The Audacity of Dope

Two of the preeminent hip-hop journalists of our time, Elliott Wilson and Danyel Smith, also happen to be married and one of the more interesting power couples in the industry.  They’re both hugely successful on their own (currently, Elliott runs Rap Radar and Danyel runs The Smithian, while doubling as a journalism fellow at Stanford) and now they’re finally collaborating on a project together.  Sound Session listeners may remember the episode Elliott co-hosted with us not too long ago.

We talked to the duo on SNSS all about HRDCVR, which they describe as “a book-shaped magazine by and for the new everyone.”  It’s an interesting and important project for anyone interested in hip-hop, pop culture, social media, and/or journalism in 2014, so I highly suggest reading up on it via their Kickstarter and listening to our interview above.

Support creativity and equal representation!

In what’s becoming a bit of a tradition, J. Moore and I chopped it up with Kendrick Lamar at our Summer Jam last week (if you missed our last K. Dot Summer Jam interview, peep it here).  In front of the natural backdrop of The Gorge, Kendrick talked about his interests outside of music, the possibility of scoring films in the future, what international tour life is like, being an accessible as a celebrity, and more, before taking the stage and performing in front of 15k fans.

Shout to Kendrick, Interscope, TDE, and KUBE for coordinating and the First Ladies for filming/editing!

One of the dopest MC’s in the game and one of the realest dudes in the industry, Freddie Gibbs has been one of our favorites for years on Sound Session.  We’ve ran into him numerous times but amazingly never had him in studio for a SNSS interview…until now.

Freddie came through the KUBE studios on 5/24/14 while in Seattle on tour with Tech N9ne and we chopped it up for a bit about his love for the city (its greenery and Seahawk Richard Sherman, in particular), growing up and starting his rap career in a tough environment in Indiana, and later making the move to Los Angeles to pursue music.  We also talked about his approach to the industry and how he can appeal to a wide fan base, before touching on his recent projects with Madlib and DJ Fresh.

Peep the full interview above for more and be sure to catch Freddie when he’s in your town.  Shout to Archie for coordinating and the First Ladies for shooting and editing the piece.

Our good friend Lupe made another appearance on Sound Session recently, though this one was in the form of our “Studio 93” series, where we interview an artist in front of a large group of winners.  We talked about his upcoming Tetsuo & Youth album, including details about his creative process and a discussion about how responsible complex MC’s are in ensuring listeners understand the messages they put in their verses.  We also discussed how he collaborates with other artists and how he’s often turned down for these projects because of his past controversial statements, before moving on to topics like his relationship with Rick Ross and how the music industry has changed as technology has improved over the years.

It’s always fun to chop it up with Lu, who really is one of the most gifted individuals we have in hip-hop.  He’s an innovative thinker that likes to challenge the status quo, which is always necessary, plus him and Shad are the 2 best writers in the game, imo. Hope you guys enjoy the conversation.  Shout to the Marsupial Empire for recording and editing.

FNF up!

(you like that 3rd person blog title, don’t ya?)

The homies Doc and Armond do one of the best hip-hop podcasts around with their Clock Radio Speakers show and I was honored to be a guest on a recent episode of theirs.  Toss this on and listen to us nerd out about all sorts of topics, including rap’s fascination with radio play and how radio really works, Wale’s issues with Complex, “event” releases in 2013 from artists like Jay-Z and Beyonce, my #InboxMadness Twitter series, industry tastemakers, and a whole bunch more.  Just a fun discussion with some folks that truly love music.  Good times.

For this week’s episode of SNSS, we decided to switch it up a little bit and highlight one of our favorite groups, The Physics, by dedicating half the show to their excellent catalog in celebration of their new album release.  Personally, they are far and away my favorite local crew from the Northwest, which is saying quite a bit when you think about all the quality music our region produces these days.

The Physics sat in on the entire show and talked all about the group’s history as we ran through tracks from all their projects.  We finished with a few records off their new album, Digital Wildlife, which is available for free download right here.  I can’t recommend it enough so definitely download it now and Seattle folks: come out to their album release party this Saturday at the Croc.  See you there!

Show #444 (12-15-13)
**Co-Hosted by The Physics**

1. A$AP Mob ft. A$AP Nast & Method Man – “Trillmatic”
2. Lloyd Banks – “Tour Stories”
3. Roc Marciano ft. Action Bronson – “456”
4. Childish Gambino – “Sweatpants”
5. Flume ft. Ghostface Killah & Autre Ne Veut – “Space Cadet (Remix)”
6. Flume ft. Killer Mike & Moon Holiday – “Insane (Remix)”
7. Disclosure ft. Sam Smith – “Latch (DJ Premier Remix)”
8. 7 Days of Funk (Dam-Funk & Snoop Dogg) ft. Kurupt – “Ride”
9. Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg – “F*ck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)” (Throwback of the Week)
10. Talib Kweli ft. The Underachievers – “New Leaders”
11. The Physics – “Ready For We” (Local Music)
12. The Physics – “I Just Wanna Beat” (Local Music)
13. The Physics ft. Maneak B – “Coronas On Madrona” (Local Music)
14. The Physics – “These Moments” (Local Music)
15. The Physics ft. The Good Sin – “Seward Park” (Local Music)
16. The Physics – “So Funky” (Local Music)
17. The Physics – “Take A Win” (Local Music)
18. The Physics – “Play It Off” (Local Music)
19. The Physics – “No Tellin” (Local Music)
20. The Physics ft. Dave B – “Higher Learning” (Local Music)

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www.solidfiles.com/d/06b385f1b4/
(back up – http://www11.zippyshare.com/v/9421239/file.html)
(2nd back up – http://linkmixes.com/q446ocy1hbf6)

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.

