The Audacity of Dope

(watch in better quality on HyphenTV)

Anyone who follows TAOD knows that last week marked Seattle’s annual music & arts festival, Bumbershoot.  J. Moore and I have hosted the main stage hip-hop show for the past few years, but this time around, I had the special pleasure of not only being on the “Bumberboard” that helped plan the entire event, but I even got to perform by DJ’ing for the homies U-N-I.

Thurzday and Y-O took to the Fisher Green Stage (alongside artists like Mayer Hawthorne, Janelle Monae, De La Soul, and more) to rock in front of an enthusiastic crowd. We ran through a high energy set including tracks like “Cali Soul,” “Beautiful Day,” “Land Of The Kings,” “Supreme,” “K.R.E.A.M.,” “Hollywood Hiatus,” and more.  Aside from the classicness that occurs at 1:29, the highlight has to be “Supreme.”  The kids were wylin’ out to that one and both Y-O and Thurz got some crowd surfing in.

I had a really good time all weekend, so big shouts to everyone involved: One Reel, the artists, KUBE, the homies, the new folks I met, and [Jay-Z] most importantly, you, the customer [/Hov!].  If I have time, I’ll be posting up some more footage of various Bumbershoot performances here on TAOD.  Stay tuned.

This dude is freaking killing it.  Nice shot at the folks who took issue with his use of the Blackberry on the Funk Flex freestyle video.  Anyway, whoever brings him to the Northwest first will get major props.  Promoters, festivals, radio stations…hmmm…who will it be?

Courtesy of NahRight.

The two dopest artists in the game to me right now both hail from our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada.  Yeah, yeah, I still love all the usual folks I listen to, but in the past few months, I’ve been bumping nothing but Drake’s So Far Gone and Shad’s The Old Prince Still Lives At Home.  Even though it’s been available up north for a minute, Shad’s album is finally dropping here in the States on June 30th.  I really can’t recommend it enough…and those songs are like 2-4 years old now.  Wait till you hear the new ish.

And if you need any convincing that SK is dope, peep this…possibly the illest freeverse ever:

I’m sorry…WHAT?!!?!?  Incredible every time.

If you missed the Wale/Colin Munroe show at Neumos here in Seattle from the end of last month, never fear, Hugh from BlogsIsWatching has your back.  He linked up with Jason Hakala, Same Bae, James Chong, and Cahn Solo to produce this excellent clip of Wale’s introduction and the first track, “Breakdown.”  More clips will be coming soon…

Ok, granted that he’s performing his H-Town anthem in H-Town (one of my former residences by the way), but it’s crazy how Drake doesn’t even need to rap/sing any of his lyrics already.  These fans know every single word and just like the last time, this same phenomenon plays out every single night he performs.  Every time I play this joint on SNSS we get immediate calls on it and folks even email later asking what it was.  It’ll be crazy to see how big (pause) Drizzy is by the end of the year.

Swiped from H.E.R.

I mentioned this at the end of last night’s SNSS (which I’ll post up late tonight), so I thought I’d toss up the video for y’all.  Drake took NYC by storm at the end of last week and closed it out with a live show at SUNY Purchase.  If you weren’t convinced that this dude is going to be a huge star, watch how the audience is singing/rapping every word to “Best I Ever Had” like it’s the biggest song out right now.  Oh…and it was girls too…so you know Drizzy is gonna blow the hell up this summer.

LOL @ comparisons between Em and Asher right now.  Asher’s actually making songs.  Em’s making the same joke of a single for the 6th time.  Shrug.

This is the next single by the way, featuring Cee-Lo if you couldn’t tell.  Footage shot by the homey Tunji and the alley oop from GregTheDude.

I told y’all that I’m all about these SXSW recap clips.  Chillin’ with the homies Y-O and Thurz in Austin was definitely one of my highlights, and as you can briefly see in the clip above, Theo also traveled down with ’em.  Very dope to meet another one of the up and coming MC’s in the game.

Shout to DRG Films for producing all these dope U-N-I clips recently.  Remember, A Love Supreme drops on the 31st!!!!

Here’s some footage shot by the legendary JKim at the Seattle release party for Exile’s Radio at Nectar Lounge.  This was a dope night all around – DJ Day and Ex killed their set, and I judged the Qualified Beat Battle.  Congrats again to the winner, Ohmega Watts, and shout to all those involved with putting on a great night.

Be on the lookout for Exile’s appearance on SNSS soon…more homies who were down at SXSW!

The homey Pack is linking up with Domingo to drop the most truthfully titled EP ever, I F*cking Hate Rappers, and he spit one of the verses acapella at a recent show in Boston.  Seriously, every line in this verse is on some real ish and there’s a good chance he’s talking to many of you reading this very blog.  I’m not trying to diss anyone who enjoys TAOD, but if you listen to this and the shoe fits, sorry dude.

Like the folks over at 206proof like to talk about, don’t be a hobby rapper.  If you do this for real, have some talent and some respect for yourself, your listeners, and the culture in general.  Pack’s been doing this for like 15+ years and he’s the definition of a real MC.  Don’t wait until the EP drops to realize he’s calling you out.

For more, hit up the homies on the official QN5 blog.