That is, get Mingle, The Saturday Knights' latest all-star party album that is blowing everyone's minds in the music world and beyond, for free right now. Go to music blog Seattle Subsonic for the download link, and do it now, because soon Seattlest's favorite hiphop/rock/?!! album of the year will cost you money again! Our favorite tracks: "Dog Star," "Private School Girl," and "Nobody Beats Us." But we could have said any three tracks, really,......

Yes, you read that correctly. Donut! Eating! Competition! Are your artery walls closing in yet? Don't worry, because all calories from the donut consumption on Saturday will be null-and-voided by the blast of hiphoppy surfer punk rock played live by The Saturday Knights while you cram your mouth full of cakey, frosted goodness at the downtown Top Pot on (appropriately) Saturday. Last year, Bob of The Blakes won; this year, our money's on a......

Philly rapper Freeway at Chop Suey on Saturday: gruff, powerful, in control. Prodigious beard. His set was a pleasure to behold, with thick, thumping, meaty beats over which his growl sounded just right. Such sparkly bling, too! Our only complaints are that he cut off "It's Over" way too early and there were a couple too many a capellas, but the man can keep filthily perfect time and impresses regardless of the beat behind him.......

We had a laid-back, happy time at Dope Emporium on Saturday. It felt like a hiphop block party: a family affair with barbeque, a beer garden, and kids running around doing cute things like breakdancing. There even was a producers' battle from which MTK (of Himalayan Rickshaw Run fame) emerged triumphant. Check out some photos from the event, taken by Seattlest and Terry Creighton.......

The Budos Band opened up the night in style! Photo by Seattlest's Abbey Simmons. The Saturday Knights/Budos Band show at Nectar on Friday night was sold out by 9:30 p.m., as in guest lists closed, no further entrance, and crowds of people partying outside the gates. Seattlest arrived at a normally respectable hour of 10:45 p.m. to find the Budos Band's shiny brass horns blaring, congo drums thumping, and every inch of Nectar packed with......

THAT'S SO DOPE: Dope Emporium is a free festival of all things hiphop: DJs, MCs, spoken word artists, graffiti artists, and more. It's going down as part of Artopia, an arts extravaganza in the extremely dope neighborhood of Georgetown, so hop on a bus and experience some of the best Seattle hiphop has to offer. Our picks: Candidt, Orbitron, B-Girl Bench, Waves of the Mind and Dim Mak. Hot! 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.,......

It's a great weekend for hiphop, Seattle! On Saturday, Grynch is headlining a show with D.Black, XPerience, Khingz, and the hilarious Sonny Bonoho at Chop Suey. It's a well-balanced bill full of funny, talented performers who draw big crowds on their own steam, so on a line-up together--well, Chop Suey will be alive and on fire Saturday night! On Sunday night, Dyme Def officially releases their crazy-good new mixtape, 3 Bad Brothaaas, at Nectar. Naturally,......

Common Market released Black Patch War in early May, but it's taken Seattlest awhile to get fully on board with the album. You too are forgiven for sleeping on it this long, but further snoozing is not recommended. Ra Scion has posted the lyrics to three of the seven songs from the album over at his blog, six minutes to sunrise, with footnotes and everything, and it makes for a riveting read if you're so......

An enthusiastic crowd of youngsters showed up at Nam's album release party at the Vera Project this weekend to appreciate energetic performances from The Physics, Bambu, super-talented super-group Good Medicine, and Nam himself. Though The Stranger billed this night as a Good Medicine show, every artist on the bill pointed the glory towards Nam and his "de-boo" album, Exhale. The album is as earnest, lovable and hard-working as Nam himself and plays well live,......

"King Cobra's hiphop hymen has been broken!" declared Gatsby of Cancer Rising last night. It's true: The Physics were the first hiphop group ever to grace the newish stage in the rock-n'-roll-ified nightclub, and Cancer Rising made it extra official in a mixed line-up featuring the metal-rock, electric guitar-wielding Emeralds as well as Portland's indie rockers Caves. The night was "magical," as Caves singer Jacob Carey deemed it. Welcome, King Cobra, to Seattlest's short list......

Photo of One Be Lo by Kyle Johnson. One Be Lo, a nationally acclaimed independent hiphop artist hailing from Pontiac, Michigan, is fond of our city. "In Seattle, I get an epiphany every day," he says, recounting his insights gleaned from dining with local Vietnamese families and browsing through the shelves of the Emerald City’s bookstores. The emcee leans in closer. "Seattle’s giving me my second wind." An avid learner and frequent public speaker,......

READING: This weekend, 2008 Seattle Reads author Dinaw Mengestu is making the rounds to the city's libraries to read from The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. This novel about immigrant life in D.C. has gotten so much love from so many corners that we're kind of ashamed we haven't read it already. If you don't want to purchase this book, sign up now on the Holds list at the library: we're currently Hold #424.......

Photo of The Physics by Ryan Lewis. We love some hiphop with our coffee in the morning, and KEXP's John In The Morning obliged us today with a live set from easy-going, hard-working local stars The Physics! You can stream the set and interview on KEXP's website by clicking here and setting the time to 8:07am. What you'll hear: "Brand New Thang", "I Heart Beer", an interview (including some good-natured ribbing about The Physics'......

Late summer festival/extravaganza Bumbershoot announced another hiphop headliner today. Ludacris, the one and only, has been added to the line-up! The other three rap-alicious big names thus far are Brother Ali, whose recent show at Neumos was nigh unto a spiritual experience for Seattlest, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, and Kid Sister out of Chicago. Unless, of course, you count Beck as a rapper. (We don't.) Says Seattle hiphop artist Grynch to Seattlest on the line-up:......

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. Some......