The Audacity of Dope

Here’s the video for the new joint from The Cool Kids, done in conjunction with Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound.  There’s nothing groundbreaking about this track, but it’s one of my favorites at the moment.  [Phonte] Dope beats, dope rhymes, what more do y’all want? [/Tay]

Download this track over at Mountain Dew’s site and look for a Sound Session + Green Label Sound project coming soon…

Swiped from Eskay.

Funny, I was just chilling with my new homies Cee, Bekah, and Notion at their hotel bumping some of Blu’s classic Below The Heavens album and I came home to two new videos featuring the man himself.  This dude is one of my top 3 MC’s today, hands down.  Peep the interview with Out Da Box TV and make sure to watch the video right below this post too.  Johnson&Jonson album in stores on the 23rd!

Spotted on Nah Right.

(he spits harder than you.)

Here’s a quick video for part of Blu & Mainframe’s “J&J” track.  Nothing really needs to be said when a clip is as straightforward and dope as this one.  You can go crazy with overly complex visuals, but when your music is this ill, you really don’t have to.  Very clean, very dope.  Cop the official version of their long awaited album on September 23rd!  Easily one of my favorite releases of the year.

Been a little busy, so I missed Monday’s WLotD, my apologies.  If it makes up for it, I listened to LL’s new album and heard about 22938129382 wack lines.  Some of those will come next month, but for now, it’s still all Wayne:

“I go by the name Carter/
I got more plaques than tartar”
–Lil’ Wayne, “Easy“

Wow.  Horrifyingly wack.

One thing we really pride ourselves on with Sound Session is that we don’t only play good hip-hop, we play good music.  To the close minded, this week’s show probably drove you crazy.  For those of you who appreciate innovative approaches to the music we love, definitely check out this episode.  We played a little bit of everything:

• Straightforward boom bap with Butta Verses’ ridiculously dope “If I Die” and our homey Jake One’s track “Glow” with Elzhi and Royce The 5’9″.
• Dope laid back joints by Illa J, Devin The Dude, and Pacific Division.
• A nod to the past with Raphael Saadiq’s Motown inspired “Oh Girl.”
• A glimpse at the future of pop, R&B, and hip-hop with Kardinal Offishall‘s “Digital Motown” (also produced by Jake), Janelle Monae‘s epic “Many Moons,” Kanye’s “Love Lockdown,” and the new single, “Daykeeper,” from Foreign Exchange.

And speaking of Foreign Exchange, we aired that interview with Phonte from last week’s Rock The Bells stop in Washington and had some international guests, Cee, Bekah, & Notion, come through all the way from Australia!  We brought it home with new tracks from local artists Shyan Selah and Ike James (feat. Jadakiss and Jazze Pha), and Shyan also joined us live in the studio.  Lastly, if you’re from the town and didn’t listen, you missed a chance to get tickets for the N.E.R.D. & Common show on Thursday.  Stop sleepin’, you gotta listen!

Show #172 (9-14-08)

1. Illa J ft. Guilty Simpson – “R U Listenin’”
2. Devin The Dude – “I Can’t Make It Home”
3. Kardinal Offishall ft. J*Davey – “Digital Motown”
4. Johnson&Jonson (Blu & Mainframe) – “WoW!”
5. Janelle Monae – “Many Moons”
6. The Cool Kids – “Delivery Man”
7. **INTERVIEW WITH SHYAN SELAH**
8. Shyan Selah – “Hollywood Blvd” (Local Artist)
9. Raphael Saadiq ft. Jay-Z – “Oh Girl (Remix)”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH PHONTE #02, PT. 1**
11. Foreign Exchange ft. Muhsinah – “Daykeeper”
12. **INTERVIEW WITH PHONTE #02, PT. 2**
13. Butta Verses ft. Lucian – “If I Die”
14. Jake One ft. Elzhi & Royce The 5’9” – “Glow” (Local Artist)
15. **INTERVIEW WITH CEE, BEKAH, & NOTION**
16. Notion ft. Cee & Bekah – “My Crew”
17. Kanye West – “Love Lockdown”
18. Pacific Division – “Wake Up”
19. Ike James ft. Jadakiss & Jazze Pha – “Callin’ Me” (Local Artist)

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?mit30ocromq
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/188381186582f67b/ )

Link to download just the interview with Phonte - http://www.mediafire.com/?oteqnscax2t
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/187456482714ebd1/ )

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.

Between a few solo appearances and some Little Brother interviews, Phonte has now been on Sound Session five times.  I think that pulls him ahead of a few other artists for our all time most interviewed guest.  This time, I caught up with the big homey backstage at the Washington stop of Rock The Bells last weekend.  Originally, we were gonna grab Big Pooh as well, but I think he got caught up watching Nas tear it down.  It was truly a great day out at the Gorge (especially now that it’s over…I’m not a big fan of festivals…or driving 2.5 hours to get there) and I’m still planning on putting together some footage from it soon.

