My passion blog is normally about underground, unknown, or up and coming bands but I was thinking, why not expand that a little. So I decided this week instead of doing the usual indie band thing I would cover a rap artist. Kixxie Siete is a west coast rapper who first began his music career writing poems at the age of 11 after listening to Eminem. After dropping out of high school he decided to make music his career. He isn’t the poppin’ bottles, gettin’ laid, big money kind of rapper (you know what I mean). As he puts it: “You sit and think to my music. My music is not anything to dance to…I’m for the hip hop heads”. His rhymes are electric, with an old school tempo, kinda like Snoop Dogg. It has that vibe that can only be described by one word: chill. Siete’s style is excellently complimented by his lyrical depth which doesn’t require racial slurs or language you wouldn’t use around your mother in every line. Siete mostly talks about his life growing up as a Filipino kid, and his path to getting where he is today. In some songs he also discusses how he views the world, smoking reefer, and, most interestingly, criticizing some parts of hip hop culture. You see, Siete has “haters” just like every other rapper. However, his critics do not criticize his poetry, but rather that he “acts black” by rapping and doesn’t belong in the hip hop world since he is an Asian-American. Sort of ironic since many black rappers are critical of their treatment by white people and wish to be treated equally. Kixxie hasn’t let that bring him down though, and he has been gaining fans through touring and making music videos. Soon he’ll be coming out with a full length album.