I've Been Listening To... The Knox Family, Jay $tay Paid, and Beats Antique

I've Been Listening To... The Knox Family, Jay $tay Paid, and Beats Antique
By Jonathan Cunningham in I Heard This
Wednesday, May. 20 2009 @ 2:02PM



One of the discs I've been listening to the most over the past week is the new Knox Family EP from Seattle's hip-hop clique of the same name. Comprised of MC's Jerm and Julie C with DJing and production being handled by B-Girl Mia, the trio recently put a solid 10 track EP that's as funny and clever as it is street savvy and honest. They spent roughly a year piecing it together and the finished product is definitely worth listening to and supporting. While there's three skits and seven songs on the disc, if I had to choose a favorite it would be "Boots Laced," with its outer galaxy style production and E-40esque vocals from Jerm. Toni Hill and Rufio add vocals on various tracks as well. Head to Knox Family's site for more info on the EP.



I'd almost forgotten that there was a new J-Dilla release coming out this spring from the late, great producer. I got a press release about it in February saying that Pete Rock and Ma Dukes (AKA Dilla's mom) were curating a project called Jay Stay Paid full of unreleased and rare Dilla beats. There's a number of guest MCs on the project: Black Thought, Raekwon, Frank N Dank, Blu, Phat Kat, etc., but publicity on the album hasn't been that high. But when Seattle DJs Top Spin and Marc Sense recently let me know that they're throwing a release party for the album at Chop Suey on May 31st and sent me an advance, I got excited all over again. Check out the sampler above for snippets of the album.



Everything about the new self-titled Beats Antique album reminds me of Morocco, Spain, Argentina, and the Chicago World Fair of 1925 at the same time. It's a fun disc full of rare groove, Middle Eastern influences, and electronic wankery that's makes for perfect lounge music.

The Knox Family Gets Animated

By Jonathan Cunningham in Free Stuff, Music Video

Friday, May. 22 2009 @ 10:17AM

In this week's issue of the Weekly, there's a mini feature on local hip-hop group, the Knox Family, who just put out their self-titled EP and are having a release party for it tomorrow night at Chop Suey. The group is getting a lot of good feedback on the project and anyone looking for a fun hip-hop event to check out on Saturday night should go and support the trio.

Interestingly enough, local musicians Mark Oi and Andrew Miller have a hilarious hobby that I've been meaning to write about for awhile now — and here's my chance. They make mini animated films (while they're totally baked no doubt) just for fun, but the hand-drawn sketches that they make, which they later turn into animated films are really good. The series is called Porch Jams. This week, they made a 1:46 skit dedicated to the Knox Family and you've got to watch it to believe it. It's full of comedy and good music — two things that the world needs more of so take a quick break and check it out.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2009/05/the_knox_family_gets_animated.php

The Knox Family: Natural Born Thrillers

This hip-hop trio’s out to crush the box you put them in.

By Jonathan Cunningham

Published on May 19, 2009 at 9:14pm

Photo by Marshall Reid

Details:

Knox Family CD release party With Black Stax, Black Aries, Razpy and the Vigilantes. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005. $8 adv./$10 DOS. 8 p.m. Sat., May 23.

Musicians can sometimes be too quick to box themselves into categories. Sometimes that's a record label's doing, other times it's just mental laziness. But if you're not trying to conform to industry standards and are lucky enough to be on a local label that understands you, why not have fun and smash all the boxes you can?

That's a question MCs Jerm and Julie C started asking themselves a year ago when they formed the Knox Family along with local producer/label head DJ B-Girl. Although all three are involved in various other projects—Jerm also fronts Helladope, while Julie C works with Hip-Hop Congress/206 Zulu and DJ B-Girl heads an indie-media company—they found time to record songs together with the intent of challenging the expectations of Seattle's hip-hop audience.

"We want to change the boxes that have been created around the genres within hip-hop," says Julie C. "We're trying to break down certain paradigms, but also not be too preachy about it either."

She and her crew spent the last year slow-cooking a new album entitled Knox Family EP, which hits local stores this week. The disc contains seven songs and three skits that touch on the fun side of hip-hop through witty rhyming patterns and laid-back, almost hyphy-like West Coast production. But it also delves into the darker side of having to hustle to pay the rent in Seattle. "Boots Laced" bluntly sidesteps bling and bravado, speaking honestly from the perspective of two broke rappers trying to make it, while"These Streets" talks about local policies affecting communities of color.

"Some of our tracks aren't exactly 'Kumbaya' or peaceful," Julie C says. "They're more about 'This is what's going on in the streets, from the Central District to the South End or wherever, and this is why.'"

The trio takes the name Knox Family from Mickey and Mallory Knox of the film Natural Born Killers. "We feel like we're naturally born to kill the game," Julie C adds. "We're trying to actively shape the next phases of hip-hop through our music, and this EP is a big part of it."

jcunningham@seattleweekly.com

Knox Fam at Tost on Saturday, May 16th!

We'll be at Tost this Saturday courtesy of West Coast Prophets. Whole show is hosted by Grynch. There's gonna be Wizdom, the Knox Family and more! If you don't know where Tost is, it's in Fremont next to the High Dive (literally a couple doors down). So come through and have a drink and help us hype the crowd up because you know what next weekend is...

CD Release Poster

Knox Fam, Darkside and Hip Hop Congress on Huskeyradio.com

Thanks to Bubski and DJ Lime Green on Huskeyradio.com. Huskeyradio is one of the dopest internet radio stations in LA dedicated to independent artists and independent programming. I was thoroughly impressed with their studio and overall setup. Definitely check out their other shows and say what's up to them if you are in LA.

Knox Fam CD Release Party Info!

We are so excited to be droppin' the EP, finally! Please come through if you are in the greater Seattle area to kick it with us. We are also extremely excited about the line-up because these are some of our favorite cats in the town. Check for our album available on iTunes and Amazon.com May 20th, 2009.

Flyer design and cover art by DJ Audeos!