The Audacity of Dope

As I mentioned last week, I was supposed to miss this edition of SNSS but my trip out east was postponed thanks to Hurricane Irene.  God hit me on Twitter later and said he had to do it.  He’s been listening since day one and just didn’t think it’d be right if I wasn’t there.  Thanks big homey.

Thanks to DJ Descry as well, who allowed us to world premiere his new record with TiRon, Outasight, and Theo Martins.  Dope stuff.

Enjoy the rest of the show and if you’re in the Northwest, I hope to see you at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival this weekend.  Here are a few snapshots of some of the hip-hop related artists performing for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  J. Moore and I will be running around the festival all weekend, but you can catch us hosting the mainstage for Kendrick Lamar and Big Boi on Monday for sure.  Also, you’ll be vibing to my music picks during that show and the Macklemore/Wiz Khaifa performance.  It’ll be like listening to SNSS with 10,000 of your closest friends.  With beer spilled on you.

See you there!

Show #326 (8-28-11)

1. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Ray Dalton – “Can’t Hold Us” (Local Music)
2. Kendrick Lamar – “Hol’ Up”
3. Game ft. Drake – “Good Girls Go Bad”
4. Trackademicks ft. Freddie Gibbs, Phonte, & 1-O.A.K. – “Chill”
5. Phonte ft. Elzhi – “Not Here Anymore”
6. KJ – “Just Sometimes”
7. Jay-Z & Kanye West ft. Elly Jackson – “That’s My B*tch”
8. Little Dragon – “Ritual Union”
9. SBTRKT ft. Little Dragon & Shabazz Palaces – “Wildfire (Drumma Boy Remix)”
10. Dom Kennedy & Curren$y – “Hennessey Beach”
11. DTMD – “You”
12. Slum Village – “Players” (Throwback of the Week)
13. The Physics – “Love Is A Business” (Local Music)
14. Asher Roth – “Ampersand”
15. Maffew Ragazino ft. Action Bronson – “Jordan vs. Bird”
16. Danny Brown – “Radio Song”
17. Lil Wayne ft. Tech N9ne & Andre 3000 – “Tha Carter IV Interlude”
18. **Descry ft. TiRon, Outasight, & Theo Martins – “Money Won’t”** (World Premiere)
19. DJ Jazzy Jeff & Ayah ft. Kardinal Offishall, Skillz, & Shad – “Notorious (Remix)”
20. JayKin – “V.A.N. II” (Local Music)
21. The Weeknd – “Lonely Star”
22. STS ft. Count Justice – “WWW”
23. Union ft. Elzhi – “Wings”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?ns91jgodi71fsfk
(back up / streaming link – http://hulkshare.com/an11olixfqkc)
(2nd back up – http://www.zshare.net/audio/94250171a66430c2/)

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.

Big Boi continues to make dope music, but I think we can all agree that we’d rather hear him rhyme with Andre than Too Short and Gucci.

Definitely more of a viral video than anything that official, but the song is ill so I’m glad they shot some quick visuals for it.  Despite Gucci’s best efforts, I really dig this record.  #in2010 we better get Big Boi’s album released…

It’s been a busy past few days  for me, so I’ll run through my thoughts for this week’s SNSS quickly with bulletpoints:

• Courtney Lee.  Courtney, Courtney, Courtney.  That was a gimme and most likely cost the Magic any chance of winning the championship.  Not that they had a good chance to begin with, but that game might have been their only lifeline against a focused Laker squad.  For those of us hoping for a long series, our hopes were dashed with one blown layup (well, two I suppose…but the scoop was a bit tougher).  I hope I’m proven wrong and we get a classic 7-gamer, but I highly doubt it.

• Aw snap, our Cornerstone Mixtape is finally out.  Read more and download it right here!

• This week’s show featured music from some of the dopest artists around, including Ghostface, Dead Prez, A.R.M., Outasight, Mos Def, Drake, Tanya Morgan, and more.  And yes, of course we played Jay-Z’s “D.O.A.”…was there ever a doubt?

• We might have given a world premiere to DJ Spinna’s excellent record with Phonte and Yahzarah, “Guaranteed.”  Not sure if that one has hit the net at all, but if you haven’t heard it, peep it…asap.  Cop Sonic Smash on June 30th!

• We were also joined in the studio by Kyle Lucas (of Vonnegutt), who talked about signing with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label and his new project with Seattle’s own Captain Midnite, along with one of our most talented soul artists in the city, Mycle Wastman.  Speaking of signing, be on the lookout for Mycle to sign to a very major label soon…the ink is almost dry!

• Peep our final break to hear my mini-rant on T-Pain and his “Big Ass Chain.”  I like T-Pain (kinda), but I gotta call ’em like I see ’em.  $410K on a chain, recession or not, is asking for ridicule.

