The Audacity of Dope

(Porter Ray)

Another week, another fun episode of Sound Session.  On episode #591, DJ Nphared and I ran new records from David Banner + Black Thought, The Cool Kids, Joey Badass, Swindail + Innanet James, Gorillaz + D.R.A.M. + Bonobo, GoldLink + Mya, Tom Misch, Kendrick, and more.  We even had a record so good, we had to temporarily suspend our longstanding “Migos Free Zone” rule.  And if that wasn’t crazy enough, Desiigner called in to make weird noises and talk about working with Kanye/Mike Dean/Pusha, his new album, tour life, and more.

Oh, and one of the dopest MC’s in the Northwest (and nationally, truth be told), Porter Ray, dropped by to talk about his new Watercolor project on Sub Pop.  Cop that if you haven’t already (Sub Pop / Apple / Amazon / Google)!

Enjoy…

Show #591 (4/16/17)
**Co-hosted by DJ Nphared**

1. **INTERVIEW WITH PORTER RAY, PT. 1**
2. David Banner ft. Black Thought & WatchTheDuck – “Who Want It”
3. The Cool Kids – “TV Dinner”
4. Asher Roth ft. The Cool Kids – “Wu Financial”
5. **INTERVIEW WITH PORTER RAY, PT. 2**
6. Porter Ray – “East Seattle” (Local Music)
7. Porter Ray – “Navi Truck” (Local Music)
8. **INTERVIEW WITH PORTER RAY, PT. 3**
9. Joey Badass – “For My People”
10. Da Villins x DJ Skizz ft. Sean Price – “Indivisible (P&P)”
11. Evidence – “Throw It All Away”
12. Kendrick Lamar – “FEEL.”
13. Swindail ft. Innanet James – “C’est La Vie”
14. **INTERVIEW WITH DESIIGNER**
15. Desiigner – “Outlet”
16. Calvin Harris ft. Frank Ocean & Migos – “Slide”
17. Drake – “Madiba Riddim”
18. Gorillaz ft. D.R.A.M. – “Andromeda (Bonobo Remix)”
19. GoldLink ft. Mya – “Roll Call”
20. Snoop Dogg – “Snoopafella” (Throwback of the Week)
21. Logic ft. Damian Lemar Hudson – “Black SpiderMan”
22. Pinder – “For Granted” (Local Music)
23. Tom Misch ft. Carmody – “Ephemeral”

Download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWX0dOempLMFF3Vkk

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

Another week of Sound Session, another episode packed full of good music and good conversation with some of our favorite folks in the Northwest.  This week, Miguel Rockwell (host of The Biggest podcast and member of Clockwork, the fellas responsible for the first local music we played on SNSS) and Sol joined Nphared and I to catch up, talk shop, and share some more memories of J. Moore.  We also ran new cuts from Raekwon, Joey Badass + Schoolboy Q, Logic, Anna Wise, Jidenna, Sylvan LaCue, Brother Ali, GoldLink, Kendrick, and more.  Throwback in honor of the first album I ever bought, an absolute classic.

Enjoy the episode and for those of you lucky enough to get tickets to Jon’s memorial show, we’ll see you Friday.

Show #589 (4/2/17)
**Co-hosted by DJ Nphared, Miguel Rockwell, & Sol**

1. J.I.D – “Never”
2. Raekwon – “This Is What It Comes Too”
3. Joey Badass ft. Schoolboy Q – “Rockabye”
4. Kendrick Lamar – “HUMBLE.”
5. Logic – “Everybody”
6. Tuxedo (Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One) – “Back In Town” (Local Music)
7. Anna Wise – “Some Mistakes”
8. GoldLink ft. Wale & Radiant Children – “Summatime”
9. Dave B – “Kandi” (Local Music)
10. Smino – “Spitshine”
11. THURZ – “Iconic”
12. Drake – “Do Not Disturb”
13. Jidenna – “Bambi”
14. Sol – “Marathons” (Local Music)
15. Sylvan LaCue – “Grateful”
16. Brother Ali – “Own Light (What Hearts Are For)”
17. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince – “He’s The DJ, I’m The Rapper” (Throwback of the Week)

