206 Zulu celebrated its 5th Anniversary last February 13-16th, as thousands congregated Presidents Day weekend in Seattle, Washington to experience what has become one of the largest Hip Hop summits in the Northwest. Riding on the success of the previous years, this year expanded to unparalleled heights as over 75 Hip Hop practicioners and supporters from over 20 cities gathered in the Zulu spirit of "Peace, Love, Unity & Havin' Fun".
The festivities began Friday at Hidmo, a multi-faceted space that not only serves delicious Eritrean Cuisine, but is also an intimate all-ages venue. The kick-off party, carried with sounds of DJ's Seabefore, Koo-C (Daly City, CA) and Sureal went on during the evening. As the meet-n-greet continued, the positive energy escalated with close out performances by Yirim Seck and Piece.
Events during Saturday were held at the Vera Project, Seattle's premier all-ages venue. The early afternoon youth workshops began at 2pm and included a range of breakout sessions such as Hip Hop History with Lord Yoda X (NYC) and Queen Michele (PA), MCing with Silver Shadow D, B-Boying with Orbitron, DJing and Audio Technology with Rane, and Graffiti Art with Sire One. The was a large youth presence, ranging from children to teens.
The Graff Expo included an art gallery, blackbook sessions and live painting. The art gallery was on display at the Vera for the entire month of February which consisted of dozens of the Northwest's finest. Blackbook sessions were in full effect, with a wide range of people from kids to mothers to well-known artists. The live painting took place inside with smaller canvases, as well as outside with a massive 32' X 8' production by Daze One (San Diego), Charms Won, Sire One and Sen One (NYC).
A new attraction to the 206 Zulu Anniversary was Real to Reel: Hip Hop Film Festival, which was held from Saturday through Monday. Films showcased were Bringing Hip-Hop Back To The Hood: Seattle Grassroots Organizing Shorts, Coolout TV "What is 206 Zulu?", Masizakhe, Let Us Build Together and A Beautiful One Man Show.
This year's performances were spotlighted with a 4 hour block Saturday evening that included OneBeLo, Dim Mak, Khingz, D-Black, Siren's Echo, and more. The high energy in the performances was reciproicated by the audience.
This year 206 Zulu partnered with Paulskeee to present Mighty 4, an internationally-reknowned touring breakdance competition at the 5th Anniversary which was held at the Experience Music Project, right next to the Space Needle. This free event was a huge sucess and housed over 1,000 people. A massive line wrapped 2 sides of the block. Dozens of people flew in to enter the competition, with cash prizes totalling $4,000. The three battles included 3-on-3, Bonnie & Clyde, and Footwork. The judges for this were Trac2 (Hartford, CT), Alien Ness (New York City), Orbitron (Seattle, WA), Poe One (LA, CA), and Remind (Monterey, CA). DJ's Soul One, DV One, Bles One and Tecumseh held down the breaks. The Masters of Ceremonies were Kutfather (San Diego), Free, Rob Nice and Lord Yoda X. Peformances by Dyme Def and Orbitron. Mighty 4 Appreciation Awards went to Kutfather, Mr. Supreme, DVS Crew and King Khazm.
206 Zulu would like to thank everyone who came and all who contributed to make this event possible. Additional thanks to City of Seattle, Rane Corporation, KBCS 91.3 FM, Hip Hop Congress, Festival Sundiata, Mighty 4, Beacon Skillz, El Centro de la Raza, Platinum Records, Spoons Apparel, Mint Factory, Driver4Hire.biz, Seattle Drum School, Hidmo Eritrean Cusine, St. Clouds, the Vera Project, EMP/SFM, Bamboo Beats, Wicked X Productions, MADK Productions, Coolout Network and Umojafest P.E.A.C.E. Center
-"Rappers Delight", article by Dr Julie Pham of the NW Asian Weekly covers the story on the rise of API Hip Hop in the Northwest.
-Last February, members of 206 Zulu ventured out to Maple Lane (Centralia, WA) and Green Hill (Chehalis, WA) Schools to perform and speak with incarcerated youth in coordination with Evergreen's Gateway Program. The well-received discussions provided a background of Hip Hop's history as a social movement for unity and peace; as well as how it transcends to this day, making direct impacts and empowering the speakers through there first-hand experiences.
