Tonight and Saturday night our friends at Massline, KEXP, and The Stranger are bringing something called the Freshly Dipped Tour to the Showbox at the Market. We don't know what Freshly Dipped means, but we do know that headlining the night will be Seattle's own hip hop heroes, Blue Scholars, and from Oakland, California, The Hieroglyphics.

It was about four years ago that we first heard "Blue School" from the Scholars' debut self-titled album. We weren't at all familiar with local hip hop at the time, so not only was it cool to hear this talented duo rap about the people and places we were familiar with, it was also something totally new and refreshing to us. The beats, the keys, the horns--we ate it up. Music aside, it was a breath of fresh air to hear someone using their ample talent to speak on subjects other than cash and bitches.

Friday & Saturday, doors at 8:00 p.m., all ages // Showbox at the Market // $18adv, $20dos

The YouTube wouldn't let us embed this video for "Joe Metro" (lots of nice shots of Seattle here), so here's an oldie, live from Easy Street Records: