Funked out and reminiscing of Hiphopolis Now
A lot of us are walking around permanently funked up from the The Coup’s superdope set that closed Hiphopolis Now on Sunday at The B-Side.
It’s understandable if even the most loyal hip-hop fan missed the show, what with three days of hip-hop acts leading up to The Coup, plus the fact that another national hip-hop act, The Alkaholiks, played that night at the Big Easy Concert House.
So in case you did miss The Coup, we’ve got it, plus the whole blazing Hiphopolis Now show available online. All that’s missing from the recording is the visuals, of course, and that smokin’ soul food the Bozarth brothers provided (let’s hope they cook at The B-Side for the Lyrics Born show on Oct. 26).
You can listen to Hiphopolis Now at www.spokane7.com/music on The Hangover.
Here’s the weekend’s highlights:
• The Coup, from Oakland, Calif., was billed to headline Hiphopolis Now as an emcee and deejay duo. Needless to say, concertgoers were shocked when the guys kicked into their set with a full band busting a heavy guitar and hand-clap jam.
Bite this: “The dream’s in the dust/ the evidence flushed/ the grieving is just/ they’re thieving from us/ assaulted in cuffs/ this evil will bust/ our mayor’s unstable/ and under the table/ we like free speech/ but we love free cable.”
• Portland’s finest hip-hop crew, Lifesavas, once again played the part of party paramedics by pumping life into The B-Side for the final night of Hiphopolis Now.
Bite this: “You can’t count me in bars/ I spit prison cells.”
• Crown City Rockers, also of Oakland, Calif., threw down some hypnotizing Hiphopolis Now funk that you would never expect from a band whose keyboardist laid synth tracks for The Simms Online.
Bite this: “I vamp disappear into the midnight/ slip into the right rhymes/ hoodied up with hip-hop songs/ rhyme undertones flowalicious/ I’m half-love- quarter-spiritual and quarter-vicious.”
• Fusing elements of disco, hip-hop textures and big band horns, Eleven Eyes from Eugene, Ore., is more jazz than rap, but since they’ve been touring and recording with an emcee, Eleven Eyes’ hip-hop nuances are more apparent. Still, it’s the instrumentation that is so impressive.
Bite this: “You might lose your fortune/ I might lose a faulty label endorsement/ because I refuse to forfeit.”
• Seattle’s Boom Bap Project was a last-minute addition to Hiphopolis Now, filling in for DJ Mike Relm who canceled to play a Hurricane Katrina benefit show. Rhymesayers affiliates Boom Bap more than made up for the missing Relm with a set that represented Northwest hip-hop to the fullest. They murdered it something lethal.
Bite this: “My mind pedals words through instrumentals/ pop the wheelies/ what I spit’ll cause collisions now ask yourself/ do you feel me?”
• Portland emcee Ohmega Watts, one half of the Lightheaded crew, produced his new solo album with live samples played by studio musicians. The smooth jazzy tone works as well onstage. Word is he’s working with Quantic and is handling most of the production on Lightheaded’s forthcoming album set for a January release.
Bite this: “Mental eclipse over the horizon/ darkened hearts of men socially compromising.”
• There were a lot of James Two converts in the house after his solo set. Easily one of the most passionate emcees to bless The B-Side stage, Missoula’s Two was even more on his game than when he collaborates with local emcee Locke and Denver’s Sentence.
Bite this: “You’ll always win the war/ If you wisely choose your battles/ and just cuz no one is at show doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel/ that’s foul/ more power to those that showed though/ I rock it hellahard even when the crowd is so-so.”
• It’s not often that you’ll find a group of ladies in the front dancing to a set by local emcee Synthetic. The energy was that live for Hiphopolis’ opening act – even with the last-minute cancellation by Erick Beats and Jeremy Hughes – and it stayed that way for the rest of the weekend.
Bite this: “We can leave this whole crowd dead/ or get all up on the mike instead/ we can get together I said/ flour water we can get together like bread.”
The Side Project and Tingstad and Rumbel get live
We also have a recording online of the double CD release show by Spokane’s The Side Project and Seattle New Age duo Tingstad and Rumbel.
• 2003 Grammy winner Eric Tingstad and his cohort Nancy Rumbel are known for their masterful stage charm and psychic chemistry. But their show was even further enhanced by bringing out individual members of The Side Project to sit in on select numbers. Listen for Tingstad’s and The Side Project’s Suzie Bradford’s stunning rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy.”
• The Side Project made a triumphant return for its CD release show for the new album “A Comfortable Struggle.” The album and set feature a heavier presence on cello by Zoe Boysen as well as strategic drumming by the band’s newest member, Jason Edwards.