-Seattle Hip Hop television is now old enough to be an adult! Georgio Brown's Coolout TV will be celebrating its 18th year this coming Monday, April 6th at the Contour, 807 1st Avenue in Pioneer Square, Seattle. This 21 and up party will begin at 9pm and feature some of the finest DJs and performers from the region.
-206 Zulu will partner with the North Seattle Boys & Girls Club this coming Spring, to host a series of monthly teen dances at the center. These jams are offered as an outlet for the underserved teens to be in a positive atmosphere, while having a space to hang out, dance and have fun. If you're interested in, or have teens who would like to attend, please contact Malika BeLoved at beloved313@gmail.com
-In an attempt to supplement the overly-aggressive and trendy clubs, 206 Zulu brings back Zulu Jam at the Beacon Hill Pub! Listen to real true-school Hip Hop, while enjoying a positive atmosphere, drinks, pool, and dance. The bananza begins at the Beacon Hill Pub, 3057 Beacon Ave on Beacon Hill and kicks off at 9pm.
April 25th with DJ Sean Malik
May 30th with DJ Able
June 27th with DJ WD4D
-Zulu Jam at Folklife Festival! Folklife Festival is one of Seattle's largest festivals that takes place every Memorial Day Weekend. Last year's first Zulu Jam at Folklife Festival was a great success with full capacity and energized crowd. This year's festivity will take place Sunday, May 24th at the Seattle Center's Vera Project and features Silver Shadow D, Mic Crenshaw, Yirim Seck, Dim Mak, Hella Dope, DJ's Grimrock and Gumbeaux, and breakin' cyphers with Raw Action! This ALL-AGES event is FREE and is from 7-10pm!
Welcome to 206zulu.com, a multifaceted resource for Seattle, Washington and worldwide Hip Hop, news, networking, music, upcoming events, and community projects. 206 Zulu is the Universal Zulu Nation Seattle Chapter. With members from all corners of the Pacific Northwest, 206 Zulu carries the vision and commitment to unify, preserve Hip Hop culture, educate, and empower our communities.
The Universal Zulu Nation, or UZN is a pioneering force that has been in effect since the inception of Hip Hop itself (1974) and continues to represent and innovate while striving for worldwide peace, equality and empowerment. The four main elements of Hip-Hop are deejaying, emceeing, b-boying/b-girling, and graffiti. These elements can be expressed both individually and/or collectively and can benefit the community on both local and global levels. These goals however are by no means limited to the art forms of Hip Hop and we look forward to sharing information of health, social awareness and other human resources.
Seattle Hip Hop artist scores Adidas 2009 MLB commercial
After the release of his stellar debut, Heavy labor, no breaks, the artist known as Tyrone, “the working class hero” got back into another one of his passions; scoring movies and commercials. After the success of Snowboarder Magazine’s “Couching Tiger“ coupled with the momentum of the album, the artist / producer has been called on to add his creative musical touch to score commercials that brand clothing and create the much needed background for a few indie films.
The Adidas campaign is throughout the 2009 Major League Baseball season. The commercials that Tyrone produced / engineered will be featured on Adidas.com, Adidas.tv, Eastbay.com and in Adidas brand stores worldwide. Tyrone is credited for engineering the score for 11 MLB player’s, producing the J.J Putz commercial score and co producing the Ryan Howard’s commercial score.
Tyrone’s discography and client list speaks for itself, with album credits of all genre’s, an album that received great reviews, commercials for all types of products, an extensive engineering background and movie scoring; the artist / musician is well on his way to being a sought after music producer. Tyrone has the creativity to take the clients vision to unimaginable levels.
Tyrone’s debut album “Heavy labor, no breaks”, speaks on subject matters from work, spirituality to the daunting task of positively raising a family in the perils of the inner city through a “blue collar working man’s perspective”. The album was favored by critics and received great reviews… For more info, to hear album, read reviews, see discography and contact, go to www.tyronesmusic.com .
