The Musik Lounge

Two of Hip Hop’s best kept secrets found each other, seemingly through a thick haze of weed smoke – stoners do tend to unite. While Curren$y did enjoy a brief moment of semi fame rolling with Lil' Wayne, he left for potentially greener pastures (addressed splendidly on “S.D.L”) and has been steadily on his grind with the Fly Society behind him. Wiz Khalifa on the other hand has been making a name for himself on both the blog scene and the tour circuit, although he hasn’t made it out to the North West yet. His hustle never did seem appreciated by Warner Brothers who saw a star years ago when they signed him, but sit on the shelf he did until finally gaining his freedom just over 2 weeks ago. Independent is the way to roll and these two obviously share more in common than a fetish for the greenery, fresh kicks, and designer labels. The album gives you much of what you would expect and some of what you might not have. The beats are rocking almost all the way through, some however le

As I learn more about music from the electronic realm it amazes me how little minute details will factor into something being classified as a whole new genre. From what I can learn The KLF were innovators of something dubbed “Stadium House” - house music for stadiums? Listening to The White Room , I can see why although I can imagine stadiums being packed to rock out to this. The album opens with some interesting vocals over subtle back ground music before flashing into an incredibly up beat house banger with a barely capable emcee riding it. His flow is staggered and feels like everything flowing should not be. While his rhymes aren't bad, nor are they great, his inability to gel with the music is a problem. “Make it Rain” features none of the lame rapping and a better assortment of drums, synths and back ground vocals – the song feels like it could be perfect for a rainy day and music that conveys feeling like that shouldn't be denied. When they slow it down and let the musi

In a dark parking spot behind Rotture on the final day of the PDX Pop Fest 2009 I climbed into Othello's (of Lightheaded) whip to chop it up with him about the town, Hip Hop and music. A laid back dude, he had a lot to say and was a great conversationalist. After seeing him rock a set the night before at The Someday Lounge , I knew the Lightheaded reunion that was about to take place on stage (above picture is from there set) was gonna be something special. They rocked it right and had the crowd going crazy - which I can't say I saw much of the rest of that night. Allow me to introduce to you Othello . Q: Where are the three members of Lightheaded living at the moment? A: I'm living in Beaverton. Braille is living in Beaverton, actually right next door [Braille has since announced he will be moving to San Marcos, CA towards the end of the year]. We share the same wall. We got these town house type spots in Beaverton. We ended up moving into the same neighborhood at the

After all the hype, video blogs and constant internet chatter Slaughterhouse united for an official album. What began as what looked like drunken chatter in the lab between Joe Budden, Royce Da 5’ 9” and Joell Ortiz turned into a number of scathing tracks (“Move On,” “Fight Club,” etc.) and talk of a super group album. But like so many previous talks of collaborative albums dropping I’m unsure how serious people took them. Earlier this month all the doubters were silenced as the four headed monster came through to deliver the official self titled album. While the hype placed fairly large expectations on this release, if there were ever four emcees who could live up to them it is these guys. Prior to the album dropping they all took time to assure the masses that the album would be surprising and demonstrate different sides from the team. Not entirely clear on what this meant, the album pretty much delivers exactly what it is we have come to expect from these guys – four of the truest

So I dropped off a little article meets review (of his new album I Am My Enemy which you need to peep if you haven't) on IAME Thursday night and now, as promised here is the full Q&A transcript. I hope you enjoyed the article and gain some insight into one of Portland's up and comers. Q: Can you introduce yourself and give a quick history lesson of the Sandpeople? A: My name is IAME. Basically as Sandpeople go, it was crew that started about 2004-2005. It was originally me, Moby and Simple we had a group called Red Shield and that was like the first project that I was ever involved in seriously outside of just messing around – the first album that I put out. Shortly after that period we started working with more artists within the region and decided to do a bigger crew effort and so we did this album. This album was the very beginning stages of the group, it wasn’t like we became this group and then made an album – the group was still getting defined when we made the firs

The drawback to downloading music (when you do it to excess that is) is that even when you hear something you don’t really hear it. You listen to it and then file it away instantly to move on to the next thing you got, like there is some kind of expiration date on the file. While I evidently have heard Mr. Cooper’s 2005 disc Amongst Strangers at some point in the past I can’t remember it, and am only vaguely familiar with his name but for a different album I can’t don’t apparently have… oh the joys of four hard drives and not enough storage space. Perhaps it’s what he was going for, the album is called Amongst Strangers after all and in my mind while it’s not the most amazing piece of instrumental Hip Hop you have heard in your life it is interesting none the less. Where our last guest in the Saturday Spin column was all over the place pulling sounds out left and right and mashing things together that no one would expect to hear mixed and blended Mr. Cooper takes on a more subdued a

Upon my arrival to PDX I almost instantly heard talk about the massive Sandpeople collective. I’d heard the name throughout my time in Seattle, but was never confronted with there music like I was once I relocated to their stomping grounds (thanks in large part to my room mate). While the crew as a whole can be heard on their impressive EP Long Story, Short from earlier this summer original member IAME dropped his sophomore full length in July and has steadily been on a mission since to spread the word about his music, his crew and our town. “Portland has this big Rock scene and stuff and it makes it interesting to do Hip Hop here because it’s not as embraced as well as the Rock music,” says IAME. While the music may not be what first comes to mind when one thinks about Oregon, the almost five year long journey he and his people have been on seems to be making head way as they continue to make moves across the country. “There isn’t a lot of industry so to make our music stand out an

“It's just fucking dope music.” While the internet debates the legitimacy of this new breed of emcee's and Hip Hop artists I wanna make a distinct effort to get away from titles and labels. Good music is good music and that is what we are all looking for – or at least should be. Our parents generation might still be quick to judge when you utter the double H's but Fresh Espresso is proof that stereotypes and judgments are best left at the door. I wouldn't advise playing this for your parents, yet I think everyone should hear their debut disc Glamour. as there is something here for everyone. Sure it's rude and loud. It's filled with electronic instruments and some samples. The singing isn't perfect. The flows are. It's high energy. It's life. It's Rik Rude and P Smoov delivering what you've never heard before but have been waiting for. Filled with more energy than a red bull can, from the moment you hear the bass line open the album on “Espr