Show #210 (6-7-09)

1. Ghostface Killah, AZ, & Inspectah Deck – “Harbormasters”
2. Marco Polo & Torae – “Danger”
3. A.R.M. – “Blame My Ego”
4. U-N-I – “Land Of The Kings”
5. Dead Prez – “Summer Time”
6. **INTERVIEW WITH KYLE LUCAS (of VONNEGUTT), PT. 1**
7. Vonnegutt – “Here We Go Again (Repeat Offender)”
8. Outasight – “Destination Somewhere”
9. Mos Def ft. Slick Rick – “Auditorium”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH KYLE LUCAS & CAPTAIN MIDNITE, PT. 2**
11. Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)”
12. Drake – “The Calm”
13. B.o.B – “Put Me On ’09 (Reebok Classic Mix)”
14. **INTERVIEW WITH MYCLE WASTMAN, PT. 1**
15. Mycle Wastman – “Still Holdin’ On” (Local Artist)
16. Busta Rhymes ft. Common, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, & John Legend – “Decisions”
17. DJ Spinna ft. Phonte & Yahzarah – “Guaranteed”
18. M64 (Ragen Fykes & Ohmega Watts) – “In The Pocket” (Local Artist)
19. **INTERVIEW WITH MYCLE WASTMAN, PT. 2**
20. Shawn Starr ft. GMK – “Past The Games” (Local Artist)
21. Tanya Morgan ft. Phonte & Brittany Bosco – “She’s Gone AKA Without You”
22. B-Real ft. Young De & Tekneek – “6 Minutes”
23. Fresh Daily ft. Oddisee & Mela Machinko – “Universal Medicine”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?1mz51ydmtoj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/611304394b1ae0e3/)

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.

3RD UPDATE: The interview Vimeo clip appears to be working at the moment. If it stops, please use the YouTube link right underneath the video. The live footage has been removed at the request of the label, sorry.  Holler @ me if there are any problems.

(if you prefer YouTube, watch it here)

Last weekend, the lovely Ms. Janelle Monae came to Seattle and we had the pleasure of sitting down with her for an interview on Sound Session.  If you’ve somehow missed her huge (and well deserved) buzz all over the net, she’s a singer from Kansas City, Kansas, by way of New York and Atlanta, who broke into the industry with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label.  After debuting on his Got Purp, Vol. 2 compilation, she linked up with the other half of Outkast, Andre 3000, and appeared on 2 songs from their Idlewild project.  She then released the first part of her Metropolis mega-series, The Chase Suite, only to re-release the Special Edition after impressing Diddy at a live performance enough that he immediately signed a partnership with her.

Janelle sat down with us to talk all about her background and inspirations growing up, how she connected with Big Boi and Diddy, the intricate storyline behind Metropolis, and much more.  You can either watch the interview above, or, as I would recommend, download the broadcast quality audio feed below (complete with one of the songs off Metropolis).

Janelle Monae on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?glvcjjxcbt5
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/18029402495320a0/ )

Even at such an early stage of her career, Janelle’s live show is legendary so I shot some footage from her concert at the Nectar Lounge later that night.  Watch the clip below to see her run through songs like “Violet Stars Happy Hunting,” “Many Moons,” “Smile, “Sincerely, Jane,” and “Lettin’ Go.”

EDIT:  Video has been removed at the request of the label, sorry.

Go see this woman when she comes to your town, she’s incredible.  Seattle people: Janelle will be back on October 3rd at the Showbox opening for Jamie Lidell.  Be there.

(I feel your pain man.  The $100 Bentley fill ups are killing me too.)

CNN featured a fluff nice piece on Antwan recently, highlighting his politically charged video for “Sumthin’ Gotta Give.”  I’m pleasantly surprised to see a network actually run a positive story about his beliefs, especially after Fixed News did their best xenophobic reporting on Luda last week.  Sidenote: the massive Obama attack and smear campaign that we all expected is just kicking off.  We have a long way to go, and the attacks will only get uglier and more illogical.  This is when we have to work extra hard to dispell rumors and innuendo, so let’s all stay focused.  gObama.

Swiped from Nah Right.

(did I see John Legend making 2 quick cameos in there?)

Now this is the kind of single we need on the airwaves.  Saw this on OnSmash and was gonna hold off on posting because it’s got an awful hiss in the audio, but I figured I’d forget if I waited a few days.  Besides, it’s dope as hell to see this kind of message coming from top tier artists.  See Luda, that’s how you do it.  Although, I did have to chuckle at Mary as the community organizer, but it’s still cool.  You know she couldn’t wait to rhyme “drama” with “Obama” too…that’s right in her wheelhouse.

Here’s the mp3, without Drama’s completely unnecessary intro, for y’all if you need it:

Big Boi ft. Mary J. Blige – “Sumthin’ Gotta Give”