The Audacity of Dope

The past few days, I’ve had the pleasure of chilling with some of Australia’s dopest artists, Cee, Bekah, and Notion, as they’ve been here touring the States.  Sound Session listeners heard them on our last show, where we talked about their background a bit and what the scene is like down under.  That interview didn’t do them justice though, so I highly recommend peeping these two links where Kevin Nottingham and Travis @ Wake Your Daughter Up really get in depth with The Movement Fam.  Big shout to them for supporting emerging artists, especially cats like these from outside our borders.

Once you’ve read up, check out Notion’s new tape below.  This dude can really spit and he’s also starting to get it in on the production side of things too.  I heard some of the stuff he has on deck and the world’s about to catch on to his talent real soon.  Grab the tape and then stay up to date with everything he’s doing at NotionBaby.com.  I’ll post up the new tape from Cee & Bekah shortly, since that’s fire as well.

Download here.

The long awaited sequel to Royce’s classic Bar Exam mixtape just dropped and I highly recommend you check it out.  I was talking with my man Budo about Royce recently and how when he’s motivated (which is currently is), he’s right there at the very top level for MC’s.  He’s spitting with so much passion right now and his flow is effortless.  Plus, for this project, he recruited a DJ that actually knows how to put together a great mixtape, Green Lantern.  Download this ASAP and Seattle people, remember that Royce will be performing at Nectar on November 19th alongside Grynch and Cancer Rising.

1. Crazed Madman Intro
2. Heat to the Streets f. Kid Vishis (prod. Green Lantern)
3. It’s the New
4. I’m Me Freestyle
5. I’m Nice
6. Gun Music (prod. Green Lantern)
7. Weatherman f. Sucka Free & Kid Vishis
8. I’m the Sh*t Fool!!! (Interlude)
9. We Deep f. Trick Trick (prod. Denaun Porter)
10. Let the Beat Build Freestyle f. Stretch Money
11. Royal Flush Freestyle f. Canibus & Elzhi
12. Jockin My Fresh (prod. Green Lantern)
13. Gettin Money Freestyle
14. Gangsta Remix f. Akon (prod. Green Lantern)
15. Happy Bar Exam 2 f. Marv Won
16. Ignorant Shit Freestyle
17. Flow Boy f. Tondalaya
18. Been Shot Down (prod. Green Lantern)
19. J-Ro vs. Mike B (Skit)
20. Kill Em Pt. 2 f. Kid Vishis
21. Wall Street f. June The Great
22. Royce Outro

Download here. (right click, save as)

Might as well end my night of blogging with two back to back posts relating to my favorite group, Little Brother.  When the homies were out here at Rock The Bells last weekend, they mentioned that this tape would be dropping this week (though they thought it would be a few days earlier) and here it is.  You already know this is fire.  Shout to some of our own NW dudes, The Parker Brothaz, for their “Text Me” joint making the tape.  One of the best songs out right now is from our own backyard, yessir!

1. Rapper’s Delight f. Chaundon (prod. Nottz)
2. Reality Check f. Big Dho, D. Black & Mykestro (prod. Khrysis)
3. Respect It f. Illa J & Bishop Lamont (prod. J. Dilla)
4. Hands Up f. Chaundon & Roc C (prod. Khrysis)
5. Text Me (Tha Bizness Alllstar Remix) w/ Talib Kweli, Parker Brothaz & Naledge (prod. Tha Bizness)
6. Oh Yeah f. Roscoe Umali & Stylistic Jones (prod. Focus…)
7. Roll Call f. Jozeemo, Chaundon & Joe Scudda (prod. The Co-Op)
8. Dusty f. O-Dash (prod. Nick Speed)
9. Crazy (prod. Khrysis)
10. Geez Like Deez f. Quan (prod. Illmind)
11. Regular N*gga w/ Ab Soul
12. Plastic Cups f. Chaundon & Joe Scudda (prod. J. Dilla)
13. Money f. Frank (of Frank-N-Dank) & O-Dash (prod. Young RJ)
14. Dumb It Down
15. On The Real f. E. Ness & Jozeemo (prod. Khrysis)

Download here courtesy of Urb Magazine.

(If you have problems extracting, click the “do not extract path name” option in your zipping program)

Also, check out the video for “Plastic Cups” after the jump!

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My man El Prez from Los Angeles has been leaking new joints recently, but he just dropped the official mixtape for y’all to check out entitled The Daily Show.  If you’re a Sound Session listener, you may remember Prez from his “UAINTUPONTHIS!” joint with the U-N-I homies.  And if you remember that, you know dude is dope.  I would write more, but I need to get some ish ready for Rock The Bells later today at the Gorge.  Matter of fact, I think I’ll bump this on the way down to the show…

Tracklisting and download link after the jump! Shout to What Eye Thought for the drop.

