After spending years in the same hip-hop orbit without really getting to know each other, well-known local DJ Ronin Roc and I became friends over this last summer between dodging gunshots, eating bear mace, and dragging each other away from police lines.
A real multimedia wiz, Ronin started the Summer of George, a campaign focused on amplifying Black voices and ensuring that the deaths of George Floyd and others were not in vain.
You can pretty much always expect clean visuals and dizzying lyrics from Donte Thomas, and his New Year’s drop, la manzana, does both exquisitely.
How you like them apples?
Video by Fenn Paider
Swiggle Mandela – well known around these parts for his evergreen anthem, Dear Portland Police – looks to have some juice behind his new single, Needed, a collaboration with his bro Jacey Cordeta, Shady Records rapper Westside Boogie and LA-based singer Kenai.
From DJ OG One playing in the Rose Quarter (that’s the “Moda Center” to you newbies) to a DJ Envy shout out, it looks like the track it making it’s rounds.
Give a local a listen.
Whether through landmarks, like the awe-inspiring Chihuly Glass Garden, or on smaller niche status, like the clever album artwork coming from some of our own colleagues, it is undeniable that the Pacific Northwest is home to amazing visual art.
From the quirky to the dark, from the abstract to the hyperrealistic, our artists seem to cover it all. We love it. And we want to share more of it.
By: We Out Here Staff
Republican state senator Dallas Heard is no stranger to extremist controversies. Like a moth to the flame, he appears to be drawn to them somehow. Now, he appears to be inciting more controversy under the guise of freedom but it may be more related to favors for donors.
First, he collaborated with domestic terrorists in their takeover of the Malheur refuge.
He refused to wear a mask in the Oregon Legislature, putting his colleagues at risk.
He is tied to multiple figures who participated in the coup attempt in DC that resulted in multiple deaths (including a police officer).
When Lovinditekai isn’t busy doing Mandalorian reaction videos, they sometimes get around to making music.
Different and funky lyrics bounce over a clean beat by Graham Marlitt. The video, shot and directed by R3xwonders is ambitious, but would go harder in a higher resolution. A fun project and I’m interested to see the sequels.
Cover Photo by Rebecca Ellis
In our culture, along with the changing of the year comes the expectation to commit to self-improvement. One could assume that with the year we just had here in Portland, those in power would use the gift of hindsight and set a reasonable and determined course towards achieving justice and peace; however, that would be the most naïve of assumptions.
Cover Photo by Rebecca Ellis
Generally speaking, there are few things more painful than listening in on a local budget vote. Still, Wednesday’s meeting full of budgetary amendments and amendments to amendments left an especially sour taste in my mouth.
Not just because the council failed to pass legislation that would have directed $18M into our schools and social services instead of the Portland Police Bureau amidst city-wide cuts…
Not just because incoming commissioner Dan Ryan, who ran on a campaign of going after the bloated police budget, went against the will of the people and joined TedBloc to vote against the amendment…
As Portlanders approach four months of physically protesting our police bureau, the police and their counterparts have done much to further the case against themselves. It’s frequently discussed amongst protesters, typically to the tune of comedic irony, how the wanton person-to-person violence exacted nightly by the Portland Police Bureau across the city is responsible for the rapid radicalization of the very citizens they are allegedly deployed to serve and protect. Additionally, the ongoing targeting, arrests and abuse of medics, food providers, press and legal observers – a tactic also utilized by federal agents and alt-right militiamen – has only served to strengthen the resolve of the mutual aid workers who discuss injuries and arrests openly with one another like a public support group.
Make no mistake, the catalyst for this radicalization is anger. The anger is justified. We were angry when we took the streets, and regular abuse at the hands of police only fans the flames.
