April 2007 | Green Scene
Conscious Hip-hop Comes to Seattle
By Sophie Raider
You don’t often hear emcees rapping about eating organic or saving the rainforest. Well, prepare to be amazed because Eastern Sunz does just that.
Originally from Oregon but recently relocated to Seattle, this hip-hop duo creates music with a strong social and environmental message. Aaron Harris, aka Courage, and his counterpart Travis Taylor, aka TravisT, bring conscious lyrics to hip-hop culture through songs like “Oreganic” and “Nuclear Suicide.”
“One of the most essential messages,” says Harris, “is that we live in an entirely unique time period in the history of earth. We don’t have the luxury to ignore environmental issues. We either confront these issues now or our grandchildren won’t have a world to live in.”
Harris has been rapping since he was eight-years-old. His initial environmental revelation occurred while alone in the wilderness on a backpacking trip in the eleventh grade.
“One of the most primary functions of rap music is to convey a message,” says Harris, who points out that communicating a need for change is not a new thing in hip-hop. “The gangsta rap of the ’90s had an underlying message that things aren’t right—that things in our society need to be fixed.” Harris believes that “need for change” message has been transformed into an anthem of affluence and materialism. “Mainstream hip-hop today is an illusion, it’s a commercial.”
Eastern Sunz is bringing back the message of change. Their song, “Natural Flavors”, opens with a soundbite from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, speaking about factory-produced flavor additives. Eastern Sunz raps:
Fat per serving’s ninety-eight grams, what’s in my food man?
Rampant malnutrition in a prosperous land,
said what they putting in my food, ma’am?
I said what’s natural ’bout these flavors? The FDA make moves to regulate us,
It’s never ’bout our health, it’s for the papers.
So educate yourself because this government ain’t ever gonna save us,
just feed us hamburgers and Now N’ Laters.
Eastern Sunz has toured with Rahzel and Andre Nickotina and collaborated with Vursatyl and Ricky Pharoe, among others. They plan to release their fourth album, Nine Triangles, next month. See them live on April 5 at the Kirkland Avenue Pub in Kirkland, May 11 at Tommy’s Nightclub & Grill and May 24 at the High Dive in Fremont.
For more information and to listen to their songs visit www.easternsunz.com
Ballard gears up to, Eat Local Now!
By Zachary D. Lyons
“Local food” is ubiquitous these days. Everyone seems to be talking about it. Farmers markets and CSAs are everywhere. Most people surveyed say they prefer to buy locally produced food products and would pay more for it. A reporter from the Everett Herald even wrote, “local is the new organic.” Then there was Time’s March red apple cover: Forget Organic, Eat Local. So why are the folks at Sustainable Ballard still holding their Eat Local Now! event? Don’t people already get it? Apparently not, since farmers market sales make up less than one percent of area grocery sales.
“Last year, Eat Local Now! sold out quickly,” said Sustainable Ballard’s Jennifer Heins. “But it felt like we were preaching to the converted, and this year we found ourselves asking the question, ‘how do we reach the average family that thinks they don’t have the time to think about how to buy local?’ This year we hope to show them they do have the time, that it only takes a little, and that it’s not that far away.”
To that end, Eat Local Now! is being held at Ballard High School this year, and it is being developed with the help of Ballard High students and their families. The event will offer lower ticket prices for students, kids under five will be free to encourage family attendance, ads will be placed in school papers, and students will make posters and design the program.
“This year is turning into the year of youth for Sustainable Ballard,” Heins said. “Our Fall event will also focus on the next generation. By engaging and empowering young people, we hope to help them enhance their sense of stewardship.”
What, When, Where, How?
BALLE Seattle and Sustainable Ballard Present: Eat Local Now! A Ballard Foodfest
When: Tuesday, April 17th, 2007, 6 to 9 pm
Where : Ballard High School, 1418 NW 65th Street, Ballard
Bus #15 stops at NW 65th Street and 15th Avenue NW
Price: $25 general, $15 Student/Limited Income/Senior -
includes family-style dinner. Children under 5 are free. For tickets go to
Tickets , or call 800-838-3006.
For directions and more details visit: www.eatlocalnow.sustainableballard.org
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