Fine Foliage from The Emerald Mile - Washington State © 2017 TOP TREE
Facts
Serving: Issue #5 Serving per Container: 1 Calories: Tree Million
Amount/Serving
%DV
PORTER RAY
9%
NONAME
7%
YES JULZ
6%
...AND MORE
*Percent Value: Based on Top Tree Diet
APRIL/MAY 2017
4:20 PM
65%
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HINDU HINDU KUSH KUSH
AFGHANI AFGHANI INDICA INDICA
LANDRACE INDICA LANDRACE CULTIVAR INDICA CULTIVAR
MULTIPLE HYBRIDS MULTIPLE HYBRIDS OF CULTIVATED OF CULTIVATED AFGHANI INDICAS AFGHANI INDICAS
HINDU KUSH
AFGHANI INDICA
LANDRACE INDICA CULTIVAR
MULTIPLE HYBRIDS OF CULTIVATED AFGHANI INDICAS
HAZE HAZE
SKUNK SKUNK 1
THAI SATIVATHAI SATIVA
AFGHANI INDICA AFGHANI INDICA
INDIAN SATIVA INDIAN SATIVA
ACAPULCO GOLD ACAPULCO MEXICAN GOLD SATIVA MEXICAN SATIVA
BLUEBERRY BLUEBERRY
COLOMBIANCOLOMBIAN SATIVA SATIVA
1
COLOMBIANCOLOMBIAN SATIVA SATIVA
MEXICAN SATIVA MEXICAN SATIVA
PURPLE THAI PURPLE THAI HIGHLAND THAI HIGHLAND THAI AFGHANI INDICA AFGHANI INDICA
BLUEBERRY
HAZE
SKUNK
THAI SATIVA
AFGHANI INDICA
INDIAN SATIVA
ACAPULCO GOLD MEXICAN SATIVA
COLOMBIAN SATIVA
COLOMBIAN SATIVA
MEXICAN SATIVA
PURPLE THAI
NORTHERN NORTHERN LIGHTS LIGHTS
HIGHLAND THAI
AFGHANI INDICA
CROSS OF MULTIPLE CROSS OF MULTIPLE AFGHANI INDICAS AFGHANI INDICAS SOME VERSIONSSOME INCLUDE VERSIONS A SMALL INCLUDE A SMALL PERCENTAGE OFPERCENTAGE UNKNOWN SATIVA OF UNKNOWN SATIVA
NORTHERN LIGHTS CROSS OF MULTIPLE AFGHANI INDICAS SOME VERSIONS INCLUDE A SMALL PERCENTAGE OF UNKNOWN SATIVA
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@ @
1
WHITEWHITE WIDOW WIDOW BRAZILIAN SATIVA BRAZILIAN SATIVA INDIAN HYBRID INDIAN HYBRID
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A creation by Top Tree spiritual guide Elisa Moon Wolf Vergara
in the words of the soul, is far more powerful than any ritual.”
I'd like to take you on a trip inside my inner most thoughts — an epic ride of spirit, soul, sexuality and third eye visions — all delicately curated under the influence. I hope that you are high when you read this. Let's pretend it's mandatory.
First I pray that the farmers are blessed with a bountiful crop…
The last issue we examined hemp's associations with Goddess-hood. This time we will explore how you can bring more awareness to your marijuana consumption. In a time when people are awakening to where they purchase everything down to their eco-friendly socks, are we still asleep when it pertains to the origins of our marijuana? Once I became an adult, my father made it a point to have an open discussion about how often I buy marijuana and ingest it without any thought given. He wanted me to know that the way I prepared for my high would affect it. Paulo Coelho Brida says that, “A prayer couched
I say prayer is ritual. Whenever I purchase or am gifted marijuana a few things happen before it is ever ingested.
