Dave B. and crew were everything I needed out on the Vera stage. Fun, fresh, and full of energy. It was the middle of the day in the bright sunlight and this guy was energizing a crowd that had been previously completely stationary. It’s always great to see a band that is genuinely having a killer time up on stage and no one at block party this year did it as well as Dave B. He certainly made a fan out of me. During the short breaks between songs he would periodically should “Jazz!” which would launch the band into a full on jam session which of course allowed him to dance like no one was watching.
NISSIM has a story that one could call unique. He entered the Seattle hip hop scene years ago as D. Black making a name for himself on Jake One’s “White Van Music” with a track called “God Like”. This was only the beginning as he started to garner national attention after releasing Ali Yah which landed him on Amazon’s top lists. While his video was in rotation on MTV and he was performing with the likes of NaS and Mos Def something wasn’t right. Damien Black was having a spiritual crisis and with that he left the rap game for a few years to convert to Orthodox Judaism. With this conversion he changed his name to NISSIM and left behind the lyrics describing growing up on the more dangerous streets of Seattle and heading in an entirely new direction with the goal ““…to make music that inspires and elevates this world, to the world of spirituality and divine purpose.”
Sam Lachow and Raz Simone were one of the best acts of the entire weekend and the stage was way too small for the two of them. It is only a matter of time before the stages they’re performing on are much larger with much brighter lights. I’ve been listening to Sam Lachow’s “King Leer” a ton and Raz’s “sometimes I don’t” just as much and the collaboration of the two brings an entirely new level to their music.
Sam and Raz met in NYC in times square during a rainstorm, fitting as they both originally hail from Seattle. Their initial EP “5 good reasons” is more than worth a listen but I would suggest that you do so with the the videos that they created with different videographers from Seattle for each track. The EP shot them to a tour with Wax Tailor and things have been picking up even more since.