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If you’re as big of a Kanye fan as I am, you remember a lot of his early material featuring a dope Chicago MC named Mikkey. Well after a brief stint with Cash Money Records (I still have no idea why he signed there), Mikkey returned to his roots and has released a ton of great songs over the past few years. He just compiled a mixtape called Uncrowned King, which is filled with new and previously unreleased material featuring collaborations with ‘Ye, Common, No ID, and more.

Thanks to Drew over at FakeShoreDrive, you can download the tape right here.

For those outside of Seattle who haven’t heard of my dude J. Pinder yet, y’all need to get ready.  We have a lot of talent up here in the 206 and Pin is definitely the next to blow up on a national level.  While he readies his debut album, he already released a great mixtape with Vitamin D last year entitled Backpack Wax.  I’m not really sure why the behind the scenes documentary of this project is coming out now, but hey, better late than never.  These clips should serve as a nice introduction as they follow Pinder through the creative process for the mixtape and feature testimonials from some of the most respected (and my favorite) people in the scene.  Be sure to keep your eye out for more Pinder related goodness over at his new blog, the Daily Pintern.  He’ll also be appearing on Jake One’s upcoming White Van Music, as Jake mentions below.

206up.

Chyea, glad to see the long awaited mixtape from Shake and Meka over at 2DopeBoyz.com is finally here. It features some of my favorite artists and friends from the west best coast, including U-N-I, Grynch, Tunji, Blu, Dyme Def, Pac Div, TiRon, El Prez, Shawn Jackson, Crooked I, Move.meant, the Knux, and more. Check the tracklisting yourself:

Download this ASAP right here.

The homey Modi over at DCtoBC sent this over for y’all to check out.  He recently paired up with two other blogs specializing in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area, StartOfTheLine and KNOWxONE to highlight some of the best talent from the area in a monthly mixtape series.  If you missed July, you can find it over at the Dopehouse.

As for this month’s edition, Modi explains:

we’re not here to whine about how our region is overlooked when it comes to hip hop; we’ve already made progress. wale had arguably the best mixtape of the year, and sold out that show at S.O.B.’s in NYC last month. tabi bonney’s videos were all over cable, and one even earned an MTV awards nomination. we have definitely made an impression on the music industry, and are on the way to a movement.

people are hungry to see what else the region has to offer, so we went extra hard in creating the best possible august edition of the DMV mixtape. in addition to the names you already know, we wanted to introduce a few that you may not. we got exclusives, we got unreleased tracks, we have some major label talent, and we have people who grinded out their tracks in their basements on makeshift studio equipment. and we can honestly say it all cranks. so take a second and check it out.

There it is.  Tracklisting and download link after the jump.  Speaking of the DMV, Soulstice will be on this week’s Sound Session.  Be sure to tune in!

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Mr. Lee over at The Exactly has been putting in work on this mixtape for a minute, and it’s finally here for y’all.  I’ll let him describe the goal:

To every listener, fan, participant, artist, producer:

When I started this blog I did so believing that I could fill a gap where I thought something was missing. There were many artists I felt should be exposed, art, events, movies and funny things I wanted to share with as many people as possible. The idea of a mixtape came to mind during one of those wonderful moments where you’re thinking about all the things you COULD do with an outlet. Being that my moniker is “Your New Favorite…,” it was only right to name the mixtape “Your New Favorite Mixtape.” From its inception, the mixtape had to be something that represented what I felt the blog stood for, sharing DOPE SH*T with everybody! I didn’t want it to be a West Coast mixtape, underground Hip Hop mixtape or mainstream, I merely wanted to put songs that I thought were dope together in a package for people to bang. The process of putting together this mixtape has had its setbacks and delays, but I persisted and I can finally give it to ya’ll.

Good ish.  And if that’s not enough to convince you to download the mixtape, it features TAOD approved artists like U-N-I, Pacific Division, Shawn Jackson, Theo, Cool Kids, Now On, Blu, TiRon, Tunji, and many more.

Download it immediately right here.  Tracklisting after the jump. Read more »

Yes y’all.  I was excited for 8-8-08 for two reasons (and not looking forward to it for one): 1) the Olympics kick off today (or have they already?  I dunno with the time difference, I just know I’ll be watching the ceremonies tonight), 2) up and coming artist Theo dropped his mixtape The Birth for y’all to check out.  This kid is dope.

1. Hi (Prod. Judah)
2. There’s Meaning (Prod. Kris Fame)
3. Good Morning America (Prod. Young E)
4. Sweetest Language (Prod. Profit)
5. T.V Show (My Life) (Prod. Brose)
6. Hola Oh Theo (Prod. Young E)
7. Star Struck
8. Lightwork
9. Dillagence
10. Ridin Down The Freeway
11. Keep Doing Your Thing Ft. Skyzoo (Prod. Kris Fame)
12. Grammy Family (Gramphone Flow)
13. Creator
14. High Life Ft. J.A.M.E.S Watts (Prod. Santo Angelo)
15. Somethin For Me
16. iDream (Prod. Brose)
17. Theo till Infinity (Prod. Austin White)

Courtesy of OKP.  Download here.