Thx for this, bruddah. I’m broken up about this. I looked up to him from my earliest days DJing. When he started calling me Grasshopper I thought I had made it! To say he was an inspiration to us is kinda like saying the sun shines. Nes was the GOAT. Rest well.
What a beautiful and moving testament to the legacy of a real hero, who lit the torch and walked the path for the masses to see, follow and eventually find their own way alongside.
As a kid from the mid-90s raised in the CD-mix and early Internet days, the Seattle hip hop scene in the 2000s was the start of that path for me, the gateway to a lifelong love of music, revolutionary art and politics and an understanding of the real power and crucial role of community in facilitating both.
My first show was seeing y’all play at Neumo’s back in ‘04, with Vitamin D, J Pinder and D Black; it was my 11th birthday and near Vitamin D’s as well cuz he dropped his Bornday EP at that show. Soulja Boy was just popping off at the time, and during an interlude someone’s lil kid came out on stage with a Super Soaker and blasted the crowd with water while the DJ ran back “Super soak that hoe!!!” and you all laughed your asses off behind them both. I still got all the CDs from that night, scratched to shit from years in a beat up CD Walkman that was already old school enough by then to get made fun of for, lol.
But you know, none of that would have been possible without all yall having been schooled and inspired by Nes and the other West Coast dudes who were already doin it when you were young. I feel the unbroken chain of reverence stretching back, decade after decade, all these young kids getting their worlds expanded by someone who happened to fall in love with music a few years prior and had to share with everyone why it became their life. There are some kids out there today, for sure, getting that from your show too. Spreading love on a mic is one of those timeless things, man, and it makes me proud to see the impacts these OGs made still rippling out in the world, and grateful to still get to hear you keep it real and continue their beautiful tradition today.
“It’s surreal to know that just past midnight on the day Nes would later join the ancestors, I was on air at KEXP, wrapping up Street Sounds, filling in as a guest host on the same show that I grew up listening to him host. I closed the show with a salute to Nes. I don’t know why I did, but something compelled me to end the show by acknowledging its history.” The SYNCHRONICITY.
Thank you for this incredible tribute, G, and telling this story, connecting dots and slicing through with your razor sharp insight about the light and shadow sides of life as a great artist. So glad you got that oral history with him and that you not only followed in his footsteps but remained connected till the end.
Thank you Kuya Nasty Nes for everything. Rest in peace and hip hop power 💐
Thx for this, bruddah. I’m broken up about this. I looked up to him from my earliest days DJing. When he started calling me Grasshopper I thought I had made it! To say he was an inspiration to us is kinda like saying the sun shines. Nes was the GOAT. Rest well.
What a beautiful and moving testament to the legacy of a real hero, who lit the torch and walked the path for the masses to see, follow and eventually find their own way alongside.
As a kid from the mid-90s raised in the CD-mix and early Internet days, the Seattle hip hop scene in the 2000s was the start of that path for me, the gateway to a lifelong love of music, revolutionary art and politics and an understanding of the real power and crucial role of community in facilitating both.
My first show was seeing y’all play at Neumo’s back in ‘04, with Vitamin D, J Pinder and D Black; it was my 11th birthday and near Vitamin D’s as well cuz he dropped his Bornday EP at that show. Soulja Boy was just popping off at the time, and during an interlude someone’s lil kid came out on stage with a Super Soaker and blasted the crowd with water while the DJ ran back “Super soak that hoe!!!” and you all laughed your asses off behind them both. I still got all the CDs from that night, scratched to shit from years in a beat up CD Walkman that was already old school enough by then to get made fun of for, lol.
But you know, none of that would have been possible without all yall having been schooled and inspired by Nes and the other West Coast dudes who were already doin it when you were young. I feel the unbroken chain of reverence stretching back, decade after decade, all these young kids getting their worlds expanded by someone who happened to fall in love with music a few years prior and had to share with everyone why it became their life. There are some kids out there today, for sure, getting that from your show too. Spreading love on a mic is one of those timeless things, man, and it makes me proud to see the impacts these OGs made still rippling out in the world, and grateful to still get to hear you keep it real and continue their beautiful tradition today.
Rest in power, Nasty Nes!
I remember that show at Neumo's well! Thanks for sharing your reflections and for the reminder that spreading love is really at the heart of it all.
A wonder tribute. Thank you Geo.
“It’s surreal to know that just past midnight on the day Nes would later join the ancestors, I was on air at KEXP, wrapping up Street Sounds, filling in as a guest host on the same show that I grew up listening to him host. I closed the show with a salute to Nes. I don’t know why I did, but something compelled me to end the show by acknowledging its history.” The SYNCHRONICITY.
Thank you for this incredible tribute, G, and telling this story, connecting dots and slicing through with your razor sharp insight about the light and shadow sides of life as a great artist. So glad you got that oral history with him and that you not only followed in his footsteps but remained connected till the end.
Thank you Kuya Nasty Nes for everything. Rest in peace and hip hop power 💐