It's not often that you see an MC making his own beats. Being great at both is a challenge and it leaves you vulnerable to be criticized on two fronts. There's strength in numbers. That's why you see so many MCs and producers teaming up - Eric B & Rakim, Gang Starr, Run D.M.C., and Reflection Eternal, for example. Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beats, and Kanye West are recent notable producers who have tried to rap, but they generally come up short lyrically with weak rhyme schemes and poor storytelling capabilities. And then there's Detroit rapper/producer Black Milk. more ›

We thought it would be a pretty easy project to sort through the Bumbershoot bill for the top ten local acts. Holy cow, were we wrong! There is an unbelievable list of local bands that you would love. Unfortunately, that would be entirely too work for one weekend. Instead, we took on the monumental task of whittling it down to ten. Understandably, it was pretty difficult. Below are Seattlest's picks for the entire weekend if you are looking for a local music overload. They're listed in order of appearance at the festival. more ›

Local rapper Grynch's recently released track, "A Dream Undeferred," was produced by national producer Illmind--and the song is golden enough that it landed Grynch a spot on Illmind's latest mixtape, flooding music blogs and websites today. more ›

">Skullcrusher Mountain," is about an evil genius who analyzes the problems of his would-be relationship with his beautiful victim. Coulton is goofy and clever, and his show should be wonderful. more ›

Dope stuff drops this week in local hiphop! Grynch's EP Something More is finally available, and for free, at GetGrynch.com. And Grieves, currently traveling the nation with Mac Lethal on a Happy Holidays Tour (yes, the holidays already), just released this video for "Black Clover Posse Cut" off the fresh LP 88 Keys And Counting. The album features Budo on the production end--he's one of our favorite producers right now. (Check the selected new tracks on Grieves' MySpace, and don't skip the older tracks posted--hearing "I Ate Your Soul" again was a nice addition to our morning). As for the video, it's weird in that very special stylized dirty/WT/cute/"guy you feel like you know already" Grieves kind of way. Make up your own mind: more ›

It's a great weekend for hiphop, Seattle! On Saturday, Grynch is headlining a show with D.Black, XPerience, Khingz, and the hilarious Sonny Bonoho at Chop Suey. It's a well-balanced bill full of funny, talented performers who draw big crowds on their own steam, so on a line-up together--well, Chop Suey will be alive and on fire Saturday night! more ›

Hiphop's King of Ballard, an inspired young emcee named Grynch, sat down with us over chicken satay (which he thought was delicious, and said so several times) to discuss everything from backpack rap to The Program. Here's what the man has to say. And catch his set tomorrow night at The Sunset--it's your last chance until June! more ›

Nectar was full of hiphop fans anticipating the power line-up on Saturday night. Macklemore, back from a tour in Europe, headlined in a masterful performance with special guests XPerience (out of Olympia) and Evan Roman; Grayskul (and his shaggy-haired little brother!) rocked some of his solo work, and we finally got to hear Wizdom do his thing. Wiz's solid work was actually upstaged by his special guest, Grynch, who is astoundingly, consistently good at focusing his energy and drawing in the crowd. more ›