On February 14th, Seattle-based rapper The Good Sin released his sophomore album, The Story of Love x Hate. On February 21st, Portland-based rapper Luck-One released Beautiful Music Part 2, the highly anticipated follow up to his first solo project… which was obviously named Beautiful Music. On March 3rd, the two rappers – who despite having vastly different styles, are both highly regarded for their expressive and hopeful storytelling – shared an album release party in Seattle at the Crocodile. Naturally, I was on hand to bring you the dirty deets.
I did arrive a little late though, and while I could squarely blame that on my friend Keeara for having to do her hair when we touched down in Seattle, that would not change the fact that I missed TxE’s opening set. Even without the benefit of Calvin Valentine’s live production and syrupy Southern-styled raps, I’m sure Tope and Epp got it in true with the accompaniment of Lawz Spoken and Verbz. In fact, a few Seattleites even felt the need to bring me up to speed on the performance I’d missed.
The second opener of the night was Thaddeus David (from State of the Artist). I didn’t know that he was making solo music, and was pretty surprised when my buddy Pomz excitedly told me it was his first solo performance. He started off a little nervously, but as his bars resonated with the otherwise tough crowd, his confidence grew and it was awesome to watch someone grow on stage on front of me. (Pause?) By the way, if you don’t know Pomz, you really should… MembersOnly206, look it up.
How have I not yet mentioned that the party was hella live? In addition to the bartender who was not at all stingy with the Hennessy, there were some pretty generally awesome people in the building. Aside from my squad which rode up with me from Portland, the aforementioned TxE crew was also making it do what they do. Spac3man and Fatal Lucchiauno kept it active, and it was great to see a few of my favorite DJs/producers in DJ 100Proof, Jayron, Bigg Dizz and Paul Lindsey. Naturally, Sin and his brother Sean were there as proof that Titans exist, and Luck provided the backstage entertainment while Ibeth rolled her eyes and took pictures. Lots of APM handshaking occurred. A lot of We Out Here stickers got passed out. Mission successful.
Then it was time for Luck to rock. Just before the quick prayer, Luck let me know that he might need me to hype a few tracks. I was a bit concerned as a) I was on Henny #4, and b) I really don’t know all of the words to BM2 like that yet. (In fact, I’m still traumatized from the time he asked me to hype him while he performed Palestine.) So I said, “Sure, bro” and took my spot on stage by the DJ table. As I watched Luck rip through tracks from his latest release, I realized it had been a while since I’d seen my brother do a set. His chemistry with Dizz has much improved, and Jayron has really developed into an entertaining performance DJ. Just as I was thinking this, Jay took a signal and brought us back to the original Beautiful Music EP. Ahhh… This was what Luck wanted me for! A quick team up and then back to the sidelines for me. Always fun to rock a crowd unexpectedly then shrink back into it. #OutHere
A quick intermission after Luck’s set, and after checking on the ladies I was back in front of the stage, vibing out to the smooth sounds of The Good Sin. In case you don’t know, dude gets it in. By this time, I was pretty faded, however I distinctly remember Sonny turning to me and saying, “I must have been sleeping on this Good Sin dude.” My response to him was, “Duh.” Truth be told though, while I’d long been a fan of Sin’s pressed music, this might have been my first time seeing him perform live. I was surprised by the level of energy he brought to his performance, and Paul Lindsey did a bang up job playing the drums and giving the set a real band feel. I also feel like Vitamin D was DJing for Sin’s set. I swear I saw that happening, but I didn’t really believe it was happening, so I blamed it on the alcohol and told myself to stop trippin’… Note: Talked to Sin later, and it was in fact Vita. Whatever, Sin, you’re still not that cool.
As the party came to a close, it was unanimously decided that the squad (yes, all 8000 of us) were going to IHOP. My contingent got there first – Cab Life! – but weren’t able to hold seats for the rest of the crew who lollygagged and arrived nearly 30 minutes later. By the time everyone had a seat, we were done eating altogether. We stuck around for a little bit and made a respectable scene at the 24-hour restaurant before retiring for the night. I even saw females thirsting for Spac3man and his short dreads. Wow, the stories are true…
In the morning, I realized that I’d left my debit card and ID at the Croc, and after I admitted this on Twitter, I was hit with multiple calls and DMs from other Portland partiers who’d made the same error with the awesomely agreeable bartender. So after a Sunday of sitting around watching hoops, I gathered all of the abandoned cards from the Croc and made my way back to good old Portland on the midnight bus. Great things occurred when I arrived home, but I’m going to keep that in the bag for now. Guess it’s karma?
*stretches* Yeah, it was a good weekend. #WeOutHereSEA
~Mac Smiff