The Blue Scholars
Blue Scholars is a hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington. Formed in 2002, the group consists of one DJ, Sabzi, and one MC, Geologic. Their music and lyrics often focus on challenging authority and youth empowerment, as evidenced in the songs "Blink" and "Commencement Day," and on the Seattle region, as in "Southside Revival" and "The Ave."
The duo has performed across the United States and made appearances at the Sasquatch Music Festival in 2005 and 2006. They have opened for and shared stages with such artists as De La Soul, Slick Rick, Kanye West, Immortal Technique, The Coup, Masta Ace, Mos Def and Little Brother.Sasquatch festival review[1]
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. Seattle Weekly music winners Seattle Weekly music awards, May 2005 Seattle Weekly art critics' awards, August 2005 Seattle Weekly 2006 Music Awards poll, May 2006
They currently have a music video released for the song "Freewheelin'" describing the days of early hip hop.[2]
Members
Geologic (born George Quibuyen), also known as Prometheus Brown, is the vocalist for the Blue Scholars and has also performed as a spoken word poet. The son of Filipino immigrants, he lived in various locations along the west coast and Hawaii as a child until his family settled in Bremerton, Washington. Geologic attended the University of Washington and worked as a community organizer with isangmahal arts kollective, both experiences which have influenced his lyrics. Blue Scholars official biosSeattle Times entertainment blog, June 2006
Sabzi (born Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi) is an Iranian American jazz-trained pianist and previously performed with, and wrote music for, a punk and ska band before his work on beats and turntables with the Blue Scholars. He too attended the University of Washington and met Geologic as a result of an initiative to foster more youth-accessible hip hop on campus and throughout Seattle.Seattle Weekly music section, November 2005 Sabzi is also the DJ for Common Market, another Seattle hip hop duo.
Record Label
Opting to create their own record label rather than sign with an existing company, Blue Scholars members Geologic and Sabzi, along with MCs RA Scion of Common Market and Gabriel Teodros, launched Mass Line Records [3] in 2006. The Stranger, June 22-28, 2006 The label's mission statement includes the goal of using hip hop as a means of grassroots community organizing and youth outreach. Mass Line is set to release a Blue Scholars album in May of 2007 called Bayani; the name derives it's meaning from two different languages. In Tagalog it literally means "heroes of the people" and in Farsi "Bayan" means "the Word."
Discography
- Official releases
- 2004: Blue Scholars (Pacific Northwest release)
- 2005: Blue Scholars (International release)
- 2005: The Long March EP
- 2007: Bayani