“I love Portland, Oregon. I’ve never left… Well to get technical, I lived in Eugene for 6 months but tried my hardest to turn it into Northeast Portland. From The Ellingtons to the Yards, to a basement in St. John’s to an apartment in Sullivan Gulch, to a house with amazing bones off Lombard and Williams where my landlord never raised the rent in six years. To a house in east Tabor and a house off 42nd and Killingsworth. To my parent’s home on NE 14th. I know the rhythm of this city better than any beat I’ve ever rapped to.

I dream sometimes of being a tour guide for the city, taking my group to Taste Tickler and telling them they can’t make any alterations to the sandwich. I’d take them to Mike Knight’s court and then up to Irving. Then a blindfold taste test of the Popeyes off Fremont on MLK vs. the one off Ainsworth on MLK. I’d hand them off to a friend who is well versed in the North, as we venture west down Rosa Parks by the bluffs.

This place is far from perfect. I hear transplants complain about the houseless crisis, the crime, the drugs. I hear the privileged white transplants complain about how “white” the city is. These things are probably all true to some varying degree or another.

For me it’s The W+K types that still scare me. The “alt newspapers” don’t talk about local art anymore. The Doug Fir is closing. The dives I like don’t stay open as late since the pandemic. Fucking the hotcake house isn’t even 24 hours anymore.

But it’s still the best city to walk around in. Has the best Thai food and bar food or really any food of any city I’ve been to. Ed is still the Mayor of Broadway. $poon is still dropping albums. The Blazers still suck but there is still hope. I’ll stick with Portland through the good, the bad and the ugly, and everything in-between.”
– MILC