Same Thesis, new leitmotifs

A little over 13 months ago, DJ Verbz—birth name Grant Stolle—was hanging with me on an early West Coast Sojourn podcast. The forecast for Verbz’ ground-breaking, career-shaping hip hop showcase The Thesis was as shaky as I’ve ever heard it:

I’ll be completely honest about it. Portland has been through a lot in the last four years. For awhile, every single time they would do an editorial on Portland and the problems that we facing, a lot of it would focus on what they’re calling “the open-air drug market” — and that was happening literally across the street from our venue.

So much is wrong on Earth, circa 2025. And I wish that open-air market well in all of its future endeavors. But the The Thesis has moved on and is now a get-down at Lollipop Shoppe, formerly Dig-A-Pony.

Something is right in the world.

Verbz is the main reason I respected Macklemore.

Established downtown on a First Thursday in 2014, Stolle and co-founder Mac Smiff’s invention quickly became the showcase for seeing up-and-coming local rap talent. Most of Portland’s biggest talents of the last decade have played The Thesis, as have the artists you don’t see: Those talents just move to LA and to Europe and New York and low-key write and power the production of this still-ascendant artistic form.

Is The Thesis the most important hip hop development since Ebro skipped town?

Really into what I’m doing? Contribute to the WCS travel budget.

Near the end of our talk, there’s a bit of Verbz raving about Thursday’s headliner, Victoria Yabut.

Wish I was in town for “The Shesis.”