The Audacity of Dope

Interview with Joell, Royce, and Budden (Crooked was recording a feature in the town) coming soon…

And Cocktail was in the studio last night.  Fine in person too?  Check!

Well this came out of nowhere.  Peep this Dwele directed video for a brand new Slum Village song produced by Karriem Riggins.  Seems like there may have been more, but after Baatin’s untimely passing, perhaps the video and song were cut short to highlight Titus.  RIP.

Seattle people: Don’t forget that we have our (abridged version of) Rock The Bells on Friday at Showbox Market.  Reflection Eternal, Slaughterhouse, Slum Village, Pete Rock, and a few others.  Holler @ a Hyphen when you see me there.

Cats need to stop shooting videos that make me miss SoCal.  Dopeness.

Back to business as usual this week, nothing but good music and good times.  Check out this week’s Sound Session for new songs from artists like Chali 2Na, the Kidz In The Hall, Raekwon, Kev Brown, Pac Div, Anjulie, Lushlife, Seattle’s own Blue Scholars, and more.  Speaking of the town, huge shout to the Massive Monkees for killing it in the first round of “America’s Best Dance Crew” on MTV.  Not only are they repping the 206 to the fullest, but they’re also representing true b-boy culture on one of the biggest stages in the world.  Keep up the great work fellas, we’re all proud of you.

Be sure to check out our full interview with the elusive and legendary Bilal too.  We had a great discussion about his classic 1st Born Second album, what he’s been up to since its release almost a decade ago, his upcoming Air Tight’s Revenge project, and much more.  It’s a great one.

Show #219 (8-9-09)

1. Blue Scholars – “HI-808” (Local Music)
2. Nas ft. Choklate – “Film”
3. Chali 2Na ft. Anthony Hamilton – “Don’t Stop”
4. Kidz In The Hall – “Flickin’”
5. Lushlife – “The Kindness”
6. Khingz – “Blaq Han Solo” (Local Music)
7. Slaughterhouse ft. M.O.P. – “Woodstock (Hood Hop)”
8. Raekwon ft. Inspectah Deck, Method Man, & Ghostface Killah – “House Of Flying Daggers”
9. The Roots – “How I Got Over”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH BILAL (SNIPPET)**
11. Bilal ft. Mos Def & Common – “Reminisce”
12. Kev Brown – “The Random Joint”
13. Rashid Hadee – “Set In Stone”
14. Pac Div – “Young Black Male”
15. Drake ft. Saukrates – “The Search”
16. Fresh Espresso – “Something New” (Local Music)
17. Brother Ali – “Us”
18. Mos Def – “Pistola”
19. Mayer Hawthorne – “One Track Mind”
20. Anjulie – “Some Dumb Girl”
21. Peter Hadar & Theophilus London – “Want You 4 Myself”

Link to download the mp3 – http://www.mediafire.com/?i4goitumtzq
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/63949230e475187d/)

Link to download the full interview with Bilal – http://www.mediafire.com/?limxqmnyonz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6388930225a66890/ )

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.

(courtesy of FYL Radio)

While Seattle’s own Massive Monkees are killing it on “America’s Best Dance Crew,” I have to show love to the mascots that hold it down on the dance tip as well.  This impromptu Dog vs. Man battle reminded me of one of my all time favorite clips…ladies and gentlemen…I give you…Stomper of the Oakland A’s…goin’ dumb:

When we first premiered “HI-808” on our Cornerstone Mixtape, the homies Geo & Sabzi also mentioned to us that they shot a video for the song on location in Hawaii.  A little later, I saw a rough cut of the video at the office (benefit of the day job…ScreenPlay/Fuzed Music building FTW) and now the final edit is here for the masses.  And when I say masses, I mean it.

This video will be spinning in heavy rotation on MTVu all day and it will also be on the front page of MTVu.com.  With Massive Monkees killing it on “America’s Best Dance Crew” last night, this is yet another great national look for the town via MTV.

To download the song and for more information about the Blue Scholars’ upcoming OOF! EP, check out their official site.

Oh…and I really want to go to Hawaii.  Soon.

A few months ago, J. Moore and I held a quick informal poll on Sound Session with our listeners – Of the most well respected ‘big 3’ R&B singers of the last 15 years, who is your favorite – Maxwell, D’Angelo, or Bilal?  Despite only releasing one official album, Bilal battled it out with D’Angelo for the top spot and they ended up tying the vote.

Personally, after hearing 1st Born Second in 2001, my entire vision of R&B was shaken to the core.  On that one record, Bilal displayed a soulfulness in his music, songwriting, and most noticeably, his voice that hasn’t been topped since.  Simply put, it’s a flawless album and marks one of the crowning achievements of the Soulquarian collective.

When Bilal came through the SNSS studio, we jumped at the chance to ask him all about that album, his Love For Sale follow up that was unfortunately shelved by Interscope (Industry Rule #4,080), and his upcoming project, Air Tight’s Revenge.  We also discussed his upbringing, his first big break as D’Angelo’s back up singer (and his prompt firing), behind the scenes stories from the Soulquarian days, his favorite J Dilla memory, and much more.  Check out the full interview below to catch up with the legendary Bilal Oliver.

Bilal on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?limxqmnyonz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6388930225a66890/ )

If you’re a music lover and don’t own 1st Born Second, cop it immediately…

The amount of dope MC’s that have come from North (and South) Carolina since 2000 has been incredible.  I remember those Napster days where after discovering Little Brother, I kept branching out and finding related artists, all of which were killing it.  From LB to the Justus League to TheThyrDay to Supastition, etc., and the latest group to really carry the NC torch is Kooley High.

They’ve been favorites of mine for a few years and they just dropped the visuals for the title track off their recent mixtape.  If you haven’t peeped the tape yet, grab it here and stop sleepin…

(4:32 FTW)

I like how I’m so busy/tired these days that I upload my own footage and forget to post it on TAOD until I see it on other blogs.  Whoopsidoodle.

Much like the Asher Roth footage I posted last week, here’s a medley documenting Cudi’s performance in front of 15K people at our Summer Jam from the end of last month.  After coming out to his intro, he ran through joints like “Dat New New,” “Is There Any Love,” “Sky High,” “Make Her Say,” and “Day N Nite.”  I’ll have more SJ footage soon, plus interviews with Cudi and Asher as well.  Stay tuned…