Second I pray that my high is blessed with peace, love and perfect balance… Lastly I pray that my high bless any part of my body that aches or needs healing… These quick moments of mindfulness will give you a better appreciation and enlightenment towards the plant. Roy Kaufmann in Portland, OR and his wife celebrate their Jewish Seder with their marijuana advocacy organization "Le'Or’s” — accompanied by mason jars filled with weed, cannabis butter and oil infused truffles. They are enjoyed after it is prayed over. In Indiana the first Church Of Marijuana opened the summer of 2015. Here members of the congregation praise and worship the sacred herb. Followed by smoking from "Chillums" as the Hindu holy man, or sadhus do. Bringing this level of honor to your high can be easy. Here are a couple ideas to help jump start your journey. Attuning The Frequency Of Your Bud By the time you get your bud home it has been in the hands of multiple people. An easy way to remove the energy that those people have unknowingly embedded, is to attune it. For this you will need a bell, a crystal or a singing bowl. Ring your bell, sing your bowl or place your bud on your crystal. Pray that all previous energy be removed and pray that those people who have touched it are blessed. Leave An Offering Before you enjoy your high, leave an offering for loved ones past and for the prosperity of those still here. You can place a portion of an edible or oil in a beautiful bowl or whatever object you find fitting. I like to light a candle and place a nug next to it, for my Spiritual Guardians. This is my way, and I hope you take time to create your own ritual if you have not already. Stay Up.
Top Tree smokes out SXSW with an exclusive party for Yes Julz’ #1amBounce featuring 40 OZ. VAN, UglyGod, A$AP Crew and some of the best dressed millennials you’ve ever seen Photos by Jay Scroggins
"1am Bounce was a vibe last night. Shoutout the fam Yes Julz for always cooking up." - LaNcE FrEsH (@lancefresh) "I still can't believe we were in the middle of Texas smoking like we were in Seattle or San Francisco. 1am Bounce was nothing short of an iconic event and Top Tree definitely brought a vibe. I woke up the next day still high from the night before." - Russell North (@russellnorth415)
"1am Bounce SXSW was hella dope. Shout out to Top Tree for the fire OG. Mad love to Yes Julz and 40oz. Shit was wild!" - Matisse Marie (@matissemarie)
"Good smoke at any event sets the tone of the whole night. Before I step out I always make sure I'm pulling up anywhere, the right way, with a gang of prerolls. Top Tree definitely holds it down." - Joel Fuller (@40oz_van)
"My favorite part of SXSW was 1am Bounce. I wanted to jump off the balcony and crowd surf so bad. Ugly God had the place crazy, and A$AP LOU had the set of the night. I thought the floor was gonna break when Kelly Price came on. And I swear I've still never seen 40oz VAN at a single event we've done together. 800 joints were given away to the crowd, thanks Top Tree." - Yes Julz (@yesjulz)
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Chicago’s Noname on writing, reading, Kanye West, self-love and her breakout debut “Telefone.”
Noname quietly dropped her debut mixtape “Telefone” last July, after sporadically appearing on tracks from other rising Chicagoans like Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins since 2013. The record’s juxtaposition of sunny, melodic production and deeply reflective, often dark lyrics landed it on plenty of “top albums of 2016” lists by the end of the year — one that was already stacked with releases by big names. Noname chatted with Top Tree over the phone from her new spot in LA, right before kicking off her Telefone tour and making a stop at The Crocodile for a way-the-fuck-sold-out show in February. Top Tree: You initially announced the record a while ago, so it’s been kind of a long time coming. What was your writing process like for the record? Your lyrics are pretty dense… Noname: “I came up with the general concept and title of ‘Telefone’ about three years ago and wasn’t able to find the producers who totally understood my vision, musically and what I was trying to do, until recently. But once that happened I got an AirBnB in LA for the month of June and made the music in that month. I physically only write when I have music to write to. Whatever is on my mind or whatever has been weighing on me, it doesn’t usually manifest itself until I’m writing. Like you know when you’re sad, or your happy, or when you’re feeling an emotion, but you don’t always know the true thing that’s bothering you until it comes out when you’re writing. I don’t go sit down and be like ‘oh this is gonna be a song about this… this is gonna be a hook about this…’ I don’t know how to write like that. It’s very stream of consciousness. And yeah, very dark.” TT: We read in another interview that your mom actually owned a bookstore when you were growing up. Did you like that or kinda reject it because you were around books and literature and all that stuff all the time? N: “Yeah, it was around me all the time so I really wasn’t into reading as a kid. I didn’t get into reading and literature and writing until my sophomore year of high school when I was in a creative writing class. That kinda opened my mind up to language and how beautiful language can be in the way that it can connect people.” TT: Right. So did you just take a liking to it right away, or realize you were good at it? N: “I definitely took a liking to it, but I didn’t know I was ‘good’ at it until I started getting my teacher telling me things, giving me a little more attention in class, having me read my creative stories for the class, and really talking to me about the fact like ‘this is something that you should really think about, and if you continue to work and study to develop this talent and hone your craft this could be something that could be cool.’ I was just like ‘word, I mean I’ll think about it.’ (laughs)… But then he invited me to this poetry club that he was running in school and I actually went to that and the other kids in the club really liked my work. It just kinda grew from there.” >>>
