“Grindeeng … Grindeeng… You betta know what I keep in the lining!” – The Clipse
Haha! You better know that only the real hustlas eat! At least they eat how they like to eat and not how YOU might want them to eat. Ask 253 representative, Jay Barz aka Tacoma’s Favorite White Boy! Just saw how he’s grindin’. You can catch him EVERYWHERE including tomorrow at Chop Suey (Seattle) with GMK, on Dec. 21 with E-40’s little cousin, Turf Talk at Maggie O’Toole’s in Lakewood and with DJ Keri of Playboy at Station 56 in The Tac. People may be mumblin’ to themselves … ‘Why does Jay Barz appear in The 25360 so often?” Simple … He’s a hustla, hustlin’ his work! That kind of drive is ALWAYS rewarded in one way or another. Go hard!
Check out Onry Ozzborn making a return to Tha O when he graces the lovely Royal Lounge Jan. 8. Nice treat to bring in the New Year, huh? And this one has to be the lamest joke of the year! The “Save Our Sonics” show is a liiiiiittle bit too late, me thinks. The lame leadership at Starbucks already sold the Sonics out to an even lamer cat whose intentions could be seen as easily as an eye chart two inches from your face! Give it up folks! The Sonics and their dreadful organizational decisions sleep with the fishes! But the “S.O.S.” show in itself is promising if the lineup is any indication. Neema, Grynch, Fatal Luccianuno, Wizdom and Tacoma’s own superhustla, Jay Barz will breathe on the microphones … Know about it!
Just in case you though hip-hop was ‘ignint’ … WRONG! I picked up a dope book recently that does the conversation about hip-hop’s many directions and different opinions much justice. Tricia Rose’s Hip-Hop Wars is a quality piece of literature, which explores the conversation about hip-hop and what it means, what its role is and how it has changed over the past three decades. Rose does a community service by simply exploring this conversation and asking thought-provoking questions in a way that will hopefully promote thinking.
If you’re in Olympia tonight, check out Sleep, MG The Visionary and Rocket One performing at The Royal Lounge with DJ Goonie of Saints of Everyday Failure. The last Oly hip-hop show of ’08 features Tacoma’s MG The Visionary. “He used to hold it down in Tacoma,” says show promoter Nicatine of Homeland Security and Junkyard Gang.
Big shot to DJ Romello of The Arbors, Lacey neighborhood. The Inglewood, Calif., transplant came through a little while back and helped me hold down The Live From I-5 Radio Show at KAOS 89.3 FM (Fridays at 3 p.m., PEOPLE!) in West Olympia. The show was full of content AND character … We discussed our individual lists of The Top 5 Most Important and Underappreciated Female MCs. The constant presence of females in hip-hop, with drawls up their butts and just shaking whatever they have to shake compelled us to act — we said, “Let’s give it up to the real MCs.” Our list was full of dopeness. Names like The Lady of Rage were mentioned … Yo Yo … La Chat … Bahamadia … We didn’t mention the commercial legends — they’re getting’ theirs … But … Nonchalant, Jean Grae, Heather B, Bo$$, Monie Love, Conscious Daughters, Butterfly (of Digable Planets), Suga T, Smooth MC, Dr. Roxanne Shante, Lisa Lee, Debbie Dee and Sha Rock were mentioned. In the era of hip-hop where women’s voices are so one-dimensional in terms of content, this list was a pleasure to compose and present. Hey, if it weren’t for the ladies … you wouldn’t be here! Shalom.
Peace & Love
Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. is an editor, writer and producer. A graduate of Washington State University and student at The Evergreen State College, he writes and edits the Pacific Northwest section of OZONE Magazine and hosts and produces Live From I-5 Radio (since ’89) every Friday at 3 p.m. on KAOS 89.3 FM (www.kaosradio.org) in Olympia. He writes a weekly hip-hop column in the music section on the Weekly Volcano’s Web site.
