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.

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Tag: Shaprece

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Treadin'

Treadin’ is a 2013 EP from Grynch and Budo. The title track finds our MC questioning whether his long dog paddle towards success is worth the hustle. “We’ve come so far… We ain’t going nowhere,” echoes Shaprece during the hook on “So Far.” This song also features a great guest verse from Brother Ali where he recalls people asking him, “If you’ve made it, why you still riding the bus?” Success is indeed an elusive, fickle lover. Included are instrumental versions of these tracks, and it’s here where we can really hear Budo’s production shine. He’s an engaging multi-instrumentalist, effortlessly mixing the textures of horns, slide guitars, and badass synths. On headphones, so many delightful audio treats await. The vinyl is an icy grey splatter and every copy is individually numbered: My copy is 500/500. Keep at it Grynch.

Treadin' was created in and features appearances from:

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Growing Up In The Future

These dudes need to be heard to be believed, but it’s like being sent back to the great, grim days of Black Moon, Channel Live, and Mobb Deep. Add to that just the right amount of fresh, new school elements. They’re sick, and their recent mention in XXL magazine as “Ones to Watch” is way more than warranted.

Seattle hip-hop blog 206UP picked this record as one of the “Top 10 Albums of 2013,” saying that:

Kung Foo Grip has graduated from a pair of highly excitable battle rappers to a duo with insight and well-constructed bars. That growth does not preclude Eff is H and Greg Cypher from making some of the most exciting, combustible hip hop in Seattle, however. Growing Up In The Future is the pair coming of age while simultaneously staking claim to being the dopest in their Eastside (Kirkland) environs. “Out Of My Element” is urban/suburban ennui as viewed through the lens of the marginalized youth, and “Tuskegee” is high-strung brag rap featuring Moor Gang’s cleanup hitter Jarv Dee and Brooklyn’s up-and-coming Kris Kasanova.

Growing Up In The Future was created in and features appearances from:

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Bossalona

Introducing Bossalona, a 2012 Seattle banger from Fresh Espresso–rap duo P Smoov and Rik Rude–that comes out swinging. I love the bullfighting cover. There was a time a few years ago when I was obsessed with bullfighting: the spectacle, the dance, the push-pull dynamics between epically opposing forces. (Deadly serious and playfully silly.) All things you’ll find on this record, too. Bullfights are often preordained: You know the inevitable outcome going in and the focus is the journey that gets you there, and this sentiment is especially evident in the album closer, “Goodbye My Love,” a Dear John letter to a life of excess and drugs and an acknowledgment that something is about to end. Along the journey to get there, a plethora of exotic beats and sentiments: Samples from ragtime and funk and Indian melodies on fav “Yommie.” Nocturnal club track “Sunglasses On” is just on the right side of cheesy. Vocalist Shaprece, featured on half the tracks, waves a red cape at all the right moments, propelling the music forward.

Bossalona was created in and features appearances from:

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Yours Truly

Seattle hip-hop blog 206UP picked this record as one of the “Top 10 Albums of 2012,” saying that:

On Sol’s Bandcamp page, the rapper dedicates Yours Truly to “the human pursuit of deep understanding,” an endeavor the MC is no doubt currently pursuing on a post-college graduation trip around the world. Most of this album — the culmination of a series of shorter, free EP releases — is an attempt at universal appeal, heavy on the pop hooks and R&B melodies which serve to make it all just feel very…easy. But when you consider Yours Truly in the context of the artist’s statement, it makes sense: we’re more immediately bonded together when our commonalities are highlighted, hence the depth of understanding we can find when enjoying an album like Yours Truly together. This may sound annoyingly meta and shit, but the threads that connect us through musical experience don’t exist at the surface of listening, which is true even when an album as easily enjoyable as this comes along.

Yours Truly was created in and features appearances from:

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