The Audacity of Dope

“Close The Door” live from 1979.  He will be missed.

The homies are killin’ it!

Fellow 5-C alum, Greg The Dude, linked up with Outasight for the “Catch Me If You Can” video off his Further project (download here!). Peep the trailer for a glimpse at the upcoming release, on that Bourne Identity type steez…

One of my favorite songs off Sean P’s Kimbo Slice tape gets the video treatment as part of Court Dunn & NahRight’s One Shot series. Nice little concept and they executed it’s well. The verses are complete fire too. All 3 mc’s kill it, but Sean really bodies the track. Calling out “white women who listen to Lyfe Jennings” was the clincher.

Warning: too much truth.

If you have the time, I highly recommend you check out this documentary.  As a music lover and a former media studies major, this really does a great job of summing up all our fears about media consolidation.  Shout to Marcus for passing this through in the comments.

I’ll keep it short and sweet this week: peep SNSS #241 for new music from artists like Robin Thicke, Raheem DeVaughn, AB, Jojo Pellegrino, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dyme Def, PackFM, Crown Royale, Kenna, Jay-Z, Jay Electronica, J. Cole, Outasight, and more.  The music really is top notch on this one so hopefully you discover a record or two that you enjoy but perhaps haven’t heard before.

Also, be sure to check out the newest issue of Jenesis Magazine for a dope feature (including the cover!) on yours truly.  They decided to highlight me in their “DJ’s vs. Bloggers Issue,” since I suppose I qualify as both.  Coming off the heels of our article in the Seattle P.I., this is again, quite flattering.  You can grab the magazine right here.

Show #241 (1-10-10)

1. B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars – “Nothing On You”
2. Robin Thicke ft. Jay-Z – “Meiple”
3. Raheem DeVaughn – “I Don’t Care”
4. AB ft. Slum Village – “Feels So Good”
5. Black Milk – “Keep Going”
6. Jojo Pellegrino ft. Sean Price & Inspectah Deck – “Triple Homicide”
7. Strong Arm Steady – “Two Pistols”
8. Self Scientific – “Designer Music”
9. Georgia Anne Muldrow & Declaime ft. M.E.D. & Big Pooh – “Endure”
10. The Knux ft. Malbec – “Fruits”
11. Jay-Z ft. J. Cole – “A Star Is Born”
12. Dyme Def – “Do Something” (Local Music)
13. Reflection Eternal ft. Jay Electronica, J. Cole, & Mos Def – “Just Begun”
14. Jay Electronica – “Exhibit C”
15. Lupe Fiasco – “I’m Beaming”
16. Outasight – “Everything’s Alright”
17. SOTA (State of the Artist) – “Common Senses” (Local Music)
18. Strange Fruit Project – “Sepia Tone”
19. Statik Selektah ft. Bun B, Wale, & Colin Munroe – “So Close, So Far”
20. Clemm Rishad ft. Adrian – “Windows” (Local Music)
21. PackFM – “Happy Days”
22. Grand Agent – “One Man Army”
23. Crown Royale – “Photographs”
24. Kenna – “Turn”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?lnmjzztx3yo
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/71101994e31d74b9/ )

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.

I never thought I’d ever utter the words, “I’m on the cover of a magazine,” but thanks to Thomas and the good folks over at Jenesis, I can cross that off the bucket list!  If you aren’t familiar with Jenesis, it’s a really dope online mag that everyone who frequents this site should enjoy.  They routinely profile great artists and show love to pretty much everyone that we support via TAOD and Sound Session.  Be sure to download this month’s article to check out the feature on yours truly, along with some dope pieces that round out the “DJ’s vs. Bloggers Issue.”

Download here – January 2010 Jenesis Magazine

Much like the article in the Seattle P.I. highlighting J. Moore, SNSS, and myself, I’m flattered and very appreciative of the support Jenesis is giving with this piece.  Many thanks to the owner Thomas Agnew and the writer Mike Wilson.  Thanks fellas!

