It’s extraordinary that in Seattle, a city that idolizes its rock music roots with an almost obsessive zeal, a diverse and lively hip-hop scene has managed to root and blossom. And as evidenced by the crowd at Neumos last night, there is definitely no shortage of love for 206 hip-hop.
The evening started with a solid opening set (including some new songs) from Seattle’s proudest residents, The Physics. And local hip-hop mainstay, Vitamin D, kept the energy going between sets by spinning some classic tunes and mixing some dance-worthy beats.
Hands were in the air as soon as Jake One and Freeway hit the stage. The Philadelphia rapper is known for being a beast on stage with his raspy voice spitting gritty lyrics and last night was no exception. The two opened the set with the crowd rousing “Throw Your Hands Up” off The Stimulus Package and continued the energy-packed set with other tracks from their recent beat-heavy collaboration. But fans of the emcee’s Roc-A-Fella days were not disappointed as Free peppered the night with some fan-favorite tracks off his 2003 release Philadelphia Freeway. And the Philly Freezer gave a little shout to his old label by asking the crowd to throw their diamonds up – a request which everyone seemed more than happy to obliged.
Halfway through the set Freeway stepped aside an let Seattle’s premier producer, Jake One, do his thing. Jake One took the chance to spin some his own beats from his 2008 release, White Van Music. And Freeway let the audience know the producer-emcee team are working on The Stimulus Package 2 right before they played a track from the upcoming release. All-in-all it was a great performance by these two unstoppable forces of contemporary hip-hop.