In the meantime, check out this interview with Phonte.  He played me the entire upcoming Foreign Exchange album (what up Nic!), Leave It All Behind, and it blew me away.  I’m not sure the world is ready for this project.  Instead of giving you my review, peep the interview to hear Tay talk about how it differs from their classic Connected debut, how their creative process worked this time around, and how his music has evolved over the years.  We also discussed his Gordon Gartrell Radio podcast series, the potential sequel to Zo! and Tigallo Love The 80’s, the early plans for the next Little Brother record, and if we’ll see Tay Pain take over the hook game in 2009.  Enjoy.

Phonte on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?oteqnscax2t
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/187456482714ebd1/ )

Remember to cop Leave It All Behind digitally on October 7th or on CD on the 14th.  The CD comes complete with instrumentals (and incredible artwork), so you already know which one I’m getting.  Stay up to date at their official site, TheForeignExchangeMusic.com.

Amen.  As always, Jay Smooth is on point.  Hahaha @ the Full Force part.  To all my friends who are sometimes randomly lumped into this “hipster rap” category, keep making dope music and disregard the attacks.  To all my friends who resent the new wave of hip-hop, do like Jay said and listen to the music.  It’s good.  End of story.

It’s 2008!  Seriously!  I don’t care what your views or policies might be…you could agree with me 100%…but if you can’t use the most vital technological invention of our time, you are not fit to lead the free world.  I’ve heard some Republicans try to say this is a meaningless issue, but it really isn’t.  If you don’t understand how the world conducts business, how people communicate, and how students learn, how can you expect to lead us to the future?  You can’t.  You’ll end up keeping us in the same place and as the rest of the world progresses, we’ll be left further and further behind in every aspect of our society.

Alright, I lied…one more post before bed.

Between performing at the VMA’s and being arrested, Kanye’s found time to officially release the first offering from his upcoming 808’s and Heartbreak album.  This song has had more buzz on the net this week than anything else, so I’m sure you’ve all formed your opinions on it.  If not, here’s the final, mastered version of the track to enjoy:

Kanye West – “Love Lockdown”

My thoughts:

• Kanye’s my favorite overall artist in music right now, so I’m clearly a bit biased.  So are the people who automatically trash this song since they love to hate ‘Ye though.
• The beat is dope.  The bass (or is that a bassline + 808’s?) bangs, the melody is cool, and the drums are ill.
• The singing doesn’t do much for me, but I think it will grow on me.  Unlike a lot of people, I generally enjoy when dope rappers do some singing, even if it doesn’t sound perfect sonically.  Andre does it.  Nas does it.  Monch does it.  ‘Ye does it.  This isn’t as good on the first few listens, but I think I’ll end up liking it.
• The lyrics are GREAT.  I love when artists, especially those as big as Kanye, actually use sincere, heartfelt lyrics in their songs.  Dude was cleary affected by breaking off his engagement with Alexis Phifer and I’m glad he decided to talk about openly.  ‘Ye always does this and it’s part of what makes him so ill.
• In the end, since I already like dude, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt, subconciously or not.  Kinda like how Jordan got all the calls, ‘Ye gets my approval on a toss up.  Especially since his songs always grow on me, so I’m gonna go ahead and say I’m feeling this joint.  Sue me.

Might as well end my night of blogging with two back to back posts relating to my favorite group, Little Brother.  When the homies were out here at Rock The Bells last weekend, they mentioned that this tape would be dropping this week (though they thought it would be a few days earlier) and here it is.  You already know this is fire.  Shout to some of our own NW dudes, The Parker Brothaz, for their “Text Me” joint making the tape.  One of the best songs out right now is from our own backyard, yessir!

1. Rapper’s Delight f. Chaundon (prod. Nottz)
2. Reality Check f. Big Dho, D. Black & Mykestro (prod. Khrysis)
3. Respect It f. Illa J & Bishop Lamont (prod. J. Dilla)
4. Hands Up f. Chaundon & Roc C (prod. Khrysis)
5. Text Me (Tha Bizness Alllstar Remix) w/ Talib Kweli, Parker Brothaz & Naledge (prod. Tha Bizness)
6. Oh Yeah f. Roscoe Umali & Stylistic Jones (prod. Focus…)
7. Roll Call f. Jozeemo, Chaundon & Joe Scudda (prod. The Co-Op)
8. Dusty f. O-Dash (prod. Nick Speed)
9. Crazy (prod. Khrysis)
10. Geez Like Deez f. Quan (prod. Illmind)
11. Regular N*gga w/ Ab Soul
12. Plastic Cups f. Chaundon & Joe Scudda (prod. J. Dilla)
13. Money f. Frank (of Frank-N-Dank) & O-Dash (prod. Young RJ)
14. Dumb It Down
15. On The Real f. E. Ness & Jozeemo (prod. Khrysis)

Download here courtesy of Urb Magazine.

(If you have problems extracting, click the “do not extract path name” option in your zipping program)

Also, check out the video for “Plastic Cups” after the jump!

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