The Audacity of Dope

You may remember Paul from his work with the homies Inverse, but it’s clear from this video that he’s far more than just a dope violin player.  Woah.

Pretty self explanatory…the homies Tunji, Kam Moye, Jern Eye, and Evangillest rocking rhymes over live production from Keelay and Cook.  Shout to GregTheDude on the visuals!

I look forward to the day when Toby and Tunji are rich and famous so I can brag to people that I used to DJ for ’em when we were in college.  These guys played such an important part in the development of “DJ Hyphen” (yes!  first 3rd person reference on the blog ftw!) that it means a lot to finally see their first music video released to the public.  This is a great day…

Shout to everyone involved in this track (Oren Yorel and Paul Dateh killed it) and video (directed by rising star Donlee Brussel).  Go vote right now to help Inverse win MTVu’s Freshmen video contest this week and get it added to MTV – http://www.mtvu.com/music/the-freshmen/nominees-062909/

You can vote as many times as you’d like, so get on your grind people!  Sidenote, Inverse’s excellent So Far (The Collection) project will be re-released through QN5 Music on July 6th…you’ll need to cop that too.

Tunji and Toby linked up with Yours Truly and GregTheDude for a Los Angeles edition of the Keys 2 The City series:

Inverse gives you an insider’s tour of the finer restaurants that populate the City of Angels such as Tito’s Tacos and IN-N-OUT Burger, all while shedding some light on their backstory. As Los Angeles brims with the talented new voices it’s inspired, Inverse takes the lead and treats us to a set of fresh acapellas. If you like what you hear, cop the So True EP on iTunes or Amazon and support independent artists.

Amen.  Sidenote, I think I was with them after a late night studio session when we hit that Taco joint back in our college days.  Might not have been the same one, but either way, ahhh…the good ol’ days.

The Vimby x UpOnThingz mixtape, The New Classics, dropped last week as a streamable project on iMeem, but it’s 2009…and that just doesn’t quite cut it these days. Here’s the full project for download, featuring incredible production from the homey Cook Classics and appearances by some of the best rising talent in the game: Shawn Jackson, Outasight, Avriel Epps, Emilio Rojas, Buff1, TiRon, Inverse, Pacific Division, 6th Sense, U-N-I, Convinced, Fashawn, and many, many more. If you need more of a reason to cop immediately, did you forget Tunji’s freestyle?

Download here.

Tunji just shot over this footage of Talib joining Mos for a little impromptu Blackstar performance at the House of Blues from last night down in Los Angeles.  Is it strange that hearing “Respiration” drop still gives me goosebumps a decade after it first came out?

Peep more over at the Year of the Blacksmith.

GregTheDude gave me a sneak peak of this last night…pause…but now it’s officially ready for the world to see.  Greg + Tunji + Cook = Claremont Colleges talent at its finest, but y’all don’t know about that.

What you do know, however, is that it’s becoming quite evident that Tunj is a beast.  Here he runs down the artists appearing on the upcoming VIMBY mixtape in freestyle form.  If you’re up on your 5-C’s trivia, this will remind you of his classic Pomona-Pitzer bball intro.  Ah, the good ol’ days.

If you want to see more of Tunji freestyling, check his appearance on Sound Session a few weeks back.  Plus, there may be some more studio footage coming from Greg in a bit…

(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 in HD on HyphenTV here)

As I mentioned in the show recap, we had the longtime Inverse homies, Tunji and Toby, come through Sound Session this past week.  You can peep that post for the audio of the entire interview, but I’ll be posting the video for it soon.  In the meantime, here’s a clip of the end of the interview, where Tunj spit a (real) freestyle to help close out the show.

Download Inverse’s So True EP right here if you haven’t already.  Oh, and you should probably remember the name too.  2009 is gonna be a big year y’all.

This past Sound Session was about 8 years in the making.  Finally, after all these years, we were able to have the longtime Inverse homies, Tunji and Toby, come through and kick it in the studio.  Sure, when I DJ’d for Inverse in college, they appeared on my KSPC show plenty of times, but it was great to finally get them on the big 100K-watt show.  Between the interview and their concert at Chop Suey the night before, I think we’re on our way to establishing Seattle as a second home for the fellas.  I’m already looking forward to the next time we’ll have them on.

Along with chopping it up with Inverse and having Tunji kill a (legit) freestyle, I ran new songs from artists like Jadakiss, Strong Arm Steady, Blu, the Blue Scholars, and more.  Plus, Johnny Polygon, Kenichiro Nishihara, Anjulie, and Passion Pit all made their Sound Session debuts and the homey Convinced dropped an exclusive freestyle for y’all.  Enjoy the audio now, and be on the lookout for video from the Inverse interview coming soon.

Show #190 (1-18-09)

1. B.o.B. – “I’ll Be In The Sky”
2. Asher Roth – “I Love College”
3. Shawn Jackson & Co$$ – “Here We Go Again”
4. Termanology – “Circulate Freestyle (100 Bars)”
5. **Convinced – “Sound Session Freestyle” (EXCLUSIVE)**
6. **INTERVIEW WITH NEEMA (of UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL)**
7. Blue Scholars – “Coffee & Snow” (Local Artist)
8. Blu – “Vanity (DeathOfAStar) pt.One”
9. Strong Arm Steady ft. Mistah F.A.B., Bishop Lamont, & Planet Asia – “Sunny CA”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH INVERSE, PT. 1**
11. Jadakiss – “Can’t Stop Me”
12. Statik Selektah ft. Bun B & Cory Mo – “Get Out The Way”
13. Johnny Polygon – “I Been Runnin’”
14. El Prez – “Hammerman”
15. Avriel Epps ft. Knox – “Don’t Tell Me To Go”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH INVERSE, PT. 2**
17. Inverse – “Rise & Shine”
18. Kenichiro Nishihara ft. Substantial – “Heart”
19. **INTERVIEW WITH INVERSE, PT. 3**
20. Snowgoons ft. Boom Bap Project – “The Storm” (Local Artist)
21. Grieves & Budo – “Guenevieve” (Local Artist)
22. Anjulie – “Boom”
23. Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”
24. Adele ft. Big Pooh (of Little Brother) – “Melt My Heart To Stone (Kickdrums Remix)”
25. **INTERVIEW WITH INVERSE, PT. 4**
26. **Tunji (of Inverse) – “Live Freestyle”**

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?iwnnzmrczkt
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/54351869cfe4acb1/ )

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.