The homey Mistah F.A.B. stopped by SNSS this week and as is tradition with F.A.B., he blessed the mic with a crazy freestyle off the top of his head.  He completely killed it, with all sorts of Seattle references for us: his cousin Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch and his 3 touchdowns in the Seahawks vs. 49ers game earlier that night, Richard Sherman vs. Skip Bayless, Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, Tha Bizness, Macklemore, and more.

Props to F.A.B. for being one of the few MC’s brave enough to spit…and murder…a legit freestyle live on air with us.  Some of your favorite MC’s have declined to rhyme live with us, and even those that do rarely do it off the top.  No writtens here, just improvisational skill at it’s finest.

You can download the audio of the freestyle right here – http://www62.zippyshare.com/v/69183512/file.html

And the full interview is available on the archive for SNSS #431, right here.

This past Sunday marked the unofficial 40th birthday of hip-hop, dating back to when DJ Kool Herc held his first house/block party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx.  In that spirit, we wanted to do something a little different with this week’s SNSS and it just so happened that one of hip-hop’s greatest journalists, Elliott Wilson, was in town to celebrate with us.  Elliott co-hosted this entire episode and gave great insight about hip-hop over the years, as only someone whose been working in this crazy industry since 1992 can.

In addition to new records from artists like Shad, Drake (can we just hurry up and make this a #1 chart topping hit?  What a SMASH.), Ellie Goulding, denitia and sene, Nickelus F, Sound Fx, David Dallas, and more, we also played 4 throwbacks, each one representative of a decade in rap history.  On top of all that, one of the dopest up and coming singers around, Arima Ederra, called in and allowed us to world premiere her new track, “New Old School Love.”

This was one of my favorite SNSS episodes in a long time.  Hope y’all enjoy!

Show #426 (8-11-13)
**Co-Hosted by Elliott Wilson**

1. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – “The Message” (Throwback of the Week)
2. Shad ft. Saukrates – “Stylin’”
3. Schoolboy Q ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Collard Greens”
4. Kanye West – “Blood On The Leaves”
5. Jay-Z ft. Travis Scott – “Crown”
6. Lorde ft. Gilbere Forte – “Royals (RAAK Remix)”
7. David Dallas ft. Freddie Gibbs – “My Mentality”
8. Eric B. & Rakim – “Microphone Fiend” (Throwback of the Week)
9. J. Pinder – “Loaded Gun” (Local Music)
10. Sound Fx – “Apathy”
11. Drake ft. Majid Jordan – “Hold On, We’re Going Home”
12. Nickelus F – “Watermelon and Chicken”
13. Outkast – “Ain’t No Thang” (Throwback of the Week)
14. denitia and sene – “it’s your fault”
15. **INTERVIEW WITH ARIMA EDERRA**
16. **Arima Ederra – “New Old School Love” (WORLD PREMIERE)**
17. Ellie Goulding & BURNS – “Midas Touch”
18. Malice & Mario Sweet ft. Raz Simone – “Goodwill” (Local Music)
19. Grynch & Budo – “Treadin’” (Local Music)
20. Jay-Z – “What More Can I Say” (Throwback of the Week)

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www48.zippyshare.com/v/59335975/file.html
(back up – http://www.solidfiles.com/d/d92436c482/)
(2nd back up – http://linkmixes.com/12ep1kflxae8)

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.

Shout to Kid Ink for coming through the Sound Session studio recently and chopping it up.  We discussed his background and when he first realized he could make music a career, before getting in depth on the keys to his independent success and why he decided to sign with a major label. He had an interesting take on how labels are adapting to work better with artists like himself, who have a dedicated fan base before inking a deal.

Real cool dude, I enjoyed our convo.  Shout to Detooz Films on the cameras!

Along with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, we sat down with good friend of SNSS, J. Cole, at our recent Summer Jam concert at the Gorge.  The video of our interview doesn’t fully share how dope a conversation this was, mainly because of the lack of proper equipment we had down there, but there’s still a lot of interesting stuff from Cole.

Of course we spoke all about his new Born Sinner album, including the pressure he felt while making it, why he decided to compete with the other artists dropping 6/18 too, and why the album is his attempt to “beat the system.”  We also spent time talking about his favorite subject, basketball, and what it’s like being friends and playing ball with NBA players, their words of encouragement for him, and if he would trade rap for hoops.  There’s some more random goodness in there too.

Shout to Cole for always being one of the coolest dudes in the industry and always supporting our show.  Be sure you cop Born Sinner in stores now!