The Audacity of Dope

Long time friend of SNSS, Lupe Fiasco returned to Seattle to speak with J. Moore and I on 1-14-11. We broadcast live on KUBE93.com and talked all about his long awaited Lasers project, his rabid fan base, his life away from the stage/studio, and much more.  In the first half of the interview, Lu discussed how his lyrics impact listeners, how he’s often misinterpreted in the media, his hobbies when relaxing at home, and more.

In the second half of the interview, Lu discussed his car collection, his favorite albums of 2010, his plans to become an author, Lasers, and he even spit an acapella verse from the project.

Lastly, we opened up the floor to questions from viewers who were logged in, watching it live.

Hopefully you enjoy this candid conversation with one of our favorite MC’s in the industry and just an all around good guy.  I wish we recorded footage of the meet & greet we held right before this (remember when we gave out tickets?) so you could all see how Lu’s lyrics have really impacted the lives of his fans.

Support Lasers when it drops March 8th!

Another week in the books and another reminder why as maddening as this industry can be, there are still so many dope people involved and so many good reasons why we can’t give it up.  On Wednesday, J. Moore and I checked out one of our favorite groups (and my fellow Swedish brethren), Little Dragon, for their third performance at Nectar in Seattle.  Since we’ve been supporting the group for a bit (peep one of our older interviews & their new music video right here), they’re the homies these days and it’s always fun to catch up with them.  The band is blowing up so in between touring with the Gorillaz and lead singer Yukimi recording for Raphael Saadiq’s upcoming album, you need to go check them out when they’re in your town.  Has Sound Session ever steered you wrong about an artist?

If you answered, “yes, remember Kevin Michael?”…you win.  But that wasn’t our fault!  He had all the tools to be a dope artist and perhaps one day we’ll see that fulfilled.  That said, I’m still struggling to see how you go from this…to this?  Ruh roh.  Even Lauryn told him to reel it in a notch.

Anyway, we followed up Little Dragon by chopping it up with close friend of the show, Lupe Fiasco, on Friday.  We ran a contest allowing 20 listeners to win a meet and greet by submitting their favorite Lupe verse and, quite simply, the responses floored me.  We had about 200 entrants in less than 2 days and almost every verse was different.  It was amazing to see how many people Lu has inspired with his music and also to such degrees.  There were stanzas in his verses that literally changed peoples’ lives.  Pretty cool.

After the meet and greet, we broadcast a live interview with Lu over the net and followed that up with a web chat firing listener questions at him.  You can see both archived as one video right here and while we may produce some snazzier looking video in the coming week(s) for the blogs, there’s a TON of great Lupe info in there for you right now.  We discussed everything from his upcoming album…to food…to his surprisingly balleriffic car collection.  And on that note, Lu wanted to make sure everyone saw his endorsement of the Corvette ZHZ he rented from Hertz while in town, so we grabbed some footage on the iPhone just cause.  Laughs here.

So yeah…after yet another week filled with #inboxmadness, sometimes you need these little reminders as to why we do what we do.  Above all, it’s just the music…but it’s vital to interact with other music lovers, not listeners, every now and then.  We’re a dying breed…

Show #294 (1-16-11)

1. J. Cole – “Too Deep For The Intro”
2. Outasight – “Losing My Mind”
3. Thee Tom Hardy ft. GQ – “So Outrageous”
4. Slaughterhouse ft. The Lox – “Put Some Money On It (Remix)”
5. Roc Marciano ft. Sean Price – “Snow (Remix)”
6. Saigon ft. Faith Evans – “Clap”
7. Killer Mike – “Burn”
8. Ghostface Killah ft. Killah Priest & GZA – “Purified Thoughts”
9. ChillxWill – “Systems” (Local Music)
10. Kanye West & Jay-Z – “H.A.M.”
11. Kanye West – “Hell Of A Life”
12. U-N-I – “Donkey Kong”
13. TiRon & Ayomari – “Good Food”
14. Brothers From Another ft. Sol & JusMoni – “New Easy Lift” (Local Music)
15. Asher Roth & Nottz ft. Colin Munroe – “Dontcha Wanna Be (My Neighbor)”
16. Talib Kweli – “I’m On One”
17. Fortilive ft. Skyzoo – “Jim Kelly”
18. John Crown – “Be’s That Way” (Local Music)
19. Big Sean – “Final Hour”
20. Lupe Fiasco – “The Show Goes On”
21. Black Star – “Brown Skin Lady” (Throwback of the Week)
22. JR & PH7 ft. Shawn Jackson – “She Loves Me”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?5p6t9y1laqc9f8z
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/853878561c5d77c7/)
(2nd back up – http://usershare.net/zn3tx071hb1x)

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.

If you’ve listened to Sunday Night Sound Session at any point since our debut on KUBE six years ago, you already know that Lupe Fiasco is one of our favorite rappers.  Not only is he an incredible MC, but he’s one of the most forward thinking, intelligent, socially responsible, and innovative artists that we have in hip-hop.  On top of all that, he’s just a cool dude who has appeared on our show numerous times and always shows us, and Seattle, lots of love.

On Friday, January 14th, you…that’s right, YOU…can meet Lupe in person as he comes through the KUBE studios to hang out, sign autographs, talk with listeners, and discuss his highly anticipated upcoming album, Lasers.

If you’re able to come to the station in downtown Seattle from 11am to noon on Friday, the 14th, here are the details on how to win an invite to this meet and greet:

Tell us what your favorite Lupe verse is and why.  Email your answer to DJHyphen@gmail.com and if selected, we’ll notify you by Thursday at noon.

We’ll also pick a few random winners who retweet any of our announcements for this event on our Twitter feeds:

• twitter.com/kube93
• twitter.com/djhyphen
• twitter.com/jmooreseattle

Be creative and thoughtful!  Just like Lupe.  Hope to see you Friday!

On Saturday, May 29th, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek will be making the Seattle stop on their Revolutions Per Minute Tour at the Showbox Market.  We’ve been giving away tickets on the air through Sound Session, but now we’re extending a special offer to our loyal readers on The Audacity of Dope and KUBE93.com.

We’ll be interviewing the duo at 2pm on Saturday and if you would like to join us to meet and hang out with Reflection Eternal, email me – DJHyphen@gmail.com – these 3 things:

1. Name Talib’s business partner for their label, Blacksmith Music.
2. Name 3 guests from Reflection Eternal’s Train Of Thought album.
3. Name the first video released from their new album, Revolutions Per Minute.

I’ll pick 2 winners and you’ll each be allowed to bring a guest to the interview.  It’s just that simple.  What are you waiting for?  Go!

Contest ends Thursday, May 27th, at 3pm Pacific Time.