Alexei Saba Mohajerjasbi (born December 10, 1981), better known by his stage name Sabzi, is an American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

producer and DJ from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, who is currently based in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He is a founding member of

indie hip hop Underground hip hop (also known as underground rap or simply underground) traditionally refers to hip hop music that is outside the general mainstream canon or counter-cultural in nature, usually with a heavy emphasis on emotion, lyricism, and/or ...

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 the University of Washington. The name "Blue Scholar ...

Common Market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of ...

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 and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

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 Ryan Abeo better known by his stage name RA Scion, is an American alternative hip hop artist from Louisville, Kentucky. He is currently based in Seattle, Washington. Abeo is a member of the hip hop group Common Market along with DJ/ Producer Sab ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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, and it becam ...

, 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 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...

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 unconv ...

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, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Sabzi collaborated with

Kelsey Bulkin Kelsey Bahiyyih Bulkin (born March 25, 1985) is an American 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 the duo, Made in Heights, alongs ...

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 Slurry, slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically Pip ...

. 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) is a Class C1 high school radio station based in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's oldest, still remaining, dance music station. C89.5 offers a hybrid of current-based EDM product and Rhythmic Top 40 remixes, as well as ...

, 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.

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 t ...

- "In This Together" from ''

Lovework Lovework, is the critically acclaimed debut Hiphop album by Gabriel Teodros, released February 27, 2007 on MassLine Media. Overview Aesthetically and politically, ''Lovework'' descends from a mid-'90s school of conscious Northwest hip hop, chara ...

'' (2007) *

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist rele ...

- "The Town (Sabzi Remix)" from '' The Unplanned Mixtape'' (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 t ...

'' (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 music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

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. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{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)