As the tired, and possibly hung over, crowd filled in the grass at the stage formerly known as Fisher Green, Seattle enlisted its own royalty to set it off right. The King of Ballard, known more commonly as Grynch, laid down his most cohesive set to date, starting off with “Right Now” off of the Chemistry EP and closing the curtains with the crowd favorite ”My Volvo”.

The Fisher Green (now State Farm) Stage has provided platform to some of the most notable Northwest hip hop sets to date (Common Market ‘07 and Macklemore ‘09). “Local hip hop is always great at Bumbershoot,” said Grynch after signing his new “My Volvo” t-shirts for a line of fans ranging from 15-70. “It’s dope to see people get excited about (the local acts), there are genuine fans out here and it’s always cool to have a chance to meet them.”

Grynch’s set included a mix of classics and new material, with “That’s Hip Hop” for the age-old fans to “Mr. Rogers” off his upcoming album. But there were a few moments that will remain exclusive among those in attendance.

After inviting appearances from Sol and Macklemore, Grynch asked the crowd if they were ready “to hear ‘Something New’”, and delivered them a literal translation of what they asked for. Joined by Macklemore and Larry Mizell Jr., Grynch went right into the remix of the Fresh Espresso track. The appearance of Macklemore on stage caused a frenzy from the crowd of teensters, making the figure’s cult status apparent. The three laced the track so cleanly, aside from their attempt to channel a 90’s boy band on the P.Smoov hook, thatan immediate retirement may be in order for the live rendition.

The inclusion of “Something New” in the already top notch set will be added to the growing footprint that local hip hop has left upon the 40-year-old festival.

After this performance, and a set at Capitol Hill Block Party, Grynch is ready to bring the fans something new to further launch the already promising career of Seattle’s most beloved Volvo owner. As he was leaving, the emcee said his fans won’t have to wait long for more, “I’m playing Musicfest NW in Portland next weekend, and there’s plenty of new music in the works.”

Photos by Nick Bulat

Tell the homies:

All good things must come to an end — we were just hoping that wouldn’t apply to the legendary record shop, Fat Beats. Following last week’s announcement of Fat Beats closing the doors of its two remaining retail operations in New York and Los Angeles, president and owner Joseph Abajian spoke with AOL’s The BoomBox about the lead-up to the decision and their future plans to return to retail.

“The reality is Fat Beats retail hasn’t really been the store that I’ve known in years,” said Abajian, claiming that they’ve been keeping Fat Beats on a form of life-support for the last three years as he developed the plans for his new retail location. “It’s not hurting me that we’re closing,” he said.

Albajian told The BoomBox that his future plans include a massive hip-hop retail location, which will feature a broader range of products and cultural elements. The new shop will offer records — the mainstay of Fat Beats for over a decade — but, also offer products geared toward graffiti artists and dancers, as well as  extended book section and a hip-hop cultural museum. He didn’t say when or where the new location may spring up.

Albajian also talked about the “mom-and-pop” nature of Fat Beats, and what the shop’s closing means for independent artists that used to rely on stores like Fat Beats as a go-to for peddling their vinyl releases. “It’s very hard to have a small mom-and-pop store,” he said about having a physical location, but also said that their small-scale approach is still effective, citing their international distribution as proof of it’s success.

“There are less than before, but there’s new stores popping up all the time,” he said, seeming quite optimistic about the future of brick-and-mortar vinyl retail locations.

Fat Beats NY is scheduled to close up shop on Saturday, September 4, followed shortly by the closing of the Los Angeles location on September 17. In the meantime, there will be a grand finale of in-store performances and sale pricing. Fat Beats will continue it’s international distribution and record label arms, and continue to sell records through its website, FatBeats.com.

The final performance on Saturday is scheduled to have appearances by Sadat X (Brand Nubian), DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Just Blaze and Aljabian himself (DJ Jab).

To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy: The Atmosphere EPs will be released to the public on September 7, right before Slug and Ant hit the road with label-mates, Blueprint, Grieves and Budo and DJ Rare Groove. The albums will be available exclusively through Amazon and iTunes digitally, and physical copies will be available from Fifth Element (RSE’s music store in Minneapolis) and at shows throughout the tour.

