The Audacity of Dope

Told y’all these were coming. They’re gonna be dope…real relaxed and fun. I recommend checking one out in your area, and if you’re ballin’ and want to open up your house to host one yourself, definitely do so. It’s real easy and you’ll have a ton of help making it happen. Seattle people can holler at me directly if you’re interested in getting involved. For everyone else, you can find all the info here.

Yeah, just like the Fest post, a little late…but this is important so it goes on TAOD. Plus, Barack’s my new boss. Holler @ me if you or your friends need to register or need anything from the campaign here in Seattle. We’ll make that happen with the quickness. “Unite For Change” house parties are coming up on the 28th! Save the date.

Can’t wait for this dude to be President.

(“must be niiiiiiice” – Lyfe Jennings)

This joint was all over the web today, and it’s easily the hottest track of the week. Two of the best artists in their respective genres collaborating = instant classic.

John Legend ft. Andre3000 – “Green Light”

Absolute flames. Err…no pun :/

Damn, I wish I spotted this earlier. One of the best dudes in this crazy industry (plus one of the best MC’s), the homey Rhymefest, recently contributed to a book called Be A Father. On June 2nd, they held a release party for it in which Fest and his son Solomon interviewed each other, posing 5 questions that they’ve never asked one another. Andrew from FSD posted up a few video clips of the event that you can watch here, but I thought the last 2 were particularly moving:

(Part 3)

(Part 4)

Very dope. I hope more dads in our culture get their ish together and provide the love and support that Fest does for Solomon.

As an added bonus for y’all, here’s the Sound Session intro that Fest did a while back:

Rhymefest – “Sunday Night Sound Session Intro”

(i felt the same way)

This is just sad. One of my favorite singers out there just dropped a new joint. Swiped from 2DopeBoyz:

Musiq – “Radio”

Nothing more disappointing than hearing an artist you really dig make a blatant attempt to fit in with a popular sound. It’s so far from his style, it’s ridiculous. Hopefully this won’t end up being the first single from his next project.

J. Moore and I were just talking about this topic the other day, and Jay Smooth happened to repost an old video of his for Current TV recently. As always, dude is on point. I feel sorry for kids today, judging music off a cursory listen of an unmastered song squeaking through laptop speakers. [McCain] that’s not music we can believe in my friends [/McLame]

Be sure to peep Jay’s blog!

This is old and happened way before TAOD was up and running, but it’s ill and Kanye just blogged it, so I thought I’d share. Neo Fukuoka built a fully function version of the motorcycle from the legendary Akira anime movie. I think I watched it for the first time in 4th grade and it was an instant classic. If you never made the connection, the cover of my last mixtape (I know…I haven’t put one out in ages…I’m trying to find time for Vol. 7) was based off the Akira cover. Shout to Adi & Nabs for the help on that!

(download the mixtape here)

More dope pics of the bike over at Yeezy’s.

Weezy fans must hate me for using him as a WLotD entry so often, but it’s kinda like the car theft statistics: Honda Civics are always stolen the most because they’re so many of ’em. So yeah, Wayne clearly has talent…but when you’re releasing 5 new verses a day, and you’re already starting to enter your Eminem Encore phase, it’s just a perfect storm. Sorry.

“Never been a sucker, metal in the duffle/I’m all about my chips, I gets my Ruffles”
–Lil’ Wayne, “Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin’ (Remix)”

Yes! Another episode of Phonte and Brainchild’s always entertaining podcast, Gordon Gartrell Radio (I love that they made ID’s and a logo for this…greatness). I haven’t had time to listen to it yet, but here’s Tay’s description of the episode:

Phonte reflects on Father’s Day by saluting the greatest sitcom daddies of all time*, explaining the difference between a father and a daddy, and by giving the 2008 Ed O.G. “Be A Father To Your Child” Award to a worthy recipient.

*Phonte would like everyone to know that he discovered later on that Alan Thicke did not sing the “Growing Pains” and “Diff’rent Strokes” theme songs, but he did co-write them!

1. Nicolay “Body
2. Xscape “The Softest Place On Earth”
3. Jon B “They Don’t Know”
4. Ginuwine “I’ll Do Anything / I’m Sorry”
5. Angie Stone “Wish I Didn’t Miss You”
6. Mpho Skeef “What Hearts Share”
7. Atjazz “Put It On” (feat. Ernesto) (Osunlade Remix)
8. Spymusic “Din Daa Daa”
9. Little Brother “Do It To Death” (Instrumental)
10. Darien Brockington “He Will Break Your Heart” (Instrumental)
11. Khrysis “Sunflower’s Lament”
12. Foreign Exchange “Von Sees” (Instrumental)
13. Idle Warship “Fall Back” (feat. Chester French)
14. Masta Ace Incorporated “Born To Roll”
15. Kidz In The Hall “Drivin’ Down The Block” (feat. Pusha T. Bun B & The Cool Kids) (Remix)
16. Clipse “Ride Around Shinin’”
17. Ghostface Killah “Nutmeg”
18. Zo! “Time Table”
19. Stephanie Mills & Teddy Pendergrass “Two Hearts”

Download here.

Props to Tay for the “Be A Father To Your Child” reference. We kicked off Sound Session with that last night…I’m working on getting the audio of our last show up for y’all ASAP.  Happy belated Father’s Day to all the dads out there.

(ahh, the good ol’ days)

Already been working crazy hard with this Obama campaign stuff…and it just started! It’s gonna be a rough six weeks, but I got this. I was listening to this joint in the ride today and part of the second verse really stuck with me…

“..Needed to chill and take a rest stop/Cause my job got me slavin’ like I’m Dred Scott/Take a break? Nah n***a, you bett’ not/Cause that’s when the respect stops/Energy drained, I need a blast like Hi-Tek got…”

I feel that. Here’s the original:

Bobby Womack – “And I Love Her”

(sidenote, the guys in the last Sample Vault also flipped this for an unreleased song produced by Ayatollah. There’s another usage that I can’t recall right now too…the part from :28 to :44 ish…if anyone knows, leave a comment)