Jan Recap- All City Jump Off, Hip Hop Period/Kitchen, and More!

Happy Lunar New Year of the Rabbit. If the remainder of 2011 goes how January went, moves are bout to be made! Since I've been in the lab brewing up some new projects for your listening pleasure...(expect in the next few months the brand new JulieC E.P, a new Knox Family project, and the extra new Murder She Wrote featuring myself, Sista Hailstorm, and DJ BGirl), I thought it a good time to reach out, reconnect, and give a shout to all the folks that make Seattle Hip Hop what it is!

Lemme start off my recap showing love to my fam, Greg and Jerome, for allowing me to rock with them at Faire Gallery on the 10th. This small, intimate joint was a going away show for a comic, but it was also my first performance of the New Year, and my first time rocking at Faire. Prior to my young 24 bar feature, I was able to check a duo from Everett's Black Magic Noize, for the first time too. Dope cats, definitely worth a listen.

Later that week, on the 14th was Hip Hop Period: The ReRival at Wapifasa, organized by the young n fresh emcee Dakota. I first met Dakota while teaching Urban Debate a few years ago at Langston Hughes Cultural Arts Center, and it's been a pleasure watching this cat blossom. Since I missed Wapi's open house, this was my first time checking out the youth organization's new digs in Columbia City and the spot is dope! The show, hosted by Gabriel Teodros, featured Rogue Pinay, ArtofVerse, Language Arts, JRain, and Los Tainos, which is a new group consisting of mi familia Mic Flont and Khingz. Shouts to Suntonio Bandanaz, Dox, Sista Hailstorm, and Korvus Blackbird for rocking with me that night. Also, big ups to Wish Curtis of Emerald Roots, Otis from Streetfights the Hip Hop Show, Cecily Madanes, and Nathan Meernik for holding down the media that night! You can check out photos from this show by Teodoro here! Be on the look out for more events coming from the WAPI youth real soon, and if you know a young person who could use some plugs, do urge them to advantage of some of the programs and services Wapi offers in the community.

On the 27th, was Hip Hop Kitchen, an invite-only networking/bread-breaking dinner party, hip hop style, hosted at the home of my girl Cassandra William, along with the ill emcee and amazing cook Dice (check her new video with Willie Joe here) and her manager K_Adele. These women, with the help of Tishauna, were throwing down some Thai in the kitchen like I've never seen done, while Cass was screening throwback War of the Words footage from years ago. It was dope connecting live with Boss Lady Jazz, Boom Box, MicPhenom, Five Flat, Tamiko from Triple R, Casey Carter, Gene Dexter, OutrageousI5, Mrdutch, RyanonaMission, Kitty Wu & Georgio Brown from Coolout Network and everyone else I may have left out. I can't wait for the next installment of this event. Good shit. Be sure to check out Seattle Soul on Blast February 19th at Chop Suey to see Dice, Choklate, Darrius Willrich, JusMoni, Zach Bruce, and more. Just to wet your whistle, here's some footage of a Hip Hop Kitchen Cypher, featuring some of the artists just mentioned (Thank you, Triple R for this!)

And FINALLY, this brings us to All City Jump Off that went down Friday, the 28th at Lofi, organized by my brother Zechariah tha Barber of AllCityChop. The AllCityChop series, part of the Barber's multifaceted BUMP LOCAL campaign, features a wide variety of Northwest artists from all corners of the Hip Hop scene, chopped n screw'd. Hosted by the charismatic and talented Lady Scribe, this show was the ILLEST I have ever seen and had the privilege to rock at Lofi. The talent was beyond palpable. The stage was shared by artists featured on 3.0 and 3.5 All City Chop mixtapes, including Luke Rain, Language Arts, Delton Son, Beloved1, Piece, Lady Tasz, Black Stax, KingDRO, Ditta Mac, Larue, Tyrone, Saturday Morning Cartoon (wanna hear a secret SMC featuring Julie C track? Click here), Helladope, Metal Chocolates (OC Notes & Rick Rude), Meez, Dougie, and G-Red. The Alpha Platoon segment of the night featured my crew's own Haj, Inkbiz, Knox Family(myself, Julie C & Jerm D), and Suntonio Bandanaz, not to mention DJ's SeaBefore, DJ Khunex, Nim Almighty, and Austin Lee. Check some footage of Black Stax rocking this night right here, posted by Lady Flava. If by now, you haven't opened www.AllCityChop.com in a new window and began your free download of the mixtape, STOP DRAGGING.

So with that, I'ma wrap this summary up with a few thoughts. Well wishes and rapid recovery to the founder of the game, Kool Herc. Check this article called "Kool Herc, Hip Hop, Healthcare, and Humanity" by Shamako Noble, for more thoughts on this issue and how it relates to our day to day. Finally, peace to all the brave men and women who have been holding it down on the streets of Egypt this month. We stand in solidarity with the global resistance. ONE LOVE.

1st Annual Seattle Hip Hop Business and Career Expo

The Seattle Hip-Hop Career & Business Expo, scheduled for October 9, 2010 at the Vera Project – (Warren Ave. & Republican Street) Seattle Center is part of the Seattle City of Music Festival and will focus on providing established and aspiring artists and entrepreneurs with tools and resources to grow their careers and business while also introducing young people who are part of the hip-hop generation to the many career and business opportunities in and around hip-hop music and culture.

I'll be facilitating a conversation on Music and Media, 11:30am at the Vera Project in Seattle Center as a part of this event.

Join me along with:

Tom Mara - Executive Director, KEXP
Larry Mizell - Writer/Hip-Hop Artist Stranger Raindrophustla.com
Andrew Matson - Writer, Seattle Times
Jonathon Cunningham - Publicola.net
Casey Carter, misscaseycarter.com
Marian Liu, Entertainment Editor, Seattle Times
Alvin Singh II, Digital Media Consultant, Guerrilla Techknowledge
Mia "DJ B-Girl" Beardsley, B Girl Media
Joaquin Uy, News Director, KBCS


From the press release:

"The Seattle Hip-Hop Career & Business Expo will focus on providing established and aspiring artists and entrepreneurs with tools to grow their careers and businesses while also introducing young people to the many career and business opportunities in and around hip-hop music and culture in this free, all-ages event.

"As a part of the City of Music Festival we are seeking to provide opportunities for young entrepreneurs and artists to learn, network and fully engage in the growing creative economy in our region," says K. Wyking Garrett.

Sessions will touch on music production, licencing, marketing, distribution, and business development; and speakers include representatives from the Recording Academy, Sub Pop Records, SportnLife Records, City of Seattle Office of Economic Development, The Stranger/KEXP, AEG Live, One Reel, Seattle Theater Group, Hewlett Packard, International News Inc., Urban Enterprise Center Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Microsoft, and Fused Music, among others.

This educational event is sponsored by Seattle Hip-Hop Hop Youth Council & UmojaFest P.E.A.C.E. Center with support from Seattle Office of Economic Development, Seattle Office of Film & Music, and Kicks & Tees.

For additional information, please visit http://seattlehiphopsummit.wordpress.com/

Other Confirmed Speakers Include:

An Interview with Jie-Song Zhang: The Creator of The Emerging Face of a Nationless World

"A violinist in the Hip Hop composition team Stone Forrest Ensemble, Jie-Song is a visionary with a rare gift for commitment and discipline. It only made sense then as we began discussing the role Hip Hop Congress could play in the conversation around this film that I would want some basic insights on what motivated this project, where it was going and what it’s ultimate aims were. It also made sense that I would want to share them. So I did what any self-respecting, sort-of-blogger, psudeo-journalist would do. I asked him for an interview. What I got was much more. Peep game." From the Hip Hop Congress Blog. Click here for entire story.

Album Spotlight: Daichi Diez – The Reason and the Rhyme

"From the Land of the Rising Sun to the Emerald City comes an artist who understands what it means to rhyme with honor. For anyone familiar with what’s cracking in 206 (Seattle Hip Hop), the name Alpha P is synonymous with quality music, ridiculous skill and a commitment to consciousness. In his international offering The Reason and the Rhyme, Daichi Diaz does not fail to hold that banner high. Not even a little bit. Daichi has a classic approach that embraces both his Japanese and Seattle heritages. If balancing the two was supposed to be a challenge for him, I couldn’t tell."
From the Hip Hop Congress Blog, view full article here.
Purchase the Album Here

"Boogie Up the Block"

Written, performed and produced by Suntonio Bandanaz, Andrew Luck and Sleepyhead. Hook sample written and performed by Unique Son. Mixed by Knowa KnowOne. Video directed and produced by Asun. Video executive produced by Heidi Jackson. Dedicated James "Talk Sick" Sullivan. From the forthcoming "Alien Technology" album.

B Girl Media from Vancouver at the Final UTV 2010

Under the Volcano Festival of Art & Social Change celebrated its 20th anniversary on August 8, where us at B Girl Media had the honor of rocking. In an interview with a Vancouver paper, Meegan Maultsaid said this year’s festival in Deep Cove’s Cates Park is also the last. “It’s from a combination of things,” Maultsaid told the Straight. “For 20 years we’ve been a noncorporate festival, our admissions have always been by donation, but expenses go up. We like to bring international artists, but it costs money to do that. We’re maintaining an accessible community event, but it’s difficult to reconcile those two parts.”

More pictures are available at the B Girl Media Blog. She wrote, "Sista Hailstorm, Julie C. and I had the pleasure of performing together at the 20th Annual Under the Volcano Festival of Art & Social Change in Vancouver, B.C. on August 8, 2010. Also performing was Rogue Pinay & May Tawa Sa Lahat (SEA), Olmeca, Militant Child (SEA), Cuauhtemoc, Abrstract Random & Ayo Leilani, Cristina Orbe (SEA), Delhi 2 Dublin and many more! Seattle was in the house! Shout outs to Lulu, Stephany Hazelrigg, Gabriel Teodros, Khingz and Jillz, and Sozan, who was a great hostess! There are no future Under the Volcano festivals being planned at this moment. So for right now, this was the LAST one! Thanks to all of the staff and volunteers for putting together a fantastic event!"

Collabs from across the Pacific: SensualizMusic

PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW from Japan just released their brand new album SensualizMusic, featuring two tracks with myself, as well as one from Suntonio Bandanaz, and another from Daichi Diez.

With a wide breadth of styles and a diverse line-up of artists, this 1st album from PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW seeks to smash paradigms on Japanese Hip Hop and break international borders. Instrumentals from Hiro AKA Melodiverse of PROGRESS + NUDE + CREW range from dramatic to mellow, light and jazzy to painfully emotional, but all are deeply introspective and beautifully composed.

Enjoy the previews of the album on these videos and purchase the album by clicking the link above. Support the international Hip Hop movement, and be on the look out for more collaborations between myself and Hiro. In the meanwhile, check out the track below called "Beautiful Tragedy." We do it global baby!