The Audacity of Dope

The random joints that Blu leaks are better than most artists’ best official work.  I can’t wait for the next album…

If you aren’t familiar with Sene, you really need to get hip.  Luckily for you, he’s about to drop his full project with Blu handling all the production (you didn’t know Blu got beats?), ADayLate&ADollarShort, and here’s the first bit of visuals for it.  I’ve been bumping the album recently and it’s great throughout.  Blu did a great job crafting a consistent sound and Sene’s style is actually real similar to Blu’s on the mic.  Highly recommend y’all cop it…

There’s a good chance that a lot of my posts for the next few weeks will be SXSW related, but that’s what happens when you have one of the best weeks of your life.  It’s fun to reminisce…sue me!

The homey GregTheDude was down in Austin as well and we were able to kick it a few times.  One of which was during the above performance of “Smile” by Janelle Monae at Vice Bar on the last night.  Greg’s always thinking ahead with his videos and flipping this in the “tall” mode came out type ill.  G, when are you gonna post the footage of Janelle surfing right over you?

If that’s not enough for you, check out Blu rocking the first verse of “Dancing In The Rain” with Exile at Malverde (one of my favorite venues down there) for the Creme de la Creme showcase.  Swapped in the CDQ audio, but the visuals are still clean as hell.  Shout to the homey Playboy Tre in the background!

I’m already looking forward to SXSW 2010.  Noooooo doubt.

If you aren’t up on TiRon, you’re in luck.  His new mixtape, Ketchup, allows you to do just that and get familiar with yet another dope MC coming from the new wave of Los Angeles hip-hop.  Mixed by the homey DJ Low Key and featuring guest spots from Tunji, Pacific Division, Blu, Miguel, Buff1, and like 20 verses from Ayomari hahah.  Be on the lookout for Handshakes & Pounds 2, the sequel to his first mixtape, and also watch for an appearance from TiRon on this week’s Sound Session.  Shout to Kevin as well.

Download here.

After dropping videos for almost every track off his excellent Layover EP, Ev is back with what I believe is the final clip for the project.  As expected, this one doesn’t disappoint either.  When has Decon ever steered you wrong on the visuals (or anywhere else for that matter)?

If you’ve been sleeping lately, Keelay & Zaire are an incredible production duo that have been doing their thing for a minute now.  They’re about to drop their debut full length album, Ridin’ High, at the start of next year and people are finally starting to catch on.

Here’s the video for their current single, “The Times,” featuring Blu, Fortilive, and Nino Moschella.  If you’ve been listening to Sound Session, you’ve heard this one and the b-side, “Addicts For Real,” with the homey Tunji.  It’s been a long week, so my memory is failing on me, but I thiiiiiiink I remember hearing that there will be a video coming for that joint as well.  Do yourself a favor and get familiar with these dudes.  Shout to Karim and the whole Myx Music family too.  Big things in ‘09!

Some new visuals for Blu & Mainframe’s Johnson&Jonson project, which is one of the dopest releases of the year.  This is even one of my least favorite tracks on the album and it’s still crazy.  That shows you how good the album is.

Sidenote, the way Blu rhymes on this is an example of how Lil’ Wayne could sound, if he wasn’t hopped up on lean and obsessed with auto-tune.  Very few MC’s can rock this relaxed, free form flow as effortlessly as Blu does here.  Dude has bars for days.

(i had the same look as Exile when I heard this)

Blu is the man and probably in my top 3 favorite MC’s right now.  Plus he’s a cool ass dude, so this pains me to do.  However, I heard a line in Evidence’s new track that just confused me:

“It’s the middle of ‘08, and I still ain’t heard Obama speak bout problems that we face”
–Blu, “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

Word? This reminds me of the criticism that many people tried to hit Barack with early in his campaign: that he was only preaching this esoteric “change” idea, without backing it up with substantive policy positions and strategies.  The problem with that is that if you actually make an effort to listen to more than a 30 second soundbite on the news, or go read any of the extensive issue pages of his website, you quickly learn what Obama’s all about.  Now, you don’t have to agree with his ideas, but to say that they aren’t there or he hasn’t addressed virtually everything is just false.  I hope Blu has found Barack’s statements that talk about the issues he’s concerned with, because I assure you, they’re there.

So forgive me homey, but I just disagree with that line.  Blu’s still possibly the illest MC in the game right now, so make sure y’all cop his new Johnson&Jonson project.  Easily one of the best albums of the year.  And here’s Ev’s new track if you haven’t grabbed it yet:

Evidence ft. Phonte, Blu, & Will.I.Am – “For Whom The Bell Tolls”

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t particularly enjoy acapella “freestyles,” but the homey Alex over at Ruby Hornet always picks dope MC to kick verses for his videos.  In this edition, Blu recites another crazy verse and Chicago’s own Astonish joins in at the end.  If you don’t know, Astonish dropped a great project last year that a lot of you slept on.  Check him out here and get familiar.

Funny, I was just chilling with my new homies Cee, Bekah, and Notion at their hotel bumping some of Blu’s classic Below The Heavens album and I came home to two new videos featuring the man himself.  This dude is one of my top 3 MC’s today, hands down.  Peep the interview with Out Da Box TV and make sure to watch the video right below this post too.  Johnson&Jonson album in stores on the 23rd!

Spotted on Nah Right.