The Audacity of Dope

Seattle: On Sunday, May 15th, I expect to see you all at the Croc to check out some of the illest (and criminally underrated) artists out there: The CunninLynguists, Tonedeff, and Homeboy Sandman.  You should be familiar with all of them by now, especially if you listen to Sound Session since we play them all quite often, but if not, come see them in person and learn something.  You’ll also get to see Blue Sky, Black Death, who make some incredible beats, and local music from the Knowmads.

Be there!

Deacon The Villain, Kno, and Natti are back with new visuals off their latest release, Strange Journey Volume Two.  Produced by J-Zone (that beat is banoodles) and directed by Kno and Matt Hobbs, this video came out great.  And as we all know:

Dope video from CL’s performance at the 2009 QN5 Megashow from NYC a few weeks back.  Deacon, Natti, and Kno performed their entire A Piece of Strange album (which is a certified hip-hop classic) with Club Dub backing them up.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe the band will be joining them on their upcoming tour, but regardless, you won’t want to miss this show when it rolls through your town.

Seattle folks: you can catch CL performing with Looptroop Rockers, the homey Tunji, and some of our hometown heroes, Grieves & Budo, on November 25th at Neumos.  Be there.

Ahahahahahaha, greatness.  Though to be fair, range is generally not our problem.  It’s every other skill set on the highest level, but we have jumpers for days.

Via the new and improved QN5.com.

Despite knowing absolutely nothing about the subject matter, the lead joint (no pun) from the CunninLynguists’ upcoming Strange Journey, Vol. One, is one of my favorite tracks out right now.  They just dropped the visuals for it and, as expected, they came out fresh.

Head on over to QN5.com for more info and also to download the track.

Is it strange that I’m a hip-hop dude who has never smoked (anything) once in my life?  Just never had any interest…[Full House moment] I get high on life [/moment].

Chyea.  The long awaited follow up to Inverse‘s first project, So Far, is finally here with the So True EP.  Featuring dope production from Kno (of the CunninLynguists), Cook Classics, Adam Berg, and Decap, alongside Tunji and Toby’s excellent rhymes, this is a must have.  Best release of ’09!

1. Rise and Shine [produced by Cook Classics]
2. So True feat. Deacon (of CunninLynguists) [produced by Decapbeats]
3. SunnyCalifornia Part 2 [produced by Adam Berg & Cook Classics]
4. Spark My Soul feat. Substantial [produced by Kno]
5. Beautiful City [produced by Cook Classics]
6. Goodnight Goodnight [produced by Kno]

Download here.

Seattle People: come see Inverse on January 17th at Chop Suey.  It’ll be a great night, trust me.

New dopeness from the homies Tunji and Toby, produced by Decap and featuring the most underrated hook singer in the game, Deacon The Villain from the CunninLynguists.  Actually, seeing as how this song (or at least the demo) was my ringtone about 2 years ago, it’s really that new…but it should be new to y’all and it’s dope as hell, so grab it ASAP:

Inverse ft. Deacon the Villain – “So True”

This will be featured on Inverse‘s upcoming EP, dropping online New Year’s Day with production from Kno (of the CunninLynguists), Decap, M-Phazes, and Cook Classics.  No better way to kick off ’09.

Seattle People: You better come check out Inverse when they make their debut in the 206 at Chop Suey on January 17th.  Be there.

If for some reason you didn’t download the 2 Dope Boyz mixtape last week, slap yourself and grab the no-DJ version of one of the best tracks on there, Tunji‘s “Still Risin’.”  Sound Session listeners will recognize him from his Inverse material we’ve played over the last year, plus he’s the dude ripping our show intro every week.  Astute heads will also remember this beat originally being used for Kno’s “Get Buck” remix, but he shot it to Tunj to do it justice.

Tunj on the mic and Kno on the beat?  It’s a wrap…

Tunji (of Inverse) – “Still Risin'”

Whoooo, this is fire.  If you aren’t familiar with the CunninLynguists, you need to get up on the 3 man group from Kentucky/Atlanta ASAP.  They’re right up there with Outkast, Little Brother, Slum Village, the Roots, Inverse, and U-N-I as my favorite groups doing it today.  One of the MC’s, Natti, just paired up with their producer extraordinaire, Kno, to rework Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” record.  The result is an ill “cautionary tale about the decline of the ‘one-trick-pony’ rapper.”  Super fresh.

Natti (of the CunninLynguists) – “Ruled The World (Kno’s Viva La Vida Remix)”

Swiped from the QN5 blog.