TT: This is kind of random, but one of our favorite songs from “Telefone” is the last track, “Shadow Man.” One of your lines that really stands out is “Moses wrote my name in gold and Kanye did the eulogy.” Sometimes people forget Kanye is from Chicago. What do people think about him out there these days, in his Life of Pablo/Kardashian phase? N: “I think Kanye will always be Chicago. But as it is, he’s larger than Chicago. He’s global, he’s an artist of the world, so in a way he can’t just be Chicago. But he’ll always be a part of my Chicago childhood in some way. Even though he doesn’t necessarily do a bunch of things in the city, I still love Kanye. He’s really interesting because he’s such a polarizing figure and people always have so many opinions about him and his art and his life and what he does. He’s a human being that struggles publicly in a way that most people can’t even imagine or fathom — to just go through depression or mental illness or just sadness generally in front of the world in the way he does. He’s equally loved and hated at every moment. My heart goes out to Kanye. I just hope his heart is safe. He’s just a black man in America confused, trying to figure shit out.” TT: That’s real. Kinda going off that, what kind of advice would you give to young women and people of color and everybody just trying to find their way and do their thing in the craziness of today? N: “Actively practice self-love. I think regardless of someone being in your corner telling you that you are valuable — even if you haven’t found the space where you feel like you’re able to truly connect with the people around you — that actively practicing self-love is really important. I’m honestly just now getting into that. I slowly was on that wave as I was making ‘Telefone,’ but I’m on that tip more even now. I just find it to be very cathartic and very helpful. With so much going on in this outside world, and really being unable as a person of color or woman of color to actively change the face of your people — like whether or not I go out into the world and protest and scream and hashtag and tweet — all of those things are important, but I will never be able to change someone who has hate within them. But I can love myself and continue to grow as a human and that growth will then hopefully translate or help someone out, especially if you’re making art. I don’t wanna sound super corny or on some super hippie shit, but I believe that if people love themselves holistically, people wouldn’t want to harm other people, or wouldn’t be homophobic, or wouldn’t be racist you know? I think those kinds of very almost mentally insane ways that people feel about other people in the world is in a lot of ways linked to self-hate. If you love yourself you wouldn’t be hateful to other people. You wouldn’t have a need to. So that’s what I’m on, I’m on the tip of self-love.”
As told to TOP TREE • Photos courtesy of Creative Commons
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New York’s gritty tattoo shop fights gentrification bare-knuckled and talks about drugs, needles and more pot leafs on skin
Vice’s NOISEY called it the last non-gentrified spot on St. Marks Place. In the whirlpool of capital colonialism that has stirred in the East Village of money makin’ Manhattan, NYC — there is one modest tattoo shop that stands out like a breakwater. A walk-up under the recently vacated St. Mark’s Theater, where the LGBTQ “balls” were world famous, houses Fun City Tattoo… a hallowed ground for the hardcore and punk scenes that oozed out of this neighborhood. “Fun City is an easy story,” current co-owner Maxx Starr begins. “Around since ‘76. The world has gotten bigger in ink, but business stays the same. Social media takes from the masters without apology. References were really impor tant pre-internet and we had a huge library of sheets of flash. These came with the shop, Fun City has only had three owners. Taking pictures of it is still frowned upon too.” Big Steve, owner and resident artist, studied under the founder Jonathan Shaw after Shaw moved Fun City to it’s current address in 1989. This was right after the anti-yuppie resistance of Reaganomics manifested in the Tompkins Square riots of 1988. “You get a taste of it all on St. Marks,” Starr explains. “Ever yone gets off a train here. A crackhead stumbles in once a week at least. Tattoo shops attract junkies like a bug light. But guys from (Ave) C and (Ave) D still come by, they’ve been doing that 20 years. Today a Puerto Rican true yorker walked in to say he got something done here in the 90s. Big Steve has only worked at this shop, his whole career — one shop. There’s still magic here.” Shaw boasted a skyscraper-sized personality and was elbow to elbow with music icons, celebrities and all those you never heard of because only New York remembers their feats. Dee Dee Ramone, Iggy Pop and Basquiat were all regulars — Marilyn Manson and Tupac a generation later.
