The Audacity of Dope

The homies Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are not only two of my favorite artists from the town, but they are also two of my favorite people in the Seattle music scene.  They’re just really cool dudes who love making art and take it pride in everything they do.  When you mix in their incredible talent on top of that (need proof?), it’s mandatory to check for everything they’re involved in.

Here’s their long awaited collaboration, The Vs. EP, where they sampled some contemporary bands and combined rock with hip-hop.  Don’t get it twisted though, this isn’t some half-assed, corny mash up project.  Instead, it’s an excellent piece of work where Ryan’s lush soundscapes are complimented perfectly by Mack’s heartfelt and sobering (quite literally) rhymes.  I can’t recommend this highly enough.

Download here.

Now that it’s my day job to watch music videos all day, I see damn near every clip that gets released.  As such, when a dope one comes around, I’m always extra impressed because I know how much effort gets put into the good ones…and I know how easy it is for folks to cut corners and release wack visuals, even for dope tracks.

We’ve been pretty blessed in the Seattle hip-hop scene to have produced some great videos recently (The Saturday Knights, They Live, The Physics, Choklate, and Zia Mohajerjasbi’s work with the Blue Scholars and Common Market, among others), and now we’ve got another from Clockwork.  The three man crew comprised of Lace Cadence, Take One, and Miguel Rockwell just released “Hold On” from their last album, Future Pastime, and it’s easily one of the cleanest videos I’ve seen in a minute.  There are some great effects to match up with the crystal clear images, plus the track is dope.

Cop Future Pastime on iTunes right here and follow the crew on Twitter as well.

Awww yeah, the homegirl Chok just dropped the video for 2 joints off her new album, To Whom It May Concern.  Trust when I tell you that not only is she one of the most talented singers in our lovely city, but she’s right there at the top of the pack nationally.  People are starting to catch on, so hop on the bandwagon before you’re too late!

Also, you may remember the Vitamin D “Suns Out” beat from our Cornerstone Mixtape where Thig Natural of the Physics ripped a little freestyle intro.  Have you downloaded the tape yet?

And just in case you needed more proof that Seattle is jam packed full of talent, peep this video of KDCutz remixing “Suns Out.”

Wow.

GMK is one of the dopest cats from the Northwest doing it right now.  If you need proof, cop his new project, Songs For Bloggers, right now on iTunes.  It’s worth it, trust.

Yessir!  It doesn’t get any more 206 than this one.  Big shout to everyone involved in this video, many of which are my favorite folks in this industry/community.  Great to see everyone get some shine and I’m still a little disappointed I wasn’t able to hit up the shoot too.  If I remember right though, I was coaching my 6th grade select squad to some Eastside ass-whooping, so it’s all good.  Would have been nice to get a little U-District/Ravenna repping though hahaha.  The end of this song (“peace out homey!!!”) will always be a great memory, as that soundbite was taken from one of our crazy SNSS callers when Jake was in the studio one night.  Classic.

Special props to Jake, Zia, & Pinder for doing a great job with this clip.  Townbidnassmane.

If you’ve been following along, we’ve hit some nice milestones recently, namely Show #200 a few weeks ago.  It doesn’t take a math major to realize that 200 shows = 200 weeks and give or take a few Sundays off, that’s adding up to about 4 years.  Well this past week, we officially celebrated 4 full years of Sunday Night Sound Session on KUBE 93.

While we have a lot of fun on SNSS and don’t take ourselves very seriously at all, broadcasting a show like ours on a 100K-watt Clear Channel station in a top market for 4 years is actually a pretty special accomplishment.  As a media studies major from back in my college days, I’ve always been cognizant of the effects of media consolidation and the danger it brings.  To combat that, it’s been a pleasure using the airwaves and the website to provide a powerful, consistent voice for alternative and independent artists from around the world.  It’s a responsibility we take seriously and we work hard every week to create a quality program for listeners to enjoy.  All the while, our number one goal is to be true to our beliefs and represent the hip-hop culture with the respect it deserves.

