Seattle’s Space Needle might soar at 605 ft. above the clouds, but figuratively speaking, the Hip-Hop duo known as Common Market are making a name for themselves below the surface. Comprised of RA Scion and Sabzi, the two first came onto the scene a few years back, but are now starting to make headway with their second album, Tobacco Road.

With their single ‘Trouble Is,’ making the rounds on MTV’s college channel; MTVU, the tandem with a fond respect of vintage East Coast Hip-Hop are making sure that the absence of the Seattle Super Sonics (who are now the Oklahoma City Thunder) won’t put a damper on their city.
 
Seatown has a long history of giving birth to musical acts like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains, with Hip-Hop being on the short end on the stick. But as Common Market continues on the path set they set for themselves, hopefully they’ll be able to re-write Seattle’s history books sooner than later. 

SixShot.com: How did you guys first hook up?
 
RA Scion: The two of us had been making music for years before we even heard of each other. It wasn’t until I moved to Seattle in 2001 that I started hooking up with people that were making music here, that they told me about Sabzi. I think pe ople here told me about him because we have a similar taste, and we just started working on that principal alone. 

SixShot.com: Was there a lot of compromising done for Tobacco Road?
 
RA Scion: I think the two of us are skilled in the art of compromise, but the beauty is that we rarely have to meet in the middle. In terms of the music, we both have the love for a particular sound or even an era of music, like that mid-90’s East Coast Hip-Hop. That was basically what I was born and raised on, that’s my stuff. So being that those were the types of beats he was making, and those were the types of rhymes I was writing, it was easy for us to come together. 

SixShot.com: Why name the album Tobacco Road? Any meaning behind it?
 
RA Scion: Yeah, there are two meanings. On one hand there is a literal referance being that I’m born and raised on Kentucky, and I’ve been on and around tobacco farms. I’m familiar with the crop, and I’ve done everything from shredding it, cutting it, housing it, and taking it to auctions. So the album itself is sort of a nod back to my family roots. But on the other hand, it serves a metaphor for the music. Music is a commodity, and as we produce this commodity, we want to maintain control over it; we don’t want the market to determine the value of our art. So that’s where the metaphor is.
 
SixShot.com: You’re originally from Kentucky?
 
RA Scion: Yeah, born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky…
 
SixShot.com: Was or is there an urban music scene out there, with you saying that your main influences were East Coast Hip-Hop?
 
RA Scion: As for Louisville, their music scene is not that much different from a place like Seattle, or even a place like Boston. In that regard what I mean is; they have a very strong underground movement, and people are making independent music. You don’t really see a whole lot of artists that blow up onto the national scene and onto to major labels from there. I guess what they call it in Seattle is a “do-it-yourself” work ethic. If you’re an artist coming out of Louisville, Seattle, or Boston basically you have to do it yourself because there isn’t a lot of opportunities or handouts.
 
SixShot.com: Was there anything you want to accomplish with the Tobacco Road project?
 
RA Scion: Well the goal we set for “Common Market,” we set before we released our first album back in 2005. They were very modest goals, and realistic expectations. It was just to make a good album, have it be well received, to gain respect from the people in our community, and to do a few shows. We’ve accomplished all of those things, so whatever happens from here on out is really just the icing on the cake for us. We’ve achieved everything we wanted to already, but that doesn’t mean that we’re going to stop working, obviously because there is more work to be done. But in terms of our goals, we’re just taking it one step at a time.
 
SixShot.com: I remember hearing voice samples of Grand Puba and Mic Geronimo on Tobacco Road…
 
RA Scion: Yeah [Grand] Puba had a nice little run, and so did Mic Geronimo. We had some B.U.M.S. samples in there too, I’m snot sure if you’re familiar with them…
 
SixShot.com: Yeah, Brothas Unda Madness from the West Coast during the mid-90’s Hip-Hop era, I still have their Lyfe ‘N’ Tyme album on cassette…
 
RA Scion: Yeah! This is what I’m seeing: A lot of people refuse to accept us or are reluctant to do so because they think we’re “backpack rap.” Or they’ll say stuff like, “RA’s raps are way too intricate, and he uses big words.” But we all came from the same place, and my influences are the same influences from their favorite MC’s. I just pick a different direction, it’s not like a came from a different place. Sabzi is the same way, he’s only 26-years-old, but he knows his underground Hip-Hop, and it shows in the beats that he makes.
 
SixShot.com: Speaking of that, right now the majority of Hip-Hop listeners are into gimmicky music. Do you think it will be tough for people to catch what you and Sabzi are doing music-wise with your material?
 
RA Scion: The short answer is yes, but this is my approach as an artist: It’s just like authors for example, this might be a poor analogy and I hope that you don’t take it the wrong way or anybody else. But lets say you have someone who writes children’s books, and on the other hand you have an author like Salman Rushdie for example, the guy who wrote Satanic Verses. They both write books, right? But they appeal to different people. So how can you say that one author is better than the other? How can you say that one author is more accepted than the other?
 
It’s two different things. We’re both MC’s, me and somebody like Rich Boy if you want to take it there; you know what I’m saying? We both write raps, but I think we appeal to a different demographic. Let me just make another point because I think it’s appropriate. A lot of people have this need for validation, like when MC Serch came with the White Rapper Show and said, “White rappers need to have the validation of the black community, or else they’re not legitimately accepted.”
 
SixShot.com: Yeah, I remember that…
 
RA Scion: You remember that? Okay then so with that said, some people might be like, “Okay, now I have to rap like this other dude, or I have to sound more ‘hood, so if I do that, then I’ll be validated and I’ll be accepted.” With my approach—Malcolm X even said himself that the role of the white man in the civil right struggle is to educate white folks, not to educate black folks. So with that way of thinking, my demographic is middle-class educated white folks, and that’s the work in the community that I’m trying to do.
 
SixShot.com: So what was your whole opinion on the show?
 
RA Scion: I thought the show was brilliant and that it was well done, and there are multiple ways to look at it. The best way to look at it is; they were making a fool out of these people, and for good reason. Because if you are that “white rapper” who’s out for that validation from the ‘hood, the black community, or the music industry which ironically is run by white people—then you deserved to be clowned. Anybody that went out to audition for that thing deserves to be put in that position.
 
It’s just like American Idol, Sabzi and I have a good friend, Blake Lewis who was the runner-up the year before last; and does he deserve the criticism he gets? Of course. Because he put himself into that position. It doesn’t make him any less my homie, that’s my dude; I love him. But if you put yourself in front of people like that, you deserve to get what you get.