Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi (born December 10, 1981), better known by his stage name Sabzi, is an American hip hop producer and DJ from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, who is currently based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He is a founding member of indie hip hop groups

Blue Scholars Blue Scholars is an American hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington, created in 2002 while the members, DJ Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) and MC Geologic (George Quibuyen), were students at University of Washington. The name "Blue Scholars" is ...

Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

and Made In Heights.

Early years

Sabzi's first and current collaboration,

, was formed with George Quibuyen (Geologic), whom he met at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

where they were students. They both belonged to the student group S.H.O.W. (the Student HipHop Organization of Washington). Blue Scholars soon become a Seattle hip hop staple, and declared itself a group dedicated to forward thinking and youth empowerment. In 2004, Sabzi began working with solo artist RA Scion on his album ''Live and Learn''. By October 2005, the two had released a self-titled album as the duo

. The group found success, as Scion contributed questions about religion, politics and the state of mainstream hip-hop to Sabzi's beats. While there are overt similarities between Blue Scholars and Common Market, the two groups have distinct differences, and "their styles seem to be diverging more". In 2009, he moved from his West Coast roots to the center of East Coast hip hop,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. When asked about the move by

Seattle Weekly The ''Seattle Weekly'' is an alternative biweekly distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as ''The Weekly.'' Its first issue was published on March 31, 1976. The newspaper ...

, he said "A lot of it had to do logistically with the people that I'm collaborating

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

now, some creatively, some more on the business end of things" (in reference to his work with

Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconven ...

and what became ''Made In Heights'' in 2010). When asked about the possibility of doing a solo album, his reply was "absolutely".Interview: Sabzi (of Blue Scholars) , The Find Magazine
/ref> He ended up releasing four solo albums in 2011-2012.

Musical career

Sabzi most known work is in the name of his several groups, but he has also released many solo albums as well. Having relocated to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Sabzi collaborated with

Kelsey Bulkin Kelsey Bahiyyih Bulkin (born March 25, 1985 in Encinitas, California) is a singer and musician based in Los Angeles, California formerly based in Oakland, California. She is best known for her work as singer and songwriter of duo Made in Heigh ...

as ''Made In Heights''. Made In Heights did a 14-stop tour in the US and Canada in September–October, 2014. Their second album, ''Without My Enemy What Would I Do'', was released in May 2015. In the span of 2010-2013, Sabzi released fourteen solo albums.

Popular culture

Sabzi has a cousin, Dhabih Eng, who works as an artist for

Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...

. In Valve's electronic game, '' Half-Life 2: Episode Two'', the Blue Scholars' name can be seen on the front of several radio boxes throughout the game along with the radio station "FM 89.50". It is also on an audio receiver in Kleiner's lab, above the camera screens. 89.5 FM is a reference to the frequency of Seattle's WA radio station

KNHC-FM KNHC (89.5 FM broadcasting, FM) is a List of broadcast station classes#FM, Class C1 high school radio station based in Seattle, Seattle, Washington. It is the world's oldest, still remaining, dance music station. C89.5 offers a hybrid of current ...

, one of the few radio stations in the country that is run entirely by high school students, in this case by the students of

Nathan Hale High School Nathan Hale High School may refer to: * Nathan Hale High School (Oklahoma), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Washington), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Wisconsin), United States * Nathan Hale-Ray High School, Connecticut ...

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Ciné Riddims'' (2010) * ''Parthenia'' (2011) * ''Ravena'' (2011) * ''Dakota'' (2011) * ''The Maplewood Playfield'' (2011) * ''Glorious Melancholia'' (2011) * ''Tobacco, 1'' (2011) * ''Tobacco, 2'' (2011) * ''Northwest Polynesia'' (2012) * ''Brief Lives'' (2012) * ''Rainier'' (2012) * ''Delridge'' (2012) * ''Yesler'' (2012) * ''EXIT 163A'' (2012) * ''Soufend'' (2013) * ''the wøøds'' (2013)

Made In Heights

* ''Winter Pigeons (Songs To Raise Your Dead Spirits'') (2010) * ''Made in Heights'' (2013) * ''Without My Enemy What Would I Do'' (2015)

Production

*Native Guns - "1995" from ''Barrel Guns'' (2006) *

Gabriel Teodros Gabriel Teodros (born 1981), is a hip hop artist and a member of the groups Abyssinian Creole and CopperWire. He was raised on Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington. Teodros' music often features socially conscious themes, and he was a catalyst in ...

- "In This Together" from '' Lovework'' (2007) *

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewi ...

- "The Town (Sabzi Remix)" from ''

The Unplanned Mixtape Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lew ...

'' (2009) *

- "Who's That? Brooown!" from ''

Shut Up, Dude ''Shut Up, Dude'' is the first mixtape by American hip hop trio Das Racist. It was released as a free download by Greedhead Music and Mishka on March 29, 2010. Music videos A music video was created for "Who's That? Brooown!". The video linked to ...

'' (2010) *

- "All Tan Everything" from '' All Tan Everything'' (2010) *The Bar - "Slow Down (Yavesh Remix)" from ''Prometheus Brown and Bambu Walk Into A Bar'' (2011) *Grynch - "My Volvo (Sabzi Remix)" from ''Timeless (EP)'' (2011) *Fresh Daily – "Pregamin" from ''The Brooklyn Good Guy'' (2012)

References

External links

Official Website

Sabzi
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Sabzi
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabzi, Dj 1981 births Living people Alternative hip hop musicians American Bahá'ís American hip hop groups Underground hip hop producers American people of Iranian descent Musical groups from Seattle Youth empowerment people 20th-century Bahá'ís 21st-century Bahá'ís 2002 establishments in Washington (state)