The Audacity of Dope

I assume this was filmed, at least in part, during John’s wedding to model (and surprisingly funny Twitter personality) Chrissy Teigen in Italy, since I think a few of these shots are of Lake Como (some footage at the end as well).  Not to get all TMZ, but apparently John sang this to her during the wedding ceremony since it was a song he specifically wrote for her.

I’ve always thought that “Ordinary People” was a timeless, classic record that we would all look back on like some of the best work from Stevie, Marvin, etc. and while I don’t think this one is quite as strong, it’s a great ballad.  I watched some of my co-workers literally cry after listening to it so I’d say it’s almost a universal favorite for the ladies.

Well played Mr. and Mrs. Stephens.

This past week, J. Moore and I were joined in studio by the legendary Raphael Saadiq. While we thoroughly enjoy breaking new artists and conducting interviews with up and coming musicians, there’s always something special about chopping it up with someone of Saadiq’s stature. The man has been one of the brightest starts in R&B for over 20 years and yet couldn’t be a nicer, more down to earth dude.

In the first part of the interview above, we spoke about his new Stone Rollin’ album, the “neo” & “retro” soul tags heaped on his recent work, his creative process, his collaboration with Little Dragon, and more.

In the second half of the interview, Saadiq spoke about his fondest memories of the Tony! Toni! Toné! and Lucy Pearl days, his proudest moment in music, his advice for young artists, and even playing basketball with Prince.

If you prefer to listen to the audio instead, you can grab it below:

Raphael Saadiq on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?97cxf19frx4o7r7
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/891679810db2ee03/)

During our discussion, I mistakenly stated that Stone Rollin’ was in stores now (mp3’s have sadly rendered release dates somewhat moot…for listeners at least), when in actuality, the album will be released May 10th.  My bad.  Go support it when it drops!

The homey J. Cole was in town over the weekend for our Bumbershoot Festival and he came through the Sound Session studio to kick it with us.  We recorded a normal interview, which we’ll air soon and also post here, but in the interim, you can peep the archive of the live UStream web chat that we did with almost a thousand listeners logged in to the room.

Cole ran through some random questions from his fans in the chat and I tossed him some that people were tweeting us at the same time.  He talked about everything from his album, his upcoming mixtape, his touring, his favorite athletes, and much more.  If you’re looking for a more formal interview, peep our sit down with Cole the last time here was in town right here.  We’ll also have a new interview shortly…

Big shout to Cole, his crew, and the label homies…all some of my favorite folks to chop it up with.  Continued success…Roc Nation in the building.

COLE WORLD.

I don’t post up too many single joints these days, but when a collaboration like John Legend and the Roots comes along, it’s cause for a celebration.  Plus the homies at Columbia specifically asked and I’m hoping for some inter-office label drama between the old “internet is dead” Prince style execs and the ones that actually understand the new model.  Be on the lookout for a possible appearance from JL & ?uest on SNSS soon!

John Legend & The Roots ft. Melanie Fiona & Common – “Wake Up Everybody”