The Audacity of Dope

Apologies for probably the longest delay we’ve ever had in archiving an episode of SNSS, but I was a bit busy last week on my first ever trip to New York City.  Yes, that’s right, first ever.  You’d think I would have stumbled my way to NYC just by happenstance at some point over the years, but this was it.  My day job kept me super busy and then any time leftover was consumed by catching up with some of my east coast label homies (UMG & WMG, what up!), plus I was just generally overwhelmed by the Big Apple.

I stayed around Times Square, which was equal parts fun and completely absurd, but it came in handy on Friday night when Kanye decided to unveil his “New Slaves” video a few blocks from my hotel on 5th Ave.  I literally ran over to the Prada store at 2am and caught the last live showing of the video in NYC, plus had a surprise pseudo-encounter with Kanye himself.  The full story and video can be viewed right here.  Pretty crazy, but apparently that’s the kind of thing that just happens in NYC.  I shall return.

Anyway, here’s our show from 5/12/13, which officially marked our 8 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF SNSS (our first show was 5/8/05)!  You may recall we celebrated our 400th show not too long ago, but I can’t decide which milestone more impressive: shows vs. years.  400 is a big number and pretty impressive when you think about it, but for me, I think 8 years resonates louder.  That’s longer than middle and high school.  That’s college and (at least some) grad school.  That stretches back to before the world really knew about Barack Obama.  So much has happened over the last 8 years it’s crazy when you sit down and think about it.  And one constant has been that J. Moore and I have been on the air every Sunday night, bringing you SNSS without fail.

Every time we reach one of these milestones, it’s fun for us to reflect, but I just have one overriding feeling: thank YOU for rocking with us.  Thanks to our coworkers at KUBE, our label friends, managers, DJ’s, bloggers, artists, journalists, booking agents, promoters, etc….you guys helped us all immensely.  And most important, thanks to every listener.  Whether you’ve been riding since day one or just found out about the show lately, you’re the reason we’re here.

Here’s to 8 more years!

Show #413 (5-12-13)

1. Common ft. Kanye West & John Mayer – “Go” (Throwback of the Week)
2. Big K.R.I.T. ft. Ashthon Jones – “Good 2getha”
3. Drop City Yacht Club ft. THURZ – “Pipeline”
4. Slaine ft. Kali & REKS – “The F*ckery Hotel”
5. Tyler, The Creator ft. Erykah Badu & Coco Owino – “Treehome95”
6. sayknowledge ft. Cashius Green – “Art Goons”
7. Dariu$ – “Daydreemin’” (Local Music)
8. Substantial ft. Jsoul – “BBQ (Family Reunion Remix)”
9. 8thW1 – “Happy (Dirty Art Club Remix)”
10. Talib Kweli ft. Rubix & Bajah – “High Life”
11. K-Def ft. Blu & Quartermaine – “Fundamentals”
12. Nate Tha Great ft. Fego – “Them Days”
13. GrandeMarshall – “Gotmef*ckedup”
14. Porter Ray – “5 Mics” (Local Music)
15. Bryant Dope ft. ANTHM – “NNY”
16. Shad – “Peace”
17. Logic ft. Jhene Aiko – “Break It Down”
18. Denzil Porter – “Bishop”
19. Marco Polo ft. Lil Fame – “Fame For President”
20. Trek Life ft. Hardwerk & Bishop Lamont – “Rap Time”
21. Mike Champoux ft. Grynch – “The Rain” (Local Music)
22. The Micranots – “Mother’s Day” (Throwback of the Week)
23. J. Cole – “3 Wishes”
24. Kelis – “Jerk Ribs”
25. Major Lazer ft. Amber Coffman (of Dirty Projectors) – “Get Free”

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www19.zippyshare.com/v/46832492/file.html
(back up – http://linkmixes.com/pnp9wfhujfe8)
(2nd back up – http://www.sendspace.com/file/j55j5h)

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.

