Philly rapper Freeway at Chop Suey on Saturday: gruff, powerful, in control. Prodigious beard. His set was a pleasure to behold, with thick, thumping, meaty beats over which his growl sounded just right. Such sparkly bling, too! Our only complaints are that he cut off "It's Over" way too early and there were a couple too many a capellas, but the man can keep filthily perfect time and impresses regardless of the beat behind him.......

Nectar was packed 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; The Physics glowed with bright enthusiasm through their streamlined set; JFK of 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......

On Saturday night, we took one of our oldest and best friends to her very first hiphop show over at the Sunset in Ballard. She's typically more of a KT Tunstall/Garden State soundtrack kind of girl, and we had to bribe her with $2 mojitos at La Isla's late Happy Hour to get her to even leave the house after 9pm. Her feedback after three hours of Elefaders (trippy), N/NW (loud) and dj100proof's mixes?......

Documentary: Los Angeles and art don't have the strongest association. (Glen Hansard at the Oscars, shaking his statue at the audience, "Make art! Make art!") But it's more of a signal-to-noise problem. The documentary The Cool School explores the lives of the founders of L.A.'s artistic "cool." Regina Hackett describes the situation: Back to L.A. in the early 1950s: Progressive artists had nothing going for themselves except themselves. New York didn't bother to spit......

As we mentioned last week, Fremont's Nectar Lounge hosted a two-night One Be Lo extravaganza this weekend, promising Grayskul, DV-One, and a producer's showcase. It was the first show we've ever attended at Nectar, a classy, high-tech venue with a balcony level full of unbalanced tables, votive candles, and red pepper flake shakers. Next time we're at Nectar, we want some of that pizza we saw around. Hiphop and pizza... is there a combination more......

It's the end of an era. Check out the standings list below and you'll see "Hüsker Don't," as you might expect -- but you'll see them in third place. Ever-renamed team State of the Onion played Nancy Zerg to HD's Ken Jennings, as did comeback kids Thaiku Hookers, who took second place. Of course, Tiger Woods doesn't win every golf tournament; just because Hüsker Don't is mortal doesn't mean they're pushovers. It was a raucous......