Posted in Artists, Mixtapes on September 23rd, 2008 by Hyphen
Even though Crook has been leaking these tracks individually, the time has come for the official tape to drop. Dude is a beast on the mic and also real nice in person. If you haven’t checked him out killing it on Sound Session a few months ago, peep a few freestyles here and here.
The Block Obama + The Audacity of Dope = a sure thing. Download this tape ASAP.
Intro
Rappers Ain’t Sh*t
A Millie Freestyle prod. by Komplex
Trafficin’ Green
I’m Cold ft. G Malone and Hard Head
Hood Politics
Straightin’ it Out ft. Sauce da Boss
Hard on da Blvd
Stronger Freestyle
Circle Gnag ft. Horse Shoe Gang prod. by Jim Gettum
Posted in Artists, Videos on September 23rd, 2008 by Hyphen
Y’all remember how these work? Cop Jake’s White Van Music NOW. And if you don’t want to pause it at the very end, here are the details of the contest:
The homies Naledge and Double-O team up with Estelle for the newest video off The In Crowd. Dope track, dope visuals, dope ladies. See, it is possible to get good music on TRL. Well, that is, before TRL died.
Seattle people: The Kidz will be here with Murs on October 11th @ Nectar. Saturday night…no excuses…be there.
Posted in Artists, Mixtapes on September 23rd, 2008 by Hyphen
Whoo, this is super fresh. Plus, since I’m working 3 jobs at the moment (“3 jobs mon!” – In Living Color skit), I definitely appreciate when people send me dope stuff along with a great description. Naledge, take it away:
“Welcome To Brainiac Society is a compilation or collection of music that I like, and that I might have made or contributed to. There’s no real rhyme or reason to it. I think a lot of people got confused when I started repping Brainiac Society as my crew or my label cause I think a lot of people took it as a separation from Kidz In The Hall, which is not what it is. It’s just me giving a platform to people that I like, and I want it to be looked at moreso as a Native Tongues type of thing than as a Bad Boy type of thing. It’s just a group of people that make dope music and appreciate the artistry of Hip Hop and doesn’t have to necessarily mean they are rappers. They can sing, they can make beats, DJ, whatever. It’s about the creative renaissance that’s going on within Hip Hop all over the nation. These are people that I met in my travels who I feel are dope and they inspire me. We just get together and we collectively make art…It’s also a platform for me to put out Fooch who is my artist. It’s no departure from Kidz In The Hall. Me and Double O are such creative beings in general, that we don’t know how to operate without 30 things going on at once. We’re very much multi-taskers and we’ve always been that way. We try to have our hands in everything.
RTC mixed it, it’s got new freestyles, some exclusive stuff, some stuff that’s been leaked on the internet, stuff that you might have forgot existed or never had or never downloaded on a a CD. My hope with this is that people will download it, burn it to a CD, and just play it, or add it as a playlist to their ipod. That’s really what it is, just a dope mix, a dope collection of music. Talented individuals on all fronts, and I’m really excited about it.”
Featuring artists like Pacific Division, Fooch, Tanya Morgan, The Cool Kids, Skyzoo, 6th Sense, Wale, Naledge himself, and more, you know this is dope. Back cover and download link after the jump. Huge shout to Alex over at Ruby Hornet for putting this together!
“When you say you want beef, then I got ya boy/
I just let the Big Mac, Whop-a-boy/
See my dreads hangin’ like a, like a rasta boy/
F*ck with my rasta and I turn into Mufasa boy/
We run up in ya casa boy/
And blast off like NASA boy”
–Lil’ Wayne, “S On My Chest”
Aside from that horrible Whopper reference, the individual lines aren’t super wack. Combine ’em in a verse however, and you’re in WLotD.
Posted in News, Politics on September 22nd, 2008 by Hyphen
In case you need more information after part one, check out the video above.
Here are some key elements of Barack’s plan:
A $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families with high fuel costs right now while putting $50 billion into job creation to get our economy back on track.
Families making less than $250,000 a year will get a tax cut three times larger than under John McCain’s plan and will face absolutely no tax increases.
While John McCain has voted against raising the minimum wage 19 times, Barack would raise the minimum wage and set it to rise automatically with inflation.
Invest $15 billion a year in green energy research to reduce our economy’s dependence on foreign oil and create 5 million American jobs a year.
Anyone still want to argue a lack of substance? [Big L] Aight then [/Big L]. Can we focus on who is best on the issues that actually matter? McCain and the Republicans are simply on the wrong side of history in 2008 and we can’t let them steal this election by clouding the public consciousness with idiocy. Be smart and rise above that.