this place would be an airport’ aligned the walls — attracting a diverse client-base that included gang members, Hell’s Angels bikers, celebrities, and artists tied to New York high-society. Johnny Depp even based his role as the swashbuckling boozer ‘Jack Sparrow’ off his longtime friendship with Shaw.” Maxx Starr treasured this back story, and he and Big Steve wasted little money trying to modernize. They focused on getting talented artists instead, who buy into the ethos of the shop, like Mina Aoki (cousin of Intergalactic DJ Steve Aoki) who comes from the hardcore scene. Its reputation is as a well rounded shop where all techniques are fundamentally sound, from lettering to portraiture. Versatility is paramount, their not stuck on a classic look even if that’s what’s on the walls. Starr points out that they don’t make a spectacle of having famous types swing through, it’s just not who they are. On an unseasonably warm afternoon Starr has no problem posted up against a bike rack, talking about weed’s prevalence in the tattoo scene he occupies and on a block that has seen countless petty possession arrests over the years. “Man, I hate getting tattooed high,” Starr says shaking his head. “I’d go Xanax and a shot of tequila. I think the most common is 3 shots of NyQuil and a beer before coming in. I don’t know, on 6th Ave they have some artists getting creative with weed shit. There should be more pot leafs on skin. Everybody has them on their socks, I’ve seen that. But also drug dealers get a lot of tattoos. They’re all cash. And I’d say about a quarter of the tattoo artists I know smoke at work.” He laughs at the coke obsession, while observing a plummeting price of cannabis in NYC that still seems too good to be true.
True story: Vanilla Ice tried to make an appointment and they made him wait outside an extended period of time before declining his business. This past year Action Bronson, Miley Cyrus and Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips all got work done in the same chairs as their musical influences from the era when subways took tokens.
“You’re doing the idea of coke, man, it’s all shitty this far North,” Starr shares casually. “At the beginning of last summer the weed price dropped over night, everyone knows someone from Cali or Denver, and yeah there’s a true $40 eighth now — delivered right to your door. I don’t even know how you make any money on that, but I hear they’re taking less margins for the lifestyle. Dropping off weed all day? I can think of worse jobs.”
“Fun City emerged as one of New York City’s first legitimate walk-in shops that merged fine art with hardcore and punk,” NOISEY’s Davis Richardson wrote in a recent feature. “The shop embodied Shaw’s brazen personality. Inside, esoteric paintings, rusty meat cleavers, blood from fist fights, and a sign reading: ‘If assholes could fly,
“Now we’re decriminalized so my guy was telling’ me, he doesn’t fuck around either — that he caught a case where he had 10 pounds on him and served one month of community service. I would see him sweeping up at Tompkins Square Park getting his hours, and he’s blazing while he does it. That’s how it is now, crazy right?”
Words by Chernsicle • Photos by Chernsicle & Courtesy of Fun City Tattoo
Use one and help save the planet you fucking savage Photos by Edwin Delarosa
Porter Ray in on the tip of everyone’s tongue since his Sub Pop release “Watercolor,” and how he got here is Seattle’s Shakespearean drama
before the birth of his first child. As his Sub Pop album took off, garnering critical acclaim, the mother of one of his children — a truly kind soul named Joy — passed away in a car accident. It was his blocks, the Central District streets where the signs start with “E.” that grieved with him in each instance. Those that ran with him became a part of him, and now as Entertainment Weekly publicizes his works on national outlets it raises not a single eyebrow that his motto remains unedited: CREAM FOR MY WHOLE TEAM.
