The Audacity of Dope

Very 80’s…from the visuals to the Prince-esque sounds. The UK wins again.

Another amazing artist coming out of the UK, Kwabs, might be my favorite new voice in music. His vocals are really powerful, though they are tempered down a bit on this specific record. Great stuff.

The EP is out February 3rd.

While J. Moore is across the pond spending pounds and euros with Shabazz Palaces, I held it down (Hope) solo.  Enjoy the show and go buy the following today:

• Phonte – Charity Starts At Home
• J. Cole – Cole World: The Sideline Story (check the liner notes for a nice SNSS shout since we were the first station Cole visited back in ’09!)
• FIFA Soccer 12

I’ll be adding the French Rosetta Stone collection to my shopping cart as I’ve decided to take my remedial ability up to semi-fluent status this fall/winter.  If any of you speak French, holler @ a Hyphen and help me out!  Merci.

Show #329 (9-25-11)

1. Evidence ft. Raekwon & Ras Kass – “The Red Carpet”
2. Big K.R.I.T. ft. 2 Chainz, 8Ball, & MJG – “Money On The Floor”
3. G-Side – “I’m Sorry (Jake One Remix)”
4. David Banner – “Swag”
5. M.O.P. – “Anybody Can Get It”
6. Freddie Gibbs – “187 Proof”
7. Apathy ft. Celph Titled – “Stop What Ya Doin’”
8. Childish Gambino – “Bonfire”
9. Jay-Z & Kanye West ft. Elly Jackson – “That’s My B*tch”
10. Outkast – “Prototype” (Throwback of the Week)
11. The Weeknd – “Thursday”
12. GMK – “Up Up Down Down Left Left” (Local Music)
13. TiRon & Ayomari ft. Yummy Bingham – “All My Love”
14. J. Cole – “Breakdown”
15. Phonte ft. Jeanne Jolly – “Everything Is Falling Down”
16. Maffew Ragazino – “Slumlord”
17. Add-2 – “Introspective of a Young Black Male”
18. Nitty Scott, MC – “Auntie Maria’s Crib”
19. Dom Kennedy & Curren$y – “Hennessey Beach”
20. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – “Make The Money” (Local Music)
21. JayKin – “Japan Love” (Local Music)
22. 9th Wonder ft. Talib Kweli & Terrace Martin – “Never Stop Loving You”
23. Goapele – “Play”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?4pwqw7hoa9yc0o7
(back up / streaming link – http://hulkshare.com/5cb90taq7c5f)
(2nd back up – http://www.zshare.net/audio/94615005fb3c135d/)

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.

Seeing footage like this from the promotional campaign for Frank is bittersweet.  While the challenges she faced a few years later undoubtedly contributed to the classic nature of Back To Black (her pain was our gain), it’s interesting to think what could have been if she never got too deep in to depression and drugs.  Frank is a more upbeat record — emotionally, not necessarily tempo-wise — though “I Heard Love Is Blind” is one of the more caustic songs on the album.  If the lyrics truly depict a situation she went through with her boyfriend at the time, I can’t imagine hearing anything more gut-wrenching coming from your lady.

We shouldn’t be surprised though, she was handing out ether left and right on that record.  Sorry ladies, but she got at a TON of y’all with this one:

RIP Amy.

My Swedish brethren Seb Larsson marked his Sunderland debut with a brilliant equalizer in today’s match versus Liverpool.  Not a bad way to kick off the new EPL season! Lucky number 7…

Ok, I need a vacation stat. I’d probably choose the French Riviera over England’s, but perhaps a visit to Torquay is in order.

When I woke up yesterday and begrudgingly started getting ready for work, I noticed my Twitter and Facebook timelines were filled with friends expressing their extreme hatred for all the media coverage of Will & Kate’s royal wedding.  Even though my dad is British and I have family there, honestly, I had no idea the wedding was even going down, let alone that it was this big of a deal…or at least that the media was trying to make it such an event.

While I understand why folks were so perturbed, I really couldn’t care less about the wedding or the media’s coverage of it.  Yeah, they blew it up to an absurd degree.  Um, that’s what they do.  Perhaps I’m a jaded media studies major, but I don’t see why any of this is surprising or discouraging.  Instead of getting annoyed by the coverage, I watched a little last night and above all, it reminded me how much I heart British people.  The wedding was so old fashioned…so banal…so proper…and the people looked so…utterly miserable.  THAT, my friends, is the British society I know and love.

I could write pages trying to explain the nuances of it all, but I think this Kate Middleton For The Win Tumblr site sums it all up brilliantly in every simple photo edit.  Go there.  Immediately!

In related news, I caught up on The Daily Show episodes I missed this week and I particularly enjoyed John Oliver returning to London to cover the wedding:

Legos make everything better.

Yes, I’m a ‘Ye stan, but I really do dig damn near everything Kanye is involved in.  This track with Mr. Hudson was recorded during the autotune phase, which he seems to be pretty much done with…probably half on his own volition and the other half thanks to Jay.  Either way, it came out pretty dope and the video has a really ill star effect that I haven’t seen before.  Plus, it’s catchy…

And I feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel like takin’ off

Kanye skipped across the pond last week for the Glow In The Dark Tour and sat down with the BBC’s DJ Semtex for a great interview.  ‘Ye is the illest artist in the game right now, [Jay-Z] plus his interviews are hotter [/Hov].  I highly recommend checking this out…quotables for days.

Kanye West talks with DJ Semtex – http://www.zshare.net/audio/516729337e0e3225/

808’s & Heartbreak drops today.  Go cop that.