Download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWTUtMZG5uSmV2T00

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

If you’re reading this, either on our email blast or our blog, you’re probably aware that it has been a very difficult few weeks for us here in Seattle’s hip-hop community.  On March 8th, J. Moore passed away from the health issues he had been battling over the last year.  There are no words to express how devastating a loss this is for our city and our scene.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jon’s entire family, especially his sons Upendo and Miles.  If you’ve ever enjoyed an episode of Sound Session or if J impacted your life in any way, I ask you to please consider donating to his legacy fund, which will go towards education costs for his children.

One day, I hope to be in the right place to share how much Jon meant to me, but I’m unable to do so at the moment.  I’m an only child, but Jon’s been my brother since we started working on Sound Session together in 2005.  He meant the world to me and I’ll cherish all the time we got to spend together.  Love you forever J.

In the absence of my extended thoughts, I wrote some words for our KUBE tribute that you can read here.  I also recommend a few pieces in remembrance of Jon from Seattle Weekly (1 | 2), the Stranger, this excellent blog post, KEXP, and his Facebook wall, which is filled with countless amazing stories from some of the people he touched.

As for our show, I returned from my work trip to Brazil on Sunday and promptly hopped in the studio with DJ Nphared, DV-One, and Jake One to pick up where we left off.  We played some great new music (including Jake’s new single from Tuxedo) and shared some memories of J.  We even dusted off some of his old Source of Labor records.  It honestly felt like he was in the room with us, which I suspect will always be the case as long as SNSS is on the air.

My only regret is that the last half hour of the recording has some distortion (stuttering/clicking noises), so I apologize for that.  Hopefully you can still enjoy the music and stories.  We’ll adjust the studio equipment next week and aim for better quality.

Enjoy the show and tell all your family & friends that you love them.  We appreciate you and thank you greatly for your support.  Love & Light.

Show #587 (3/19/17)
**Co-hosted by DJ Nphared, DV-One, & Jake One**

1. Source of Labor – “Wetlands” (Local Music) (Throwback of the Week)
2. Brother Ali – “Own Light (What Hearts Are Made For)”
3. Oddisee – “Want To Be”
4. Drake ft. Jorja Smith & Black Coffee – “Get It Together”
5. Tuxedo (Mayer Hawthorne & Jake One) – “2nd Time Around” (Local Music)
6. J.I.D – “Never”
7. Nick Grant – “Luxury Vintage Rap”
8. CyHi The Prynce – “Nu Africa”
9. Will Sessions ft. Elzhi – “Knowledge Of 12th”
10. Sol – “Marathons” (Local Music)
11. Cole (of Brothers From Another) ft. Dave B, Thig Natural (of The Physics), & Otieno Terry – “Santa Monica” (Local Music)
12. Khalid – “8TEEN”
13. Frank Ocean – “Chanel”
14. Little Dragon – “High”
15. THURZ – “Iconic”
16. Jidenna – “White N****s”
17. Smino – “Anita”
18. Source of Labor – “Livication” (Local Music) (Throwback of the Week)

Download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWRVFxejZNX01tV0E

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

New music on this week’s SNSS episode from Smino, Tay Sean, Raury & Jaden Smith, Rob Stone, Childish Major, Sonder, SG Lewis, Stwo, Amir Obe, and of course, our boy Frank is back!  Coming off our Olympics inspired Bad Boy throwback from last week, we went back to back and celebrated another classic off the Bad Boy 20th Anniversary 5 CD project that just dropped.  Can’t stop, won’t stop…eh eh.

Enjoy!

