A film about Northwest hip-hop from

NEWCOMER

This 82-minute feature film is an intimate introduction to Seattle’s vibrant hip-hop underground. It was assembled from hundreds of tiny performance clips—shot for Instagram—into a single, continuous concert mosaic, and stars 93 of the top hip-hop artists from The Town.

Here’s how KEXP describes it in their review: “NEWCOMER stretches the idea of the concert film to an artistic extreme: Sub-minute snippets artfully arranged to resemble a field recording of Seattle’s rap scene, the pieces fractured and pieced back together in a truly engrossing way. The narrative flows through venues like Barboza, Cha Cha Lounge, Vermillion, Lo-Fi, the Showbox, the Crocodile, and dozens more. It’s Khris P pouring Rainier into a Solo cup while he raps; bodies packed into regional landmark ETC Tacoma; SassyBlack improvising a song urging concertgoers to buy her merch; the delightfully awkward dance moves of white people in KEXP’s Gathering Space; Chong the Nomad beatboxing and playing harmonica simultaneously; Bruce Leroy bullying a beat next to the clothing racks at All-Star Vintage; Specswizard rhyming about his first time performing in front of a crowd while standing before The Dark Crystal playing on a projection screen. The film is about the moments we experience—as lovers of live performance—just as much as the performances themselves.”

NEWCOMER was directed by Gary Campbell and was an official selection at the 2020 New York Hip-Hop Film Festival and the 2020 Golden Sneakers International Hip-Hop Film Festival in Hamburg, Germany. Throughout November 2020, the film screened for four weeks on the Northwest Film Forum theatrical screening site in honor of Hip-Hop History Month.

You can watch the full movie below.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Tales From The T, Volume 2

Hmmm... There's not a lot of information about this project in the museum encyclopedia. We'd love your help! TOWN LOVE is maintained by an awesome community of passionate volunteers who keep it all up to date.

Do you know something about the history of this record? Do you have a favorite lyric or a favorite memory? Send us an email on why this is one of the great hip-hop albums from the Northwest. Thanks!

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

Channel Surfing

The Seattle Times describes this solo debut from Tacoma painter and rapper Perry Porter as “manic, with voice-cracking bars over thickets of trunk-knocking bass… short bursts that, like a good punk record, leave you craving more.” The Blow Up points to Porter’s “high energy chaos and smooth funk.” CityArts says “He bounces from syrupy drawl to chirpy double-time to suit each song’s character, street-hardened but self-deprecating, stoned, surreal, and cartoonish.” Distinction describes it as “an alt-trapper bouncer made of SoundCloud-era strangeness.”

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

TYTHBAVFE

Released on Valentines Day this year, the acronym-named TYTHBAVFE (Thank You This Has Been A Very Fun Experience) was intended as a retirement record from Bujemane, as he shifts focus from music to other creative pursuits. He’s not completely disappeared though: We met up at Luis Vela’s “We Tried®” event last month and got talking about this EP. He described it as his “party record.” When compared with Tacoma’s usual suicide trap, there’s definitely humor and sarcasm here. It’s clear that Buje’s having a great time taking the piss. You only have to skip to the funny and weird “Try It” feat. Khris P. I always find myself giggling through this track, with lines like, “Khris P might be the new Dr. Dre.” When you hear the lovely and sad dance floor synths on “More” it’s clear that collaborator and producer Gary Ferguson is in on the joke, too. (And Ghoulavelii is doing his thing on track one.) Go check this one out, “cause you won’t know until you try it.” The brilliant/terrible cover art from Benji Navas is all part of the package.

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A film about Northwest hip-hop from

I Quit

I Quit is a seven-track EP from Bujemane. He’s got a cool, slow, loose spitting style that sounds a bit like freestyle, backed by minimal, unobtrusive beats playing through broken speakers, distorted tape, and recording machinery that keeps running out of batteries. These are short bursts: most songs here clock in under two minutes. Both “Long Sleeve” and “Pants” starts at half speed, and experiment with speed and expectations. The track I keep coming back to is the hypnotically repetitive “Red Zone” and its dancing piano. Inventive stuff here.

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