The Audacity of Dope

Along with Kendrick Lamar, we sat down with another one of our favorite artists at KUBE’s Summer Jam last week, the one and only Big K.R.I.T..  We’ve had Young Krizzle on the show a few times before and he never disappoints.

This time, he spoke about his upcoming Cadillactica album, the criticism he received for Live From The Underground, and the differences in his creative process between mixtapes and albums.  K.R.I.T. also revealed he’ll be working with other producers on Cadillactica and gave us some insight on the tips they shared with him in the studio.  Among other topics, he ended by discussing the motivation behind his “Mt. Olympus” track, the South’s ongoing battle for lyrical respect, and the feeling of when fans connect with his music and support it on a deeper level.

Shout to K.R.I.T. and Dutch for the love, as always, and the First Ladies for filming/editing!

I’ve always been a big fan of when two dope MC’s can share a verse and trade lines back and forth, and that’s exactly what you get with “Eternally” off Phonte’s Charity Starts At Home.  Since it starts there, Tay and Median go door to door bringing that good music to the fine folks of North Carolina, complete with their bicycle helmets.  Hey, safety first!

Evidence couldn’t make the video shoot, but no matter…MomTigallo held it down like a star. Another win for Tay and the FE Music homies.

The newest visuals from Tay’s Charity Starts At Home album are for “The Good Fight,” a track that should resonate with many around the country right now.  On a personal level, it’s been interesting getting my career going the past few years while most of the US struggle with the recession and the aftermath of Bush’s disastrous reign.  Every time I watch the news (well, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report), it’s jarring to see and hear about all the problems facing our society and economy.

Meanwhile, I’ve managed to come up a bit, bought a condo, and have a job that I enjoy working for the best possible company I could imagine.  I’m not sure I could be any more blessed and I’m thankful that the issues Tay discusses on this record haven’t quite affected me like most folks.  Hopefully I can stay lucky and anyone reading this post can do the same.  Keep working hard and stay positive!  Good things happen to good people.

I shouldn’t have watched this video before eating dinner, because now I want to hit up a diner for that good, good (chicken tenders + milkshake = win). One of my favorite up and coming MC’s, Rapsody, links up with Mac for this Khrysis produced track. Straightforward, no-nonsense, fun, and dope. Can’t beat it.

Now where are those chicken tenders…

I’ve been waiting for Daytona’s The Interlude project to drop for a minute and it’s finally here.  It doesn’t disappoint one bit either…some of the best music out this side of Kanye right now.  Inspired by that golden era that I know we all miss.  Be sure to grab this ASAP!

Download here.

Damn, watching this clip was like watching the last episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 🙁

But in all seriousness, Little Brother’s music as a group meant so much to me and played such an important role in my life from 2001 to now, it’s definitely sad that they’re ending the group (…at least for now).  Of course, on a positive note, Phonte, Pooh, and 9th will be making lots of great music in the years to come and judging by other group breakups and rapper retirements, I don’t know if I’ll give up all hope just yet…

Running around like crazy the past few days, but I definitely had to toss the new video from the big homey S-K-Y, Z-O-O up on TAOD.  It’s the first look from his upcoming album, The Salvation, and it’s produced by 9th Wonder.  Dopeness.

(watch part one in HD on HyphenTV)

J. Moore and I recently got the chance to have one of our favorite artists in the game, the one and only Murs, come through Sound Session and kick it with us.  Back when I used to do college radio down in Los Angeles (KSPC what up!), I used to joke about how many people would call in to request Living Legends music.  Seriously, I’d get one every 15 minutes…it was crazy.  They have such an ill following in Cali (and worldwide), and it’s been great to watch Murs build upon that to take his career and brand to a new level.

When we sat down with him, we talked all about his new Murs For President album, why he decided to sign to a major label, his love for No Limit & Cash Money records from the late 90’s, life on the road, politics, and much more.  Be sure to watch both parts of the interview to see why he’s the most authentic rapper you’ll ever find.

(watch part two in HD on HyphenTV)

If you need the audio for your mp3 player, here you go:

Murs on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?zwmqjo3htnj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/529083346101e751/ )

If there are any problems with the links or videos, just let me know.  Enjoy!

Wow, it’s been a minute since I did a Throwback post.  I’ve been meaning to toss up this gem from the homey K. Slack for weeks and I finally got a free minute so here goes.

You may remember Slack from his work alongside J. Gunn and Killa K as part of TheThyrDay, a really dope group from North Carolina.  While they did release one (classic) album, Perfection Xperiment 2, unfortunately they broke up shortly afterwards and moved on to solo projects.  Slack and Gunn have actually linked up recently for a few tracks, so I’m hoping we’ll get to see some sort of 3D reunion, at least between those two.

Before their album came out, Slack posted up a few of his solo tracks on Okayplayer and I remember stumbling upon that post and being blown away.  I think this was fall of 2002 and I was in my first semester of junior year at college.  This track, “broKen AnJel,” was produced by 9th Wonder and Khrysis (the beat is split in two) and it has that vintage Justus League sound.  The market has been flooded with those kind of beats since Little Brother blew up, but I’ll always look back fondly on 9th and Khrysis’ early work.  They definitely inspired a million copycats.

If I remember correctly, Slack wrote this track to his girl at the time and all the lyrics were heartfelt and truthful to the situation he was in.  Part of the reason why I fell in love with the track is that I could apply almost the entire thing to the relationship I was in as well.  “Seasons change, mad things rearrange,” and my girl and I broke up after a few years but I think we always hold on to certain songs because of the memories we attach to ’em.  This is definitely one of those joints for me.

K. Slack – “broKen AnJel”