Show #565 (8/21/16)

1. Smino ft. Jean Deaux – “Lemon Pon Goose”
2. 2 Chainz ft. Drake – “Big Amount”
3. Rob Stone ft. J. Davis & Spooks – “Chill Bill”
4. Slim Thug – “Real”
5. Isaiah Rashad – “Free Lunch”
6. Schoolboy Q ft. Lance Skiiiwalker – “Kno Ya Wrong”
7. Tay Sean – “Supramundane” (Local Music)
8. Raury & Jaden Smith – “Losing Your Mind”
9. King Leez ft. Pusha T & Raz Simone – “That Ain’t Love” (Local Music)
10. Torae ft. Freeway & Styles P – “Get Down (Remix)”
11. Sean Price – “Rap Professor”
12. DJ Skizz ft. Your Old Droog – “Listen To Jazz”
13. Zen6 & Wordsworth – “Wonderflow (Remix)”
14. Childish Major ft. Isaiah Rashad & SZA – “Happy Birthday”
15. Travis Thompson ft. Parisalexa – “Never Change” (Local Music)
16. Frank Ocean – “Pink + White”
17. Tom Misch – “Follow”
18. Phonte & Eric Roberson – “Thru The Night”
19. Carl Thomas – “I Wish” (Throwback of the Week)
20. NAO – “Happy”
21. SG Lewis – “Meant To Be”
22. Tory Lanez – “Cold Hard Love”
23. Brent Faiyaz – “Invite Me (Sonder Remix)”
24. Stwo ft. Amir Obe & Daniel Caesar – “Fill The Void”
25. ABRA – “Vegas”
26. CVIRO & GXNXVS – “Problem”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWWGhKblBUbUotbHM

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

Back to back SNSS updates for y’all, but sadly, this one is a bit lackluster.  Due to technical difficulties in the studio, we weren’t able to record the show so we’re just posting up the playlist for this week.  I don’t know how, but I’m 100% positive this is Trump’s fault.

Shame, as we played some really dope records from folks Chance, Rexx Life Raj, Ivan Ave, Shad, J. Cole, Mac Miller, Noname, Sinead Harnett, Mogul, Set Mo, ZHU, Louis Mattrs, NAO, and more.  You absolutely have to peep that NAO album if you haven’t already.  Nothing will sound better in the sunshine this summer.  Shout to Beats, Rhymes and Life for celebrating its 20th anniversary on our throwback too.  Named my college radio show and old mixtape series after that album, even though you Tribe purists still hate it…

Show #562 (7/31/16)

1. Chance The Rapper ft. Big Sean, Smino, & Jeremih – “Living Single”
2. Dave B & Sango – “I Don’t Care What Ya’ll Think” (Local Music)
3. Rexx Life Raj – “Vanilla Ice”
4. Ivan Ave ft. Nanna B – “I Do”
5. Skratch Bastid ft. Shad – “Limoncello”
6. Bruce Leroy ft. Phinisey – “Home” (Local Music)
7. Tom Misch – “Artist”
8. DJ Khaled ft. Nas – “Nas Album Done”
9. DJ Khaled ft. J. Cole & EarthGang – “Jermaine’s Interlude”
10. Schoolboy Q ft. Sam Dew – “John Muir”
11. Russ – “What They Want”
12. Mac Miller ft. Anderson .Paak – “Dang!”
13. The Game ft. Jeremih – “Let Me Know”
14. Noname ft. Raury, Cam O’bi, & Phoelix – “Diddy Bop”
15. A Tribe Called Quest – “Get A Hold” (Throwback of the Week)
16. Lion Babe – “Rain Drums”
17. NAO – “Happy”
18. Sinead Harnett ft. GRADES – “If You Let Me”
19. antbzy ft. Jessica Domingo – “Ease Your Mind” (Local Music)
20. Otis Junior & Dr. Dundiff – “Reaching”
21. Dusky ft. Wiley – “Sort It Out Sharon”
22. PARTYNEXTDOOR – “Not Nice”
23. Mogul ft. Damon Trueitt – “Soulglow”
24. Set Mo ft. ALPHAMAMA – “Chasing Forever (Jafunk Remix)”
25. ZHU ft. Nylo – “Secret Weapon”
26. Desiigner ft. Louis Mattrs – “Tiimmy Turner (Louis Mattrs Remix)”

No archive this week due to technical difficulties. 

