Artist Spotlight: Blue Scholars

We're starting a semi-daily feature where we showcase today's hottest Filipino-American artists.  Second up is the Blue Scholars of Seattle, Washington.

From their humble beginnings at the University of Washington, emcee Geologic (George Quibuyen) and producer/DJ Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) have grown into one of the most well-known progressive hip hop acts in the last decade.  They have performed across the entire country, been featured on MTV, and are independently-distributed over iTunes, Amazon, and other major retailers.

"The name 'Blue Scholars' is a play on the term 'blue collar,' which is an idiom for workers who often earn meager hourly wages for manual labor. Their music and lyrics often focus on struggles between socioeconomic classes, challenging authority and youth empowerment, as evidenced in the songs "Blink" and "Commencement Day." These themes are often specifically addressed in relation to the Seattle region, as in 'Southside Revival', 'North by Northwest', and "The Ave.'

The duo has performed across the United States and made appearances at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in 2005 and 2006, and Bumpershoot opening for Kanye West in 2006. They have opened for and shared stages with such artists as De La Soul, Slick Rick, Wordsworth, Kanye West, Immortal Technique, The Coup, Masta Ace, Mos Def and Little Brother.

In 2006, the Blue Scholars received top honors in the hip hop category of the Seattle Weekly's Music Awards Poll, and were also the top vote-getters overall; in earlier years, they had been recognized in the categories of Best Hip-hop Artist, Best Local Single, and Best Album.

The music video released for the song 'Back Home' makes a very personal call to support the US troops by bringing them back from Iraq. The video, produced by Sabzi's brother Zia, has received critical praise from blogs across the web. The video was followed by the November 2007 release of a video for 'Joe Metro,' which features Geo riding the 48 Metro bus around Seattle and walking the city streets."

One thing I'd like to note is that the Geologic is Filipino-American, and Sabzi is Iranian-American.  That fact alone is very cool to this half-Filipino-Iranian.  My personal favorites are "No Rest for the Weary," "Sagaba," "North by Northwest," and "50k Deep."

Blue Scholars Website
Blue Scholars [Myspace] (music samples available)
Blue Scholars [Wikipedia]