The Audacity of Dope

Big L is my favorite MC of all time, but in his absence, I’m not sure there’s a rapper out there that I appreciate on a technical level more than Elzhi.  The way he constructs each verse and flips these words together is insane, plus his flow is about as sharp as it gets.  All this is on display in his new video for “Deep” off his Leftovers Mixtape.  Shout to the homey Gerard on the direction as well.

You might recall that Slaughterhouse recently dropped by the Sound Session studio, but soon after, Royce Da 5’9″ returned for another show in Seattle and came through solo.  We covered a ton of topics in the 3 part conversation so I decided to put the full video online for y’all to enjoy.

Shout to Royce, easily one of the most down to earth and talented artists that we’ve had on the show.  When I was a high school kid losing my mind to all his verses in the late 90’s, I never would have thought I’d have the opportunity to kick it with him a few times.  Craziness.  Go cop Street Hop immediately and peep below for the interview.

Part 1:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• Reception of the Slaughterhouse project
• Familial relationship of the group
• Future of Slaughterhouse
• Earliest memories of Eminem

Part 2:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• Working with Eminem as part of Bad Meets Evil
• Learning recording techniques from Em
• His favorite MC’s
• Detroit’s knack for producing dope rappers
• His thoughts on J. Cole

Part 3:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• The Charles Hamilton/J Dilla fiasco
• His current relationship with Dr. Dre
• His new Street Hop album
• What he has left to prove in the game
• Future Bar Exam mixtapes

If you would prefer to just listen to the discussion and toss it on your mp3 player, here’s the audio of the full interview:

Royce Da 5’9″ on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?mkjzymhzzj1
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/690590078f4fcc91/)

Enjoy!

Well this came out of nowhere.  Peep this Dwele directed video for a brand new Slum Village song produced by Karriem Riggins.  Seems like there may have been more, but after Baatin’s untimely passing, perhaps the video and song were cut short to highlight Titus.  RIP.

Seattle people: Don’t forget that we have our (abridged version of) Rock The Bells on Friday at Showbox Market.  Reflection Eternal, Slaughterhouse, Slum Village, Pete Rock, and a few others.  Holler @ a Hyphen when you see me there.

Damn…the L’s keep coming for Charles Hamilton.  I like a lot of Charles’ music and he was real cool when we chopped it up in Austin at SXSW, but all these crazy situations are not helping his career.  I hope he can avoid the drama and put out a dope record, cause he’s certainly capable.

But yeah…don’t mess with Houseshoes, Hex, or the D.  For real.

Swiped from the Dopehouse, courtesy of HHO.

I always liked this little interlude that acted as a nice homage to Dilla and Dwele decided to make some quick visuals for it.  “Workin’ On It!”

Black Milk and Royce just dropped the visuals for one of the best songs of the past year, “Losing Out,” of Black’s Tronic project.  Just as you’d expect from a Detroit video in the dead of winter, the D is looking real grimy here.  My only complaint is that I would have loved to see the video ride out for the extra minute of the album version where Black absolutely murders the sample.  Perhaps that would have been hard to match with images, but that might be my favorite part of the song itself.  Either way, dopeness.

Shout to the whole D, particular Hex…the most entertaining person to follow on all of Twitter.

My dude Top (aka Blendiana Jones!) just shot this over and it’s fresh as f**k.  For the first half, he took original PPP vocals and mixed them with unreleased beats from Waajeed.  The second part features some ill Dilla remixes.  If you know anything about the Detroit sound and the musical ability of the dudes involved here, you better download this ASAP.

(shout to FWMJ for the artwork)

Download the full tape here.  And here’s a bonus joint with Tiombe Lockhart that he tossed in for y’all as well.

A few months back, J. Moore and the rest of the Red Bull Big Tune fam brought Elzhi (of Slum Village) and Black Milk to the town for the Seattle edition of the beat battle.  Before tearing it down at Neumo’s that night (I’ll toss some of that footage up if I get time), they came through Sound Session to record an interview with us.  Unfortunately, since we’ve had so many guests coming through lately, it’s taken a minute to get the audio up for y’all.  Better late than never though, especially when you’re dealing with two of the dopest artists in the industry right now.  I don’t think anyone is seeing Elzhi bar for bar, and with the release of Tronic, Black has staked his claim for the top MC/producer out there.  Seriously…do you hear how he’s spittin’ on that album?

Anyway, the interview was recorded in between the releases of Elzhi’s The Preface and Black’s Tronic, so there are a few occasions where it sounds dated.  Even still, I highly recommend checking out the full discussion to hear them break down both projects in detail.  They also talked about their inspirations both past and present, their creative processes, all things Detroit, what changes they hope Barack can bring to the people, their upcoming work, and much more.  Enjoy!

Elzhi & Black Milk on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?4nl20wo3wjy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/52144263069bf0be/ )

Do yourself a favor and go cop The Preface and Tronic if you haven’t already.  Your “Best of 2008” list isn’t complete without both of ’em, trust me.

New visuals for the lead single off Black’s Tronic album, one of the best projects of the year and the CD currently holding my deck hostage.  Go buy it.  In the meantime, make sure you at least have this jawn:

Black Milk – “Give The Drummer Sum”

Interview with Milk & Elzhi coming as soon as I get some free time to toss beats behind it.  Soon though…I swear!

Video courtesy of Legend.

The long awaited sequel to Royce’s classic Bar Exam mixtape just dropped and I highly recommend you check it out.  I was talking with my man Budo about Royce recently and how when he’s motivated (which is currently is), he’s right there at the very top level for MC’s.  He’s spitting with so much passion right now and his flow is effortless.  Plus, for this project, he recruited a DJ that actually knows how to put together a great mixtape, Green Lantern.  Download this ASAP and Seattle people, remember that Royce will be performing at Nectar on November 19th alongside Grynch and Cancer Rising.

1. Crazed Madman Intro
2. Heat to the Streets f. Kid Vishis (prod. Green Lantern)
3. It’s the New
4. I’m Me Freestyle
5. I’m Nice
6. Gun Music (prod. Green Lantern)
7. Weatherman f. Sucka Free & Kid Vishis
8. I’m the Sh*t Fool!!! (Interlude)
9. We Deep f. Trick Trick (prod. Denaun Porter)
10. Let the Beat Build Freestyle f. Stretch Money
11. Royal Flush Freestyle f. Canibus & Elzhi
12. Jockin My Fresh (prod. Green Lantern)
13. Gettin Money Freestyle
14. Gangsta Remix f. Akon (prod. Green Lantern)
15. Happy Bar Exam 2 f. Marv Won
16. Ignorant Shit Freestyle
17. Flow Boy f. Tondalaya
18. Been Shot Down (prod. Green Lantern)
19. J-Ro vs. Mike B (Skit)
20. Kill Em Pt. 2 f. Kid Vishis
21. Wall Street f. June The Great
22. Royce Outro

Download here. (right click, save as)