Near the vanguard of the vaunted new wave (or whatever you wanna call em) that crashed tsunami-like through the gates of the Seattle hip-hop scene this year is Helladope. Comprised of Tay Sean and Jerm, the duos closest antecedent is another, though all-female, duo, THEESatisfaction. Indeed, last I heard, the ladies lived with Sean. At any rate, all four dropped at least one track together called, Thee Trip, a cosmos-exploring freakfest that has alien-visitor quality of Lil Wayne and Outkast. And thats what Helladope is all about on its d09 disc, Return to Planet Rock: rocket-propelled blasts into the groovy spaces between jazz, hip-hop and electronic music. With Suntonio Bandanaz. KEVIN CAPP
Wed., Dec. 30, 9 p.m., 2009