To four…and hopefully many more…years of SNSS – “raise your glasses to the sky”

Show #207 (5-17-09)

1. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
2. Elzhi – “Deep”
3. Cory Gunz ft. Willie The Kid & MarVo – “A New Day”
4. Drake ft. Bun B – “Uptown”
5. Mos Def – “Casa Bey”
6. Donny Goines ft. Outasight & Peter Hadar – “Sublime”
7. Scribes – “Roll My Way” (Local Artist)
8. Chester French – “Time To Unwind”
9. Eminem – “My Mom”
10. Asher Roth – “La Di Da”
11. Bruce Leroy – “Million Dollar Dream” (Local Artist)
12. Busta Rhymes – “Shoot For The Moon”
13. Izza Kizza ft. Colin Munroe – “Connect The Dots”
14. Colin Munroe ft. Joell Ortiz – “Piano Lessons”
15. The Kid Daytona – “The Engine”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH BLUE SCHOLARS, GRYNCH, & DV-ONE**
17. Toni Hill – “This Thing Called Love” (Local Artist)
18. Slakah The BeatChild ft. Drake – “Enjoy Ya Self (Remix)”
19. Julian Marley ft. Damian Marley – “Violence In The Streets”
20. J Dilla ft. Black Thought – “Reality TV”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?zuuymgqmjjz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/60217878c91f946b/ )

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.

You know with Show #206 of SNSS, we had to make it a good one…Google “206″ if you’re confused.

While J was holding it down it Phoenix at Sha Money XL’s One Stop Shop producer conference (“hardly home, but always reppin” – Drake), I was joined in the studio by 88 Keys & Izza Kizza before their show Sunday night at Nectar.  We chopped it up about Mother’s Day memories, Izza’s new Wizzard Of Iz mixtape, the debates 88 & Kanye had for The Death of Adam album, and more.  If one interview wasn’t enough, I also ran a snippet of a discussion I had with Louis Logic from a while back about his crazy new surf rock/hip-hop hybrid project, Spork Kills.

In addition to the special guests, the music this week was one of my favorite collections that we’ve played recently: new joints from Asher Roth, the Clipse, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Drake, Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves, Raekwon, and many more.  Be sure to peep XV’s ode to the leaked pictures from Cassie & Rihanna (hello!) and one of the smoothest R&B songs we’ve played in a while, “This Thing Called Love” by the Northwest’s own Toni Hill.  Enjoy!

Show #206 (5-10-09)

1. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 1**
2. Jae Millz – “Mother’s Day”
3. Asher Roth – “Fallin’”
4. Scribes – “Roll My Way” (Local Artist)
5. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 2**
6. Izza Kizza ft. Colin Munroe – “Connect The Dots”
7. Clipse ft. Kanye West – “Kinda Like A Big Deal”
8. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 3**
9. 88 Keys ft. Bilal – “M.I.L.F.”
10. Maxwell – “Pretty Wings”
11. Eminem – “Déjà Vu”
12. Busta Rhymes ft. Common, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, & John Legend – “Decisions”
13. Slakah The BeatChild ft. Drake – “Enjoy Ya Self (Remix)”
14. Drake – “HoustAtlantaVegas”
15. XV – “ADDicted”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS LOGIC (SNIPPET)**
17. Spork Kills – “Black Widow”
18. Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves – “I’ll Roll With You”
19. Reflection Eternal – “Back Again”
20. Macklemore – “The Party” (Local Artist)
21. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
22. Kanye West & Malik Yusef ft. Common & John Legend – “Magic Man”
23. Toni Hill – “This Thing Called Love” (Local Artist)
24. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 4**

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?iwd03y1ztff
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/5990763456f148d1/)

Link to download just the parts with 88 Keys & Izza Kizza – http://www.mediafire.com/?mimgontduuq
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/599085806f274121/)

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.

Off the brand new Common Market digital release, Winter’s End EP, here’s the MTVu debut of RA Scion & Sabzi’s “Escaping Arkham.”  With Zia at the directorial helm, you already know the visuals are going to be flawless.  He’s really one of the most underrated directors in the game nationally…it won’t be long until people are flying him all around the country to do their videos.

Sidenote:  mobbing down to SXSW with a lot of Seattle folks, RA and Sabzi included, was one of my highlights of last week.  We have a ton of talent in the town and if you aren’t aware, you’re sleeping.  Plus, everyone is cool as hell…

(I recommend watching in high quality here)

While some of us were making completely pointless videos during the Seattle snow, the homies Geo and Sabzi were killing time making a better song and video than most artists do with huge budgets.  Seriously, are you kidding me?  About 95% of the artists out there wish they could make something this ill.  The clip was directed by Saba’s brother, Zia, who continues to churn out some of the coolest visuals I’ve seen recently.  Very dope.

Blue Scholars – “Coffee and Snow”

What can I say…I was bored and needed to get out of the house.  Seeing as how its been snowing for 10+ hours now and the roads are completely covered, I’m guessing there won’t be an episode of Sound Session tonight.  I’m hoping to have some cool stuff to post up in the next few days to make it up to y’all.  We’ll see.

In the meantime, stay warm!