In Por ter Ray’s brother’s bedroom there are names on every wall, even the ceiling. Hand styles, tags and signatures from all the neighborhood teens that frequented this tiny basement alcove are written in everything from sharpie to whiteout pen. "It's layers and layers of homies autographing, talkin' shit,” Porter explains. “Me and my brother both destroyed our rooms. When my brother was murdered my mom chose to preserve that. I wouldn't say she let's us do that, we just kinda did it. We gave our mom a hard time in that regard, with ALL the homies running in and out of the house." The tragedy of his brother’s death, from a single bullet through a car windshield over something later deemed insignificant, is Seattle folklore. As Porter Ray’s globally distributed album “Watercolor” released on local historical landmark label Sub Pop last month, pause and reflection were inevitable. Tragedy is a strange bedfellow for this painterly rapper, and his drippy adjectives that have made him an author of the Seattle experience in these trying times, but that story has been told. He never avoids it. Yet there is so much more beyond that pain. "A lot of the beginning stages of ‘Watercolor’ were recorded in my brother's room. I write at my mom's house when I visit,” Porter points out. “I walk in the neighborhood. It sparks things. They come back to me. Real shit, even when I lived on 17th and Roy my house was always that sort of hub. Black, White, Asian and whoever. We had diversity in the peer group. I'm in there with the kids reading Science Fiction, then I'm with my homeboys that's hoopin’. Next we're shooting dice over here, then watching Anime and falling through ComicCon." These are the kids with their names written in permanent marker on the drywall of his childhood. They stare back, moments in time turn to pages of rhyme. His dad passed away in 2005, the day
“All of our families go back. We have Central District roots, St. Terese All-Stars ties,” Producer Jaycee ‘Kemetik’ Coleman, one the architects of Watercolor’s sound and Seattle veteran, recalls. “I’m a ‘few’ years older so I was actually his after school counselor at the Y off 23rd and East Madison. Even back then P was the one his peers gravitated towards. I always saw him as a reluctant leader because even though others would push him into that role — he always considered everybody in his crew on an equal plane. You could see it in his interactions, on the hoop court, in his style.” The funny thing in retrospect is Porter wasn’t interested in rapping for a living. FASHION FIRST He wanted to start his own streetwear label. He interned at Laced Up on Capitol Hill where he spent a lot of time with Coleman, and a flock of upwardly mobile creative types looking to reinvent Seattle’s public image for Century 21.
"I star ted out just interning for free,” Por ter mentions with a shrug on the shoulders. “I thought it was corny to try and rap. Everyone was doin' it. It was the Myspace era. I was trying to do silk screened t-shirts, graphic tees and streetwear. I customized my own outfits. In high school we were doing runs of tees at B-Bam! when it was on Pike St. and using Pro Club blanks. Rappin' was just something we all did. Seattle is a freestyling city, anyone on the street will randomly battle you if you just start rhyming at them. No one’s embarrassed about kicking a rap.” He’s on a first name basis with Paula the owner of Le Frock, she holds things for him in his size — how else are you gonna get Dolce & Gabbana hightops that don’t require curling your toes to squeeze in? Thrifting was always a staple, he even has strategies to arrive when the doors open to catch the Polo items that were hung during the overnight restock. This arose by necessity because there are old Chinese guys that buy every designer brand regardless of size, and Porter studied when they would show up. So while you heard about the eulogies and headstones, the airbrushed commemorative rest-in-peace garments, know that Porter was in Japanese fashion magazines at the age of 19. This is an individual that exudes individualism. He’s as much defined by his future as his past. “I’m always looking for the flamboyant late 60s, early 70s shit,” he reveals. That period of polyester and spaced-aged mackin’ was his musical muse as well. His early mixtapes and EPs sampled soul records and had him c h anneli ng World B. Fre e a s m u c h a s a n y contemporary MC. Yet in his unfettered honesty, he can still admit: “I bought hella Roc-a-Wear in high school.” . "I used to read all the colorways and pull out words like Seafoam or Cobalt and use those in my rhymes,” Porter adds. “I’ve also read all the credits on every vinyl album I've owned." This combination of transcendent style and practical approachability is what made his house the hub for the kids on the come up. Sure Porter has the look, but without the charisma you have an empty vessel with an expensive hood ornament. There just aren’t many people walking this Earth that have Porter’s recipe, and just like the best meals — the flavor stays with you even after everyone has eaten. In a stroke of brilliance his press cycle included a collaboration with Nordstrom where he selected from the spring season drops, alongside veteran stylist Morgan Dillion, and appeared in a series of visuals captured by locally beloved photographer
