The Audacity of Dope

This has been my theme song so far in 2015.

A year ago, I was about to move to Los Angeles to pursue an ESPN role in sales.  At the last moment, Amazon swooped in out of nowhere and convinced me to stay in Seattle to work on their digital music team.  While the job was a great one and the people were awesome, I could tell early on that ESPN was really where I belonged and I was anxious to get back.  I thought it might be years down the line, but then I got the call to rejoin the Worldwide Leader In Sports with the opportunity of a lifetime.  They sent me to London for the year to work in our office here and it’s already been a life changing experience.  Sometimes I’ll be out exploring London and just randomly think to myself…”I’m waaaaaaaay up, I feel blessed!”

Happy birthday ‘Ye!

I didn’t think I’d like this, but they won me over with a few of the lines (“I’m Wale’s secret Santa” and Drake’s intonation on “liiiIIIIIIFE!”) and a few impressions in particular (Big Sean, Beyonce, J. Cole, Kreayshawn, Birdman, Drake, and Wyclef). J. Cole receiving a basketball as a gift was golden too. Pretty good stuff overall.

Order of appearances: Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Plies, Rick Ross, Beyonce, J. Cole, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Tyler The Creator, Kreayshawn, Lil B, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Birdman, Drake, Wyclef Jean, Rihanna, and LMFAO.

Talking with a director buddy of mine and we agreed that Hype Williams’ visuals here are not very impressive, but I must admit, this song has grown on me the past few months.  Kanye’s verses are poor for his standards (almost sounds like the corny cameos he’ll make on big pop records like Katy Perry’s “E.T.” remix), but overall, the song works.

Besides…”BLOOOOOOP BLOOOOOOP!“

New visuals for the No I.D./Legendary Traxter assisted track you probably heard during Derrick Rose’s Adidas commercials throughout the playoffs. Sean’s official debut, Finally Famous: The Album, drops on June 28th.  Boiiiiiiii.

Mitch: I mean lets be real here, these cyphers are the only reason any of us even acknowledge the BET Awards. And hands down the best had to go to Kanye and his G.O.O.D. Music soldiers.

As we push onward and upward into our 5th year of Sound Session, we had another great episode.  While J. Moore was out in Philadelphia for the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle, I was joined in the studio by Sol and Jack The Ripper, two very dope local artists putting in work these days.  We also played part of our interview with Big Sean (full interview coming soon…I hope!) and some crazy records from Theophilus London, Big K.R.I.T., Shad, Homeboy Sandman, Nas & Damian Marley, and more.

On the personal tip, I finally saw Avatar (um, insane on Blu-ray, suppose I shoulda caught it in IMAX 3D), but the most impressive Blues over the weekend had to be Chelsea achieving the double in the English Premier League.  The big homey Didier Drogba is simply unstoppable right now and he scored another cracker (yes…that’s what soccer folks call a great goal…and yes, it’s fun to yell out “cracker” when celebrating):

You ready for the World Cup?

Show #259 (5-16-10)

1. Reflection Eternal ft. Bun B – “Strangers (Paranoid)”
2. Eminem – “Despicable”
3. J. Cole – “Who Dat”
4. Gil Scott-Heron ft. Nas – “New York Is Killing Me (1200 Squad Remix)”
5. Theophilus London – “A Stranger’s Heart”
6. Big K.R.I.T. ft. Devin The Dude – “Moon & Stars”
7. Shad ft. Relic – “We Are The Ones (Reservoir Party)”
8. **INTERVIEW WITH SOL**
9. Sol – “Not The One” (Local Music)
10. Wiz Khalifa – “The Statement”
11. Homeboy Sandman – “The Carpenter”
12. Exile ft. Torae & Ruste Juxx – “Radio (Marco Polo Remix)”
13. Dr. Oop ft. Rogue Venom – “Green Butter”
14. **INTERVIEW WITH BIG SEAN (SNIPPET)**
15. Big Sean – “What U Doin”
16. Common ft. Queen Latifah – “Next Time (Just Wright Version)”
17. Hardwerk & Jansport J – “Computer”
18. **INTERVIEW WITH JACK THE RIPPER**
19. Jack The Ripper ft. Geologic, Sol, & Scribes – “Don’t Look Back” (Local Music)
20. The Last Emperor – “Secret Wars, Pt. 1”
21. Nas & Damian Marley – “Nah Mean”
22. The Physics – “My Place” (Local Music)
23. Little Brother ft. Bilal & Darien Brockington – “Second Chances”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?xezdymgj1qd
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/76222169cac1dd65/)
(2nd back up – http://usershare.net/x2tgtmejdu39)

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.

Dope new visuals for Big Sean’s “Million Dollars.”  Shout to Mike Brinkley for sending this through.

I’m curious to see if Sean breaks through in 2010 (assuming his official debut does indeed drop).  I think he certainly has potential and I’d never bet against G.O.O.D. Music, but I wonder if he’ll be able to make the jump.  I would love to see a MC like Sean get major radio and video love, and all it’s going to take is the right record.

Here’s a mixtape from Michigan-native Mike Posner that came out a few weeks ago, but I felt it was worth posting just in case people missed it. There’s definitely a handful of noteworthy records on this project. Check out “Speed of Sound” and “You Don’t Have To Leave,” plus there is an eerie rendition of John Mayer’s “I Don’t Trust Myself.”

Posner is an emerging song-writer/singer to look out for as he recently signed a deal with Jive Records.

Download here (courtesy of 2DopeBoyz) – http://www.mediafire.com/?ojtnmmlz55m

Kanye’s protege, Big Sean, spits a nice little verse a capella in the Def Jam offices.  Normally I hate these little a capella ‘freestyles,’ but I like the rhyme scheme on this one.  Props on using “al dente” in a rap too…might be the first time I’ve heard that.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Sean’s style, because all the past lyrics I’ve heard from him sound waaaaaay too Kanye-ish.  He’s young so I hope he develops his own thing, rather than trying to rhyme just like ‘Ye.

Shout to Best of Both Offices for the clip.