TOWN LOVE is an online art museum dedicated to celebrating the vibrant past and present of Northwest Hip-Hop. You can browse by artist or browse by year.

This gallery page is organized to highlight the creative work of

Artist: L.S.R.

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Executin' Suckas

After starting in 1984, Seattle rap group Love Sick Rhymers grew and added new members over the next several years. Producer and rapper Kid Mix often hosted recording sessions at his South Bangor bedroom studio. In 1989 they developed an album called Executin’ Suckas, but it was never released at the time. In 2026, the group resurfaced the original recordings from minidisc, and packaged them into a deluxe Compact Disc edition.

Executin’ Suckas begins with a short intro featuring the legendary Ice T on The Arsenio Hall Show. Then the peppery “Open Up Your Mind” spices things up. It’s produced by Kid Mix, who does a majority of the album’s beats. Third is the gorgeous “Rappin’ In The Park,” a jazzy number that predates the vibe of Digable Planets by several years.

The title track arrives at number four. “I could go on for days about the suckas I’ve seen, Seattle got more suckas doing sucka routines,” goes a favorite line of mine. Song five is the relentless “Back For More,” with a rough, tough verbal lashing for any listener. “I got the bass down lower than the minimum wage,” raps Eazeman sardonically.

Sixth on Executin’ Suckas is “World Famous,” with a calibrated verbal flow by AceeOne that really complements the beat. Next is a groovy little diversion titled “This Beat’s For You.” It’s a catchy toe-tapper, but then again so are all the other songs on the album. I love the little taste of Chuck Mangione sprinkled in there near the end.

Eight is “A Wildstyle” produced by Eazeman. The beat incorporates a deft sample from “The New Style” by the Beastie Boys, while the lyrics describe how to steal electronic gear in an entertaining storytelling style. “Resign @ 9” is nimble and fresh but watch out, it feels askew until you somehow snap into it. The last song on the album is the thumping “Young Fast, Young Quick” featuring DJ Too Quick from the Underworld crew.

After Executin’ Suckas, the group dropped classic underground albums in 1990, 1991, and 1992 before breaking up in 1993. Love Sick Rhymers are true Seattle rap superstars with a reissue catalog that continues to grow. Written by Novocaine132

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The Love Sick ProducRush

Rap production began in the early ‘80s as a fairly rudimentary artform. Producers like Rick Rubin gave basic backdrops to rap artists including L.L. Cool J and T La Rock. Then the beatmaking craft became more complex as the years went by. One Seattle group that exemplifies the development of rap is Love Sick Rhymers. Their first song in 1984, “Always Have Somethin To Do Wit Females” was very basic, and only a minute long. But L.S.R. developed quickly, and each new song was a quantum leap forward.

At first they recorded at Kid Mix’s house on South Bangor, but by 1990, producer and rapper Eazeman’s Yesler Shot Studio had become the gravitational center for a huge extended posse. Love Sick Rhymers even had their own slang, including the word “ProducRush.” This portmanteau was a combination of the words “production” and “bum rush,” which meant to gather a large group of friends to “rush” the door into the club without paying. L.S.R. finished a full album that year, but due to lack of resources and scarce industry connections, they never released it. In 2025, Eazeman found the project, had it restored, and released this deluxe edition of The Love Sick ProducRush thirty-five years after he produced it.

The album has ten unique tracks and effortlessly captures the golden era of hip hop. It starts out slowly with “Wake Up” and “Word!” Then the lyrics turn to Black awareness with “Fresh One” and “Droppin’ Science,” the latter of which samples statements by a pre-conversion Malcolm X. “Dance To This” features Dee.aLe from the successful Seattle rap trio DMS. LSR-adjacent crew Ruthless Mellow Funk appears on two tracks here, bringing that comedy vibe. I especially enjoy the Jackin-For-Beats-style production on “RMF Style.”

But far and away my favorite track on the album is the title track, “This Is A Love Sick ProducRush.” This song shows a new level of complexity from producer Eazeman, compared to his earlier work in the late ’80s. It’s also a very uptempo jam providing instant fuel for any dance floor. This hyperactive sound would be continued on future L.S.R. releases like The Yesler Shot in 1991, and Comin’ Out Stompin’ in 1992.

The Love Sick ProducRush is layered and dense from start to finish. There is a discoverability in L.S.R. records that is lacking in many other groups. Love Sick Rhymers created their own fun universe bursting with energy and creativity, right in Seattle on Yesler Way. It’s magic! Written by Novocaine132

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The Yesler Shot

Seattle rap group Love Sick Rhymers, or L.S.R. for short, were very influential in the late ’80s and early ’90s hip-hop scene. Producer and rapper Eaze won a citywide rap-off in 1989 which was held at the Moore Theater. By that point L.S.R. had dozens of songs recorded and were looking for a way into the industry.

They put out a cassette single in 1991 called “Hold Tight 2 (Da) Rhythm.” A full album called The Yesler Shot was finished, but unfortunately it was never released. In 2024, Eaze assembled the original parent material, including three minidiscs and a cassette, and had the audio completely restored. The result is a deluxe compact disc edition of The Yesler Shot album, thirty-three years after its creation. The cover art is a collage of the two Seattle neighborhoods where the members of the group grew up.

