This is the jam right now. Be sure to turn it up loud so you can really hear the bass hit.
If you aren’t familiar with BANKS, you will be soon. Be sure to check out her new EP, London, right here.
The homey, and still my vote for the best writer in the game, Shad, just dropped a new EP with Skratch Bastid (one of the dopest DJ’s in the world, if you’re sleeping). Download the quickstrike right here:
The Spring Up is the result of fortunate timing, grapefruit Perrier, a shared high school obsession with Outkast’s Aquemeni, and a couple of sessions at Skratch Bastid’s Toronto studio this April. The 5 track collection marks a moment in time for the pair; embodying the spirit of Spring and also serving as a sort of prelude to Shad’s upcoming full-length, to which Skratch Bastid also contributes. The collection features a production assist from DJ Jazzy Jeff, and a turn on the mic from compatriot Cadence Weapon.
Quick strike EP from the homey Shad as he celebrates his birthday. 5 tracks, all sampling classic songs from his childhood. Along with Lupe, SK is my favorite writer in the game. Shout to my guys G and T-Lo as well. Download this immediately!
Alternate download here.
The homegirl Chok recently released a holiday themed EP (cop it here) and here are some visuals for one of the records. Not only is the song dope and the video cleanly shot, but the message included really sums up what the holiday season should be all about. Well done Chok!
Quiet as kept, the Recess EP is one of the best projects of the year. If you’re an avid Sound Session listener, you likely know that already, but for those who have been sleeping, download it here.
If you listened to Sound Session last week, you heard the homey Sol come through to talk about his new project, Dear Friends, Vol. 2. Be sure to grab the free EP and enjoy one of Seattle’s dopest MC’s.
Download here.
As we discussed on last week’s Sound Session, the young homey J. Pinder has teamed up with GOODS to release a free EP for y’all with some great records. Guest appearances from Big Pooh, Guilty Simpson, Toki Wright, and Zach Bruce, plus production from Jake One, Vitamin D, and Kuddie Fresh. You may even remember “Safe Place” with Guilty Simpson from our Cornerstone Mixtape a while back…enjoy!
Download here.
The L.A. crew is back with their newest video, “Soundclash,” a song taken from their upcoming Five EP that drops later this month. Directed by DRG Films, the same homies behind U-N-I’s A Love Supreme documentary that I narrated. Dope ish.
The homies Krispy and Al have been hinting about this little release for quite some time and they finally dropped it via Twitter the other day. As I was waiting for some artwork to show up, Shake @ 2DopeBoyz cooked up the cover above, so it’s time to rock. There are only 5 joints, but they’re all dope. The title track is probably the highlight, but don’t sleep on “Fruits” and “Floozy” either. More dope ish from the Knux!
Download here.
Your boy got a promotion at the day job, which is a dope thing, but also means that time is at a premium…so I’ll let Sabzi explain this one:
People ask me why I care about making a mix of Hawaiian tunes. I tell them that it’s because Iʼm from Seattle.
I donʼt think I can apply the word ‘foreign’ to any cultural elements that have influenced me in becoming the person I am today.
Through years of, um, ‘nourishment’ from grinds, to listening to Jawaiian tunes as a teenager, to starting a group with a military kid from Honolulu, to learning the meaning of ‘false crack’ the hard way (ha!)… the spirit of Hawaii has long maintained a notable presence in my life.
And while Iʼm not Hawaiian, nor do I claim to be a local boy, I acknowledge and am thankful for the role that the Islands have played in the development of my cultural identity.
For me, a big part of the OOF! EP project was to experiment with a new way of identifying who we are and where we come from. It was an exercise in global cultural expression. Perhaps this is the age we can start believing that ‘where we are from’ is anywhere that has influenced us in becoming who we are. And perhaps our brothers and sisters are simply those who want to share this belief with us.
Watch out tho. When you embrace this idea, you start to think that home can be everywhere and your people could be everyone.
New People comin thru, son!
Respect to In4mation for the nifty ‘OOF!’ logo they designed and lent us, respect to Ohana for engineering the delicious shrimp tempura + diced spicy scallop + krab + masago sushi that they’ve dubbed the ‘69 Roll,’ and respect to you for reading this and listening to these tunes.
Mahalo.
saba / sabzi
Download here.