The Audacity of Dope

Well guys, I hate to admit it, but I’m the Golden State Warriors jinx.  A team that played the best basketball we’ve seen in 20 years, and parlayed that to the greatest regular season record of all time, is on the brink of elimination after getting steamrolled by the Thunder again tonight.  While I was in London, the brilliance of this team, and Stephen Curry in particular, helped keep me connected to the US via texts and social media chat with all my basketball loving friends.  The Warriors went 68-7 while I was out of the country, which translates to an insane 91% winning percentage.  Since I’ve returned, they’re a far more human 14-7 (66%).  So unless Steph goes Super Saiyan in 3 consecutive games against a red hot Thunder team…my bad y’all.

For all my Seattle friends nervously waiting to see if OKC is going to get the title that should have been ours, hopefully some good music can take your mind off this nightmare scenario.  New tracks on this week’s episode of SNSS from The Game, Boogie, Problem, T.I., Chance, River Tiber, Sampha, Yuna, Jhene, OnCue, and more.  No throwback, as we had some technical difficulties that took about 15 minutes off the show, so a few records had to be cut.  Still an hour and a half of that real to get you further through the week.  Enjoy!

Show #553 (5/22/16)

1. The Game ft. Problem & Boogie – “Roped Off”
2. Gifted Gab ft. Jarv Dee – “Gettin’ Smokay” (Local Music)
3. Schoolboy Q ft. Kanye West – “That Part”
4. T.I. ft. Marsha Ambrosius – “Dope”
5. Skepta ft. D Double E & ASAP Nast – “Ladies Hit Squad”
6. Kaytranada ft. Anderson .Paak – “Glowed Up”
7. ScienZe – “Love & Water”
8. Barney Artist ft. Rick David – “Painting”
9. Brasstracks ft. Jay Prince – “Good Love”
10. Cool Nutz ft. Slum Village & Bosko – “Best & Worst (Remix)” (Local Music)
11. Problem ft. BJ The Chicago Kid – “I Love You”
12. Chance The Rapper ft. Jay Electronica – “How Great”
13. OnCue – “Boy On The Come Up”
14. Drake ft. PARTYNEXTDOOR – “With You”
15. dvsn – “In + Out”
16. Gallant – “Bourbon”
17. Jairemie Alexander – “High” (Local Music)
18. Ari Lennox ft. Cozz – “Backseat”
19. Kanye West ft. The Weeknd – “FML”
20. River Tiber ft. Daniel Caesar – “West”
21. Sampha – “Timmy’s Prayer”
22. Yuna ft. Jhene Aiko – “Used To Love You”
23. Rittz ft. E-40 & Mike Posner – “Inside of the Groove”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWc29zb1NMS1dFa2c

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson

That phrase popped into my head twice recently: first on Sunday when Rougned Odor gave us the 2016 version of Chris Child to Kobe, clocking Jose Bautista (if you haven’t seen, behold) and secondly, tonight, when the Thunder stepped to the Warriors and handed them only their 2nd home loss all season.  In the long run, both Joey Bats and the Warriors will be ok, but they certainly lost any lingering air of invincibility, and it’ll be interesting to see if the Dubs can recover.  One thing is for sure, the entire city of Seattle is hoping they do…

As for the music on this week’s SNSS, it was decidedly less confrontational.  Smooth tracks from dvsn, River Tiber, Barney Artist, Jay Prince, Rittz, Katy B, Kaytranada, ScienZe, and Chance The Rapper anchored the show.  Special throwback celebrating 25 years of De La Soul Is Dead.  Stream or download below, hope you enjoy!

Show #552 (5/15/16)

1. DJ Quik & Problem – “Straight To The City With It”
2. REKS – “The Recipe”
3. Candidt – “We Won” (Local Music)
4. Schoolboy Q ft. Kanye West – “That Part”
5. Skepta ft. Pharrell – “Numbers”
6. George Maple ft. GoldLink – “Sticks and Horses”
7. TWENTY88 (Big Sean & Jhene Aiko) – “Talk Show”
8. Tope – “Better Place” (Local Music)
9. ScienZe ft. Sidsel Ben Semmane & Adrian Cullen – “Colours & Dates”
10. Drake – “Weston Road Flows”
11. Bas – “Clouds Never Get Old”
12. Chance The Rapper ft. Francis and the Lights & Jeremih – “Summer Friends”
13. Gifted Gab ft. Jarv Dee – “Gettin’ Smokay” (Local Music)
14. J Dilla – “The Creep (The O)”
15. De La Soul – “Trainwreck”
16. De La Soul – “Keep The Faith” (Throwback of the Week)
17. Kanye West ft. Ty Dolla Sign & Post Malone – “Fade”
18. Kaytranada ft. Phonte – “One Too Many”
19. Katy B – “Honey”
20. Rihanna – “Same Ol’ Mistakes”
21. Yuna – “Lanes”
22. Rittz ft. E-40 & Mike Posner – “Inside of the Groove”
23. Brasstracks ft. Jay Prince – “Good Love”
24. Barney Artist ft. Emmavie – “Nothing Around”
25. River Tiber ft. Pusha T – “Illusions”
26. dvsn – “Another One”

