The Audacity of Dope

You should be. Mick is yet another dope MC from Chicago that’s been putting it down for a few years now. I first heard of him in ’03 I think, and I’ve been checking him out ever since. Dude is nice with it. Recently, he’s been all over the blogs and his buzz is real high right now. If you’re sleeping, here are a few dope recent joints to peep:

The United Centa (Mick Luter, Big Wiz, Rashid Hadee) – “Under The Act”
Mick Luter – “Someday” (Prod. by 1120)
Mick Luter – “Dayz of our Lives” (Prod. by Buckwild)
Mick Luter feat. Element – “Game Recognize Game”
CNC feat. Mick Luter – “Touch the Sky”
Mick Luter – “J-Down” (Produced by Hi-Tek)
Mick Luter – “How we Raised”

That first one is especially intriguing to me, since I’m also a huge Rashid Hadee fan. They’ve formed a group called The United Centa along with Big Wiz, so be on the lookout for anything dropping under that name. Also be sure to check out his upcoming mixtape, The Lesson, dropping on Tuesday…

Chyea, you know how we do.

The media studies major in me instantly noticed that they have him smiling at his much talked about flag pin.  I’m sure the haters will (incorrectly) try to twist that into some sort of “he’s LOL’ing at America!!!!” criticism, but I think it represents something else.  Even though he “gave in” and donned the pin, he’s smiling at how silly politics are in our country.  The fact that whether or not you wear a pin dominates headlines for months, while America turns into the Titanic says a whole lot about our society.  If we continue to concern ourselves with trivial ish, we’re gonna sink.  It’s time to educate ourselves, study the issues, and vote for the candidate we believe in.  Aight?

The homies Dyme Def just dropped their new project, the 3 Bad Brothaaas mixtape, and it’s free to download. Some of the best hip-hop from the town is provided by Brain, SEV, Fearce, and Bean, so check it out and see what life’s like here in the 206.

Dyme Def – 3 Bad Brothaaas

What up fellas!

If y’all ain’t up on the Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle, you really should be. Not only is it an incredible event, but it’s the brainchild of my Sound Session co-host, J. Moore, and the homies Jake One, Vitamin D, DV-One, and Marcus Lalario. In essence, the idea is to emulate and update a traditional ‘sound-clash’ by pitting 2 producers against each other in a head to head beat battle. You play your beat, he plays his. Repeat. Then the crowd picks the winner. Pretty simple right?

The program runs in multiple cities over the summer, taking the top 2 finishers in every region to the final round at the end of the year. Last year, Sabzi (of Blue Scholars & Common Market) won the title here in Seattle. This year, Philadelphia, Oakland, and Houston have already represented, and Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, DC, and Los Angeles are on deck. The finals will be held in NYC in December. Producers looking to get involved can apply on the Big Tune website.

Yesterday, The Smoking Section wrote a dope piece on the event with a few videos wrapping up Philly and Oakland. Check out the feature right here.  Big tings a gwan!

Yo. This is the illest thing I’ve seen all week! This dude combined Barack, Breakin’, and “Din Daa Daa.” It simply does not get better.

If you’re not familiar with one of the greatest songs of all time, peep it:

George Kranz – “Din Daa Daa”

It’s been sampled by the Roots, Wyclef, Ying Yang Twins, and more.

Shout to my man Gedi for sending this over.

*pops & locks his way out the post*

Aight, I’ve been slippin on the WLotD’s recently, but this one should make up for it.  Today’s wack lyric is everything associated with the crapfest that is this song.  In the words of Keith, “today’s…worst…song…in the wooooooooorld“:

The Worst Song You’ve Ever Heard

I’m not even going to name the artist or song title.  I can’t believe someone blasted this out as a serious song with the comment, “play this at let out for your club.”  No.  Die.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this ish is mad profane.  So for those of y’all who hit me up with “ewwwwwwwww”…yeah, my bad hahaha.

Since Kanye was liberated, he’s been dedicating a bunch of posts to random women on his blog.  This is one I support wholeheartedly.

I think I’ll keep posting workout stuff until I can convince one of our Seattle readers to come check out the free crossfit workout at 11 AM on Saturdays @ Foundation Fitness.  Then I won’t jam up the blog with the CF workouts I try, since I know some of y’all will get all pissy if I don’t keep this music related.  Then again, this is my world and music’s only a small part of it.  We’ll see.  Anyway, last night’s workout was “Fight Gone Bad” (check the video above for an explanation of each station).

3 rounds, one-minute stations for reps, one-minute rest between rounds:
wall ball, 16lbs
sumo dead lift high pull, 70lbs
box jump, 20″
push press, 65lbs
row (count calories)

Add up every rep you complete (and every calorie for the row) and that’s your final score.  I got 235.  Next goal will be 240.  Try this one out if you can, it’s a crazy workout.  Plus it only takes 20 minutes!  Can’t beat that right?

If you can’t try it in your current gym, seek out your nearest crossfit spot.  Seattle people, holler @ me if you want to come to Foundation Fitness sometime.  We had Ricky Pharoe get hooked recently and DV-One will be checking it out soon.  Official Seattle hip-hop workouts, son.  Don’t be squishy for the summer.

I don’t condone violence against anyone, but that’s not what this video is really about. As Seed noted, Soulja Boy “is the poster boy for this dumb ish.” Fact.  Also a fact?  The hip-hop world was garbage for spending all of last week focusing on Young Buck crying and Soulja Boy beefing with Ice-T.  Seriously.  This is where we’re at?  Really?

Thank you to Bad Seed for sayin’ something.  Plus you get a nice bonus video of “Mr. Policeman,” speaking on everyone’s favorite city workers.

Swiped from the QN5 blog.

In honor of hanging out with one of my favorite dudes in the industry the other night, I thought I’d toss up a sample from one of his classic beats.  It’s also a really dope song by itself.  Alicia flipped this on her last album too (the joint where she put Amy on notice that the retro soul market isn’t hers alone) and I’m bout to post a new song that uses it again.  Timeless.

Wendy Rene – “After Laughter (Comes Tears)”