I’ve always been a big fan of when two dope MC’s can share a verse and trade lines back and forth, and that’s exactly what you get with “Eternally” off Phonte’s Charity Starts At Home. Since it starts there, Tay and Median go door to door bringing that good music to the fine folks of North Carolina, complete with their bicycle helmets. Hey, safety first!
Evidence couldn’t make the video shoot, but no matter…MomTigallo held it down like a star. Another win for Tay and the FE Music homies.
The newest visuals from Tay’s Charity Starts At Home album are for “The Good Fight,” a track that should resonate with many around the country right now. On a personal level, it’s been interesting getting my career going the past few years while most of the US struggle with the recession and the aftermath of Bush’s disastrous reign. Every time I watch the news (well, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report), it’s jarring to see and hear about all the problems facing our society and economy.
Meanwhile, I’ve managed to come up a bit, bought a condo, and have a job that I enjoy working for the best possible company I could imagine. I’m not sure I could be any more blessed and I’m thankful that the issues Tay discusses on this record haven’t quite affected me like most folks. Hopefully I can stay lucky and anyone reading this post can do the same. Keep working hard and stay positive! Good things happen to good people.
The Kooley High homies have released a video for my favorite track off Eastern Standard Time, which means SNSS listeners should remember it from when it first dropped. The beat is too smooth, though I can’t help but hear that Q-Tip sample and want to listen to “Find A Way”…
New fire from the Kooley High homies featuring a Median sighting! These guys make some of my favorite music out right now…
Damn, watching this clip was like watching the last episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 🙁
But in all seriousness, Little Brother’s music as a group meant so much to me and played such an important role in my life from 2001 to now, it’s definitely sad that they’re ending the group (…at least for now). Of course, on a positive note, Phonte, Pooh, and 9th will be making lots of great music in the years to come and judging by other group breakups and rapper retirements, I don’t know if I’ll give up all hope just yet…
We can only hope!
If you haven’t heard the news yet, Phonte and Nicolay, collectively known as The Foreign Exchange, have been nominated for a Grammy Award for their song, “Daykeeper.” Normally, I hate award shows and rarely care about the Grammys at all, mainly because they not only pick awful songs (big songs do not equal best songs) but they also nominate artists out of category too much.
Thankfully, and perhaps just by enough trial and error, they finally seem to have gotten something right. With any luck, Tay and Nic will walk away with a Grammy in hand, completely independent and thanks to their passion for making great music they believe in. Artists take note.
A few weeks back on Sound Session, we had the pleasure of chopping it up with one of hip-hop’s rising stars, J. Cole, during his first trip to Seattle. I’ll admit that I wasn’t up on J back when The Come Up dropped, but a few homies recommended it shortly after the release, and I once I checked it out, I was hooked. Now that The Warm Up has solidified his “got next” status and he’s on tour with Jay-Z, it’s only a matter of time before he becomes a household name.
Peep our 3 part interview with Cole to hear him discuss all sorts of topics:
Part 1:
(watch on HyphenTV)
- His background and influences
- How he found his own voice on the mic
- His first rap names
- The tenacity in his delivery
- How graduating college helped him as an artist and person
- His experiences hustling beats as a producer
Part 2:
(watch on HyphenTV)
- His audition with Jay-Z and when he got signed to Roc Nation
- The Come Up vs. The Warm Up
- The state of his basketball game these days
- The Blueprint 3 tour and Jay’s cosign
- The status of his debut album
- His production influences
Part 3:
(watch on HyphenTV)
- Where he sees himself in 5 years
- What he would change about the music industry
- His 5 favorite foods
- The decline of MySpace
You can also download the entire interview, including some topics that weren’t included in the video segments, right here:
J. Cole on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?amymlnnjndy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6849461769676d85/)
“Everyday a star is born…”
The amount of dope MC’s that have come from North (and South) Carolina since 2000 has been incredible. I remember those Napster days where after discovering Little Brother, I kept branching out and finding related artists, all of which were killing it. From LB to the Justus League to TheThyrDay to Supastition, etc., and the latest group to really carry the NC torch is Kooley High.
They’ve been favorites of mine for a few years and they just dropped the visuals for the title track off their recent mixtape. If you haven’t peeped the tape yet, grab it here and stop sleepin…
How did I miss this when it first dropped? Wow. My bad y’all…