HIPHOP EXTRAVAGANZA: My, oh my, Seattle hiphop fans are in luck this weekend: the Blue Scholars are doing a stripped-down version of last year's The Program, with three nights at Neumos. This time, Common Market will join them every night; Truckasaurus and very special guests are playing on Saturday, Macklemore and Dyme Def will play on Monday night. Saturday's already sold out, but the second two nights are equally as awesome. Don't miss it. Really. more ›

Head Like a Kite: By the time we got into Neumos, we'd unfortunately missed most of their set. Whatever they were playing when we walked in, it was awesome and everyone was into it. It wasn't long, however, before they went into show-closing mode with more ethereal, experimental jam stuff. We dig Head Like a Kite, but they also bore us sometimes. more ›

Ahh, Saturday! A chronologically arranged discussion of the Block Party, Day Zwei (Day Eins here): more ›

Friday: Catch Common Market (4:30) and U.S.E. (5:30) at the main stage, then skip over to King Cobra for the second half of Truckasaurus (6:00). Take a dinner break (may we suggest eating something protein-heavy?), then get yerself to Neumo's for Thee Emergency at 7:45. After that, we suggest Das Llamas (it's their last set...THEIR LAST ONE!) at 9:45 at the Cha Cha. To round out the night, buy yourself a fancy rum drink at Havana and party until the wee hours with DJ Curtis. more ›

An enthusiastic crowd of youngsters showed up at Nam's album release party at the Vera Project this weekend to appreciate energetic performances from The Physics, Bambu, super-talented super-group Good Medicine, and Nam himself. Though The Stranger billed this night as a Good Medicine show, every artist on the bill pointed the glory towards Nam and his "de-boo" album, Exhale. more ›

"King Cobra's hiphop hymen has been broken!" declared Gatsby of Cancer Rising last night. It's true: The Physics were the first hiphop group ever to grace the newish stage in the rock-n'-roll-ified nightclub, and Cancer Rising made it extra official in a mixed line-up featuring the metal-rock, electric guitar-wielding Emeralds as well as Portland's indie rockers Caves. The night was "magical," as Caves singer Jacob Carey deemed it. Welcome, King Cobra, to Seattlest's short list of favorite venues, you with your yellow under-lit tables and your flickering neon bar shelves! Someone told us your food is tasty and your bar stools are even comfortable, and for all of those reasons you have earned our sincere affection. more ›

We love some hiphop with our coffee in the morning, and KEXP's John In The Morning obliged us today with a live set from easy-going, hard-working local stars The Physics! You can stream the set and interview on KEXP's website by clicking here and setting the time to 8:07am. more ›

Hooray! The first batch of the Capitol Hill Block Party line-up for this summer has been announced, and we're thrilled to see what a truly fine list it is. Hot groups such as Vampire Weekend, Les Savy Fav, Kimya Dawson, and The Physics are already confirmed, with nary a six-hour-long Spoon set to be found. (Okay, so maybe last year's Spoon performance wasn't exactly six hours long, but it kinda felt like it.) more ›

We just spent a good three minutes and 48 seconds drooling over the hot new music video of "Ready For We" from The Physics. This is our favorite song from their unexpectedly fabulous 2007 release, , and we're really digging the video's dark, stylin' aesthetic! Check it out: more ›

Tonight: Style Out in SoDo or Neema/Cool Nutz/Cancer Rising in Fremont? The choice is difficult for local hiphop fans. On the one hand, we've got Alpha P (classic and skilled pros), The Physics (hilarious and enthused), and a host of talented performers working the social movement angle of hiphop. On the other hand, we've got Neema (he's promised a bunch of new material tonight), Cool Nutz (from NE Portland, repping the deliciously dope ), and Cancer Rising (the rumor mill says: new dance moves). 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 ›

We weren't expecting to be named as one of the Young Ones. It's a very good look and we're looking forward to performing alongside a lot of great artists! more ›

Saturday // Macklemore // Nectar // $7 //21+ more ›

U-N-I, the L.A. headliners at last night's show at Chop Suey, is the profoundly West Coast hiphop equivalent of human superficial fascia: loosely, intricately webbed, sticky, and pliable. Tricky, surprising beats backed Thurzday and Y-O's tight rap in a dizzying but relaxed kind of way. The night was solid for such an unsung show, with performances from some of 2008's most promising local acts: J. Pinder (his ballsy, impeccable timing meshing perfectly with high-power Vitamin D beats), the infectiously vibrant GMK, and Stranger fave The Physics. more ›

Sometimes, the hip-hop planets align and send their benefactions down upon Seattlest. This was probably why we ended up standing in line behind Nam at Chop Suey on Saturday night, waiting to get into the Little Brother show. (Watch for an interview with him later this week!) However, we give full credit to Northwest hip-hop promoters Obese Productions for the line-up that allowed us to finally see The Physics AND Grynch (at right). AND Dyme Def. AND a bigger-than-we-thought Little Brother! We didn't even have to leave the bar. Thank you, gods and hard workers of hip-hop. more ›

Well! Seattlest lives for weekends like the upcoming one. On Saturday night, we've got Seatown representing rather well at Chop Suey. Assisting North Carolina all-star Little Brother in making the night oh-so-memorable are 206's tough-spitting Dyme Def, rhyme maestro Grynch, The Physics (thank you, God!), and DJ Top Spin. That's right, mutha-flippin Grynch will be there. Seattlest is going because we missed The Physics a couple weeks ago and truly regret that. We are also going because we have heard too much about Grynch to have never heard him live. Who IS this very white guy who throws it down like that? Check out "How I Feel" on his MySpace. We like! more ›

Common Market is doing their smart, earnest, appealing thing at Chop Suey this weekend, with J. Pinder and The Physics sweetening the pot for Seattle hiphop fans. more ›