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: Walt Nut

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Town Biz Mixtape

No list of essential Seattle hip-hop compilations would be complete without the inclusion of Jake One’s 27-track opus, the Town Biz Mixtape. He dug deep into the crates, surfacing lost hits, deep cuts, and the finest local hip-hop spanning more than 20 years. (From 1989 to 2010, when this CD was released.)

The mixtape is an essential playlist that surfaces forgotten gems and unexpected bangers. My favorite track here is Vitamin D’s “Who That??” feat. The Note (from Narcotik), but there are so, so many solid tracks. Everyone’s on this, from Blind Council to Mash Hall, The Physics, Tay Sean, J. Pinder, and Shabazz Palaces. Listening to Town Biz will leave you realizing how blessed we are to have so much musical talent in our own backyard. But we knew that already, didn’t we? Thanks to Jake One for compiling this so we can spin it on a sunny summer afternoon and feel hella proud.

Town Biz Mixtape was created in and features appearances from:

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The Life In The Central But The Ways Of The World

Seattle rapper Walt Nut The Real One put out this full album in 1997 on cassette and compact disc. The Life In The Central But The Ways Of The World is an emotional look at the neighborhood around him. Walt Nut tells tales of selling crack and trying to survive in Seattle’s Central District. On the slow reflective “I Can Just Think Of Things” he remembers his grandma succinctly warning him, “live fast, die fast.” Most of the cuts on this project are slow creepers, but “Out In Traffic” switches to a faster, more peppy rhyme style. That one is probably my favorite on the album.

There was actually a vinyl promo single released for track six, “Keep Standin.” “Keep standing like a soldier,” goes the refrain. “Don’t Tip My Scales” throws an interesting slinky beat at the lyrics. “I just want harmony, but enemies are out to harm me,” is a clever line that stands out.

I thought “Murder Proof” was skipping, but the song just contains the words “murder proof” about a million times. In the meditative “Should I Or Should I Not,” Walt Nut asks himself how he could consider committing another crime when he knows full well the consequences. The album is steady and features production from Beezie Mack and Dee Love. Kevin Gardner, Mike Mosely, Paul Hubert, and Mike Wingo also get production credits. Written by Novocaine132

The Life In The Central But The Ways Of The World was created in and features appearances from:

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