.C. medley that was tastefully done, as everybody there proceeded to drink like fish. With hopefully no tragedies to commemorate, this year's big Halloween event should be a more festive party--although you've got to head to Portland to catch it. Portland's Icon should have one of the hottest underground hiphop costume parties and won't be charging an arm and a leg. In fact, if you show your Seattle or Eugene ID, they'll let you in for free. This party is in support of the Friday-night weekly that DJ Scene, the Mighty Juggernaut, and Direct Productions are putting on at Icon called Ghetto Blaster. Many might remember the short-lived Ghetto Blaster Thursday nights at Watertown in Seattle not too long ago. When asked about the move, Scene said, "We wanted to have a night that had the same type of vibe. At first, I wanted it to be called Yo, Son! and have it be the Portland version, but when Stuck Under the Needle started Ghetto Blaster, I thought it just fit. With Portland, this is something new and different, like when Yo, Son! first started a couple years ago. It's been building and building, and I think it's going to be a big thing because it's different from everything else out there.

"Of course DJ Wicked and Evil One have their thing on Wednesday nights, but there is nothing on the weekend where people can have a choice to go someplace that doesn't have mainstream jiggy shit. The Portland crowd seems really open--it's not too different than Seattle. It's real original, with a little more variety than your average commercial radio mix. It's still in the building stages, but it's been consistent and only getting stronger, which is a good sign. I plan on bringing more of a mix of old-school shit that the people will appreciate--you know, for this Halloween party I got some Michael Jackson Thriller. I want to bring some funny music, so that when people are drunk, they'll hear it, smile, and dance. I gotta keep them on their toes."

Scene's whole style is indeed based on that shock value. He's never been afraid to take risks and play something completely unexpected. That's not a very easy thing to do--many try, but few can do it with flavor. There are very few underground hiphop nights--if any--that are worth going to nowadays; and when a decent one starts, you can only check the calendar to see how long it takes before the night either folds or switches up the format to a more mainstream-friendly vibe.

Direct Productions have also done their best over the past several years in the Pacific Northwest to stay true to what brought them success in the first place. As promoters for the night, Ron Enright of DP and Phoenix Media put it simply: "This is [event] a long-term thing. We've done several nights in the past that have started out playing the real shit and as it peaked it started to cross over into the mainstream audience. This time around we are making it a point to not let the success of our night change the foundation that we set up to achieve it to begin with. We may not make as much money, but we are having fun and that's the reason we throw parties like this to begin with."

hiphop@thestranger.com

REQUIRED LISTENING

1. DJ P, Hell on Wheels (White)

2. A Tribe Called Quest feat. Erykah Badu, "(ICU) Doin' It" (Jive)

3. Jean Grae, "Code Red" (Babygrande)

4. Run-D.M.C., "Peter Piper" (Profile)

5. Vitamin D feat. H-Bomb, "Touch the Sky" (Rhymesayers)

6. DJ Babu feat. Rakaa-Iriscience, "Ends to Means" (Sequence)

7. Run-D.M.C., "Run's House" (Profile)

8. Dead Prez feat. Sticky Fingaz, "Last Days Reloaded" (Landspeed)

9. The Procussions, "Just Over Broke" (Basementalism)

10. Paris, "Spilt Milk" (Guerilla Funk)