The Audacity of Dope

In between my 2.5 jobs and my lack of sleep, I don’t have a whole lot to say about this week’s SNSS.  You already know the drill though…an hour and half of the dopest music [Olbermann] in the wooorrrrrlllllld [/Keith], featuring tracks by Pac Div, U-N-I, Blu, Kid Cudi, Colin Munroe, Deep Rooted, Strong Arm Steady, Nottz, Kardinal Offishall, Mayer Hawthorne, B.o.B., and more.

On top of that, we were joined in the studio by local artist Avatar Young Blaze (who talked about his collaboration with Lil’ Wayne) and the big homey Jake One.  Also, the homies from Highline Community College came through to talk about their Hip-Hop Summit event going down later this week.  I’ll be featured on one of the panels, so if you’re in the neighborhood Thursday at noon, drop on by the Des Moines campus and check out what’s sure to be a great convo.

Show #195 (2-22-09)

1. Pacific Division – “Mayor”
2. Big Tone – “Business”
3. U-N-I ft. Black Milk – “Castle Vee Re-Up”
4. **INTERVIEW WITH AVATAR YOUNG BLAZE**
5. Avatar Young Blaze ft. Lil’ Wayne – “King of the Streets” (Local Artist)
6. J. Period ft. Consequence & Kid Cudi – “Buggin’ Out 2009 (Tribute Mix)”
7. Dela ft. Blu – “Mars (Remix)”
8. Focus ft. Frank Nitti, T3, Baatin, & Illa J – “Homage To Dilla”
9. Kid Cudi – “Day N Nite”
10. Colin Munroe ft. Young Buck – “I’m Fine”
11. Drake – “Say You Will Freestyle (Say What’s Real)”
12. Big Sean – “Supa Dupa”
13. Deep Rooted – “D.E.E.P. R.O.O.T.E.D.”
14. Strong Arm Steady ft. Chace Infinite (of Self Scientific), Planet Asia, & Affion Crockett – “Black History”
15. Nottz ft. Kardinal Offishall & Cory Gunz – “Can’t Hide The Truth”
16. Rise & the Avid Record Collector – “Rise Anthem”
17. Spaceman – “This Is That Fire” (Local Artist)
18. Sol ft. Philharmonic – “Spliff” (Local Artist)
19. Mayer Hawthorne – “I Wish It Would Rain”
20. B.o.B. – “Generation Lost”
21. **INTERVIEW WITH JAKE ONE**

Link to download the mp3 – http://www.mediafire.com/?z2q1mml3b5k
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/5609436093d03955/ )

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.

Despite knowing absolutely nothing about the subject matter, the lead joint (no pun) from the CunninLynguists’ upcoming Strange Journey, Vol. One, is one of my favorite tracks out right now.  They just dropped the visuals for it and, as expected, they came out fresh.

Head on over to QN5.com for more info and also to download the track.

Is it strange that I’m a hip-hop dude who has never smoked (anything) once in my life?  Just never had any interest…[Full House moment] I get high on life [/moment].

One of the reasons why he’s the best player in the world. That’s flawless.

Exile and DJ Day practice their D-Train routine for their upcoming tour.  Seattle folks: they’ll be bringing the incredible MPC skills to Nectar on March 14th. I highly suggest you be there.  Other dates below:

Feb. 22nd – Long Beach, CA – Blue Cafe
Feb. 26th – Pomona, CA – Cal State Pomona (Session A)
Feb. 6th and 7th – Chicago, IL – Sub T
March 12th – Portland, OR – The Fix
March 14th – Seattle, WA – Nectar Lounge
March 28th – San Bernardino, CA – Paid Dues Festival

As a new owner of a sparkling MacBook Pro, I was definitely curious to see Henny and Dow Jones break down the making of Jeezy’s “My President Is Black” joint using Logic.  I’m not a huge fan of this song, mainly because Jeezy’s lyrics just come off so ridiculous.  I mean…even more than usual.  Hearing him try to be half-political, half-Jeezy is just odd.  “My president is black!  My Lambo’s blue.”  Hmmmm.

Can someone CC Allah on this post for me though?

People have been clamoring for the US version of Cudi’s “Day N Nite” to drop for a minute and it couldn’t happen at a better time.  The UK version with the Crookers remix has him buzzing like crazy overseas, and last time I checked, he was at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 stateside.  I played the record on the last SNSS and immediately got about 10 calls asking what it was.  Perhaps it’s not as much of a lock as Asher and “I Love College,” but Cudi is next up this year.

No foul either.  What was the ref watching?

“Honestly, I don’t even listen to rap/
Cause when I turn the radio on, out comes crap/
And if you make good music, that’s ok/
On the radio, that, they don’t play/
It’s easy to see, we created a beast/
Cause everybody wants to hear what they don’t need/
And now all the rappers gotta struggle to give you/
That bullsh*t music so they can continue/
…to live”

Bobby Ray is killing it these days.  If you missed my interview with him a while back, peep game.

The brand new video for ‘Ye’s “Welcome To Heartbreak” just leaked today, completely out of nowhere.  While I really dig this track, I’m not quite sure how I feel about the video yet.  Since I work with videos all day, I instantly recognized all the “effects” in this clip as various video errors that are generally the result of poor sourcing/encoding.  Kanye, of course, had the director do ’em all on purpose…and some look dope, but others look wack to me.  Either way, it’s entertaining and I’m a sucker for bright colors and trippy effects.  Also good to see Cudi get in the clip too…he’s about to be huge this year.

I’m still waiting for “Paranoid” to be a single though.  That’s the jam.

Nothing spectacular, but I dig this track and video from Blaq Poet and DJ Premier.  You could easily tell me this was from ’99 and I wouldn’t think twice.  Great use of Akon’s vocals…woah, never thought I’d say that.

Video swiped from OnSmash.