THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING BLACK ART

For eight years, Crane City Music has promoted the vibrant Northwest hip-hop scene through writing, photos, record reviews, films, drawings, ’zines, playlists, events, and more. We’re focused on celebrating Washington’s Black voices, particularly those of women and queer artists. A list of these projects is here.

We’re committed to putting money and opportunity in the hands of local Black musicians. In 2017, we established a $25,000 not-for-profit arts fund to preserve some of Seattle’s favorite rap records on wax. This growing collection of albums is an essential listening library of present-day Seattle hip-hop for curious fans today and future generations tomorrow.

This direct investment in our local community has helped an ever-widening list of Seattle artists–including Kung Foo Grip, DoNormaal, Gifted Gab, Stas Thee Boss, Chong The Nomad, SassyBlack, Perry Porter, Dave B, Da Qween, AJ Suede and Specswizard–reap new financial benefits from their music and their art.

To decide where and how this money is spent, we listen to our community of Black artists, writers, and friends. The wise counsel of these trusted advisors shapes the direction of the record label and helps to decide which projects are funded.

Once a project is selected, we collaborate closely with the artists to produce a one-time, deluxe vinyl edition. We don’t buy masters. Everyone gets paid and artists retain full ownership of their music. And we do it for the culture: Our records have liner notes!

Crane City Music does not profit from this music. We believe in shared success. We donate 10% of every sale to charities and groups assisting the Black community. Any other monies that we earn from selling vinyl are then fed back into the arts fund to be invested into future projects.

The Crane City Music vinyl collection is intended to secure an essential listening library of present-day Seattle hip-hop music for future generations. If you feel there is more we can do to fulfill our mission, please let us know how we can do more.

There are currently eleven records in the collection. Our most-recently funded projects include:

You can shop the whole collection here: