The Audacity of Dope

I heard a new record from Scheme tonight that features Astonish and I realized that Astonish is probably the dopest MC around that nobody seems to have heard of. Sure, he’s got some notoriety in his hometown of Chicago, and the Molemen affiliation helps a bit, but people don’t seem to be up on him.  In this world of massive blog exposure, that’s insane.  Here’s hoping he gets a lot more exposure in 2012.

Up top is a relatively new video and below is one of the first tracks I heard from him and played on SNSS in 2008.

No Yukimi in the video = no bueno, but it’s still a cool, quirky clip and one of the best records of the year. Just the thought of memorizing a full deck of playing cards gives me an aneurysm though…

Take chances and come closer to me babe // I’m falling out…now

On this week’s episode of SNSS, DV-One and I were joined in studio by our good friends, Jake One, Grynch, and Wizdom, plus we played part of my interview with Wale from Saturday.  I’ll be posting up the full video soon, but if you must have visual evidence that it went down, peep our historic moment for race relations.  Enjoy music from all these fellas, plus artists like Common, Childish Gambino, Pac Dic, Rapsody, Lupe Fiasco, Yelawolf, Black Star, Robin Thicke, Peter Baldwin, The Weeknd, Amy Winehouse, and, of course, Drizzy.

Show #338 (11-27-11)

1. Common – “Celebrate”
2. Childish Gambino – “You See Me”
3. Murs – “Westside Love”
4. Pac Div ft. TiRon – “She”
5. Parker ft. SK & Mario Sweet – “In The Morning” (Local Music)
6. **INTERVIEW WITH JAKE ONE**
7. Jake One ft. Sol, Prometheus Brown, & Preach – “Dawgs In The House” (Local Music)
8. Young Jeezy ft. Jay-Z & Andre 3000 – “I Do”
9. Rapsody ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Rock The Bells”
10. Drake – “Over My Dead Body”
11. Lupe Fiasco – “Life, Death & Love From San Francisco”
12. Amy Winehouse – “Halftime”
13. **INTERVIEW WITH WIZDOM & GRYNCH**
14. Wizdom ft. Sol, Luck-One, & Grynch – “That’s Nice” (Local Music)
15. Yelawolf – “The Hardest Love Song In The World”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH WALE #02 (SNIPPET)**
17. Wale – “Barry Sanders”
18. Black Star – “Fix Up”
19. Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Gotta Have It”
20. Tha Dogg Pound Gangstas ft. Snoop Dogg & Nate Dogg – “Big Pimpin’” (Throwback of the Week)
21. **INTERVIEW WITH JAKE ONE, WIZDOM, & GRYNCH**
22. Robin Thicke – “Love After War”
23. Peter Baldwin – “Suicide Girl”
24. The Weeknd – “The Knowing”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?qglybgy3g7jhkf9
(back up / streaming link – http://hulkshare.com/tsm3zr7uh5jg)
(2nd back up – http://www.zshare.net/audio/9674494197349c70/)

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.

Hahahah, this video is fresh. Good concept, reminiscent of Conan’s classic “lip-overs,” and a dope track on top of that.  Well done fellas!

Damn, Robin went ahead and cast his wife, Paula Patton, in this video, completely sonning the rest of the industry. You win my friend, you win. Game, blouses.

I remember watching some of the Joe Budden TV episodes (side note: Joey is one of the most entertaining cats in the industry, hands down) when Drake put out So Far Gone and I always thought it was interesting how open Joe was in praising Drizzy’s work.  Take this one, for example, where Joe spazzes over “A Night Off”…and rightly so, it’s a phenomenal record.  A year or so later, he had the same reaction for Frank Ocean’s “Novacane,” which later led to this (Internet) classic.

Another year later, and it’s not surprising to see Joe release music with that same vibe, though he’s doing it fairly coyly as part of a side project with Emanny, jokingly called Summer Leather Vest (you’ll see the inspiration in the video hahaha).  It’s a shrewd, smart move, because it allows Joe to try something new without fully committing to it.  I’d expect to see some of this sound permeate his upcoming solo releases, but I doubt he’ll bring much of it to the Slaughterhouse project so fans of the rappity rapp rap shouldn’t fear.  I’m glad to see him diversifying his sound though, especially because joking or not, “Unison” came out fresh.

If you’re a hip-hop fan with access to the Internet, you’ve surely seen Justin Bua’s iconic “The DJ” piece (below).  Following in that theme, Bua is releasing The Legends of Hip-Hop, highlighting some of our heroes and including his signature artwork for each.  In this promotional video, his daughter Akira helps out her daddy and shows a sneak peek of the book.  Looks dope.

The Weeknd’s first official is for “The Knowing,” and as you might expect, it’s rather open to interpretation. The song, however, is not.

“I go so hard they call me Go So Hard”
— Lil Wayne, “Bang Bang Pow Pow”

It’s been a while since I posted any WLotD’s but hey, I haven’t been listening to much Wayne lately.  All that changed a few minutes ago and sure enough, his opening line on the new T-Pain single reminded me all about his amazing wackness.

Check out this week’s SNSS for new music from Freddie Gibbs, Young Jeezy, Andre 3000, Childish Gambino, Rittz, Wale, Tanya Morgan, Common, Danny Brown, Drake, Amy Winehouse, and more.  Plus, longtime friend of the show, J. Pinder, stopped by, and Stones Throw’s MED came up from Los Angeles to kick it with us and discuss his new LP, Classic.  Featuring production from Madlib, Karriem Riggins, Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and the Alchemist, plus guest appearances by Aloe Blacc, Talib Kweli, Hodgy Beats, Oh No, and Kurupt, you definitely need to cop it now!

Show #337 (11-20-11)

1. Freddie Gibbs ft. Freeway, Sly Polaroid, & Adrian – “Anything To Survive”
2. Young Jeezy ft. Jay-Z & Andre 3000 – “I Do”
3. Danny Brown – “Pac Blood”
4. Common – “Sweet”
5. Roc Marciano – “Emeralds”
6. Ghostface Killah ft. Method Man, Cappadonna, Masta Killa, & Redman – “Buck 50” (Throwback of the Week)
7. **INTERVIEW WITH MED, PT. 1**
8. Props ft. Wale – “Grindin’ To Eat” (Local Music)
9. J. Cole ft. Missy Elliott – “Nobody’s Perfect”
10. Pac Div – “Move On”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH J. PINDER, PT. 1**
12. J. Pinder – “Go Far” (Local Music)
13. Childish Gambino – “Hold You Down”
14. **INTERVIEW WITH J. PINDER, PT. 2**
15. Drake ft. The Weeknd – “The Ride”
16. Rittz – “Wishin’”
17. Goapele – “Undertow”
18. Wale ft. Miguel – “Lotus Flower Bomb”
19. Frank Ocean – “We All Try”
20. Amy Winehouse – “Our Day Will Come”
21. **INTERVIEW WITH MED, PT. 2**
22. Gazmo ft. Bruce Leroy – “Stuupid” (Local Music)
23. **INTERVIEW WITH MED, PT. 3**
24. MED ft. Talib Kweli – “Classic”
25. Tanya Morgan – “We Rollin’”
26. **INTERVIEW WITH MED, PT. 4**

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?0f23m2m7416m1um
(back up / streaming link – http://hulkshare.com/kx65421ldj3f)
(2nd back up – http://www.zshare.net/audio/96445618c89f7c12/)

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.