The new set of discs is meant as a hold-over until Atmosphere releases their next full-length album, and contains all new material including the recently-released, “To All My Friends,” along with a new track, “Freefallin’”, which was released yesterday. There’s no word yet as to an expected date for Atmos’ next full-length.

Don’t forget to check out all of the tour dates for the To All My Friends tour, kicking off this month.

I’ve always felt part of the allure to Ill Bill’s music was the fact that he delivers it with such high energy and conviction. He gets going and soon the lyrics start spilling out like water from a dam that’s been breached. Of course there’s a high degree of sensationalism that comes with his music too that I’d be foolish not to concede also adds to his appeal as well. I would have to liken much of his material to being like a hybrid between a National Enquirer paper and a hardcore Hip-Hop tune. He throws all the energy and vigor of say an “Ante Up”, street driven type song out there, except he’s delving into the world of the unknown and paranormal. Largely on “Kill Devil Hills” he deals with those illicit and maybe too out there topic’s of UFO abductions and the end of the world as we know it (“2013″), but there are many other conivvance themed subjects he touches on as well that fit a lil’ bit better on your average Hip-Hop head.

While he brilliantly works his captivated audience into a frenzy with campy, uber-descriptive verses that provide raw imagery in bulk on “Amputated Saint”, Bill is always careful to sound deliberatley plausible. His words get hurled around like bricks and he makes no bones about deivering them in a manner that would suggest he really believes everything he kicks…adding all the more to the very engaging mystique that this album possesses.

“Kill Devil Hills” is best, I think, when Bill joins forces with other MC’s and sort of is pushed into the direction of collaboration. “Trouble Shooters” is one of the album’s beaming tracks; it finds Bill going in alongside a very poised Sean Price, Sick Jacken and the legendary O.C., who himself absolutely rips shit down. Over Muggs’ blisteringly good boom bap all three MC’s got off somethin’ mean and right now I think I’m hard pressed to name a collaboration this year that eclipses this goody.

Another high point on this effort that came courtesy of collaboration is “Chase Manhattan”; an innately New York sounding type of track where Muggs gets a chance to flex his versatility on the boards and Raekwon & Bill get to go on a heist together. Again Muggs’ masterful production steals the show, but doesn’t over power it’s performers in any way.

Muggs and Ill Bill find a great rhythm from end to end on on this LP…Muggs’ moody, blues and soul inspired, drum heavy concoctions fit Bill’s unhinged brand of paranoia very well and the entire LP shines as perhaps Bill’s best work to date and certainly amongst Muggs’ most pramount endeavors. The guest spots don’t overrun the album and every feature is well selected and compliments Bill’s steez. “Kill Devil Hills” is undoubtedly the cult classic, underground hardcore release that so many of us hoped and thought it would be. Not being disappointed by this album is really a huge thing for Hip-Hop and should garner Bill that much more notability in the barren land that the underground Hip-Hop scene can be. His performances here all were aesthetically and aurally on point. He knew his strengths coming in and played to them mightily. Maybe the conspiracy driven themes get a lil’ tiring in spots, but for the most part the dosage Bill injects you with are just fine and do more to entertain than anything else.

$18.75 out of $20.00

-Dominick “Big D O” Ledezma

Download: D-Sisive – I Love A Girl

“I Love A Girl” is the latest single released from D-Sisive’s acclaimed experimental album titled Vaudeville. The album was released by URBNET, the label that D is signed to, which is also home to many of Canada’s hip-hop elite. You can cop Vaudeville from all major digital retailers as well as most local record stores, more-so in Canada  (call for availability).

I grew up in the projects. Real talk.

Walked the talk. Spoke the slang. Drank the 40 and bought the short sleeved Dickies button-up, ya dig?

Where gunshots rang out like a bell. Shells falling on the concrete real fast. Police on the scene. You know what I mean.

Survival was key.

“Never let ‘em see you smile.”

Words to live by. Words spoken by the hardest hombre I knew. My Uncle Astar. A nickname given to him after a horrific chainsaw accident; Inspired by a bitch-ass robot in a War Amps commercial. Unfortunately, Uncle Astar couldn’t put his arms back on.