This 1991 album consists of twelve magical tracks from the golden era of hip-hop. The opener, “12 Shots (It’s The Gauge)” goes ham responding to the grave injustice served in cases like that of Rodney King. However, most of the tracks here are not political, it’s more of a party vibe going forward. “Anotha Funky Hit Single” is a perfect example, and it is literally bursting with joyous rhythm. Longtime fans of the group will be happy to see the inclusion of L.S.R.’s underground street classic, “Cadillac Music” on The Yesler Shot.

My favorite song on the album is the title track, “The Yesler Shot.” “Rewind to the beginning, and play it nonstop,” suggests Eaze. The song fits in any situation, chilling on the couch, in the car with your friends, or partying on the dancefloor. Their 1991 hit “Hold Tight 2 Da Rhythm” is the last song on The Yesler Shot, and it’s an earlier recording of the track which is slightly different than the twelve-inch single which dropped in ’92.

This album is incredibly varied, and each song takes you to a different place. Even though most of the tracks are high energy and danceable, rapper AceeOne drops a slow, reflective cut called “Down From The Start” which will have you reminiscing about your younger days.

On November 25, 1991, L.S.R. was lucky enough to perform at the Oz nightclub with legendary New York act A Tribe Called Quest! By the end of 1992, Love Sick Rhymers would complete their last album called Comin’ Out Stompin’ which finally saw a release in 2023. Written by Novocaine132

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Comin' Out Stompin'

Seattle rap group Love Sick Rhymers (aka L.S.R.) emerged from the fray during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Through dogged live performances and old-fashioned street credibility, L.S.R. gained wide recognition and accolades. In 1991 they put out a cassette single “Hold Tight 2 Da Rhythm” on Blakstyle Records. It was successful, and the label subsequently released the song on a vinyl twelve-inch in 1992. Love Sick Rhymers recorded several unreleased albums before breaking up, including Yesler Shot and Comin’ Out Stompin’. The Comin’ Out Stompin’ project sat waiting on a DAT for 31 years until 2023, when DJ Eazeman dusted it off and released this amazing album for the first time.

Comin’ Out Stompin’ displays an upbeat, high-energy style of hip-hop, which is influenced by Jamaican and other Caribbean musical styles. “Turn Up The Volume” and “Hardcore Hip Hop” immediately spark the fire, setting the tone for the rest of the album, and both songs are rousing to get your body moving. “Jam Session” slows it down a little with a freestyle cypher vibe, where everyone gets a turn to spit a verse. I particularly enjoy the way “Jam Session” interpolates patterns from the famous French nursery rhyme “Frère Jacques.”

“Goin’ 4 Gutz,” and “Nuthin’ Like The Real Thang” are about getting freaky with sexual encounters, and both songs contain some clever metaphors. Title track “Comin’ Out Stompin’” is rock-solid in every way, daring other crews to step to L.S.R. and get defeated. The last song, “Keep Ya Movin’,” drops numerous quotable lyrics over a relaxed beat. “Downtown Seatown, kickin on 3rd Ave, in front of Mickey Dee’s, the only boys that’s bad.”

Guest appearances from other Seattle artists DLD, Ruthless Mellow Funk, and Dope Style Productions bring extra flavor to the recipe here. Each song is a little bit different, showing the easy versatility of Love Sick Rhymers. Eazeman released Comin’ Out Stompin’ on CD and lathe-cut vinyl, both in limited edition quantities. This is a true-school, absolutely classic 1992 Seattle rap album, and hopefully L.S.R. will drop more music in the years to come. Eaze, if you’re listening, Yesler Shot, wink. Written by Novocaine132

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Hold Tight 2 da Rhythm

Love Sick Rhymers came together as 8th graders in 1984 when DJ Eazeman met Kid Mix (who was also going by Z-Rock or Playboy Z) and a third member named Ace One. Kid Mix had seen a graffiti piece with the words Love Sick Bombers, and so he named their group Love Sick Rhymers. They recorded many tracks throughout the 1980s, and by the early ’90s they had an album finished called Yesler Shot. The first single from Yesler Shot is this dancy cut called “Hold Tight 2 Da Rhythm.”

The 1978 song “Hold On Tight” by Lakeside is used as the main sample for “Hold Tight 2 Da Rhythm.” Love Sick Rhymers are joined on the cut by guest rapper DLD (Dee.aLe) from another Seattle ’90s rap crew called DMS. At the beginning of the track Eaze introduces the rest of the group, and then they take turns getting loose on the mic. The raps include some speedy verses and wordplay alongside some more laid back styling and profiling.

Yesler Shot was never commercially released at the time, and it wasn’t until 2019 that DJ Eazeman uploaded all the group’s content to Youtube, where it can now be experienced. This is the only listing on Discogs for their record label Blakstyle Records, apparently no further releases ever came out on the label. Love Sick Rhymers were a prolific Seattle rap group that had such accomplishments as opening for Tribe Called Quest in 1991 at the Oz nightclub, and also performing at several stops on Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Mack Daddy tour in ’92! “Hold Tight 2 Da Rhythm” is a great party cut, and the raps keep it real. This is a classic 206 jam and it was rightfully included on the Goods/Stussy Jake One Town Biz Mixtape back in 2010. Written by Novocaine132

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