The Audacity of Dope

On last week’s SNSS, we started talking about our favorite MC’s of all time and my answer for the last decade plus has always been the late, great Big L.  I did mention that there might be another artist overtaking L in my personal list, and I think it’s actually already happened.  Kanye is hands down my favorite artist of all time, throughout any genre.  The music has been dope from day one and the man is absolutely hilarious with everything he does.  If you haven’t seen Aziz Ansari’s bit about ‘Ye, he nails it perfectly.  Dude is just so excited about everything, it’s comedy.

With the new album finished (and no longer called Good Ass Job), ‘Ye has started making the rounds to media outlets to get the buzz going.  While the above trip to the Rolling Stone office was great, the highlight of the week has clearly been his entry to the Twitterverse.  You have to follow this dude…it’s incredible.  Peep it – @kanyewest.

Be prepared for a lot of Kanye talk on TAOD.  You’ve been warned.

Um, this pool party looks enjoyable.  Highly.

Though working in the video production world, I must comment on the seemingly poor encode they uploaded.  Ugh.  Perhaps it had something to do with the waterproof camera, but I would have loved to see a more crisp version of this video.  That said, still dope and the song is obviously greatness.

Greatness.  Tim Westwood is possibly the funniest character in this entire high school musical that is the hip-hop industry.

UPDATE:  I suppose I should include the original for those who haven’t seen it yet…

I’ve been meeting cats in the industry for a decade now and I don’t think there’s anyone funnier than the homey Phonte.  His 90’s reggae impression is on poooooooint.

ManifestoTV caught up with Shad for his recent Toronto performance and also shot a quick interview with the dopest MC out right now.  Stop sleepin’!

Seeing this clip of Kanye and John Legend Stephens performing in Amsterdam around the release of The College Dropout reminds me of my 2nd semester of senior year down in Cali.  The homey Tunji and I had been steadily following ‘Ye’s burgeoning rap career, ever since we heard the first couple of freestyles that he put on the net, and we were lucky enough to see him perform 2 shows in LA around the NBA All-Star Weekend in ’04 (right around my birthday too).  Shout to DJ Off Beat, aka Don C, for hooking it up.  Kanye even filmed the “All Falls Down” video at our local airport in Ontario, CA that week too…if only we had known Stacey Dash was in our neighborhood…

Anyway, I’ll never forget chopping it up with ‘Ye in the back of House Of Blues Anaheim and him being so happy that random dudes like Tunj and I knew all his freestyles.  He was so geeked that he started rhyming new verses a capella to a couple of college kids, just to prove that the best was yet to come.  Hanging out with one of my best friends while Kanye excitedly rapped what would become a verse on “Gold Digger” (“18 YEARS…18 YEARS!”) is one of my favorite music memories ever.

The College Dropout changed my life, real talk.

Murdoc narrates the story of Plastic Beach, the new project from the Gorillaz.  Obviously, ill…everything about this band has been since day one.

(word to Darius Lovehall)

I’m always amazed when I see/hear how dope Aloe is singing, because I used to bump his older stuff when he was really just killing it on the MC tip.  What an incredible artist…and speaking of which, RIP to the King.

So legendary.

I asked some friends where I should cop some new clothes for a wedding this weekend and the homey Sam recommended a Seattle classic.  Yes, this store actually exists (or existed…I dunno if it’s still around).