It feels bittersweet using my introductory post to this lovely blog as a simultaneous salutation and pre-emptive farewell, but it’s how it has to be. That’s not to say I won’t be posting as frequently as possible leading up to the return to my hometown of Austin, Texas this August. I intend to blog my big, Southern heart out. But I may as well divulge the departure here, now, because living anywhere other than Southern California – my home for the past seven years and base as a music journalist and photographer for most of the last four years – ties into the purpose of this post.

Which is to give a shout out to a exceptional sector of this region’s music scene that I will miss terribly: independent and underground hip-hop.

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