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

It’s been a tense week so we had to start the latest episode of Sound Session talking about it all.  I hope everyone is staying safe and sane, while spreading love via family, friends, and strangers as best you can.  Shout out to all those protesting the continued police brutality in America and everyone supporting Black Lives Matter.  Keep up the good work and keep faith that a change will come.  We will get there, despite the pain and hopelessness we may feel during the process.

Tracks from Vic Mensa, Hov, LaRue, Dee-1, Jidenna, and a throwback from Big L, Fat Joe, and Premo set the tone, before we transitioned into some lighter vibes from Jay IDK, GoldLink, Khalid, Snoop, Roy Woods, Palmistry, and more.  Enjoy!

Show #559 (7/10/16)

1. Vic Mensa – “16 Shots”
2. Jay-Z – “Spiritual”
3. LaRue ft. Silas Blak – “Nat Turner” (Local Music)
4. Big L ft. Fat Joe – “The Enemy” (Throwback of the Week)
5. Schoolboy Q ft. Sam Dew – “John Muir”
6. Dee-1 – “We Are The Undefeated”
7. Jidenna – “Chief Don’t Run”
8. Jay IDK – “Somebody”
9. GoldLink – “Palm Trees (Motez Remix)”
10. Snoop Dogg – “Two Or More”
11. Khalid – “Let’s Go”
12. Roy Woods – “Gwan Big Up Urself”
13. Palmistry – “Sip”
14. Logic – “44 Bars”
15. Apathy – “Pay Your Dues”
16. Jace – “WU”
17. Slim Thug – “Peaceful”
18. Mike Check ft. Shay Boog, Gifted Gab, Jay Key, E-Dawg, Tone Jonez, & Kalieb Nash – “Love Unconditional” (Local Music)
19. Kraak & Smaak ft. Eric Biddines – “Smile”
20. Tom Misch – “I Wish”
21. Loyle Carner – “Tierney Terrace”
22. Kanye West ft. Sampha – “Saint Pablo”
23. Gensu Dean & Denmark Vessey ft. 7evenThirty & Iman Omari – “Black Love”
24. Schoolboy Q ft. Miguel & Justine Skye – “Overtime”
25. antbzy ft. Ariana DeBoo – “Since I Been Away” (Local Music)
26. Yuna – “Best Of Me”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWZGJTSGxVLXpaSTA

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

There won’t be an episode of Sound Session tonight, as I’m in the Bay Area for Game 7 of the NBA Finals, so I wanted to make sure we got last week’s archive up for y’all.  I’ve never been to a Finals game and it feels like there’s never been a more anticipated game, so I’m about as excited as it gets.  Either Steph and the Warriors cap off the greatest season in NBA history, or LeBron adds to his greatness, the Cavs become the first team to ever come back from 3-1 down in a Finals, and the city of Cleveland breaks its long streak of suffering.  Y’all know me though…west coast all day…so let’s go Warriors!

We’ll be back on air on the 26th.  In the meantime, enjoy the last episode with records from De La Soul, Vursatyl, Mark Battles, Mick Jenkins, Vic Mensa, Asher Roth, midnight, Vince Staples, Jonwayne, A. Chal, Maxwell, the first Jurassic 5 track in a decade, and more.  Throwback goes out to all the grads, congratulations!

