The Audacity of Dope

A few months back, J. Moore and the rest of the Red Bull Big Tune fam brought Elzhi (of Slum Village) and Black Milk to the town for the Seattle edition of the beat battle.  Before tearing it down at Neumo’s that night (I’ll toss some of that footage up if I get time), they came through Sound Session to record an interview with us.  Unfortunately, since we’ve had so many guests coming through lately, it’s taken a minute to get the audio up for y’all.  Better late than never though, especially when you’re dealing with two of the dopest artists in the industry right now.  I don’t think anyone is seeing Elzhi bar for bar, and with the release of Tronic, Black has staked his claim for the top MC/producer out there.  Seriously…do you hear how he’s spittin’ on that album?

Anyway, the interview was recorded in between the releases of Elzhi’s The Preface and Black’s Tronic, so there are a few occasions where it sounds dated.  Even still, I highly recommend checking out the full discussion to hear them break down both projects in detail.  They also talked about their inspirations both past and present, their creative processes, all things Detroit, what changes they hope Barack can bring to the people, their upcoming work, and much more.  Enjoy!

Elzhi & Black Milk on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?4nl20wo3wjy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/52144263069bf0be/ )

Do yourself a favor and go cop The Preface and Tronic if you haven’t already.  Your “Best of 2008” list isn’t complete without both of ’em, trust me.

The fine folks over at iMeem linked up with the homies U-N-I for a Los Angeles edition of their “Keys 2 The City” series.  In chapter one, Thurz & Y-O give you a basic introduction to the crew and we even get some footage of them on the court.  Which reminds me…every time I see these dudes, we’re supposed to get out there and play but it always falls through.  They’ll be up here in Seattle this weekend for a show on Sunday the 7th at Nectar (with Blu!), so perhaps we can finally do this.  Bring your game fellas.

Hahahahah @ T-Pain, Akon, Diddy, and Mary J. Blige singing about how to make the world a better place.  You just knew something dumb was gonna be said:

“I’d turn every bullet into a Hershey’s Kiss and we could eat away our fears”
–Akon, “Change”

I saw this on Sportscenter last night and was telling everyone about it.  Ho-lee-ish.  Andre Miller’s ankles are permanently damaged.  This is one of many reasons that Rose was the clear #1 choice in the last draft.  Dude is a player.

On the other side of the spectrum, how awful is that announcer?  Wow.

Shout to Real Frequency for posting this up.

It’s been a while since I archived Sound Session immediately following the show, but I figured I’d toss the latest episode up for y’all before I crash.  That said, I’d prefer not to start off my week with no sleep, so I’ll keep this brief.

While J. Moore is in NYC to host the finals of the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle, I held it down solo (“so low they can’t hear you Carlton” © Will).  As usual, we played dope joints all night and I decided to switch it up for the last block and played some of my favorite ‘alternative’ type songs to close the show.  I’ll forever be a backpacker, but thankfully I’ve grown to understand that good music is good music, boom-bap or not.

Special note: the full interview with Elzhi & Black Milk (aka “40 minutes of dopeness with two of the illest in the industry”) will is posted below. I aired a few snippets last night, but trust me, you’ll want to listen to the entire thing.

Show #183 (11-30-08)

1. Ludacris – “M.V.P.”
2. Evidence ft. Alchemist – “So Fresh”
3. Convinced – “Miss Memory”
4. Dela ft. Talib Kweli – “Long Life”
5. Grynch – “Take A Trip (Local Artist)
6. GLC ft. Kanye West – “Big Screen”
7. B.o.B. – “I’ll Live In The Sky”
8. 88 Keys ft. Kid Cudi – “Ho Is Short For Honey”
9. Common – “Gladiator”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH ELZHI & BLACK MILK, SNIPPET #1**
11. Elzhi ft. Royce The 5’9” – “Motown 25”
12. **INTERVIEW WITH ELZHI & BLACK MILK, SNIPPET #2**
13. Black Milk – “Long Story Short”
14. Fresh Espresso (Rik Rude & P-Smoov) – “Diamond Pistols” (Local Artist)
15. Self Scientific ft. The Game, Talib Kweli, & Cobe – “Everywhere I Go”
16. Keelay & Zaire ft. Tunji (of Inverse) – “Addicts For Real”
17. Json – “M.O.B.” (Local Artist)
18. Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi – “Welcome To Heartbreak”
19. The Knux – “Hush”
20. He Say She Say – “Crash Dummie”
21. Colin Munroe ft. Wale – “Will I Stay (Remix)”
22. Robin Thicke – “Cry No More”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?qym2mje1k2m
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/521000594c2910a1/ )

Link to download the full interview with Elzhi & Black Milk – http://www.mediafire.com/?4nl20wo3wjy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/52144263069bf0be/ )

If there are any problems with the links or 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.