But that was life in the projects. Homies losing their arms everyday. We never listened to authority, let alone some bullshit robot. We never played safe. We played unsafe. If you couldn’t swim, you were bound to drizzown. Welcome to Death Row.

Never let ‘em see you smile.

Uncle Astar never had a reason to smile. Especially when it came to speaking in sign language, wearing tank-tops and karate chopping shit. His reasons for living. Pre-accident, of course.

I wanted my new single to embody the struggle my Uncle Astar faced everyday. Pain felt by a man unable to pretend he was making out with a skeezah by rubbing his back while facing a corner.

Reality rap, ya feel me?

I pulled in the machine guns for this one. Fresh Kils on the bizzeat. Moka Only on the chorus hizzarmonies and a real-life Mogwai (which I bought in the basement of New Ho King on College & Spadina) singing his gremlin ass off.

Inspired by the sirens. The gunshots. The rolling dice. The sympathetic store owners feeling sorry for our mothers. The khakis. The hair-braiding on porches. The screen doors. The pitbulls. The ‘a friend with weed is a friend indeed’ apparel. The streets. The corners. The ghetto…And my girlfriend Melanie.

I present to you

I Love A Girl.

G’s up. Hoes down.

D-Sisive

Website: http://www.urbnet.com/dsisive
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dsisive

Above is the official audio snippet teaser in the form of a video for upcoming music from Teddy Faley, an emcee-slash-producer based out of Columbia, Maryland. Even if you haven’t heard of him, Teddy isn’t a newcomer to the scene, check out his previous releases below. While you’re at it, you might as well follow him on Twitter.

Downloads (via BandCamp):

Apple Juice EP – Teddy Faley

My Rough Mixes Are Better Than Your Rough Mixes – Teddy Faley

You Can’t Unchop Trees – Dropouts Inc. (with Joe Schaefer)

Back in January the single “Heavy Hitters” was released by Muneshine, Fundament and D-Sisive, three homies from the Toronto area. Seven months later, a video for the single has dropped. I highly recommend checking this track out, it’s definitely a banger. Video and music production credits are below.

Video directed by Hayden Currie
Edited by Hayden Currie
Additional graphics and editing by James Clothier

Song produced by Laudz
Cuts by DJ Sonik
Mixed by Muneshine

Special thanks to: James Clothier, Hanna Kim, Michael Lylloff, and Boule @ Consortium Distributions.

With appearances from Macklemore, J.Pinder and Wizdom.

And, that same image is often cast on Bumbershoot, the city’s massive, weekend-long music and art festival that’s coming up on it’s 40th birthday this year. With huge names like The Decemberists and Bob Dylan topping most people’s schedules, it’s easy to see why the entire festival is considered a destination meant for the indie rock crowd. But, even though the fest is best known for featuring swathes of lesser-known rockers, it’s got a little something for everyone — including those looking for a weekend full of local and national hip hop acts.

Not convinced? Well, we’d love to show you. That’s why we’ve put together a line-up of events for you (our readers) that’s meant specifically to please hip hop heads in the 206. We sprinkled in some events and some other names for variety, but we also hand-picked each hip hop act on each day of the three-day event. We set everything up chronologically so you can follow along at home.

Keep reading for the full rundown, and you can also print our schedule, created through Sched, by clicking here. Also, cop the official Bumbershoot map to help navigate your way through the crowd.

Stick to our schedule, and you’ll be sure to have a good time at this year’s festivities.

Friday, September 3

There’s no better way to kick off this year’s festivities than to attend the first-day celebration. Hosted by local MC, Macklemore, and organized by Travis Hay, you don’t want to miss this one.

Skip on down to High Dive at 9:00 on Friday to celebrate the FunOfficial Kick Off party, in honor of the festival’s 40th birthday, and check our performances from Thee Emergency, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, Sol and Curtains for You. You’ll also have a chance to win prizes and tickets for the rest of the weekend.