Link to download – https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWdG0ta2hqZ1NhdjQ

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

*tear*

Saw this on the Laced Up blog (what up fellas?) and had to post it.  Too many classic memories in there.  I mean, come on…how many times do you see someone get dunked on and dap the dude who did it (3:58)?  I can’t believe they’re gone.

This is literally the worst day in Seattle sports history.  If you haven’t heard, the City of Seattle and the ownership group for the Seattle Supersonics NBA franchise agreed to terms yesterday that released the team from the last 2 years of its lease at Key Arena, effectively ending 41 years of storied tradition the Supes built in my city.  If you want all the gory details, hit ESPN.  If you want to see the carnage as it was unfolding, read this brilliant Bill Simmons piece.

I could write a book on this travesty, but here’s the Cliff Notes version.  The head of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, bought the Sonics in 2001 and aside from some minor success, ran the team into the ground.  Despite having a net worth of over a billion dollars, Schultz worried about losing a few million and decided to sell the Sonics to an ownership group from Oklahoma City, even though it was widely known that they would attempt to relocate the franchise to their hometown.  He could have sold the team to other local business people and prevented this all from happening, but he declined.  He’ll forever have the legacy of Seattle’s biggest traitor.

Instead, from day one of their ownership, Clay Bennett, Aubrey McClendon (who was the 8th largest donor to the Swift Boat Veterans who smeared John Kerry in 2004 and is currently raking in a fortune as the head of Chesapeake Energy while we pay $4.50 a gallon), and the rest of The Professional Basketball Club, LLC, lied to the city and people of Seattle, promising that they would do everything possible to keep the team here.  Rather than keep their word, they traded behind the scenes emails that later became public about how they were planning on moving the Sonics all along, and literally laughed about keeping it a secret.  At the same time, they snuggled up to Bennett’s long time friend, NBA Commissioner David Stern.

After doing everything in their power NOT to keep the Sonics in Seattle (including a Major League style fire sale that led to the Sonics posting their worst record in franchise history last year), the city was left with one last option: sue the team to ensure that they play out the final years of their lease at Key Arena or settle with them for a barrel of money and hope to receive an expansion franchise (or steal someone else’s team…hello Memphis) in the years to come.  Rather than irrevocably damage their relationship with Stern and the league, the City of Seattle caved and gave up the team for $45 million dollars, or $75 million if another NBA franchise isn’t put in place within 5 years.  This doesn’t even cover the economic benefits of having the Sonics here, let alone the non-financial value the team had to the city and residents.  There’s also no guarantee that we’ll get another team, and one of the greatest cities in the world (not to mention the 13th biggest market in America) will be without professional basketball for years to come.

In layman’s terms: a bunch of really rich people decided to become local heroes by going to another city, swindling more rich people and an inept local government, and stealing a franchise that had been there for 41 years.  In the process, they ripped out the hearts and souls of the people in that city, including my own.

Teams have relocated in other sports and other cities in the past, but never under such devious and unscrupulous auspices.  It’s unfathomable that a city as brilliant as Seattle is going to be without an NBA team, and it’s a warning shot to sports fans everywhere.  If a city’s franchise can be hijacked and stolen away in broad daylight, it sets a frightening precedent.

Worst of all, this has a real effect on the kids in this area.  I grew up obsessed with basketball and shaped almost every aspect of my life around it.  The friends I made, the memories I had, in full, the person I have become…are all direct results of growing up in the Seattle basketball community.  It’s part of who I am.  Now similar kids won’t have this opportunity here.  Dads can’t bond with their sons at Sonics games like I did with my stepdad.  That’s gone.  The 8th graders I coached this past year are absolutely crushed, and all because a few rich people decided to screw us all over.

I’ve been doing my best not to swear on this site (no easy feat on a hip-hop blog), but this is the first time where it’s completely justified, and in fact, too lenient.

Fuck you Howard Schultz.  Fuck you Clay Bennett. Fuck you David Stern. You stole basketball from the city of Seattle and you stole memories from me.  You extinguished the possibility of life changing experiences for future generations and I hate you all.

(NBA Finals, 1996.  The start of summer after 8th grade.  We were louder than the PA announcer.  I’ll never forget it.)