What am I doing eating apple slices in a coffee shop with Parker Reddington and Nate Fihn of the hip-hop group State of the Artist? There’s at least four stories here I could be covering:

1. The Ford Fiesta
2. The Fiesta Movement
3. State of the Artist 
4. My writer’s block 

That last one is tough to write about. Let’s start by putting the first three in a blender.

Why did Ford give two twenty-something artists a gas card, insurance and a Ford Fiesta to complete missions in? Obviously these young rascals had to be talented... 

“We just applied and weren’t even really thinking too much about it,” Parker said, “We were late in all the applications and stuff. We were just kind of like ‘yeah, sure here’s whatever.’ Then all of sudden they were like, ‘you’re in here,’ and we were like ‘what?’

Just like that, SOTA was in with Ford; America’s great blue automotive hope. But who was Ford in with? My inner Columbo was focusing his googely interrogation eye squarely… generally on Parker and Nate.

The guys explained State of the Artist is getting ready to release their first official album, entitled Seattlecalifragilisticextrahelladopeness. Read that again. 

Upon further inspection, the freshman release appears to be anything but. Really its an impressive list of collaborations with a who’s who of the Seattle hip-hop scene. Just to name a few: Champagne Champagne, Hella Dope, Fresh Espresso and Theesatisfaction. 

“It’s kind of crazy, Nate said, calmly applying cheese spread to an apple slice with a utility knife, “We’re team Seattle, we’re representing the entire city to the rest of the country. I didn’t think about that too much at heart at the start because I represent Seattle wherever I go, I love this city.”

“They haven’t tried to slap a Ford sticker on our back or anything like that,” he added, "they’ve been cool about it, its really grass roots.” 

With my writer’s block destroyed Tetris style, it was time to get to the Ford Fiesta itself. But before SOTA and I went for a ride around the city I couldn’t resist receding into a smart ass Q & A session: 

B= Brandon
P= Parker
N= Nate

B: Let’s do some word associations: Seattle.

P: Seattlecalifragilisticextrahelladopeness. 

N: Go get ‘em!

B: Ford.

P: Fiesta!

B: All right then, can you rhyme orange? 

P: Scoarnge. Scourge and Scrounge mixed together. 

B: Actually an orange flavored scone sounds pretty good…

SOTA agreed. We finished the apple and made our way downstairs to Ford’s black hatchback. It was time to see if this movement actually had a decent car behind it. 

More to come. 

(To follow SOTA/Team Seattle, Text SeaCal to 44144)

Sources: 

http://sotaboys.wordpress.com/

http://www.fiestamovement2.com/seattle/team-profile/team-sea 

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