Beats By Portland Vol. 1

Beats By Portland, Vol. 1 - A Portland hip-hop mixtape. Design by David Greenwald/The Oregonian, photo by Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian.

Portland hip-hop is having a moment.

Tope drew blog notice across the country with "Broke Boy Syndrome." Illmaculate started dropping a new song every week. Cool Nutz just released an album brewed up by Stumptown producers. And wherever you turn, Portland producers and MCs are stepping their games up, whether it's with compelling visuals or SoundCloud fire.

Here, I've gathered the best tracks from the first quarter of this year (and 2014: couldn't leave out Myke Bogan) in a compilation intended to be listened to from front to back. Some of these songs are in our running Portland 2015 playlist, but it felt like time to give them a little more shine. Yes, Portland's still a long way from New York, L.A. or Atlanta, but if you've been sleeping on the city, it's time to roll over, snooze the alarm and turn this mixtape up.

-- David Greenwald

dgreenwald@oregonian.com

503-294-7625; @davidegreenwald