This Saturday on Beacon Hill, The Station hosts their Fifth Anniversary Block Party, and you won’t find a better expression of funky, hyperlocalized culture in Seattle. Unlike the well-publicized block party of a certain hilltop neighborhood to the north, this one is free and there are no corporate sponsors, wristbands, VIP lounges or cattle-pen fences keeping people out. All the performers on the bill have close ties to the café at the ‘hood’s hub. The vibe is welcoming, multilingual and grass-rooted in hip-hop.

Unfortunately, The Station’s block was recently sold to a developer who will most certainly demolish it. Owner Luis Rodriguez says they’re hoping to move into one of the retail spaces in Plaza Roberto Maestas, the mixed-use affordable housing complex currently under construction across the street. Rodriguez intends this—perhaps final?—block party as “a platform to let people know that change is happening and to say thank you to the community and celebrate the last five years of being here.”

I’ve written before about my adopted neighborhood and the locally-owned businesses that make it a viable and welcoming place, but I’m a newbie here. Rapper/writer Gabriel Teodros has lived on Beacon Hill most of his life, and he’s witnessed firsthand the changes disrupting his surroundings in the past few years. He pointed out in a recent interview about “the G word” that the new light rail stations are all underground until you hit Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, a telling allocation of land and civic resources. Indeed, the light rail station on Beacon Hill bumped out mainstay restaurant South China and it’s now flanked by a shiny new housing complex with a fancypants rival coffee shop (we don’t go there).

Against this backdrop of displacement and reinvention, I asked Teodros a few questions about his community and the block party he’s helping to organize.

Can you explain how this whole scene formed around The Station? What’s the vibe there that draws in all these different artists and activists?

I think there’s a big difference between the words “scene” and “community” and what The Station is, is more of a gathering place for community. Luis and Leona have just been friends and family with a lot of artists in the city for years before The Station even opened, and their first employee was DJ and producer WD4D. It’s not magic… it’s just real people who look out for each other and care about this place where we live. Also the fact that so many artists have actually been employed by The Station over the years has a lot to do with it. In addition to WD4D, Spekulation, Rob Castro, JusMoni and Khingz all have worked there at one point.

Tell me about the lineup and what you’re excited about.

I’m excited about the whole lineup, especially all the collaborations between artists that are in store! I’m also especially excited about seeing the younger artists taking the stage: JusMoni, who is one of my favorite singer/songwriters in the city; Dex Amora and SendaiERA, who remind me how bright the future of lyricism in our city is; and Youth Speaks Seattle, who always nurture some of the bravest voices. I’m excited about seeing Spyc-E take the stage… every time I’ve seen her perform it felt like some part of me got healed just by listening. I’m excited about seeing Khazm perform songs from his upcoming project that’s been years in the works, excited about Julie C‘s chops and Paolo Escobar‘s soul, I’m always excited about more people learning about Son Jarocho music via The Seattle Fandango Project and of course I’m excited about sharing a stage again with Khingz (of OTOW Gang) and Prometheus Brown! It’ll be good medicine all around.

You filmed a recent video at the big Black Lives Matter protest. How has the movement affected your music?

It’s interesting, because the whole album (Evidence Of Things Not Seen) was written, recorded and mastered before last summer, but we waited six months to release since I had another album (Children Of The Dragon) that was already being released last spring. But the content of the Evidence album in general, and the song “Greeny Jungle” in particular, sounded like we wrote it after everything in Ferguson took place. It just goes to show you how long these issues we’re talking about have been going on. At the beginning of the song there’s a sample of James Baldwin talking from sometime in the 1960’s… and everything he’s saying then is still as relevant as something we could be saying next year. Only time will tell how the movement has affected my music. I can tell you now the impact on my life has been huge.

The way the video came together for “Greeny Jungle” was also a community process. It started from a small group of organizers saying, “We want to see a video of people dancing in front of these riot cops,” to me bringing that idea back to the people I work with as a request, and it just kind of grew and transformed from there. I always say that video is something the whole city of Seattle made, more than just something me and my friends did. It’s also been dope hearing how after the video that song became certain peoples’ anthem, whose work in the streets is something I look at in complete awe and admiration.

You’re a lifetime Beacon Hill resident. How does your activism work intersect with repping your hood? How does a newbie like me help preserve the qualities of the neighborhood that brought me here?

I know I do a lot of things that I guess could be considered “activism work” but I don’t really want to do anything that isn’t rooted and informed by the places and communities I’m from and by the people of whatever space I happen to be taking up at the time. So to answer both questions, because as much as I’m rooted in Beacon Hill, I’m also a traveling musician which makes me a transient through more changing neighborhoods than I can count… I think it’s all about learning from the people who came before you, and taking real direction from people who are Indigenous to the land you’re standing on.

What are their struggles? I have a lot to learn here too. How does our presence in this place affect the people who have been here decades, centuries and millennia before us? Who is investing in the people of a place, and who is investing in a place because they just see a potential profit? How and with whom do we spend our resources? Do you talk to and get to know your neighbors? Do you actually know anyone who grew up where you live? Do you feel safer talking to your neighbors or do you feel safer calling the police? If you are a person who lives anywhere and you feel safer calling the police over talking to your neighbors, I’m gonna say you should just move immediately for the safety of everyone involved.

What’s next?

I’ve got my first published short story in the anthology Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements in bookstores everywhere now and this summer I’m helping to lead a teen Hip-Hop Artist Residency at the EMP Museum alongside Erica Merritt. In general this summer is gonna be all about healing and building restorative practices. There might be another album at the end of it… maybe. I like to surprise people.

The Station’s Fifth Anniversary Block Party happens this Saturday, June 20 from 2-9 p.m.