Matthew Sumi. One of the true architects of the Seattle scene — Andrew Matson — helped orchestrate the non-traditional publicity appearance as he writes for Nordstrom regularly. “We appreciate that in his dressing, as with his music, (Porter) Ray is traditional yet fearlessly artistic,” Matson wrote of the project. “There’s a frame, and he’s flexing within it. Within that framework, he picked graphic designs from brands that are a little underground and not especially glitzy — J.W.Anderson, known for androgyny; Tim Coppens, known for ’90s-era skate style — along with this season’s hottest jackets from Gucci and Givenchy.” So while designer rap has Billboard chart-toppers o n P a r i s i a n r u n w a y s , t h e r e ’s t h i s a n g u l a r enter tainer in Seattle staying just as dipped without being on Kim Jones’ mailing list. It’s what Nordstrom’s acclaimed Creative Director Strath Shepherd calls "personal architecture." What you see is what you get with Porter Ray and before you ever heard the words cascading out of his mouth, you saw the frame that came out of his brain. "I'm looking for classic muscle cars like I used to look for gear,” Porter says of his evolution as he gets older. “Runnin' through old school cars on Craigslist. I come from thrifting as a hobby but now I window shop for houses. I'm enamored by aesthetic, but also slang and linguistics. I'm googling Alfa Romeos to find out the I t a l ia n designer behind them, and his contribution to architecture. Shit like that. It's all art." You’ll still find him in the ’75 Nova for now, exploring customization options with the gear heads from Wreckless Whips that have have been day ones since he started keeping count. >>>
“I thought it was corny to try and rap. Everyone was doin' it. It was the Myspace era. I was trying to do silk screened t-shirts, graphic tees and streetwear. I customized my own outfits. In high school we were doing runs of tees at B-Bam! when it was on Pike St. and using Pro Club blanks.” – Porter Ray
SWOOPIN’ SESSIONS Por ter could always command attention. His effortless delivery, smooth-operating chatline type of raps, that honey dripped the ladies as much as impressed the fellas, were always a hit on the stoop or in the kitchen at a CD house party. It took some convincing but there came a time where rapping seemed less cliché. The guy in his ear was Cesar Clemente, a jack of all trades known for cutting heads, playing ball and staying drenched in designer fashions. "Cesar would pick me up at my mom's everyday to come record. He was the first one swoopin' me,” Porter recalls. “I was focused on the next phase before things got going, but that's because I just knew that P had it,” Clemente shares from his Beacon Hill home. “It was like MTV unplugged, or like watching your favorite poet do his thing. It was his stage. We'd be writing while the beat looped. Mumbles and cadences were formulating. Smoke filled the air. Someone was always on the sticks. When P was ready, he'd go in… It was a big ass open space, no booth. We'd stop all movement, turn the volume down and let him drop. After a few minutes, we'd replay that shit for like the whole day.” These livingroom sessions were instrumental. All manner of folks were stopping by politicking at what was dubbed the “Moolah Mansion” on the Eastside, and then other spots in the U-District and Columbia City. Having to record in a setting such as this sharpens ability to a diamond’s eye. "These were strangers, or people I'm meeting for the first time,” Porter notes thinking back. “I’m here performing my unfinished art, not in a booth — like a mic in the middle of the room. I had to command people's attention to get them to quiet down. These were early lessons in crowd control. I'll say this too, it wasn't that people always liked it." But most did. “As time went on, other hip hop heads came through,” Clemente points out. “I got P on a track with OneBeLo and myself called ‘Horror Flicks.’ Definitely one of my favorite tracks to date. Jae Millz came through and was really into what we had going on. I always loved the process of P’s music. Before long, he would come in with his verses all memorized, one take — HOV. It was a wraaaap. We started recording in my office at the Salad Bowl (Cesar’s Salad Medical Dispensary, Clemente’s business). Sway came through and was really digging the move.” Porter propagates the purple haze mentality of the city that birthed Jimi — weed smoke in the
