“Novocaine 132”
Benjamin Camp
Writer - The Flavor, The Rocket, The Stranger
Benjamin Camp, known as Novocaine 132, has chronicled Seattle’s hip-hop scene since the mid-1990s. A Seattle native and University of Washington graduate, he wrote for The Flavor, The Rocket, and The Stranger, documenting the city’s rap culture before it gained national attention. His work highlights the DJs, MCs, producers, and crews who built the foundation for artists like Sir Mix-A-Lot, the Emerald Street Boys, and later Macklemore.
In 2025, Camp published The Birth of Seattle Rap, a deeply researched history of the city’s early hip-hop movement. The book traces the shift from disco clubs to local rap innovators in the early 1980s, documenting the artists, parties, and forces that shaped Seattle’s identity before grunge. Across magazines, documentaries, and books, Camp is a key figure in preserving the history of Seattle hip-hop.
Photo by Rachel Crick at 3rd & Bell, Johnathan Moore’s former home studio
Transcript
In 1995, I was a 23-year-old columnist for The Flavor magazine.
On Wednesday, August 9th, I ventured to Rock Candy to see a rap show. The club was packed with hip-hop fans. The DJ was introduced as Vitamin D, and he scratched, "I'm feeling another part of reality" from Crooklyn Dodgers.
Then, a tall, imposing MC jumped up on stage, offering to freestyle battle anyone. A short man grabbed the mic to be the referee, but he wasn't neutral. He pulled a $20 bill out, waved it in the air, and said, "I got 20 bucks on my man, Blasé Blas." A skinny MC took the offer and got up to the stage.
The ref announced his name as B-Self, and the battle began.
They fought furiously, colliding like oil and water. Blasé's lyrics were the water, deep, elemental, oceanic, the source of life. Self's rhymes were the oil, quick, slippery, and prone to bust into flames.
It's funny, I don't remember who the ref crowned as the winner that night. I asked someone about the ref. "Oh, that's WordSayer," they told me. As fate would have it, WordSayer and I became close friends over the next few years, and I spent many unforgettable afternoons at his 3rd and Bell studio called the Lion's Den.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, Jerry Garcia became an ancestor that night.