The Audacity of Dope

The new homey Q from The Mad Bloggers was kind enough to feature an interview with yours truly on their site.  Here’s the quick Q&A session…learn something about your boy, TAOD, SNSS, and more:

Where does “The Audacity of Dope” name come from?
The Audacity of Dope name comes from a play on Barack’s 2nd book, The Audacity of Hope. I founded the blog in May 2008 as a home for our Sound Session interviews and episodes, which was also around the time I started working in a fellowship program for Obama’s campaign. It seemed like a natural fit to tie my political interests with passion for music. Plus, I like that people have to spell ‘audacity’ to get to the page. Those who can’t shouldn’t be there anyway.

What’s the inspiration behind the show “Sunday Night Sound Sessions” and why you do it?
Sunday Night Sound Session is the brainchild of myself and my co-host, J. Moore. It started when KUBE 93 approached us to take their Sunday night new music show into a new direction, preferably something a little more focused on the ‘underground’ side of hip-hop. Having hosted a college radio show for four years previously, I knew I wanted to make Sound Session similar to my Beats, Rhymes, and Life college program, but take it to a new level with the increased wattage. J and I are inspired on a weekly basis to give some shine to deserving artists that may not be getting the exposure they deserve through traditional media outlets. In other words, we support good music, across multiple genres, because most commercial media outlets are more concerned with turning a profit than promoting art. We understand that it’s ultimately a business, but we think there should be more of a balance, and hopefully Sound Session provides some of that.

Why aren’t there more programs like “Sound Session” on other stations?
There aren’t more programs like Sound Session because the current business model with commercial radio doesn’t allow it. Plain and simple, radio at this level is a business designed to make as much money as possible for large corporations. There’s nothing wrong with that from a capitalist level, but from an artistic perspective, it’s a huge detriment to the music. Large corporations sell hip-hop the same way they’d sell shoes or pizza. Whatever they can do to make money, they’ll do it. This translates to media outlets across the country promoting the most base level human interests in their entertainment packages, which is particularly evident in hip-hop. If big budget action movies depend on explosions and flashing lights, hip-hop radio tries to sell sex, drugs, and violence. They’re the easiest topics to sell because they require the least amount of education. When you have a rapper on our show talking about socio-economic issues and gentrification, you’re automatically going over the heads of at least half of society. It’s sad but true. It all starts with education.

Who are three ill artists right now flying under the radar?
The first artist that pops into my head is my dude Shad. He’s insanely talented lyrically, makes great songs that everyone can relate to, and takes pride in his sound and his message. That’s pretty much my criteria for who I want to listen to, and it’s only a matter of time before he gets the recognition he deserves. Along those same lines, there’s a MC from the Bay/LA named Tunji that I’ve known for almost a decade now. He’s one of the most talented artists I’ve ever seen and like Shad, he takes so much pride in his music and what he represents. He’s going to make some classic music sooner rather than later. Lastly…hmm…I’ll throw a curveball and go outside of hip-hop. There’s an indie pop/R&B group from Sweden called Little Dragon that makes some incredible music. I don’t know too much about their story, but their music is a great mix of all the best elements of pop, soul, R&B, and even some hip-hop influences. I definitely recommend people to check ’em out.

Definitely check out their site, they’re doing some great work and highlighting artists that deserve the shine.  Keep it up fellas!

Hands down, my favorite part of hosting a radio show for the last decade (wow…i’m old) is helping shine light on folks who aren’t getting the respect they deserve.  Now, those within the industry obviously know how talented Focus is, but the general public is still a bit behind.  Recently, they’ve started to learn as he’s unleashed his “homage” series of songs dedicated towards some of his biggest inspirations (DJ Premier, J Dilla, and Pete Rock so far).

We had the chance to catch up with Focus on Sound Session and talk all about how that series came together and who will be next up to receive a homage production.  We also talked about his background (his dad was the bass player in Chic…what!?!), what it’s like working with Dre on Detox, his creative process, the development of his artist, Kida, why there are more good beats than good rappers, and much more.  You can even hear Kida’s new track with Focus, “Must Be Nice,” included in the interview.  Peep it:

Focus on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?u1ekwyj4zmn
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/5867236469e95e65/)

Be on the lookout for the next homage to drop real soon and please stop sleeping on this dude.  He flips every style better than most producers flip their specialties and he’s also taking music in his own direction at the same time.  Get familiar now or play catch up later.

Big shout to Peter Parker at B96 in Minneapolis (one of the few DJ’s at a big station riding out for good music like we do on Sound Session) for shooting this over and for shouting out the site during the interview.  Glad you enjoy the bloggy blogg homey!

