“Superman” OFFICIAL VIDEO – Cool Nutz ft. Mikey Vegaz

At 12:00am tonight (March 14), Cool Nutz released his new video for the song “Superman” featuring Mikey Vegaz. I’ve been meaning to write about Cool Nutz for weeks, but every time I’ve sat down to put something together, I honestly can’t even find where to begin. The king of Portland hip hop, Cool Nutz deserves more respect than I could ever dish out in one blog piece. If we’re going to talk about change in the Northwest music scene, homage must be paid to this man. Between his work with Poh Hop, the Northwest Breakout Show, and his own musical career making quality hip hop, (solo as well as with collaboratively), Cool Nutz has changed the scene and played one of the most influential rolls in the Portland, Oregon hip hop industry. His recently released album, “The Cook Up”, starts out with a perfect introduction to Cool Nutz, describing him as, “THE MAN WHO BLAZED THE NOW BEATEN PATH AHEAD OF EVERYONE.” Can I get an, “AMEN”?!

The video for “Superman” is simple. Standing in front of a black back drop, Cool Nutz and Mikey Vegaz wear black shirts and creative camera angles from the front and sides capture a performance of the track, which was taken from “The Cook Up”. Without the bells and whistles that music videos now a days are so often chalk full of, it’s made very clear what’s important; the music. Here are two passionate musicians, take it or leave it.

Recently I had the chance to ask Cool Nutz how he felt fans had received “The Cook Up” and what reactions he’d seen from his audience. Here’s what he said:

“It always amazes me the length of my career, and the fact that I have been able to stay relevant. The response of my fans was a true testament of that on The Cook Up. Having been in the rap game for 15+ years, I have seen many artists come and go, and a big cause of it has been the music. I was very pleased with the final cut of the album, as many people have said this is my best work to date. That is a huge statement, considering that I have seen so many styles of hip-hop come and go, and for me to be able to create music that is still relevant to current hip-hop fans is a huge compliment to my creativity. I’m in a good space musically and my fans recognize that, as well as journalists and other purveyors of quality music. I’m really just getting started with dropping more amazing albums, and that’s the scary thing.”

The word “relevant” really stands out to me here. Cool Nutz has been going hard in the Northwest hip hop scene for over a decade and a half and has managed to stay strong through the up’s and down’s in the industry. His confidence in his work is fascinating and the things this man has done for Northwest Hip Hop are exciting and really a gift to listeners.

@CoolNutz
www.RapHater.com