Lil Ripp dropped a video for "Cold World" featuring Rooga on YouTube. This song has Lil Ripp getting a little more serious with it, letting us know that it's not all fun and games hustling in the 253. Much of the video is filmed on South 19^th and M.L.K. - with many scenes taking place in the realness that is a Hilltop alley. The video has Hilltop and Eastside elder statesmen Chris Crayzie and Jstat giving young Lil Ripp the official cosign. It's a good step up for Ripp. This video, along with the video for "Justice" (also on YouTube to watch), shows Lil Ripp is a serious M.C. with much more on his mind than blowing trees, getting money and getting hoes. #moneeklass

"Justice" is a tribute to Trayvon Martin. There have been a handful of well-done tributes to Martin that have come from M.C.s in Tacoma. I'm personally proud that many of my fellow artists took time out to support the Martin Family by contributing art to the cause. Tacoma hip- hop has a strong undercurrent of social activism. It may not be in all the artists' music, but remember how we came together when the city was trying to ban rap-shows after an isolated incident of violence that occurred outside of an E-40 show many years ago? Artists and hip-hop fans became unified, making sure the powers that be could not shut us down - and they didn't. The hip-hop scene became stronger and is bigger than ever now.

My favorite crew from The Town this year is The Sandlot. Find all their information, music and videos at www.sandlotsdugout.com. I personally think The Sandlot is just what we need in our scene. They're fresh hip-hop - not relying on 90s played-out gangsterisms. This crew looks and sounds current, with a sleek, new-school computer-edge that too many played-out artists from our city lack.

Now it's time for a rant. I go to a lot of local hip-hop shows and it's unfortunate that at a live hip-hop show many Tacoma artists are not rapping live over their instrumentals. They are rapping over the vocal tracks. This is whack and ya should already know that.