I hope everyone is ready for a month full of seeing Asher everywhere.  With Asleep In The Bread Aisle dropping on 4-20, he’s going to get a lot of press in the coming weeks and it’s really all deserved.  Dude is a dope MC and a cool ass dude, so those with the unnecessary hate can [Jay-Z] go thaaaaataway [/Hov].  Be sure to head on over to MrPeterParker.com on Tuesday the 7th to cop an exclusive mixtape from Asher and Peter, and if you missed his appearance on SNSS a few weeks ago, click here.

If you aren’t familiar with Theo, here’s a quick interview with NENX TV that can help you learn some basic info.  Be sure to download The Birth if you haven’t already!

I’ve been meaning to post up the full interview with TiRon that we recorded a few weeks ago right before his new Ketchup project dropped, and I finally got some free time this weekend to get it out there for y’all.  If you’re still sleeping on TiRon, you’re missing out on one of the most talented dudes doing it right now.

Be sure to download Ketchup and peep this interview to hear him talk all about his background coming up in the L.A. scene, linking with Pacific Division, the new mixtape and the Handshakes & Pounds, Pt. 2 follow up, how the web helps (and hurts) new artists, and much more.

TiRon on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?mddijmkn5zj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/57110291095b68ba/ )

Get some of that New West in your life…

Seeing as how my last post got someone riled up with my defense of Lupe, I thought this would be an appropriate follow up.  The home girl KayCee has been helping run the big Lupe blog on the net for a minute now and they just recently changed URL’s.  So not only is this post a reminder to hit their new site at TheLupeFiascoShow.com, but you can also head there now to read an interview with producer/clothing designer Le Messie.  He talks about his production on The Cool, Lupe’s clothing lines, and even touches on the mysterious Japanese Cartoon project that’s in the works.

Peep it all right here.

The homies Y-O and Thurzday came through Sound Session at the end of last year and it’s taken me a minute to post up the video of the full interview.  We aired part of the audio a few weeks ago, but here’s the full thing.  You can peep the clip above to hear them talk all about their upcoming Love Supreme project (dropping soon!), their possible beef with the Knux, the dreaded ‘hipster’ label, and much more.

If you want to check out the broadcast audio and hear it all more clearly, here’s the audio only:

U-N-I on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?vuh4mjmr5o3
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/56497985ef8e1e3a/)

And if you missed the last time we had U-N-I in the studio, click here.  I hope you remember this:

(if it doesn’t play, you can watch on the Amoeba site here)

This is a little old but it’s actually one of the better interviews that I’ve seen with Pete Rock, who normally stays pretty guarded and low key during press interaction.  Pete’s a legend to anyone in the know, but I still don’t think he gets the props he deserves.  He’ll always be underrated to me when compared to the other great producers.

Shout to Paul and the Amoeba family for sending this through.

(watch in HD on HyphenTV here)

A few weeks ago, I posted up the video of Tunji (of Inverse) freestyling – and killing it – on Sound Session, but now I’ve got a longer clip of the interview for y’all.  Peep the video above (or in HD on the HyphenTV Vimeo page) to hear Tunji and Toby break down their backgrounds, their So Far and So True projects, how the internet and blog explosion has affected their careers as independent artists, and more.  You can also see some footage of their performance at Chop Suey from the night before.

Since there was one break that we didn’t include in the video, I’ve got the audio of the full interview here for all y’all Inverse fanatics:

Inverse on SNSS – http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmzy1oy5kd
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/549871929f867551/)

Be sure to hit up the homies on their MySpace and blog, and download their 2 free projects ASAP if you haven’t already.

(watch part one in HD on HyphenTV)

On December 13th, the legendary Common Sense made his 4th appearance on Sound Session here in Seattle. Since we just talked to Com in September (check it out here), we wanted to do something a little different instead of our traditional interviews.  With help from our good friends at Interscope/Geffen/A&M we threw a listening party for his new Universal Mind Control album with 50 lucky winners, some customized Microsoft Zunes, and other assorted goodies.

In the video recap, you can watch Com talk about the creative process for every track on the album and what it was like to work with the Neptunes, Mr. DJ, Kanye West, Cee-Lo, and more.  Be sure to watch both parts of the video and enjoy them in HD on the HyphenTV Vimeo Channel courtesy of Organic Digital Videomedia.

(watch part two in HD on HyphenTV)

Since the entire interview lasted about an hour, I’ll be posting up the full audio for all you die hard Common fans sometime in the next week.  As dope as the video clips are, there’s even more interesting tidbits about UMC‘s creation in the extended interview (the reason why the “Announcement” video was pulled, the story behind the original mix of “Punch Drunk Love,” etc.).

Stay tuned for that and hit up Com in the blogosphere over at his new site, ThinkCommon.com.  Be sure to go cop Universal Mind Control in stores now and still available at Zune.net for 99 cents!  It makes a great last minute Christmas present…