Another week, another dope edition of Sound Session. I feel like Puff circa ’97, “can’t stop, won’t stop…eh eh.” Alongside great new music from an eclectic mix of artists like Robin Thicke, Devin The Dude, Little Brother, Janelle Monae, and more, we debuted new singles from Black Milk and Diamond D. We also ran a few crazy remixes: Diplo’s Dade County 1988 mix of John Legend‘s “Green Light” and Tonedeff’s innovative interpretation of Kanye’s “Love Lockdown.” Lastly, joining us in studio was Cook Classics, an up and coming producer from Los Angeles who brought with him new joints featuring TiRon, Ayomari, Avriel Epps, and Knox. Be on the lookout for all those names in the near future (if not the present) as L.A.’s indie scene is on fire.
Oh, and we had some guy named Common on the show too. Peep the post below for more information on that and be sure to check out the full version of the interview through one of the links.
Show #173 (9-21-08)
Robin Thicke ft. Mary J. Blige & Wale – “Magic (Mark Ronson Remix)â€
Devin The Dude – “I Can’t Make It Homeâ€
Jake One ft. Little Brother – “Bless The Child†(Local Artist)
If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email,DJHyphen@gmail.com.
(if you prefer watching in higher quality on YouTube, peep parts 1, 2, and 3)
This past week, the “Seeing Invincible Sounds of Summer” tour swept through Seattle and N.E.R.D. and Common tore it down at the Showbox SoDo. Besides these guys being some of my favorite artists of all time, they’re also some of the coolest dudes I’ve met in the industry. When I really think about, it’s mind blowing that I’m actually cool with Common, a living legend and inarguably one of the top MC’s in rap history. Wow. How the hell did that happen?
Anyway, aside from a few random wack encounters, everyone I’ve interviewed has been pretty nice and down to earth. However, Com is on another level. This dude is seriously one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and it was ill to have him come through the studio and make his third appearance on Sound Session. Random SNSS trivia: 3 years ago, Com was our very first interview as we had him on the show for an hour long discussion, running through stories from each of his albums. Classic.
This time, we talked all about his upcoming Invincible SummerUniversal Mind Controlalbum and what it was like working in full with the Neptunes and Mr. DJ. We also touched on his acting work, including updates on the next Terminator movie and his role as Green Lantern in the oft-delayed Justice League project. And you can’t sit down with Com and not talk about politics, so we discussed how the media has been affecting the presidential race and what he would do if he was given executive power. Before he left, we reflected on his past work and brainstormed some of his favorite verses.
You can either watch the interview above, or, as recommended, download the broadcast audio feed (with his “U.M.C.” single included) through one of the links below. Enjoy:
Universal Mind Control should be dropping sometime in November and you already know it’s an instant cop. Also, be sure to check out the tour when it hits your town. Com performs a few tracks off it that sound incredible, namely “Gladiator.” You really need to see it live, trust me.
Last night’s Sound Session will be posted later today, hold tight. I’ve got some things I need to tend to first, like…a new job! Don’t worry, SNSS ain’t goin’ nowhere. Your boy just got a [Kanye] good ass job [/’Ye], that’s all.
Wow, it’s been a minute since I did a Throwback post. I’ve been meaning to toss up this gem from the homey K. Slack for weeks and I finally got a free minute so here goes.
You may remember Slack from his work alongside J. Gunn and Killa K as part of TheThyrDay, a really dope group from North Carolina. While they did release one (classic) album, Perfection Xperiment 2, unfortunately they broke up shortly afterwards and moved on to solo projects. Slack and Gunn have actually linked up recently for a few tracks, so I’m hoping we’ll get to see some sort of 3D reunion, at least between those two.
Before their album came out, Slack posted up a few of his solo tracks on Okayplayer and I remember stumbling upon that post and being blown away. I think this was fall of 2002 and I was in my first semester of junior year at college. This track, “broKen AnJel,” was produced by 9th Wonder and Khrysis (the beat is split in two) and it has that vintage Justus League sound. The market has been flooded with those kind of beats since Little Brother blew up, but I’ll always look back fondly on 9th and Khrysis’ early work. They definitely inspired a million copycats.
If I remember correctly, Slack wrote this track to his girl at the time and all the lyrics were heartfelt and truthful to the situation he was in. Part of the reason why I fell in love with the track is that I could apply almost the entire thing to the relationship I was in as well. “Seasons change, mad things rearrange,” and my girl and I broke up after a few years but I think we always hold on to certain songs because of the memories we attach to ’em. This is definitely one of those joints for me.
