DEAD PREZ with Chimurenga Renaissance and King Leez

2.19 Friday (Hip-Hop) Nectar, Solid Sound & KEXP's Street Sounds present: DEAD PREZ Chimurenga Renaissance King Leez Mic Crenshaw DJ Swervewon $15 adv 8pm, 21+ Tickets: http://nectarlounge.com/event.cfm?cart&id=227683 DEAD PREZ ***************** The Florida-based political rap duo Dead Prez consists of Stic.man and M-1, a pair of rappers inspired by revolutionaries from Malcolm X to Public Enemy. They immersed themselves in political and social studies as they forged their own style of hip-hop. They went on to work with Big Punisher on his 1998 album Capital Punishment and released singles like 1998's "Police State with Chairman Omali" and 1999's "It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop." Their debut album, Lets Get Free, was released in early 2000. A two-volume mixtape project -- Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 1 and Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape, Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Tryin' -- followed in 2002 and 2003, boasting tracks and new productions, and their proper studio follow-up, RBG: Revolutionary But Gangsta, appeared in 2004. Two years later the group collaborated with the three remaining members of the Outlawz for Can't Sell Dope Forever, followed shortly after by Soldier 2 Soldier, a joint record between Stic.man and Young Noble. 2009's Pulse of the People, presented by DJ Green Lantern and technically the third volume in the Turn off the Radio series, was enlivened by appearances from Chuck D, Bun B, and Styles P. In 2012 they issued Information Age, an album filled with more futuristic and electro-based production but the same politically minded lyrics. ~ John Bush, Rovi CHIMURENGA RENAISSANCE ************************************ Chimurenga Renaissance is Baba Maraire and Hussein Kalonji. Tendai “Baba” Maraire, the architect of Chimurenga Renaissance, hails from world-renowned Zimbabwean music lineage, as his father was Abraham Dumisani Maraire. Abraham came to America where he helped initiate a flourishing Zimbabwean music scene in the Pacific Northwest. Hussein Kalonji is a first generation Congolese American born in Washington DC. His father was Raymond “Braynck” Kalonji, a world-renowned Congolese guitar legend credited with being the pioneer of the Congolese Rumba Soukouss sound. Baba Maraire and Hussein found it inevitable that they would eventually start playing music together. After seeing each other perform at various shows, they began to blend their two areas of expertise, hip-hop and African music, and they continued to record and develop the sound that would later become “Chimurenga Renaissance”. KING LEEZ ************** Stemming from the oft-overlooked city of Tacoma Washington, hip hop artist King Leez is bringing his momentum to the rapidly growing Seattle hip hop scene. Growing up Leez started to learn song structure from watching music videos with his mother, and listening to his brother’s old cassette tapes of Wu-Tang, Ol Dirty Bastard, Too Short, E-40, and more. His passion progressed from freestyling on karaoke machines to headlining local parties. After realizing his potential to profit from music he decided to take rap serious, and started with the name Leezy Soprano. “On the streets, people call me T-Lay so Leez stems from Lay,” he explains. Now Leez is all in. The past year he collaborated with Pusha T, Kevin Gates, Smoke DZA, and opened for Dej Loaf. Recently after developing a genuine relationship with Raz Simone, Leez partnered up with Raz's Seattle based Black Umbrella company. His new project "Supreme Being" is coming January 5th, 2016.