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What's The Word?: Farewell

Music

What's The Word?: Farewell

In the late 90s and early 2000s, I worked for the Tacoma Facts newspaper. The Facts is the oldest, longest running African-American newspaper in the Pacific Northwest and they still publish in Seattle. I was given the job because owner/editor Dennis Beaver liked my spoken word/poetry. Beaver let me write

What's The Word?: The rise of Tacoma hip-hop groups

Music

What's The Word?: The rise of Tacoma hip-hop groups

The quality of Tacoma hip-hop has really increased. There have always been talented artists doing their thing here, but even just a few years ago there was a lot less dopeness out there. I remember only being able to really like and appreciate a handful of the hip-hop that our

What's The Word?: Hilltop hip-hop

Music

What's The Word?: Hilltop hip-hop

Many blogs and websites will let ya know who are the hottest MCs in the game. I give kudos to those spots. I frequent them often. These sites have a plethora of trendy, hipster, white guy, frat-hop and cool guy fashionista hip-hop. One thing these online entities usually lack is

What's The Word?: Easiah is the real scrappy hustler

Music

What's The Word?: Easiah is the real scrappy hustler

The world is forever changing. Remember when it was standard procedure to burn CDs or get some CDs of your album made? This is happening less and less as most music has fully moved onto and become digital. This affects Tacoma in many ways. One thing happening is the emergence

What's The Word?: DJ Reign in the Tacoma hip-hop scene

Music

What's The Word?: DJ Reign in the Tacoma hip-hop scene

It's no accident that the Holy Trinity of Hip-Hop, the godfathers of our very culture, was DJs Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Hip-hop would be spoken word and mimes if it was not for the DJ laying down the musical landscape, the audible soundtrack to our lives. The

What's The Word?: Tacnology Entertainment and Awall's new video

Music

What's The Word?: Tacnology Entertainment and Awall's new video

Tacnology Entertainment is a four-man, hip-hop group consisting of Sleezie, Bounce, CoopDavilleone and Shadow. If ya pay attention to 253 hip-hop, then you definitely have seen, heard or met Bounce. I believe I met Bounce just over five years ago. He was $krilla's hype-man. If you are a 253 hip-hop

What's The Word?: El Potrero is back on the hip-hop scene

Music

What's The Word?: El Potrero is back on the hip-hop scene

Hip-hop is in full swing in Tacoma. There are often shows at The New Frontier Lounge, The Loch's, Jazzbones, El Potrero, Latitude 84, Backstage Bar & Grill, Vinum and O'Malley's. I'm sure I'm missing a couple other spots. I feel as if hip-hop has finally broken through in Tacoma. There

What's The word?: Sonny Bonoho will represent the 253 at SXSW

Music

What's The word?: Sonny Bonoho will represent the 253 at SXSW

Sonny Bonoho - one of the few Tacoma artists to break into the underground national hip-hop scene - has been busy preparing new material for this year's SXSW, which is in Austin, Texas March 12-17. I thought it would be a good idea to bring to light what Bonoho has

What's The Word?: Starr of the South Sound

Music

What's The Word?: Starr of the South Sound

Who are the streets talking about? I have been hearing Starr's name a lot. He is a diverse MC - who is respected on the battle-circuit, but also for making good music. This double - threat has eluded many a hip-hop artist. I know we can all think of dope

WHAT'S THE WORD?: Meet Mr. Tak

Music

WHAT'S THE WORD?: Meet Mr. Tak

One of the more successful rappers from Tacoma is Tak Patron. Tak has steadily gained true respect from the streets, his lady fans and now nationally. Slowly but surely, with a steady grind of thinking man hustle; he's calculatingly taken chess-like steps to advance his career. What Patron has done

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Recent Blog Posts

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-hop: Crazy Monk, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Awall, Equipto and others ...

IT'S GOING DOWN DURING 4/20 WEEKEND >>> Yo, it's the weekend - finally! Put away yo work clothes, get all yo favorite party supplies and meet me at the following places: Saturday at the Track House in Olympia, Tacoma's celebrity, MCing, skateboarding extraordinaire Crazy Monk will perform. It's an early 6 p.m.

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: Graffiti Garage Cyphers and E-Dawg

SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY >>> The biggest show this weekend is not until Sunday, so you might actually get to spend some time at home with your family this weekend. Sunday is a busy one though. You can start off the day by hitting the Northwest MC League Graffiti Garage Cyphers. These

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-hop: Controversy the Misfit, C.H. of Clear Mind and Graffiti Garage MC Cypher

All my 9-5ers need the weekend like H2O and food! Here's some stuff to do. ... Tonight, there's a hip-hop show/dance from 6-9 p.m. at Tacoma Community College. It's $3 to get in. This event is hosted by the Black Student Union and it is a 17 and older party. Hip-hop

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: Stella Haioulani's open mic, The Breaklites, Fresh Blends Reblended and more ...

Thank the gods for the weekend, and there is definitely some stuff to do out there on this one. Here's the run-down. ... Open mics are always a good way to start the night. They're usually early and cheap. After the open mic, there is still plenty of time to go

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: O'Malley's show, DJs Michael 5000 Watts and Hawksee, Graffiti Cyphers and more ...

THE WORD >>> This weekend looks to be a busy one in the regional hip-hop scene. Tonight, you could go to Nuemo's in Seattle to see Thee Satisfaction, OC Notes and more. This show is $12 advance, $15 at the door, which, honestly, is a steal. Dropping $12-15 is nothing to see

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: "We Out Here" battles, Island Trybe, Blue Nose Music, the Breaklites and others ...

SLAINTE, YO! >>> Start the weekend off by supporting SP's brand new "We Out Here" battle league tonight. MC battles are experiencing a popular resurgence - thanks partly to Alliance Battle League and the healthy battle attitude of Olympia MC's. The first "We Out Here" battle begins at 7 p.m. inside

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: Yak Nasty's birthday, Faraca, Xperience, Graffiti Garage Cyphers ...

The weather is starting to turn! No matter what I tell ya to do this weekend, ignore it if it's sunny. If ya see the sun, just drop everything ya doing and run outside and play. If it is gray though, here is what to do. ... Friday night starts things

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: Sunday is the day

THERE ISN'T REST ON SUNDAY >>> Last weekend was crazy. There were three shows to choose from every night of the weekend. This weekend is a little bit mellower. I'm thankful. I could use the rest. There really is not that much to do concerning 253 hip-hop on Friday and Saturday.

Walkie Talkie Blog

Weekend Hip-Hop: Free Ya Mind open mic, Crazy Monk, ILLFIGHTYOU, Fresh Blends Reblended and more ...

THE WORD FROM JOSH RIZEBERG >>> Time flies! It feels like almost every other day I am sitting down to write a weekend show preview for ya'll. Well, it is my pleasure. Here are yo options for this weekend. ... Tonight is the first Free Ya Mind open mic at the Colored

Walkie Talkie Blog

WEEKEND HIP-HOP: The Breaklites, Nuvo Tha1, Krunk 8 and more ...

Tonight, ya got two good and different-styled shows as choices. In Tacoma, Dirty Oscar's Annex hosts a free homecoming show for The Breaklites at 9 p.m. The group has been on tour. The Breaklites has that white boy hip-hop/funk thing down. Joining them tonight is Kung Foo Grip, a dope group

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