The Audacity of Dope

This was a Sound Session to remember.  In 2015, the show will achieve two significant milestones and this week marked the first of those: our 500th show.  We started SNSS in May of 2005, not knowing how long we’d do it, what it would become, or the impact we would have on the Seattle hip-hop scene (and perhaps the national scene, here and there).  Turns out, J. Moore and I put on a pretty decent radio show that music heads generally enjoy…and 500 Sundays later, here we are, on the verge of our 2nd milestone: the 10 year SNSS anniversary in May.

For episode #500, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane and play a variety of songs from artists we championed heavily on the show.  Some were already well established (Hov, Dilla, Common, Kanye), but the majority were artists that we were able to support early on in their careers.  As a result, we’ve been honored to be the place where lots of our listeners were exposed to developing artists that later grew into some of the best in the game (if I had a nickel for every, “maaaan, the first time I heard ____ was on SNSS!”…).  Lots of artists got their first ever radio spins or interviews with our show and it’s truly a pleasure to help give these cats the shine they deserve.  So enjoy this blast from the past, with classics from the aforementioned heavyweights, plus good friends of the show J. Cole, Black Milk, Royce Da 5’9″, Jake One, Shad, U-N-I, The Physics, Little Brother, Macklemore, Kendrick Lamar, Mayer Hawthorne, Little Dragon, and more.  These were all important records/artists during the last 500 shows and we enjoyed spinning some of their best material all night.

For the last track, we went back…way back…back into time…and pulled out a classic DJ Honda/Mos Def track that I’m sure you all know.  This was the last record I played on my college radio show (KSPC what up!  Kev Sakoda what up!!!) when I graduated (Pomona-Pitzer what up!!!) and it has special significance to me.  As mentioned on the show and hinted about previously on my socials, I’ve decided to pursue a work opportunity at my day job, ESPN, which will require me to take an extended business trip to our London office for about a year.  When a company like ESPN says they want to fly you to London to get international and managerial experience, it’s pretty much a no brainer…

That said, I’m really sad that I won’t be joining J on air during my time abroad.  However, much like the rest of the iceberg you don’t see under the water (SNSS as glacial metaphor: +2 points), there’s a lot of back end work that we put in every week for the show and I’ll still be involved with all of that.  So don’t worry, it’s still SNSS all day, but you’ll just have to do without hearing my silly voice and even sillier jokes on air (connect with me on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram if you need those).  I’ll continue to check in with y’all via these archives and like Mos said, “gotta lotta things I got to do // but God willing, I’m comin’ back to you…”

500 shows down, here’s to 500 more!

Show #500 (1-11-15)
**500th Show Celebration**

1.    Jay-Z – “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)”
2.    J. Cole – “Lights Please”
3.    Black Milk ft. Royce Da 5’9” – “Losing Out”
4.    Jake One ft. Vitamin D, C Note, Maine, & Ish (of Shabazz Palaces) – “Home” (Local Music)
5.    Blu & Exile – “Dancing In The Rain”
6.    Shad – “I Don’t Like To”
7.    U-N-I – “Beautiful Day”
8.    Dom Kennedy – “1997”
9.    The Physics – “I Just Wanna Beat” (Local Music)
10.    Little Brother ft. Dion – “Step It Up”
11.    Jay Electronica – “Exhibit C”
12.    Kanye West ft. Dwele – “Flashing Lights”
13.    Drake – “Say What’s Real”
14.    Kid Cudi – “Day N Nite”
15.    Theophilus London – “Flying Overseas”
16.    Macklemore – “White Privilege” (Local Music)
17.    Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart, Pt. 1”
18.    Common ft. Kanye West & John Legend – “They Say”
19.    J Dilla – “Won’t Do”
20.    Amy Winehouse ft. Ghostface Killah – “You Know I’m No Good”
21.    Mayer Hawthorne – “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out”
22.    Little Dragon – “Constant Surprises”
23.    Frank Ocean – “Novacane”
24.    BJ The Chicago Kid – “Good Luv’n”
25.    The Weeknd – “What You Need”
26.    DJ Honda ft. Mos Def – “Travellin’ Man” (Throwback of the Week)

Stream/Download via Soundcloud below:

(back up – https://www.sendspace.com/file/lvya1b)

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.