SOPA Aside, RA Scion's Beg Borrow Steal Is Timely and Refreshingly Angry

Seattle emcee RA Scion, probably best known for his work with Sabzi of Blue Scholars as Common Market, released his three-song EP Beg Borrow Steal as a tribute to the Anonymous movement, the Guy Fawkes mask-donning, vaguely anarchistic group of Internet malcontents. As such, it's difficult to separate the context from the music (which is perhaps the point), but regardless of one's feelings toward, say, SOPA, Scion sounds animated and refreshingly angry on the new EP.

EP-opening salvo "Beg" sounds out of place in a local hip-hop scene characterized by smooth beats (Blue Scholars, Macklemore) or afro-futurist mysticism (Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction). Over a hard-charging, piano-driven beat, Scion raps about poverty, paranoia, and corruption, demonstrating some righteous activist anger. As a whole, the EP is easily as strong as anything he's released as Common Market.

Beg Borrow Steal can be downloaded for free on RA Scion's website, and a preview video for the EP is embedded below.