Local producer Jake One and Rhymesayer emcee Brother Ali co-hosted KUBE 93's Sunday Night Sound Session this week to discuss and play a bunch of tracks from the most excellent new album White Van Music. DJ Hyphen's blog Audacity of Dope has the Sound Session download and streaming links posted, so get it while the getting's good! While you're in Jake! One! mode, Raindrophustla has a longish video from DJ Nphared featuring footage of Brother Ali and Jake hanging out in the station's studio as well as an extended glimpse at Npha's car's dashboard. Note: White Van Music is the next big thing, and for very good reason. more ›

Seattlest attended the late-night Graffiti Rock beat battle at The Sunset on Saturday night, casually organized by P.U.S.H., primarily so we could remind ourselves what Ballard looks like. more ›

DJ Nphared spins for Sportn' Life artists, including D. Black and Fatal Lucciauno, and he also DJs for Grynch. Seattlest enjoyed his mixes at the Parker Brothaz show on Monday, so we set out to learn more about this guy's ethos. more ›

Kingzmen came out in matching striped jumpers, which was cute. They certainly have charm, Nphared's beats were beautiful again, and if the Kingzmen tighten up their presence just one notch further, they'll make our list of groups to be excited about. Here's who we ARE excited about: GMK. Bright, bursting energy, hustling like a pro. This guy is flying, he's got the spark, and everything about his act works really well. He only had fifteen minutes on stage, but after the Parker Brothaz (not bad, just... flat), it was clear GMK deserves to headline. The Parker Brothaz were formulaic, packaged, commercial ("Where's your iPhones? Where's your Sidekicks?" is the refrain in their latest single), but admittedly smooth. Smooth, but not inspiring. GMK, on the other hand, got the crowd swooping and bouncing right along with him. Good man, good man. "Baby wanna drop that? Go ahead, drop that." Encore! more ›