Music Reports of Luck-One's retirement have been greatly exaggerated. I just don't buy that this dude is leaving the music world any time soon. This video, for one of the finest cuts from his latest release, Beautiful Music Part 2, should tell you why. Hanif Collins is what they call "a head." His interest in and passion for music is going to eat away at him no matter how far he travels or what he's doing ...   More

Music Stories [HIP-HOP] First things first: Beautiful Music Part 2 is the best album Luck-One has recorded to date. It’s a fine mix of the personal, the political and the spiritual. Dekk’s beats stagger d   More

Music These days, it's more surprising to hear of someone actually paying for an album than it is to hear about an artist giving their work away for free. This shouldn't diminish the amount of work it takes for guys like Sapient and Luck-One to bring us their albums free of charge. If you like the music, go see these guys live or buy another album. Local music—and local hip-hop in particular—deserves ...   More

Music A handful of items of note from the local hip-hop world, in case you, like me, are bad at Twitter. Seriously, I can't remember a time when this much good stuff was pending or seeing release all at the same time, so I had to give it one big rundown. Lots of free music here, so get your ears and your clicking-finger ready.But first, two items:1. I have very specifically avoided chiming in on the Luck-One/DJ ...   More

Music Everybody knows the global economy is fucked right now. And anybody with common sense should be troubled by the great disparity between rich and poor in this country. I had a long conversation about this with a smart friend last night. We were sitting outside Valentine's and he summed it up real well: "I think shit is about to get really weird in this country," he said. "There are just too many ...   More

Music I know, I know, it seems like half of what this blog posts is either or directly or tangentially related to Luck-One. But when you're hot, you're hot, and the MC—who recently re-relocated to Portland after a stint in Seattle—is definitely on fire. Rapping over a supersmooth Maze/Frankie Beverly sample, Luck drops an African proverb before moving on to string bar after devastating, perfectly ...   More