The Audacity of Dope

Yo.  Ev is killing it right now.  The latest video from his upcoming Layover EP features Defari and it’s yet another dope clip.  Be sure to listen to the interview I recorded with Ev and Alchemist about the whole project and why they’re releasing so many videos for it.  We also talked about how hungry he is these days, which is clearly evident, no pun, in these clips.  Cop the Layover on the 25th!

Swiped from OKP.

Since my other job deals with music videos, I think TAOD is going to end up showcasing even more dope clips than I would have previously.  Here’s the new one for Donny Goines’ “I Am Moving,” a track that premiered on MTVu earlier today.  Fans of DMX’s It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot will remember the producer, Dame Grease, from “Get At Me Dog,” “Damien,” “Stop Being Greedy,” the criminally underrated classic, “The Convo,” and more.

You can help get the homey Donny into rotation on MTVu by voting for him right here.  Support hip-hop and cast a vote against generic emo pop rock at the same time.  Seems like a win/win to me.

Some new visuals for Blu & Mainframe’s Johnson&Jonson project, which is one of the dopest releases of the year.  This is even one of my least favorite tracks on the album and it’s still crazy.  That shows you how good the album is.

Sidenote, the way Blu rhymes on this is an example of how Lil’ Wayne could sound, if he wasn’t hopped up on lean and obsessed with auto-tune.  Very few MC’s can rock this relaxed, free form flow as effortlessly as Blu does here.  Dude has bars for days.

Today isn’t even a wack lyric, it’s just Ron Browz in general.  Now I’ve heard dude is mad cool, and so are his people, but seriously, all of his recent appearances make my ears bleed.  As a producer, he’s fine, though I’ve always thought his two ‘classics’, “Ether” and “Ebonics,” were carried by Nas and Big L, definitely not the beats.

However, all this off-key vocoder singing just needs to stop.  From “Pop Champagne” to “Arab Money” to the new Noreaga track, “Rotate,” WOW. Seriously, it’s awful.  People are really ok with this?

Dude makes T-Pain sound like Marvin.

Like I mentioned a while back, I got a chance to catch up with the homies Evidence (of Dilated Peoples) and Alchemist when they came to Seattle at the start of the month for the “Still High” tour with Red & Meth.  We’ve had both dudes on Sound Session a few times before, but this was the first occasion where they came through together.  Every time I chop it up with Ev and Al, they’re cool as hell.

This time around, we talked all about their current projects, including Evidence’s Layover EP, Alchemist’s Alchemist Cookbook (which drops online today!), Al’s Gang Green album with Oh No, and their Stepbrothers group effort.  They also touched on how new media has affected their careers, the recent West Coast resurgence, who they list as dream collaborations, and much more.  Peep that:

Evidence & Alchemist on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?yzjtjgejieu
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/51481522ef6ce739/ )

Go grab Al’s Alchemist Cookbook at your favorite digital retailer and be sure to cop The Layover EP a week from today.  If you’ve been staying up to date on the videos so far, you know it’s crazy…

Even though life has been really hectic lately, there are certain episodes of Sound Session that just feel like the good ol’ days.  Every now and then, I’ll forget all the other stuff I have to do and just enjoy hanging out with good people, playing some dope music.  This past Sunday was definitely one of those nights.  We had the homies Grynch and The Parker Brothaz roll through to talk about recent projects they’re involved in and the jokes were flying all night.  I wish y’all could hear all the off air moments each week…they might even be more entertaining than the music we play.

Speaking of which, here are the playlist and download links for this week’s edition of SNSS.  Be sure to check out the full interview with Evidence (of Dilated Peoples) and Alchemist to hear about all the dope projects they’re working on.

Show #181 (11-16-8)

1. Chester French – “She Loves Everybody”
2. The Knux – “Life In A Cage (Electric)”
3. Q-Tip – “Move”
4. Black Milk – “Try”
5. **INTERVIEW WITH GRYNCH**
6. Grynch ft. Tunji (of Inverse) – “All Right” (Local Artist)
7. 88 Keys ft. Bilal – “M.I.L.F.”
8. Foreign Exchange – “Valediction”
9. Illa J – “All Good”
10. Ghostface Killah – “Computer Love”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH EVIDENCE & ALCHEMIST, PT. 1**
12. Evidence ft. Phonte (of Little Brother), Blu, & Will.I.Am – “For Whom The Bell Tolls”
13. **INTERVIEW WITH EVIDENCE & ALCHEMIST, PT. 2**
14. Jay Electronica – “Exhibit A (Transformations)”
15. B.o.B. – “Left Field Lovely”
16. Reef The Lost Cauze – “Home”
17. **INTERVIEW WITH THE PARKER BROTHAZ**
18. AD – “All That I Had” (Local Artist)
19. Fashawn ft. Evidence – “Our Way”
20. The Reallionaires – “Give It 2 U” (Local Artist)
21. Keelay & Zaire ft. Blu, Fortilive, & Nino Moschella – “The Times”
22. Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi – “Paranoid”
23. John Legend – “Cross The Line”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?tgntzjt3zlw
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/51862674c65d7d54/ )

Link to download the full interview with Evidence & Alchemist – http://www.mediafire.com/?yzjtjgejieu
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/51481522ef6ce739/ )

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.

Must cop.

You know any project put out by Decon is gonna have some nice visuals to go along with it, and 88’s new Death of Adam album is no different.  This has been owning my car deck for about a week straight now.  Check the recent interview I did with 88 and then go cop the album!

Another video from Ev’s Layover EP dropping on the 25th.  I’ll be posting up an interview later today that I did with the homies Ev and Al when they were in town a few weeks ago, where you can hear ’em talk about all the dope projects they have coming up.  And no, we didn’t talk about what it’s like to look mildly similar. [jada] ah-HAAAA [/jada]

Apparently it wasn’t ready for the public last time, so here’s the repost.  Cop Tronic with the quickness if you haven’t already.