It's Halloween, and if you're stuck for costume ideas, I got you. If you live in a predominantly white area—aka anywhere within The Stranger's area of circulation—the scariest look this season is the young black male. Trust me, I rock this look all the time, and there's nothing like that spark of shock, that quick start, as the elevator door opens—or the slightly closed chest, shoulders hunched, eyes down fear-shuffle as you pass on the sidewalk. Get creative with it though—this year, I'm going trick-or-treating up and down Pike/Pine as the dreaded "Somali gangbanger." (The only issue with that is all the people up there dressed up as police, which freaks me the fuck out, seeing as "those people," in their endless war on us, kill a black man every 28 hours in America. Still, I'm very sorry to hear about your iPhone.) Okay, totally just kidding, y'all—dressing up as cruel stereotypes of other races is already a well-known practice in predominantly white areas.

Scary Negroes and the people who love them (or just believe they have a right to breathe), have I got a couple things for you this Thursday, October 29. First, there's the Black Weirdo party at Chop Suey, my absolute favorite night whenever it happens in Seattle—DJs this edition include Stas THEE Boss and Sassy Black from BW founders THEESatisfaction, OCnotes, Riz Rollins, Sharlese, and Mr. Melanin*. That's where I'll be, safe and secure, because that same night, Tech N9ne will be at the Showbox SoDo with Krizz Kaliko—which of course scares the shit outta me, 'cuz face paint.

On Halloween proper, THEESatisfaction play Neumos's free Adult Funplex party with a million DJs: dj100proof, The Dip, DJ Beeba, DJ Swervewon, Jeff Hawk, Jack the Sipper, and Bloody Mary. Beast Coasters Flatbush Zombies and The Underachievers, who, finding strength in numbers, have come together as Clockwork Indigo, will be at the Showbox (original recipe) on November 2. On the 3rd, in that same room, Method Man and Redman burn trees and walk on faces, with Cypress Hillebrity B-Real, Girl Scout Cookie monster Berner, and my current favorite from Chicago, Mick Jenkins, in support roles.

"Lets talk about this shit as men; you was dunking on 8, let's raise the rim back to 10." Swish: I got a preview copy of Tacoma MC Bruce Leroy's latest release 10'—his first music since his terrifically breezy 2013 single "Coolin'"—and from the get it was jumpin' like Julius Erving. From the jazz poetry intro to the sucka-belittling title track that caps the proceedings, this is ten tracks of deeply satisfying meat and potatoes hiphop—cloth-napkin compound-butter steakhouse shit. Over beats from Tragedy Jones, JUSTADDWTR, CymBeats, and Silong, Leroy spits with a well-roundedness that's damn near vintage—there are moments that evoke Common's classic Resurrection—but with very West Coast, 2014 street edge that's way more OG and self-assured than any pill-popping new-nigga nihilism. It's the welcome presence of soul as opposed to the emo, I'm-so-dead-inside shit—'cuz goddamn, it can't always be Halloween.