passenger seat surrounded by leather interiors has always been a mobile home. He discusses it casually like another player in uniform on his team destined for cream. Those frequenting the inner circle with agenda items are often advised: “Let's smoke about it.” "I started with weed in Middle School. I was 13,” Porter remembers. “I’m never trying to turn down a blunt. We were shooting a video for 'Jewelry' — it's some unreleased footage we're still sitting on. I was facing blunts for the purpose of capturing these shots, it got to the point where I didn't want to be high anymore. I was out of my mind tired. I can count on both hands throughout my life, where I got to the point where I was turning down trees. I was burnt." His descriptive verbiage for puffing the power plant are nothing new in his recordings, and as he brought “Watercolor” to mainstream America n o n e o f t h e s e c a n d id c a n n a b is r e f e r e n c e s were redacted. "We weren't smokin’ — we we're chiefin’. Blowin’ dank. That gooch. Staying blown. Keyed. Fire,” Porter rattles off. “That's my natural way I talk, but it's nothing new under the sun. I fucks with weed so I'm gonna talk about it. I want the slang I use to be as specific to Seattle as possible. I always liked hearing songs from other regions and how they were freakin’ words, putting 'em in a new light." INTRATECQUE / BLACK CONSTELLATION This story has a Kingmaker. His name is Geoff Gillis. There’s a reason his Intratecque logo is prominently displayed on the “Watercolor” album artwork. Gillis cut his teeth in the upper echelon of the music business; he has the recollections and hard drives if you dare question the credentials. He was closely positioned with Dame Dash in the Roc Dynasty and put in time everywhere from the boardroom to basement studios. He founded a number of media companies when returning to Seattle to take care of his ailing father, and Intratecque became an A&R for Porter’s career as the two built a rapport on overcast days. The Black Constellation was already bubbling, an artistically inclined collective of major talents that were establishing a “New Black Wave” in a milquetoast city. From Ishmael and Tendai doing Shabazz Palaces, OC Notes and STAS on the DJ/Producer tip, Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes and Mike Wagner in the world of art, Nep Singh Sidhu in the intersections of fashion — Porter and Geoff fit right in along with a rotating cast of others inadequately mentioned here. Like most great cultural organizations the membership is somewhat fluid, but the adherence to quality is not. >>>
"He's been the most integral part in the acceleration of my career,” Porter says of Gillis. “He'll pick a beat I don't like to rhyme over and we'll do that specifically to make me uncomfortable. It stretches my creativity. After the game LeBron is watching film of his game. After a show I'm trying to see all the video. Gots to. Let me see the phone. Geoff will be telling me what shit was wack. He's a raw critic, and I've gotten used to that level of critique of my art." Gillis is a stoic character with a ginsu-sharp mind and a strategic inclination like Spassky at a chessboard. His words are worth their weight in gold: “We don’t go to war with clowns. We let them hang themselves. Get a florist.” – Geoff Gillis “We hustle for our family, keep thinking this shit is about fame.” – Geoff Gillis “We’re for the recognition OF Seattle, not for recognition IN Seattle.” – Geoff Gillis “Geoff asked me one night ‘do I want to leave 80% of my publishing on the table or create my own shit and control the rights to my music?’” Jaycee ‘Kemetik’ Coleman recollects. “Working on ‘Watercolor’ was a way different experience for me because you call me for that dusty shit. Flipping samples is my lane so when I got word we were progressing the sound and getting away from the soul flips I was initially stuck. I had to throw out an entire folder of shit I was prepping for the project. As long as the drums are swingin’ and there's an element of grit I can get with it. Even though this is his solo project he's maintained a team first mentality. When he exclaimed ‘Cream For My Whole Team’ on that Heaven in Blue record he meant it. In-house was always part of the vision.” CREAM STAYS IN-HOUSE It’s not an accident. That’s close friends Nate Jack and CA$HTRO featured on the album. That’s BRoc in the liner notes for producing and engineering, the man Porter once said if “he loop the beat, I’ll catch it off the backboard.” That’s Ike B the Flav God on stage doing ad-libs for his live shows activating the crowd. "There's a sound being crafted and created,” Porter says of the familiar faces. “These are the same guys that gave me beats for free, that DJ'd my shows, putting in hours in the studio, fuckin’ with me for years. I wanted to reward them, give them their name in the album credits so they can be a part of the Sub Pop legacy. And get publishing ... I'm settin' up my own company, putting things under a business name. I got a business license, I'm withholding taxes. My publishing is right. I'm making the most out of my music by not sampling.
