Sir Combine-a-Lot is now an elder statesman of the Seattle music scene.
On August 20, spouse and husband duo KEXP DJ Eva Walker and native journalist Jake Uitti launched their new e book, The Sound of Seattle. Revealed by Sasquatch Books it dives into the town’s music historical past from Bing Crosby to Ayron Jones (with grunge, rap, and jazz blended in between), and contains decade-specific essays with native luminaries, from Nancy Wilson to Sir Combine-a-Lot. Beneath, Sir Combine-a-Lot talks about residing within the metropolis within the Nineties because the music panorama was exploding.
When Grammy Award–successful rapper and producer Sir Combine-a-Lot (born Anthony Ray) thinks about Nineties Seattle, he thinks about two music genres taking place concurrently: hip-hop and rock. Because the ’90s started, hip-hop was shifting from extra of a “residence brew” sound to one thing “extra polished.” Combine and everybody he was working with on the time, together with at his label Nastymix, needed to step up their sport, he says, for the reason that songs have been reaching far past the Emerald Metropolis bounds.
“I used to be coming off what I believed was an enormous file,” says Mixture of his 1988 debut LP, Swass. “And we thought we had arrived!”
Combine’s first album featured his first hit, “Posse on Broadway,” in addition to the native favourite, “Buttermilk Biscuits (Carry on Sq. Dancin’).” His 1989 follow-up, Seminar, was licensed gold, with songs like “Beepers” and “My Hooptie.” Combine, nevertheless, is fast to notice that round this similar time, grunge music was additionally starting to take off—in a significant method. The lyricist knew it. “I felt like, yeah, that is going to overshadow me. And it did!” he says.
Combine, nevertheless, wasn’t pissed off that grunge was taking up within the late ’80s and early ’90s. Many of the musicians within the widespread bands have been his
associates and collaborators. (Certainly, there stays an unreleased Combine and Chris Ballew collab.) “You would stand outdoors on Broadway and listen to individuals rehearsing,” says Combine. “It was high quality band after high quality band after high quality band. No person gave the impression of shit. No person.”
Born August 12, 1963, in Auburn, Washington, Combine grew up in Seattle’s Central District. As a teen, by way of bussing applications many opposed on the time, Combine attended Roosevelt Excessive Faculty (similtaneously future Weapons N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan). In center faculty, Combine had been launched to the thought of music as a profession. He all the time cherished electronics, from CB radios to keyboards, and in highschool that crystallized.
Because the ’80s unspooled into the ’90s, Combine began to note the town altering. He was round members of teams like Pearl Jam and he remembers strolling down the road and going into golf equipment and seeing musical giants onstage. On the time, all of it felt, properly, regular. In 1991, Combine signed with Def American Recordings, which boasted artists like Johnny Money and ZZ Prime, working with famed producer Rick Rubin.
“Then fast-forward to 1993 and we’re all standing on the Grammys,” says Combine. “Actually. Myself, the Presidents, Pearl Jam, all people. It was that quick. Seattle took over.”
The success of grunge made it a bit tougher for hip-hop to be observed, Combine says. As soon as 1992 got here and went, it was all about sludgy rock. “You’d do a live performance for, like, 3,000 individuals after which Pearl Jam exhibits up and performs for a stadium! However I wasn’t jealous as a result of all eyes have been on Seattle.”
In 1993, it was Combine’s flip. Whereas he acknowledges he will not be the very best rapper who ever lived—in Seattle, he credit the Emerald Road Boys, who got here up earlier than him, with that title—his distinctive mixture of expertise and elegance paid off that yr. “Let’s be trustworthy,” Combine says, “if the Emerald Road Boys got here alongside round my time, as polished as they have been, I’d have been sweeping up after them. That’s how good they have been.”
But because the ’90s progressed, rap grew and grew. Combine earned a Grammy in 1993 for his single, “Child Acquired Again.” The tune additionally hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. He’d arrived. However he says that wasn’t the tune that the locals appreciated most. These in Seattle appreciated “Posse on Broadway,” “My Hooptie,” and “Beepers” greatest. However so long as the individuals appreciated one thing, he says, and made positive to deal with him like a human being, he was glad.
“All people was humble, fortunately,” Combine says. “I might stroll down the road and perhaps anyone would purchase me a Dick’s burger. However there was no ass-kissing, which is what I like. Ass-kissing may be very uncomfortable.”
At this time, what makes the town so distinctive for Combine is its location (learn: isolation). He says the town and its residents traditionally needed to provide you with their very own issues to do. Their very own enjoyable. Their very own music. That gave the area a singular sound and perspective. Seattle wasn’t like anyplace else as a result of it wasn’t influenced by anyplace else. What Combine noticed was lots of people making artwork in odd, makeshift locations. Engaged on stuff that was taboo. Not the glam stuff of the LA ’80s.
“Grunge was not that,” says Combine, well-known for his signature cowboy hat. “It was like, ‘I bought some god-damn denims on. I’ve an outdated guitar that I bought after I was broke and I’m nonetheless enjoying it.’ That was the great thing about it to me.”
