The Audacity of Dope

More dopeness from Shad K, this type at the Toronto stop of the Warped Tour.  Have you copped The Old Prince yet?

The newest in a series of excellent videos from Shad’s The Old Prince, which was just released here in the U.S. at the end of June.  Do…not…sleep!

Swiped from Shad’s bloggy-blog.

Man…I’ve been trying to tell you about Shad.  This little freestyle he recorded off the dome in the back of his Warped Tour bus with DJ TLO and Dallas Green is just another example of the incredible talent dude has.  Remember this too?

Be sure to follow along with Shad’s Warped Tour experience over on his site and you better catch his set when he comes through your town:

6/26/09    Pomona, CA
6/27/09    San Francisco, CA
6/28/09    Ventura, CA
6/30/09    Phoenix, AZ
7/1/09    Las Cruces, NM
7/2/09    San Antonio, TX
7/3/09    Houston, TX
7/5/09    Dallas, TX
7/7/09    Indianapolis, IN
7/8/09    Pittsburgh, PA
7/9/09    Cleveland, OH
7/10/09    Toronto, ON
7/11/09    Montreal, QC
7/12/09    Hartford, CT
7/14/09    Columbia, MD
7/15/09    Scranton, PA
7/16/09    Buffalo, NY
7/17/09    Camden, NJ
7/18/09    Uniondale, NY
7/19/09    Oceanport, NJ
7/21/09    Boston, MA
7/22/09    Virginia Beach, VA
7/23/09    Charlotte, NC
7/24/09    Orlando, FL
7/25/09    Miami, FL
7/26/09    St.Petersburg, FL
7/28/09    Atlanta, GA
7/29/09    Cincinnati, OH
7/30/09    Milwaukee, WI
7/31/09    Detroit, MI
8/1/09    Chicago, IL
8/2/09    Minneapolis, MN
8/3/09    St.Louis, MO
8/4/09    Kansas City, KS
8/7/09    Boise, ID
8/8/09    Salt Lake City, UT
8/9/09    Denver, CO
8/12/09    Calgary, AB
8/14/09    Vancouver, BC
8/15/09    Seattle, WA
8/16/09    Portland, OR
8/19/09    Fresno, CA
8/20/09    Mountain View, CA
8/21/09    Sacramento, CA
8/22/09    San Diego, CA
8/23/09    Los Angeles, CA

Oh…and The Old Prince is officially in stores now in the U.S.!  [Diddy] COP THAT Cop That cop that [/Diddy]

What up G!

As I mentioned, Shad is releasing his insta-classic The Old Prince Still Lives At Home album in America on June 30th.  Since the LP has been out in Canada for a while, they’ve already dropped some excellent videos for it (including possibly my favorite video ever for the title track), but the new one for “Compromise” will be coming at the start of next month.  In the meantime, director Christopher Mills created this prelude with some extra footage from the video and a quick spoken word poem by Ian Kamau to hold folks over.

Additionally, they released the US artwork today too:

Freshness.

Lastly, even though the Warped Tour doesn’t have a ton of hip-hop on the bill, I highly recommend you check it out when it comes through your town this summer so you can catch Shad’s live set.  Dates are below:

6/26/09    Pomona, CA
6/27/09    San Francisco, CA
6/28/09    Ventura, CA
6/30/09    Phoenix, AZ
7/1/09    Las Cruces, NM
7/2/09    San Antonio, TX
7/3/09    Houston, TX
7/5/09    Dallas, TX
7/7/09    Indianapolis, IN
7/8/09    Pittsburgh, PA
7/9/09    Cleveland, OH
7/10/09    Toronto, ON
7/11/09    Montreal, QC
7/12/09    Hartford, CT
7/14/09    Columbia, MD
7/15/09    Scranton, PA
7/16/09    Buffalo, NY
7/17/09    Camden, NJ
7/18/09    Uniondale, NY
7/19/09    Oceanport, NJ
7/21/09    Boston, MA
7/22/09    Virginia Beach, VA
7/23/09    Charlotte, NC
7/24/09    Orlando, FL
7/25/09    Miami, FL
7/26/09    St.Petersburg, FL
7/28/09    Atlanta, GA
7/29/09    Cincinnati, OH
7/30/09    Milwaukee, WI
7/31/09    Detroit, MI
8/1/09    Chicago, IL
8/2/09    Minneapolis, MN
8/3/09    St.Louis, MO
8/4/09    Kansas City, KS
8/7/09    Boise, ID
8/8/09    Salt Lake City, UT
8/9/09    Denver, CO
8/12/09    Calgary, AB
8/14/09    Vancouver, BC
8/15/09    Seattle, WA
8/16/09    Portland, OR
8/19/09    Fresno, CA
8/20/09    Mountain View, CA
8/21/09    Sacramento, CA
8/22/09    San Diego, CA
8/23/09    Los Angeles, CA

August 15th it is…

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.

I told y’all these cyphers were breaking out everywhere down in Austin.  This pretty much sums up the kind of vibe that SXSW carries…everyone was just down there having a good time and people were all about their music.  Fabby Davis Jr. murdered this by the way.

I think Shad is my favorite discovery of this past year.  I know he’s been doing his thing for years, but apparently I was sleeping cause I just caught on to him at the end of 2007.  Better late than never though and in fact, this video is from back in July, but the new homey G just shot it over and I was floored.  This dude is crazy.

Be on the lookout for big things from Shad in ’09.  He’ll be at SXSW in March and on the Warped Tour all year, including a Seattle stop in August.  Prior to that, it looks like he’ll be out here in the Pacific NW rocking shows, so I’ll keep y’all posted when things get announced.  In the meantime, be sure to cop The Old Prince asap.

This is my ish right now and since I’m going to play it on Sound Session tonight, I thought I’d post up the video.  Yeah, I’m late on it, but sometimes it takes a second for international hip-hop to catch on in the States.  Shad is dope as hell though, so better late than never!

Shad – “Brother (Watching)”

Aw man.  First off, you know anything related to the greatest show of all time, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is automatically getting posted.  Second, Shad can really rhyme and this track is dope.  Everything I’ve heard from dude, I’ve liked.  Good to see another dope Canadian MC (shout to Kardi & the Black Jays, Drake, Web, Moka, etc.), since somebody has to rep our neighbors to the north properly…lord knows their athletes aren’t doing it*.

*ok, ok.  You guys have picked it up after a horrible first week.  Took you waaaaay too long to get going though.

Swiped from Pitchfork.