Last week I said we were lucky to have a live weekly hip-hop night.

I lied. We have two!

While the weekly hip-hop night I mentioned last week happens at El Perron every Wednesday night, there's also an all-ages cipher/freestyle session every Sunday at the Graffiti Garages on South Ninth and Broadway in Tacoma at 1 p.m. And it's free.

This is how it works: World-famous DJ Ice Man drives his truck up in there and blasts beats. That's it, pure and simple. The events usually last until around 3 or 4 p.m. DJ Ice Man, originally from Brooklyn, says, "It's the purest outdoor cipher around here. It reminds me of back in the day at Washington Square Park. Kids ciphering just to do it, not to get big."

The event is growing and maturing. They've even started having MC battles when need be. This event is good for the kids!

Now that ya'll know where to go see local hip-hop on the regular, you need to know where you can hear it on the radio on the regular. A good place to start is Juice Radio. Juice Radio streams 24/7 on gojuiceradio.com. The Internet station features two live shows throughout the week. Every Wednesday from 7 - 9 p.m. is Tre'dmarks Radio hosted by Q-Dot. This show is also syndicated every Friday night from 7 - 8 p.m. on Northwest Convergence Zone Radio (nwczradio.com).

With Tre'dmarks Radio on Juice Radio, Q-Dot plays hip-hop, discusses the music biz and has weekly interviews with local and national artists. Then every Thursday from 7 - 9 p.m. is Fresh Juice on Juice Radio hosted by D-Money. This show focuses on new music and gives details on local shows, new album-releases and current album-sales figures. Both hosts are funny, which makes listening very enjoyable.

"These artists don't realize the resources they have here in the Northwest," says D-Money. "They think it's all in Atlanta, LA or New York; but all they gotta realize that with a little support all of us will be better off."

D-Money is one of the most ardent supporters of our scene. He relentlessly promotes all local shows and artists. His dedication to local hip-hop can never be questioned.

Next week I'll be covering Gazmo the Great and Havi Blaze's newest albums!