Beanz and Rize!!

“If I was living in the 1400s I’d choke out Christopher Columbus” – Coo Beanz

This is a fair warning – this is intensely cerebral, mind-stimulating hip-hop that is like eavesdropping on the members of Dead Prez and Wu-Tang clan having a convo heavily influenced by weed smoke. I’m talking hoodies, timberland boots and mean mugs in a damp dark dimly lit club in some non-descript basement type hip hop.

In other words – this is that real shit. If you’re tryna get “turnt up” turn yo ass away. If you're tryna "pop bottles" you might get popped with a bottle. This ain't that type of party folks.

While the masses of independent rappers and producers are doing their best swagger jacking renditions of the hottest trend and hiding behind the guise of “innovation”, Beanz and Rize are spitting deep rhymes that the real can feel over sparse, dense production. While I’ve probably got the image of some scene from New Jersey Drive painted in your mind let me mindfuck you a bit. Josh Rizeberg, the Rize in Beanz and Rize – is more spoken word poet than he is a rapper. True story - I had the pleasure to work with dude at poetry workshop! And Coo Beanz, the Beanz in Beanz and Rize – is just as much street poet as he is an MC.  So now you’ve got some intelligent, weed advocating, hip hop heads who are really poets from the city in Washington with the most street cred that even your so called "hardest" homeboy doesn't want to go to. Seriously, how many people you know actually wanna go to Tacoma if they're not already living there? 

Speaking more directly to their unique position in the Tacoma hip hop scene, Beanz and Rize’s new project is my pick for the dark horse standout of 253 hip hop to end 2012. The reason why lies in not only what I previously mentioned but also in that the Tacoma hip hop scene while diverse in it’s offerings and growing more and more into a factor is very…well…Tacoma. Lol. A little mid 90s gangster rap here (plaaaaayed out), a little hip-pop mainstream wanna-be’s there (neeegro please – no radio station will play that), a couple stand outs worthy of checking out and (like a lotta local scenes) a buncha bullshit. At least Beanz and Rize keep it 100% authentic and true to who they are as men and not trying to live up to some falsified caricature of what hip hop SHOULD be. The song and video to Earth Knowledge is a prime example of this. No it’s not a big budget music video shot on a $100,000 RED camera but it wouldn’t be Beanz and Rize if it were. The whole aesthetic of this group does a lot to represent the true gritty nature of just being from Tacoma and what that means and the visual while not the most impressive, stays true to being more substance than flash.

12.12.12. is the date this project drops and I’m telling you – if you really truly are looking for a change of pace in your hip hop playlist…if you really are tired of the same ol bullshit then give Beanz and Rize a good listen but I warn you: While I may have scared some of you off, really anyone who calls themselves a hip hop head can enjoy this project but still this is by no means for the faint of ears or light in the metaphorical ass in the way of knowledge of enlightenment.

Hell the world is supposed to come to an end anyway – just listen to these boys while you can. BANG!