The Audacity of Dope

I was sold when Optimus Prime showed up and knew I was going to post by the time they dropped Lion King. This is the Barry we all know and love, and the one whose personality won us over years ago.

As Barack says in the speech, “the honeymoon is over” in regards to his presidency, but I’m not too disappointed in what many consider to be a lack of progress towards the tasks he laid out during his campaign. I’ve never been a fan of any portion of the political process and I really think you just have to make the best decisions when they come up. Barack was the best choice we had at the time and he continues to be just that. Hopefully he gets back in office and swags out in his 2nd term when there’s no concern over being reelected.

We shall see. But in the interim, enjoy the jokes!

I’ve been putting off running errands and while checking Twitter, I saw Anjulie randomly post up this video. Both the song and the visuals are dope!

My UK obsession for the weekend continues…

Speaking of The Daily Show, here’s another great piece from this week.  Funny x Munn.  Can’t go wrong there!  Her mom reminds me of some of the homies’ parents too, classic.

When I woke up yesterday and begrudgingly started getting ready for work, I noticed my Twitter and Facebook timelines were filled with friends expressing their extreme hatred for all the media coverage of Will & Kate’s royal wedding.  Even though my dad is British and I have family there, honestly, I had no idea the wedding was even going down, let alone that it was this big of a deal…or at least that the media was trying to make it such an event.

While I understand why folks were so perturbed, I really couldn’t care less about the wedding or the media’s coverage of it.  Yeah, they blew it up to an absurd degree.  Um, that’s what they do.  Perhaps I’m a jaded media studies major, but I don’t see why any of this is surprising or discouraging.  Instead of getting annoyed by the coverage, I watched a little last night and above all, it reminded me how much I heart British people.  The wedding was so old fashioned…so banal…so proper…and the people looked so…utterly miserable.  THAT, my friends, is the British society I know and love.

I could write pages trying to explain the nuances of it all, but I think this Kate Middleton For The Win Tumblr site sums it all up brilliantly in every simple photo edit.  Go there.  Immediately!

In related news, I caught up on The Daily Show episodes I missed this week and I particularly enjoyed John Oliver returning to London to cover the wedding:

Seattle: On Sunday, May 15th, I expect to see you all at the Croc to check out some of the illest (and criminally underrated) artists out there: The CunninLynguists, Tonedeff, and Homeboy Sandman.  You should be familiar with all of them by now, especially if you listen to Sound Session since we play them all quite often, but if not, come see them in person and learn something.  You’ll also get to see Blue Sky, Black Death, who make some incredible beats, and local music from the Knowmads.

Be there!

A few weeks ago, I randomly thought to myself that it was about time for two of my favorite non-hip-hop artists, Kenna and Miike Snow, to drop some new music. While I’m not aware of any music from the group, Kenna has just released the first of three EP’s in his Land 2 Air Chronicles series, all leading up to his next album, Songs For Flight.  Here’s the first video from the project for “Chains,” a song all about discovering what binds us in our every day life and trying to break these restraints.

Kenna was in town last week and stopped by Sound Session, only for the studio in our new production room to screw up the audio of our interview.  I do have some video, so I may still post it, even though the sound quality is pretty poor without the mic audio.  The conversation was great though, as it always is with Kenna.  We discussed the new projects in detail and dived deeper into some philosophical debates over artistry and musical integrity.  I’ll try to get it posted soon, but for now, he says hi:

Lykke returns with the newest visuals from her excellently titled Wounded Rhymes album.  This girl is on fire with her videos…all doper than the next.  Great stuff.

You’d think that if I took an extra day to archive this week’s SNSS, I would have an enthralling, lengthy write up detailing what went down on the show.  Well, if you thought that, you’d be wrong.

I will say this much though: last week, we discussed microfinancing higher education for students in 3rd world countries through a local non-profit organization called Vittana.  Read the details here.  I’m happy, and humbled, to report that since helping spread the word on our last show, over 60 new lenders have contributed loans to Vittana.  Say it with me: #swag.

Together, we’re making a difference with this music, this culture, this community, and this world.  Let’s keep going y’all.  Thank you!

Show #308 (4-24-11)

1. Dom Kennedy – “On The Way Home”
2. DJ Quik ft. Jon B – “Real Women”
3. Theophilus London ft. Devonte Hynes – “Century Girl”
4. Kenna – “Chains”
5. Childish Gambino – “Be Alone”
6. Aleon Craft ft. G-Wiz & Heavy Slim – “On The Air”
7. Rapper Big Pooh – “Zone Out”
8. The Physics – “These Moments” (Local Music)
9. J. Pinder ft. Royce The Choice, Eighty4 Fly, & Clemm Rishad – “The Opus” (Local Music)
10. Kendrick Lamar – “Hiii Power”
11. Big K.R.I.T. – “The Vent”
12. Kanye West – “Jesus Walks” (Throwback of the Week)
13. Curren$y ft. Freddie Gibbs – “Scottie Pippen”
14. Random Axe – “The Hex”
15. Elzhi – “Detroit State Of Mind”
16. Shane Eli ft. Playboy Tre & Rittz – “Let’s Ride”
17. Dice – “Things I Couldn’t Say” (Local Music)
18. Estelle ft. Rick Ross – “Break My Heart”
19. Frank Ocean – “Nature Feels”
20. Little Dragon – “NightLight”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?bdp7hgrp762sosy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/894799390f57d113/)
(2nd back up – http://www.usershare.net/xrgvzud7fbre/DJ Hyphen and J. Moore – Sunday Night Sound Session, Show 308, 4-24-11.mp3)

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.

Maybach Music!