Picking the five most slept on rappers in an entire region getting slept on is not an easy task. Read the list, and let us know who you think should have made the cut.
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1. Thaddeus David
“Colder than an eskimo, trappin at the Texaco, bags full of Mexico, hope I don’t go Plaxico.”
Thaddeus David is the most slept on rapper in the Northwest. Possibly the best rapper in the supremely talented Moor Gang (how many members do they have at this point anyway?), Thaddeus was previously best known for his work as part of the groups State of the Artists and Helluva State.
Trapital Trill is an incredible EP, that many NW hip hop fans might have missed out on. Headlined by singles Sir Lancelot – featuring Avatar Darko and fellow Moor Gang member Nacho Picasso – and NASA, Trapital Trill is 7 tracks showcasing the very best of Thaddeus’ ability to put together a complete package- from beat selection, to showcasing his relaxed flow and incorporating some really nice visuals..
2. Stewart Villain
“V’s up like Spock, that’ll always be my damn hood.”
With production credits that include Danny Brown, Guilty Simpson, Sean Price, Kurupt, Cassow and NW favorites Kung Foo Grip, the Villain recently decided to let us all know he can rap better than the majority of his colleagues as well.
With only one single released to the public, it’ll be interesting to see if young Villain will take a break from his day job trading production for cash and put together a solo project of his own.
3. Fatal Lucciano
“It’s the return of the problem. Sport’n Life Records, Everybody else starving.”
Born in Chicago and raised in Seattle, Fatal knows controversy like a fat man knows heartburn. The critically acclaimed rapper was convicted of a drive-by shooting in 2007, and was banned from more than one Seattle venue after a shooting at Chop Suey left one person dead on the night of a show he opened for (though he was absent from the venue at the time of the shooting according to his manager, DeVon Manier).
After taking a five year break from releasing a project, Fatal released two projects last year – The Message and Respect. Take a listen to the Bean One produced Black Hoody Rap (featuring Spac3man) as evidence to the epic, “soundtrack for the bad guy” type of music he is capable of. Witty and introspective, very few artists do conscious gangster rap like Fatal.
4. Epp
“Cityscape and everything, my city makes the most beautiful. You can hear the way I wrote it down.”
Portland is going to be a little mad that Epp isn’t higher on this list. Epp has been in and around Portland’s inner circle of the most illest for the last 5 years. Currently best known for his work as one third of the group TxE, he does to beats what Daniel did to Johnny at the end of the original Karate Kid.
Epp is currently working on his first solo project due out later this year.
5. Tie: F is H and Greg Cypher of Kung Foo Grip
“See that star? See that sun? 21 never felt so young.”
Not a lot of rappers are willing to bring sun and star metaphors into their rhymes, or rap about eating organic and drinking 40’s instead of going to high school in consecutive bars. A subtle rebellion with a sense of responsibility for the bigger picture of life, Kung Foo Grip make great music to lounge to.
They caught a bit of buzz after releasing an eery video for their track FVCKV9TA5 in the beginning of 2012, but the buzz seemed to flatten out a bit as the year progressed. They started 2013 off with the release of their album Growing Up In the Future via Freshselects.net, but the project didn’t manage to find an audience.
Honorable Mention: Serge Severe.
Serge Severe is a rapper’s rapper. (Meaning he has bars.)