I must say, the video effects are slightly off-putting, but with a song as good as this, I don’t mind.  Off the excellent Machine Dreams and also one of the tracks that made our Sound Session Best of 2009 edition.  Yukimi is the truth.

I need to find some time to get our interview with Little Dragon posted up…I swear it’s coming soon.  I hope.

Aw man…

As I mentioned in this week’s show archive, Sunday Night Sound Session was recently featured in the Seattle P.I. thanks to one of their writers, Elliott Smith (thanks Elliott!).  Now I know you’re all quite familiar with SNSS if you’ve found your way here to TAOD, but for those that weren’t aware, this article has proven to be a great look.  We’ve had a TON of folks reach out to express their gratitude and really, we’ll kick it right back to y’all.  While we take great pride in how much work we put into the show and we fully recognize the responsibility we have, the bottom line is that without you, we don’t exist.  Without people who actually love and live this music and culture, SNSS falls on deaf ears.

As music lovers, we’re a dying breed.  Sure, more people consume music than ever before, but how many really love and appreciate it?  For those that do, SNSS represents a rare opportunity to broadcast genuine music with substance over a 100,000-watt Clear Channel signal.

Hov admitted he dumbed down the flow to double his dollars.  We’ll never do that.  We don’t exist for any other reason than to play music we believe in…music from the soul.  We need artists to continue making it and we need YOU, the real music lover, to continue supporting it.  We’ll do our part as the conduit, believe that.

‘Sunday Night Sound Session’: The best radio show you’ve never heard

By ELLIOTT SMITH
SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

The caller, voice dripping with gratitude, has one more thing to add before he hangs up.

“Thank you guys for playing so much good music,” he says.

Sounds like the provenance of satellite radio, no? Or perhaps even Seattle’s beloved KEXP?

On this night, at this hour, however, the station in question is KUBE-93. That’s right, the same KUBE that is widely seen as a corporate behemoth with a playlist as deep as a puddle is actually home to the best radio show you’ve probably never heard: “Sunday Night Sound Session.”

From 10:45 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. each Sunday, hosts DJ Hyphen and J. Moore play the latest and greatest in hip hop from both a national and local perspective — 90 minutes that are unlike any other in the KUBE lineup.

“Our show almost operates in opposition with KUBE,” said DJ Hyphen, aka Dorian Bunker-Pardo. “But all we’re focused on is good music. It’s deeper than just playing a record. It’s about something you can appreciate, something you can feel.”

You won’t hear the latest from 50 Cent here; instead Hyphen and Moore focus on artists that generally aren’t part of the everyday KUBE lineup.

The genesis of “Sunday Night Sound Session” came out of the rubble of a similar show, “Future Flavors,” which ran on KUBE for many years. But when it came to revamping the show, KUBE wanted to go in a different direction.

“We wanted to take a different approach to what Seattle hip hop fans were asking for,” KUBE Program Director Eric Powers said. “They’re both great shows but for different reasons. We wanted to talk to more of a hip-hop audience because of the music that was coming out locally and nationally.”

Finding credible hosts for the show was critical. With a background in college radio and a job working at KUBE, Hyphen became an obvious candidate.

“They were like, ‘Wow, this guy is a hip-hop nerd,’ ” Hyphen said.

To provide a local voice, Powers and Co. turned to the person that anyone who has ever been to a rap show in Seattle is familiar with.

J. Moore is an artist, hypeman, producer, booking agent, manager, ambassador, community leader — if it’s hip hop in Seattle, he’s probably got his hand in it. Radio host wasn’t exactly something he had thought about when the opportunity was presented to him.

“It sounded interesting, but I had to think about it so it wasn’t like I was putting myself in a position to perpetuate tokenism,” Moore said. “I was like, as long as we have control over programming — our own playlist — that was the main thing, just making sure we have the ability to be autonomous and establish our own identity. A brand within the brand. And that’s what ‘Sunday Night Sound Session’ is.”

The DJ Hyphen-J. Moore pairing was received well within the Seattle hip-hop scene, and four-plus years later, the show is still going strong.

