Cool Nutz, Pig Ears and Chitlins
On Friday September 28, Portland veteran rapper Cool Nutz dropped his 13th solo album in 20 years, Pig Ears and Chitlins. The nine-track project was released on his Jus Family Records label, and is largely dedicated to Northeast Portland, with Cool Nutz rapping over beats from mainly local producers. A new single called “NEP,” is produced by Trox and features vocals from April Cason, while another Trox-produced track is called “Troutdale.” There are two interludes on the project, both produced by Portland beatmaker Tony Ozier, and closing track “Wallabeez,” produced by Lawzspoken. There are lots of other PDX artists included as features here as well: Mic Crenshaw, Mic Capes, Illmaculate, and Mikey Vegaz.

KayelaJ, Homage (Thank You)
September 28 also marked the release of rapper KayelaJ’s debut mixtape, Homage (Thank You), which is made up of samples and references to all the iconic women and femme MCs who’ve paved the way and inspired her. I heard some of it at the Thesis in September, and found it exceedingly enjoyable, 1) because just about every song that KayelaJ bites is her idol’s greatest hit, and 2) because KayelaJ really has that "it" factor. At 25 tracks, it may seem daunting, but each song is only about a minute and a half long. Plus time flies when you're having fun. According to the Portland rapper’s tweets, she's run into a little bit of copyright issues with some of the songs… but you can currently listen to all of it on Bandcamp!

Sililoquy, Dir. Jason Undefined
Back in September 2017, when Jason Undefined released Sililoquy, a massive film endeavor that documented Portland’s blossoming hip-hop and R&B scene, I was super busy with living, drinking, and covering the scene IRL, and only made it halfway through the film. When Jason Undefined originally premiered it at 5th Avenue Cinema in 2017, the 250-seat venue reached capacity. He released it online for free a couple months later. Undefined tells me he didn’t create the film to make money, but “to showcase, in an organized manner, just a section of the beautiful music scene that Portland has to offer to the world,” At nearly two hours, the thing is pretty long, but now that it’s been a year, it’s time to crack it open once again and rekindle old memories. Tribe Mars, Fountaine, Amenta Abioto, The Last Artful, Dodgr, Snugsworth, The Pariahs and Blossom are just some of the creative forces covered in the film. Watch the full movie here.

soliloquy trailer #1 (JasonUndefined) (2017) from JasonUndefined on Vimeo.