Common Market Comes Back to Town Sunday... Sans Sabzi (Who Has Temporarily Moved to Brooklyn)
Common Market has been touring up and down the West Coast over the last few weeks supporting Canadian rappers Swollen Members, a group which has risen to the top of my shit list for their remarkably distasteful video for their entirely unremarkable single "Warrior," replete with allusions to bitches and Oxycotin. While both Common Market and Swollen Members have a fiery and sharp intensity that theoretically complement each other-- and they may have a similar fan base-- I far prefer the content on last year's Tobacco Road, a sweeping meditation on working class life that pulls from Ra Scion's Midwest roots over Sabzi's signature lush production.
Andrew Bangs
But Sabzi won't be in the building on Sunday; in fact, he hasn't been performing as part of Common Market for almost a year now, which is understandable as the national profile of Blue Scholars continues to rise. Furthermore, Sabzi's not even in town: this past weekend, he took off for a temporary year-long residence in Brooklyn, where he will be working on some undisclosed "thangs" and changing up his scene. Instead, it will be Common Market's touring DJ Dev From Above holding down the turntables.
Ra Scion's been working on some thangs too: his new project Viktor Shade with producer MTK debuted at a couple of Bumbershoot-related parties on Labor Day weekend, and true to the X-Men Avengers inspiration of its name, the sound is bold and, uh, superheroish, allowing Ra Scion to flex a twisted alter-ego away from his perennial Americana troubadour personality that he holds down in Common Market. And from what I remember from the haze that was Bumbershoot weekend, it was really, really good. Rumor has it that the project is expanding from an EP to an LP, so prepare thyself some radically new Ra material.
4 comment(s)
Chris says:
How can a group called Swollen Members end up on your shit list for being distasteful? Either you are an idiot with no concept of irony, or just a major p*ssy with no sense of humor. Not sure why you review hip-hop either way.
Maybe you ought to visit a nursing home and review how the 5th grade choir sings to people with similar taste to you?
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 5 2009 @ 3:04PM
Megan says:
This writer is ridiculous. Why do you even have her reviewing these types of shows? I'm glad she was offended. I'm happy that she can't handle anything outside of her REI, SUV Hybrid bullshit lifestyle. Drink another Starbucks and talk about how boring you are, your opinion is not relevant.
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 5 2009 @ 6:46PM
randyfatson says:
swollen members: equals cigarette brodeo flip.
Posted On: Thursday, Nov. 5 2009 @ 8:31PM
Anonymous says:
megan, this is not a show review. if you're going to insult a writer who also happens to be a talented MC who's been active in seattle hip hop for years, perhaps you should make sure to actually read what she wrote first.
Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 8 2009 @ 8:14PM