looks down on musicians and artists. It seems leisurely to them, like a hobby. Like I'm smokin' weed all day, fuckin' off.”
We make our own skits now, and we all can see checks from this. It's just being smarter with the bread." One of the beneficiaries is EJ Franco, DJ turned Producer and a guy that was putting in time for years with no qualms about return on investment. “Having art that I created be put on a platform of this magnitude to share with the world means everything to a kid from Vallejo, CA,” Franco explains. “I grew up in the 90s listening to guys who lived down the street from me like N2Deep, Mac Dre and Mac Mall so I would have never imagined that from watching the ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ video repeat every hour on MTV that one day I would actually be making music on such a legendary label as Sub Pop.” “I learned more about sampling versus writing original music and teaching myself how to play piano, even though I really consider it ‘playing it off.’ Im a DJ, man, since ’97. I learned from watching DMC/ITF battle tapes and TurntableTV and practicing that so I didn’t know shit about playing a piano. Teaching myself chords really did kick myself in the ass to make more original music. We were in the studio day and night working on everything to build up to this point even before the ‘Watercolor’ sessions. I appreciate him painting his words to my canvas of blaps.”
The hours of effort when no one was looking have amounted to this demolition of stereotypes. Porter’s audio recordings stimulate all five senses. It’s visceral. He’s showing us a place you have to close your eyes to see, but you recognize it the first time, and soon they’ll need NASA to track his progress. At SXSW last month he took a moment while at the Top Tree sponsored “1am Bounce” party to reflect on the places rap has taken him, and consider the idea that he didn’t want to do this for real for real when he was more focused on the outfits in his closet. “It felt good just to be outside of Seattle and be able to perform in front of a new audience, plus taste some great food and explore the city a bit,” Porter says of SXSW. “We had the opportunity to hit this party miles outside of the city. Benito invited us. The party was at this compound or like a ranch or something along the river. It was ill. I felt like I smoked unlimited weed on the rooftop above the pool. Nacho, Bruce Leroy, BRoc and myself. There were other houses with clubs inside of them, dance parties and DJs. People everywhere. Shit was live.” Por ter points to the album ar twork skillfully assembled by fellow Black Constellate Mike Wagner, and makes his final point. “I remember my very first show at Neumos opening up for Royce (Da Choice),” Porter concludes. “To be performing my debut album in front of a sold out crowd, with all of my family and friends was truly surreal. It felt like a piece of history. I see photos of my father and my little brother in the house and smile knowing their images are all over the world as a part of the album packaging.”
Porter is now the senior point guard leading on the court, in the huddle and at the press conference. He’s a player coach. This path that started by stepping out to lead at the E. Madison YMCA as Coleman observed, is still directing many of the same running mates as the championship trophy has changed proximity to within arm’s reach. "I never tried to paint anything, but I've always fancied myself a painter,” Porter considers. “So ‘Watercolor’ is images for a listener. It's supposed to be lush. I'm comin’ from Seattle so it just had to be very wet. We lived in the hood but were never more than 10 minutes from the Lake. I see every song as a color, and they seep into each other like watercolor does. If you're in the NBA you're putting up 500 jumpers a day. It's exercise. I think some of my friends, and family and society in general... Words by Chernsicle • Photos by Chernsicle, Carson Allmon, & Courtesy of Creative Commons
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