The Blue Scholars Flip The xx for "Lumiére"

Prometheus Brown

I'm psyched on the resent streak of hip-hop-related missives, and I blame thank Sabzi--the insight and subtle witticisms of our local scene leaders are priceless. His words on the Capitol Hill Block Party-debuted and latest release from the Blue Scholars (bold mine):

It was like November 2009 and I was rolling Beacon Ave with my friend Saman, an Iranian girl who'd grown up between the US / Kenya / England. We were in the Nissan Sentra she'd bought from a mutual friend who'd previously bought it from me, and I had bought it from another Iranian dood in Whitecenter who makes some of the best homemade Joojeh Kabob you've ever tasted. She was playing this record from a band called The xx she recently was referred to by a friend or something... The point is, the speakers in this Nissan Sentra weren't very good and made the the music that's being played out of them sound all gray. For this particular record tho, that didn't matter. Every song on this xx record was already gray (pardon me, "grey"), they all sounded the same, and they were all awesome. Perfect for a November drive in the Town. As we listened to this record, I turned to Saman and said "you know, one of the first things Blue Scholars became known for was flipping indie-rock samples in rap songs. It fits in with our whole eclectic, international-Seattle identity. Also, the only thing that would make us even more compatible with The xx is if the only South Asian in the group, Baria Qureshi, didn't quit the band."

She looked back at me and said "will you please stop talking about work for 5 seconds? I DON'T CARE. Geez."

You can read the rest of the essay (including a rant/critique of car cigarette lighters) and download the track at the link above--and I recommend you do both.