I’ve been in New York this week for some ESPN day job stuff and didn’t really get a chance to do anything music related, as I’ve been so busy working and hanging with some great co-workers.  That changed on Friday when I took the day off to explore the city a bit and visited my people at UMG and WMG.  After a long day, I headed back to my hotel and noticed Twitter was a buzz with Kanye’s amazing rollout of his “New Slaves” video projected on to 66 walls across the world, including one in Brooklyn.  At first, I thought it was the only NYC showing, but after checking their schedule, I noticed the last showing of the night was a few blocks from my hotel but was supposed to start 5 minutes ago.

Having worked in the industry for 13 years, I’m fully aware of hip-hop time, so 5 minutes ago really meant it was going to start in about 15.  Tossed on some clothes and jogged down to the 5th Ave Prada store (right across from Trump Tower) and sure enough, there was a crowd of about 50-75 people waiting for the showing.  Within minutes, a large black truck pulled up and crew dressed all in black hustled to pull off the tarp covering the cargo bay and unveiled the projector and speakers (seriously looked like something a Batman villain would do in Gotham City).  After a quick set up, they showed the piece, which is, of course, just as dope in its style and content as it is in its guerrilla marketing rollout.  Yeezy is back and spitting that real.

After playing it, the crew said they would run it back in about 15 minutes. They left and came back like clockwork, but after setting it up, waited a good 10 minutes before showing it a 2nd time.

Turns out, Kanye himself was on the way to watch this showing as he is in NYC for Saturday Night Live later tonight. He stood behind us with a phone up, as if he was filming like everyone else. Right after it ended, he hopped in his Maybach and drove off. And then he made us pancakes (…Chappelle Show reference).

Shout to everyone in the crowd that night. Real cool atmosphere as all us Yeezy fans were excited to see his new work and be a part of the rollout. Shout to Global Grind and XXL for picking up my video and tweets, and any other sites that have posted it.

And shout to Kanye for the realness. #YeezySeason

New freshness from Thunderbird Gerard, a New York born producer/MC/singer who has been putting in work overseas. Really looking forward to hearing more from him, and thankfully, we won’t have to wait long.  His debut EP, T.R.O.U.B.L.E., will be released online for free download on May 6th.

Follow Gerard on Twitter here too.

Somewhat random, because it seemed like the buzz around this album had already passed, but Childish Gambino just put out the video for “L.E.S.,” which is definitely one of my favorites from him.  Dope beat, dope hook, lots of nice wordplay…what else do you need?  The video is pretty much a spot on representation of the Lower East Side…or at least the version they want the world to see.

Digging what I’ve heard from this Dyme-A-Duzin kid so far. This will be on his A Portrait Of Donnovan mixtape coming out Dec. 12th.  Always great to see more new talent in the game…

The homey David Dallas relocated from New Zealand to New York and just dropped the video for the first song leaked off his Falling Into Place album.  Or as he put it:

“Sometimes you just wanna make a rap video at a days notice. Especially when you grow up on the other side of the earth and get a chance to go to a place you’ve only seen in skate vids, the Mo Money, Mo Problems music video and at the end of Men In Black. No days off until this thing takes off.”

Bronson was one of the few artists at SXSW that I hadn’t seen perform before so I was really excited to see him rock. Aside from being a dope MC, this dude is completely hilarious on and off stage. You can get a sample of that in this video with Nardwuar.

One of my favorite records from 2011 gets the visual treatment in spring 2012…and promptly makes me wish it was summer 2012 already. This is that “last song at a house party” type track where you’ve been talking to that girl ALL night and you finally make the move (before the night is through).

There’s nothing like the awkward pause during the chorus when I play the clean edit for “Random Call” on SNSS.  Sean, Guilty, and Black are currently dominating my car’s stereo, when I’m not being overwhelmed by bass from Sirius/XM.

Shout to Todd Angkasuwan on the visuals as well.  Great stuff.

And this is why you won’t find me at a motel.