The work of certain MCs pulses so thoroughly with the personal that we hear their heartbeat in every rhyme, as if their words and their life-source had achieved symbiosis. Tupac's legend is in part based on the painful description of his past and the cracked L.A. pavement over which it stalked and, ultimately, destroyed him. [...]
The scuffle that prompted 20-year-old Seattle lyricist Sol to abruptly stop rapping during his performance at Chop Suey two weeks ago initially seemed mysterious to many inside the venue. It was his debut CD release party--and he was opening for local hip-hop luminaries like Spaceman and Grayskul--so Sol (born Sol Moravia-Rosenberg) was determined not to [...]
The Mustard Seed is the kind of bare-kneed chug-joint bar you'd expect to find in a muddy ditch in Everett, not in the plaque-free heart of downtown Bellevue. But this makes it the perfect place to talk with local hip-hop duo Rudy & the Rhetoric about their debut album, The Gutterbrook (available Dec. 19), because [...]
The label "hydra-headed" isn't an insult for Onry Ozzborn. Rather, it's a natural part of being a hip-hop artist, an occupation that practically requires workers to adapt multiple alter egos. Despite the fact that he's been toiling in the underground for years as a soloist and member of the crew Oldominion under various names—bringing attention [...]
So, what would you think? The hip-hop scene—the one that's getting enough attention and producing enough talent and drawing enough crowds to potentially help you get your name circulating, and maybe land a deal with a local label and later a deal with a national one, with all the fun and freedom that accompanies doing [...]
Clad in a turtleneck, khakis, and tennis shoes, University of Washington architecture professor Jeffrey Ochsner stands outside his Seattle home, discussing its relationship to the land and its impact on the viewer. Squinting behind his glasses on this unusually sunny winter day, he points out that the sweeping curve of the driveway forms a question [...]
Following Ice Cube’s recent Seattle concert, a letter was found in his dressing room revealing deep insight into his relationship with his cousin Del tha Funky Homosapien. Dear Del, Before I even get started, please know I ain't about to write, say, or even think "Del tha Funky Homosapien" ever in my life again after [...]
It's almost a creation myth, the story of how a construction worker named Marc Smith started a poetry-reading series in a Chicago jazz club back in the mid-'80s that grew into a worldwide movement of souls with loudspeakers for lungs. Smith based his little gathering, called "Uptown Poetry Slam," on a few principles, the most [...]
The Roots' contributions are right there on ?uestlove's shirt. Listed in white letters over a black background is: "Phrenology & Tipping & Home Grown! & Game & Rising." It's a nod to most of the eight (by my count) studio albums by this Philly-born-and-bred collective of doomsayers and rabble-rousers, and a bit of a tease [...]
This is one of GZA's most salient gifts: timelessness. Whereas other MCs — including a couple of the nine or so members of his own New York-based crew — often yellow with age, too wrapped up in the moment to see beyond it, GZA paints lyrical pictures that — while difficult to penetrate — nevertheless [...]