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It's officially fall, but there's some residual summer heat hanging 'round. Some might attribute this to a late summer, but I'd like to blame EvergreenOne. Earlier this month EvergreenOne dropped a solo joint titled "Fuck Vampires." It's a humorous anti-ode to all things "cool" right now. He disses popular culture, from
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What is "qui vive" (pronounced kay veev)? Basically, it means staying on point when shit is ‘bout to go down. The history of the word is political. Qui Vive is also the name of a Tacoma producer. Tacoma's Qui Vive recently dropped an EP, Solidarity, featuring Julie C, Greg & Jerome
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Are ya'll hip to John Crown? I hope so. I just had to get his name out there. Crown has no big shows coming up. He has no definitive date for a release for his next album, Coffee and Beats. He didn't just release a new song or video. He's
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Sawchosiz is finally set to drop his first full-length album. It may be hard to believe Saw' hasn't released an album yet, but it's true, even though he's been in the game for a good minute now. He's gone from underground Tacoma groups, to smashing the KUBE 93 FM "Freestyle
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I love seeing young artists grow, mature and polish their sound - artist coming into their own. A few years ago when I first heard Lockcity I knew dude had a nice flow. He was spitting some smooth-tricky street shit at the time. Although he was dope, he didn't quite jump
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Now that the sun is here to stay this summer, ya'll better get out and enjoy it, because it's already late August, which means the countdown to the end of summer has begun. Hopefully a couple weeks ago ya hit Hip-Hop in the Park and caught Violet, the Breaklites, the MC
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This week we review Third Eye Theory's new compilation release, Sorry For the Weight, which is available for free download on the Internet. The album has a dirty, underground, humorous vibe throughout, evident in the cover artwork and in Abadawn's funny, weird, nasty and humorous intro to the effort. Once
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The most exciting new group to emerge this year out of Tacoma has been the Academy. The crew quickly came onto the scene thanks to the veteran status of some of the members. $krilla met Eee-tree, Ghetto, Doe-Lo Rossi, Mistah Mac, Charlotte Smoot, Criss, Eli, Chad Larson and Jordan Pike
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Summer is always a big season for album releases. One of the major local releases to drop this summer is AKA's debut album, Resurgence. AKA celebrated the release a few weeks ago with a jumping party at the Surreal Ultra Lounge. AKA stays pretty busy doing shows and promoting his
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There's been a hip-hop scene in Tacoma since the early ‘80s, which means our city has hip-hop musical forefathers and veterans. One of the OG's of the Tacoma hip-hop scene is Awall, aka 2-Piece. Awall first broke into the scene back in the mid ‘90s when he hooked up with
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The summer gray that's been hanging over our city is finally starting to dissipate. I welcome the sun and all the new artists to our scene. Craze‘8, Double G and the Abom Kid have been some of this year's busiest newcomers. Craze‘8 is part of the new class of do-it-all hip-hop
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It's the middle of summer and there's hip-hop everywhere. Even at camps for kids. Right now the New Directions Multicultural Multimedia Summer Camp is going on. This is a five-day camp designed to "Unleash the positive potential of youth through arts-centered, intergenerational and multicultural learning programs that value self-awareness, leadership,
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Lots of local albums have dropped this year - perhaps more than any other year I can remember. It's obvious some people are really getting on their craft. One of the artists having a particularly productive year is Todd Sykes, one half of CityHall. Sykes is the full-time producer of
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The weather may not be sweltering hot yet, but the scene is. If ya missed the all-ages hip-hop at the Urban Arts Festival and Tacoma Hempfest, don't fret. There's more outdoor fun to be had. On July 10 catch the Art on the Ave Festival, featuring performances from Mr. Von,
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Summer is always a good time for hip-hop. There are lots of outdoor shows and festivals that bring people out and together. There's been hip-hop to see outside so far this summer at Urban Art Festival and Tacoma Hempfest. And there'll be much more at festivals like the Capital
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Leezy Soprano is doing it right now! He's getting props from The Seattle Times almost every time he drops a video, and he drops a lot of videos. These videos - plus his clever wordplay, cadence and all-around-coolness - have brought Leezy's buzz-up to an impressive level. I'd say Leezy's
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I highly suggest hitting the one-year anniversary of S.P.'s "We Out Here Showcase." This goes down Saturday, June 18, at Clover Park Technical College in the McGavick Center, building #23. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. with a $10 cover. S.P. is a Washington
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Last week we talked about the importance of a DJ. The DJ's most important job is to make us dance. So, what if ya love hip-hop, but ya don't necessarily want to see a show? Maybe ya just want to dance. ... Then ya need to check out DJ Berry. DJ Berry
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It all started with the DJ. This ain't a Hip-Hop 101, class, so I'm not going to break down the history, but when hip-hop started in the South Bronx, the DJ was the most important element. Fast-forward 30-some years and it's not quite the same. A lot of shows nowadays don't
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The Tri-Cities hip-hop scene started much later than the scene in Tacoma. Perhaps the first time people took note of it was around 1995, because of a compilation Shao Sosa was on. Shao (formerly known as Shaolin) is basically the father of Tri-Cities hip-hop. In the late '90s he released