9:00: FunOfficial Kick Off Party — High Dive

Saturday, September 4

Show up with around noon and catch Grynch rock a set at the State Farm Stage. After that’s over, take some time to acquaint yourself. Grab some food, check out the Counter-Culture Comix display, the Seattle Street Biennial or the Bumbershoot Piece. Don’t forget to head over to Flatstock and cop some artwork, including posters from shows around the nation.

Take some time at 3:30 to cool off watching “Around the World in 50 Minutes,” then head back to the State Farm Stage to rock out with the Budos Band’s crafty instrumental grooves. Once you’ve finished up here, it will be about time to head to the Bumbershoot main stage, where you’ll catch Neko Case and Bob Dylan for the next three hours.

Finally, before heading home for the day, stop by the EMP Sky Church to pull in some tracks from local act, Visqueen.

12:15: Grynch — State Farm Stage

1:15: Lunch, Counter-Culture Comix, General Perusing

3:30: “Around the World in 50 Minutes” – One Reel Film Festival Presenteed by Seattle Center

5:30: Budos Band — State Farm Stage

7:15: Neko Case — Bumbershoot Mainstage

9:00: Bob Dylan — Bumbershoot Mainstage

9:45: Visqueen — EMP Sky Church

Sunday, September 5

Come in early for lunch and finish checking out any of the local art vendors or exhibits that you missed out on yesterday. The music won’t pick up until about 2:15, so you’ve got some time to spend.

Come 2:15, you’ll need to be at the State Farm Stage to catch Fresh Expresso rocking the crowd. You’ll want to make yourself comfortable, because the State Farm Stage will be your main zone today. Shortly after Expresso leaves the stage, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Declaime will take over, followed by a 5:45 show from New Orleans wonder-MC, Jay Electronica.

Once he’s finished rapping around 6:45, it may be time to grab your second bite from a vendor, or catch some Blues music from James Cotton (Muddy Waters) at the Starbucks Stage.

Just after 8 o’clock it will be time to meet up for The Physics‘ set at the EMP Sky Church, followed by Fatal Lucciauno on the same stage. If you’re looking to catch something outside the genre, Weezer’s set kicks off on the main stage around 9:15, but it overlaps with Luciano’s, so you’ll have to make a tough choice.

12:00: Food vendors, General Perusing

2:15: Fresh Espresso — State Farm Stage

4:00 Georgia Anne Muldrow and Declaime — State Farm Stage

5:45: Jay Electronica — State Farm Stage

6:45: James Cotton Blues Band — Starbucks Stage

8:15: The Physics — EMP Sky Church

9:15: Weezer — Bumbershoot Mainstage

9:45: Fatal Lucciauno — EMP Sky Church

Monday, September 6

Hopefully you’ve remembered to take the day off, because Monday is just as chock-full of hip hop as the other days.

Start out by catching RA Scion (Common Market) performing his solo act as Victor Shade at the State Farm Stage around 12:30. After that you’ve got some time for a late lunch between about 1:30 and 3:30, but then it’s pretty much all music the rest of the night, so take care of business now or take your dog for a walk during this intermission.

Once 3:30 rolls around, it’s to the EMP Sky Church for some music from Helladope, followed immediately by a set from THEEsatisfaction. After their performance ends, it’s time to hustle to the Bumbershoot Main Stage — your home for the rest of the evening. J. Cole will kick off the festivities around 6:00, rocking the stage for a full hour. After that, it’s Drake’s turn from 7:30-8:30 and the night is topped off with a performance from Bumbershoot’s final act, Mary J. Blige, from 9:00-10:15.

12:30: Victor Shade — Fisher Green Stage

1:30: Late Lunch, General Perusing

3:30: Helladope — EMP Sky Church

4:45: Thee Satisfaction — EMP Sky Church

6:00: J. Cole — Bumbershoot Mainstage

7:30: Drake — Bumbershoot Mainstage

9:00: Mary J. Blige — Bumbershoot Mainstage

Take some time to recuperate, because if you just took in all of these shows, you might need a rest, but, congratulations on making it through the aboveGround Magazine Bumbershoot 2010 Hip Hop Guide! Don’t forget to pick up our printer-friendly version of the schedule before heading out this weekend, and most of all, have fun.

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(Photos by Matt Verzola)