Arizona
Meet 9 Arizona hip-hop artists anointed as essential by Bandcamp
Hip-hop legend Kurtis Blow emcees ‘The Hip Hop Nutcracker’ in Bethesda
“The Hip Hop Nutcracker” is a contemporary version of the Christmas classic that combines dynamic rap and breakdancing.
Fox – 5 DC
The music streaming platform Bandcamp has posted a story headlined “Desert Heat: Diving Into the Arizona Hip-Hop Scene.”
It begins with a shout-out to two local hip-hop veterans.
“The Copper State’s never really had a national breakout star,” Dash Lewis writes, “though Shug, an emcee signed to Def Jam in the 1990s, and Willie Northpole, who signed with Disturbing Tha Peace in 2007, both came close.”
The writer says Murkemz, “a charismatic young rapper from Phoenix with a dazzling smile and an animated voice, currently seems poised to garner a mainstream audience, thanks to the virality of his recent track ‘We Outside’ and an impressive appearance on Sway’s Universe.”
The story notes that Injury Reserve and Mega Ran have both amassed “substantial underground followings and positive critical reception, frequently packing mid-size venues around the country.”
For those tapped into Arizona hip-hop, Lewis argues, there’s “plenty of reason to be proud and passionate.”
The story then goes on to shine a spotlight on nine Arizona records well worth tracking down.
Lando Chill & The Lasso, ‘māyā. maia. Mayu’
Lando Chill & The Lasso’s second collaboration is hailed as “a beguiling slab of hip-hop, psych-funk and R&B,” “an excellent example of the spacious ‘Arizona sound’” and “an effortlessly listenable, rapturous EP that seeps through the speakers like an essential oil diffuser, offering a pleasant, exceptionally vibey 20 minutes.”
Psypiritual & Apetight, ‘Free God’
The writer explains that “Free God” is, in part, the result of the producer coming back from a trip to Japan with an array of obscure Japanese funk, jazz and pop records, which he “chopped, looped and warped” into “a trove of woozy, heat-dizzy beats” in Phoenix, sending the results to Tucson rapper Psypiritual.
“The resulting record,” Lewis writes, “is beautiful — breezy, bright, and as gently psychedelic as an Arizona sunrise” with lyrics that “examine heady topics like self-doubt, often disappearing into billowing clouds of weed smoke to escape the day-to-day challenges of existence.”
REY & DVOID, ‘Chipped Painted Pictures’
This one is hailed as “a great entry point to the highly talented, dizzyingly prolific TWELVOTWO collective,” “a real sonic feast” and “a deeply rewarding album” whose “trippy, three-dimensional beats are thick and drone-y, slowly uncurling like a snake on a warm rock, while REY raps in dense, elastic paragraphs.”
Injury Reserve, ‘Floss’
This entry begins with “No list of Arizona hip-hop albums is complete without at least one Injury Reserve record,” which is true. He chose “Floss,” Lewis writes, because it’s such a perfect introduction for the uninitiated, one that “perfectly showcases a group in the midst of a transformation, moving away from the Neptunes-indebted club bangers they started with to a more jittery punk energy, foreshadowing the all-out destruction they’d achieve with 2021’s ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix.’”
RiTchie, ‘Triple Digits’
RiTchie with a T of Injury Reserve recorded “Triple Digits” as a solo record after the untimely death of Steppa J. Groggs while the future of the group was still uncertain. Lewis calls it “delightfully weird” while noting that “instead of the airiness present in so much Arizona rap, ‘Triple Digits’ is soupy, every sound slowly melting under the punishing desert sun.”
He also writes of RiTchie rapping with “a desperate, exasperated groan, as if the oasis within view keeps moving back a few feet.”
Halal Boys, ‘Black Blues Brothers’
Halal Boys’ second album, Lewis writes, “might be one of the oddest, funnest entries on this list,” noting that “the duo favors simple, hypnotic production untethered to a genre, but it all works — the bubbly synth-bap of ‘2 Days Before Juneteenth’ sits comfortably next to the churning flute trap of ‘FatLips.’”
Maze Overlay, ‘AZTECAZ’
Lewis calls this one “a shining star” in the north Phoenix rapper’s “vast body of work” spanning nearly two decades. He also says the record “leans into the trudging boom bap commonly associated with the Umbrella Collective and the Lynn, Massachusetts, scene (Maze frequently works with members of both), but with an Arizonan aesthetic.”
It’s also what Lewis describes as “a celebration of Arizona, packed with references to desert ecology, vision quests to the vortexes in Sedona and the cleansing rains of monsoon season.”
Grim Moses, ‘Skeletor’
Lewis writes that “much like frequent collaborator Maze Overlay, Grim Moses traffics in cerebral street rap… spitting hard-nosed raps over dusty, greyscale beats” while “rapping in a cold monotone that feels like holding eye contact for too long.” The album’s “heavy vibe,” he writes, “sounds almost post-apocalyptic, recasting the arid Sonoran Desert as a frozen tundra.”
Cash Lanksy, ‘Man of the House’
This Tucson rapper’s debut was singled out as “a grown, soulful take on the Arizona sound, much more indebted to the region’s reverence for lowrider oldies” with songs that “seem built for when the car show or park hang winds down, when brown liquor splashes into cups and lawn chairs sag with the weight of years.” It’s a “meditation on aging,” Lewis writes, “reaching back into his memories to assess the arc of his life so far” at times while offering “a stark take on existentialism, acknowledging that each choice one makes is a fork in the road.”
Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com.
Arizona
NAU launches first-of-its-kind engineering degree to fast-track Arizona’s future workforce – The NAU Review
As Arizona’s semiconductor and advanced manufacturing industries continue to grow at a rapid pace, Northern Arizona University’s Steve Sanghi College of Engineering is launching a new degree program designed to help meet the state’s workforce needs.
Beginning this fall, NAU will offer a Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology, a flexible, workforce-focused degree pathway that prepares students for careers in microelectronics, semiconductors and advanced manufacturing in as little as three years. The 90-credit bachelor’s degree creates a more accessible pathway into engineering careers through a hands-on, applied curriculum and a streamlined transfer model with Arizona community colleges.
The program follows a 45-45 completion structure, allowing students to complete 45 credits at a community college and 45 credits through NAU. Courses will be delivered through synchronous remote instruction at NAU’s North Valley campus in Phoenix and at Pima Community College in Tucson, increasing access for statewide students.
Addressing Arizona’s growing semiconductor workforce
Designed with workforce readiness in mind, the program emphasizes practical engineering application, systems implementation, testing, quality control, systems analysis, manufacturing, fabrication, process control and project management. Students will gain technical and problem-solving skills aligned with the needs of Arizona’s rapidly evolving manufacturing economy.
“This new bachelor’s degree empowers students to identify real-world engineering challenges and develop practical solutions,” said James Palmer, associate dean for academic affairs at the Steve Sanghi College of Engineering. “We are creating a more accessible pathway into engineering careers while preparing graduates to support Arizona’s growing microelectronics and semiconductor industry.”
Arizona has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing semiconductor hubs, with more than $200 billion in semiconductor-related investments announced in the Greater Phoenix region since 2020, including expansions from Intel, TSMC and Amkor Technology. TSMC alone has committed up to $165 billion toward Arizona operations, including multiple fabrication plants and advanced packaging facilities expected to create thousands of technical and manufacturing jobs.
Industry demand continues to grow for professionals with applied engineering and advanced manufacturing skills in areas such as process engineering, manufacturing systems, equipment operations and yield enhancement. NAU’s new degree program was developed to help students quickly enter these high-demand career fields while supporting Arizona’s long-term economic growth and domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity.
The program also aligns with NAU’s strategic commitment to expanding access to affordable, student-centered educational opportunities that prepare graduates for meaningful careers and long-term success.
Students interested in learning more about the Bachelor of Professional Studies in Engineering Technology program should contact SCE@nau.edu.
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republican congressmen running for Arizona governor pitched themselves at a debate Wednesday as the only candidate with broad enough voter appeal to unseat Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs amid the state’s affordability struggles.
U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, who is the GOP primary’s frontrunner and has the endorsement of President Donald Trump, portrayed himself as being able to cross party lines and having the right experience to be the state’s chief executive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind, if you look at the polling data that you’re going to find, I am the most competitive with Katie Hobbs of anybody on this stage in any Republican in the state,” Biggs said.
U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, who has survived three tough Democratic challenges in recent years, believes his focus on government finances and his drive to bring new business to the state make him the singular Republican candidate.
“These are wonderful people, but they’ve never actually been in the great battle,” Schweikert said of Biggs and two other Republican opponents.
Businessman Scott Neely, who ran an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2022, said after the debate that if Biggs wins the primary, Republicans will lose the election.
The winner of the July 21 primary will face Hobbs, who’s running unopposed in the primary.
Biggs has served five terms in the U.S. House, representing a heavily GOP district in the eastern Phoenix suburbs and serving at one time as chairman of the ultra-right U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
Before that, Biggs served in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 through 2016, including four years as president of the state Senate. He battled with then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on a Medicaid expansion in 2013 and pushed school choice measures and bills targeting abortion providers.
Biggs is one of Trump’s top defenders in Congress and supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Schweikert, a budget hawk known for railing against government debt, has represented an affluent district that includes parts of northeast Phoenix and Scottsdale for eight terms. He served in the Arizona House in the 1990s and as Maricopa County’s treasurer in the 2000s.
Schweikert has focused his congressional career on sounding the alarm about the federal budget deficit and the ballooning U.S. debt, often in late-night speeches to a nearly empty House chamber and bleary-eyed C-SPAN viewers. Schweikert has praised Trump’s 2017 tax cuts but has called for more spending cuts to reduce federal borrowing.
His reputation was tarnished by ethics scandals. In 2022, he received a $125,000 fine by the Federal Election Commission for misappropriating campaign funds. Two years prior, he agreed to pay a $50,000 fine and accept 11 campaign finance violations after an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Ethics. In his last three general campaigns for Congress, Schweikert staved off challenges from Democrats. Biggs voiced support for Arizona’s recent passage of a three-year moratorium on tax incentives for new data centers – a move Hobbs also has touted. “They shouldn’t be given a break,” Biggs said, noting the large amounts of power and water that data centers use.
Schweikert bemoaned Arizona’s unfavorable affordability rankings as “pretty miserable,” but said consumer prices don’t come down magically. He vowed to aggressively recruit businesses to Arizona and push for wage growth.
Both congressmen were asked about the expired healthcare subsidies for those getting coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
“We’re going to have to deal with the reality of subsidization of everything in the economy is not going to work,” Schweikert said.
Biggs said he introduced legislation in Congress to bring down healthcare costs and also voiced support for Trump’s proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit.
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