Show #556 (6/12/16)

1. Joey Badass – “Devastated”
2. De La Soul ft. Snoop Dogg & Mack Maine – “Pain”
3. Vursatyl ft. Ja’Kar Abel – “I Got It (DJ Spinna Remix)” (Local Music)
4. Drake – “4PM In Calabasas”
5. Mark Battles – “This Is Me”
6. Mick Jenkins – “The Artful Dodger”
7. Pusha T ft. Jay-Z – “Drug Dealers Anonymous”
8. Vic Mensa – “Dynasty”
9. REKS – “Jump Shots”
10. Asher Roth ft. Michael Christmas & Larry June – “Laundry”
11. ScienZe ft. Chuuwee – “Bon Appetit”
12. Flume ft. Vince Staples & Kucka – “Smoke & Retribution”
13. midnight ft. The Internet – “Native America”
14. Chance The Rapper ft. Ty Dolla Sign, BJ The Chicago Kid, Anderson .Paak, Raury, Nico Segal, & Lolah Brown – “Blessings (Reprise)”
15. Draze – “Irony On 23rd” (Local Music)
16. Miles Davis & Robert Glasper ft. Phonte – “Violets”
17. Jonwayne – “That’s O.K.”
18. Jurassic 5 – “Customer Service”
19. Kanye West – “School Spirit” (Throwback of the Week)
20. DJ Khaled ft. Drake – “For Free”
21. antbzy ft. Cole (of Brothers From Another) – “No Better Feeling” (Local Music)
22. A. Chal – “Vibe W/U”
23. George Maple ft. GoldLink – “Sticks and Horses (George Maple Remix)”
24. Yuna ft. Usher – “Crush”
25. SG Lewis ft. Raye – “Yours”
26. Maxwell – “1990X”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWZnBlclpIbVhaOWM

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

Alright, we’re all caught up with SNSS archives now with episode #550 (!!!), so it feels like we’re truly back.  You know we like to keep our music super, super current and this episode was heavy on Drizzy with his Views release last week, so we had to get this posted sooner, rather than later.

So…Views.  What do you guys think?  Drake rarely takes a step wrong in my book and to me, it’s another quality project but clearly not his best.  He almost seems uninspired on it, which is odd with the way he’s been hyping up this project for years now.  Plus, this one had the entire Apple/Beats marketing machine behind it, so while the rollout was massive, it seems like it could have been even bigger if this was the classic we hoped for.  That said, there are some really good moments, and we highlighted a few on this week’s show.  He also gave me a reason to drop the DMX throwback I’ve been saving for a while, so that alone gets respect from me.

Alongside Drake, we ran new tracks from Elzhi, ASAP Ferg, Jerreau, DJ Quik & Problem, Gallant, Russ, Rockie Fresh, Barney Artist, and more.  Press play:

Show #550 (5/1/16)

1. Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi – “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1”
2. Kanye West ft. Desiigner – “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 2”
3. Nu Era ft. Blu – “Judkins Park” (Local Music)
4. Elzhi – “Cloud”
5. ASAP Ferg – “Psycho”
6. Drake – “Views”
7. Royce Da 5’9” – “Off”
8. Vibe – “Cost of Living” (Local Music)
9. Jerreau – “Really Got It”
10. Phife Dawg – “Nutshell”
11. BJ The Chicago Kid – “Turnin Me Up”
12. Musiq Soulchild ft. Rapsody – “Far Gone”
13. Drake – “U With Me?”
14. DMX ft. Faith Evans – “How’s It Goin’ Down” (Throwback of the Week)
15. DJ Quik & Problem ft. Shy Carter – “A New Nite / Rosecrans Grove”
16. Barney Artist ft. Tom Misch – “Stay Close”
17. Raleigh Ritchie – “Cowards”
18. Avelino – “Rich Soul”
19. Rockie Fresh ft. Rick Ross – “Thank You”
20. John Crown ft. DJ Phinisey – “The Longest Goodbye (For Jessica)” (Local Music)
21. Russ – “Losin Control”
22. Drake – “Weston Road Flows”
23. dvsn – “With Me”
24. Suede Brown – “NightCall”
25. Rihanna – “Sex With Me”
26. Drake – “Controlla”
27. Gallant – “Talking To Myself”
28. Tunji Ige – “Bring Yo Friends”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWc1EwUk5yVWhabW8

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.