“Being at the station that they are at, with the long history of alienation from Seattle hip hop that it’s had, their credibility is quite vital,” said Larry Mizell Jr., another important fixture in the Seattle hip-hop scene as an artist (Cancer Rising), media critic (Stranger columnist) and fellow radio host (KEXP’s “Street Sounds”).

“J. Moore is a fixture of Seattle hip hop — if you ask anybody in the scene about ‘the mayor,’ they’ll know who you mean, and it ain’t Mike McGinn — and very few could hope to match his years of contribution and sacrifice to this scene,” Mizell said.

“Hyphen is a consummate pro, sharp as hell and always looking for new stuff. Their taste is great and varied, and they’re able to put together a high-quality, entertaining and enlightening program every week that in my opinion few in Seattle, let alone anyone at KUBE-93, could pull off.”

At this point, SNSS isn’t just spinning records in a vacuum. It is breaking artists on both a local and national level, and have some of hip hop’s biggest luminaries stopping by the studio to talk shop.

“We’re definitely doing something right when fans around the city like it, people around the world like it, the artists like it, the labels like it — we haven’t had too many complaints,” Hyphen said. “The more support we get, it makes KUBE look better.

“We’re really appreciative of KUBE giving us this framework and letting us do what we want with it. It’s insanely rare. At 10:45 KUBE hands over the keys, and the kids get to drive and go wherever we want. As long as we bring it back in one piece at 12:15, KUBE’s excited about it.”

One of the results of the show’s success is the thought that anyone with a mic and some rhymes can make it on the radio. The show receives hundreds of submissions from aspiring artists, most of which aren’t radio ready. The show’s local slots are highly coveted, and often leave Seattle-area up-and-comers wondering why they aren’t getting airplay.

“We’re active participants in the life and the scene, so we’re going to hear from producers, engineers — people who are involved — about what the buzz is.” Moore said.

“We’re not passively waiting for people to send us music so we can sit back like a panel judging music.

“There’s a complete lack of understanding of the rite of passage that is necessary. It’s about development. That would be like me saying, I’m going to be a professional basketball player because I like basketball.”

Powers says that the show does draw decent ratings, but “what’s more important is that we allow other music to be heard, discovered and exposed from a local and national level.”

So what’s next for Hyphen and Moore and their little Sunday night show that could?

“It would be nice if we could expand the show on (Sundays),” Moore said. “And it would be nice if we could add an additional day or move to another day. That’s just for radio land. But something that (Hyphen) and I have always talked about it is being creative about utilizing this platform to create something for this brand that can exist beyond the radio and beyond Sunday night.”

Wherever SNSS goes in the future, right now, the pair enjoys being able to broadcast what they love to an appreciative audience.

“It’s a platform to express your ideas and opinions, but whatever we say just has 100,000 watts behind it,” Hyphen said. “So we play the same music that we’d play if we were choppin’ it up or hanging out or driving to the club. Now we get to blast it out — it’s our 100,000-watt iPod.

“We’re really thankful that we have this opportunity. We’re stand-up dudes who love the music, and that’s how we got the show.”

And with that, Moore and Hyphen pack up their gear and flip the switch back to the station’s automatic overnight programming, where they are greeted by the latest 50 Cent song.

They laugh and turn out the lights.

Elliott Smith is free-lance writer who can be reached at ejsteeler@hotmail.com.

Source -  http://www.seattlepi.com/pop/413726_kube.html

I’ll be honest, I’m swamped with work these days so I haven’t watched this entire bio, but I still felt the need to toss it up here on TAOD.  Y’all should be up on Ali Vegas, but if not, peep the video to see what he’s all about.  I still remember the first time I heard “The Specialist” on the In Too Deep Soundtrack in ’99 and being blown away.  I’m not sure if he’ll ever realize his full potential and reach the lofty goals we all seemed to set for him (“y’all critics got a lot of nerve, I’m [Nas] to the third”), but one thing’s for sure: dude can rhyme.