COOL NUTZ,

THE MAN BEHIND POH-HOP

Founding Jus Family Records in 1992, Portland’s hip-hop heavyweight Cool Nutz (AKA Terrance Scott) is not sleeping until he gets PDX on the map. With his new album, Young Obama, on the way, Nutz has a platform of his own — uniting hip-hop players and lovers — which he aims to achieve with the Portland Oregon Hip-Hop Festival, an event he has been organizing since 1995. Taking place this month on October 22-25 at various local venues, POH-Hop 2008 marks the festival’s 10th year and first event since 2004. Beginning with a new talent showcase on Wednesday night at Berbati’s for younger under-the-radar artists, Thursday night will pair up with The Fix, a weekly hip-hop/soul night at Someday Lounge, and Friday and Saturday nights will be the main showcases, held at Berbati’s and the Ash Street Saloon.

Q: What is your main goal with POH-Hop?

A: I want to make sure, and also make this clear for the artists, that this could be a tool for us to put a stamp of validation on the Portland hip-hop scene and have the city see that there’s an abundance of talent that they need to be checking for. So hopefully people take advantage of that and understand what my purpose is in doing all of this.

Q: How has the Portland hip-hop community shifted since you started hosting the festival?

A: One of the powerful things about our scene in ’95 to ‘99 was that there was no real separation. You could do a show and put a more urban act with a backpack act, with a conscious act or with a gospel hip-hop act. And on a Wednesday, we could do a show with cats that didn’t have no albums out and have 300 people come out just because it was the city. It’s not like that anymore. We have all these sub-genres — ‘I’m into this kind of music, I’m into that kind of music, I support this music and that kind of music rather than that.’ I just like quality hip-hop. So I look forward to trying to establish that in what we’re doing with POH-Hop this year by saying, ‘Look, we have all these different genres that are quality music and you should want to support the whole scene.’

Q: So what would you ask of the rest of the Portland music community?

A: As artists, we have to be proactive in changing the perspective in some of the fans and getting people excited about the overall movement of Portland hip-hop. Just having everyone understand that the strength of a scene is in numbers and not in just one person. If I’m going out and supporting you, and you go out and support me, and we support each other, we’d sell more records, there’d be more people at the shows, we’d have a greater impact on the city. And that means, again, giving everybody that complete support that they deserve. So for this, it’s gonna be POH-hop, but we’re gonna involve some of the region as well. I figure it’s bigger than just the city.

www.myspace.com/coolnutz

IN THE NEWS

October is shaping up to be an eventful month for Portland indie label Tender Loving Empire. On October 7 comes the release of label co-founder Jared Mees and the Grown Children’s new album, Caffeine, Alcohol, Sunshine, Money, followed by Super XX Man’s Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds on October 21, and Boy Eats Drum Machine’s fourth album, Booomboxxx, on October 28. Three releases means three album release parties, as well as a cross-country tour for Mees with friend Finn Riggins, which kicks off in the Pacific Northwest on October 9 and lands the two in New York just in time for CMJ.

www.tenderlovin

gempire.com

On October 14, HUSH will release the fourth full-length album from Portland’s Nick Jaina, entitled A Narrow Way. Recorded live on 2-inch tape at Type Foundry Studio, the album marks the follow-up to WOOL, released earlier this year. Jaina kicked off a cross-country tour after his appearance at MFNW last month and will make his way around California this month, wrapping the stint in Davis on October 19. Also on October 14, HUSH will give a proper release to Run On Sentence’s previously self-released debut, Oh When the Wind Comes Down. The project of musician Dustin Hamman, Run on Sentence will play a string of shows across the U.S. this month, with stops in Denver, Colo., Kansas City, Mo. and Biddleford, Maine, as well as New York and D.C.

www.hushrecords.com

After a gig in Tokyo, Starfucker will return to the States for a cross-country tour this month, which kicks off on October 7 in Boise, Idaho and wraps on the West Coast early next month. The trio is touring in support of its recent full-length self-titled debut on Badman Records.

www.myspace.com

/starfuckerss

31 Knots recently released a new album on Polyvinyl, entitled Worried Well, and is currently in the midst of a massive European tour in its support. The six-week stint will wrap on October 27 in Dresden.

www.31knots.com

On October 7, Grails will release Doomsdayer’s Holiday on Temporary Residence. At press time, a U.S. tour in support of the new record was in the works for November.

www.grailsongs.com

Oh Captain, My Captain recently released their debut full length on Portland’s Bladen County Records. Titled Recklessly She Split the Sea, the majority of the album was tracked live at Miracle Lake Studios in Camas, Wash. and produced by Skyler Norwood (Talkdemonic, Horse Feathers, Loch Lomond).

www.myspace.com

/ohcaptain