The Audacity of Dope

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…”

I absolutely love this track off The Kid Daytona’s Come Fly With Me project (download here).  The homey 6th Sense murdered the beat and Tona’s flow is so ill on it.  Shout to Three/21 Media and Derek Pike on the direction for the visuals too.  Great job all around.

Some words from the director Derek Pike:

Last week I shot the “Air Born” video for The Kid Daytona featuring Bun B. The beat which is produced by 6th Sense has this real mellow floaty vibe to it so I knew I wanted to shoot the majority of this video with someone or something floating in midair. Since shooting in outerspace wasn’t in the budget, I had to settle for NYC. Luckily, Daytona knew someone here on earth that could defy gravity for us, EBCstar Africa. We shot the whole video at a little park downtown, no permits. Aside from having to work around screaming kids at camp, and a basketball leagues scheduled game everything went surprisingly smooth. Daytona and Bun B are two of the nicest and most laid back artists I have ever worked with. Shout outs to the Three/21 fam Rik, Nancy and Steve, Jamal, Owen, Jordan at Sneaktip, Dan, Evan, and of course Daytona, Bun B, 6th and Africa.
-Derek Pike

A little before Pac Div dropped their Church League Champions project, Like, Mibbs, and BeYoung came through the Sound Session studio to chop it up on a variety of topics.  We discussed that mixtape, the digital EP they put on iTunes a while back, and of course their upcoming full length debut, Grown Kid Syndrome.  They also talked about the importance of their live show, how their creative process likens to their game on the court, their favorite underrated West Coast MC’s, the L.A. scene, a possible collaboration with Andre 3000, and much more.

Pac Div on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?nzmr3eh32oi
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649045665d98875b/)

This was one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve done, mainly because chilling with Pac Div reminded me of kicking it with my college homies back in SoCal.  These dudes are real hip-hop heads who love Dilla and basketball…pretty much all it takes to be cool in my book.  Plus, we’re both fans of the Arizona Wildcats and even spent time commiserating over that damn 2001 NCAA Championship game.  For the record: I still hate you, Mike Dunleavy.

The long awaited mixtape from Pac Div, Church League Champions, is finally here and it’s heatery, as expected.  As you can tell by the brilliant title, Like, Mibbs, and BeYoung are huge hoops fans and I actually have a great interview with them talking about their music and their favorite sports memories.  Any dudes who love the 2001 Arizona team as much as I do are alright in my book.  It helps that they’re dope ass artists too of course…

Interview coming soon, but in the meantime, bump that new new:

Download here.

(^^reminds me of why we used to go to our high school volleyball games)

The long awaited video for Drake’s “single” (in quotes cause they didn’t really choose it in the traditional sense) dropped tonight, courtesy of OnSmash with the world premiere.  As I mentioned on the Twitter, the combination of hot girls and basketball is pretty much a slam dunk for me, and the Kanye directed clip did not disappoint.  Well, unless you’re a sports bra manufacturer…cause you were not represented well here at all.

The highlight is definitely the 2nd skit break and Drake’s double entendre, but there is a weird Law & Order SVU kind of vibe jumping off here.  Anyone who has played or coached sports (I do both) knows the player/coach bond is definitely familial.  I understand the girls are on “his team” in a different sense, but it’s still stepping into an awkward area.

Shrug.  I’m sure he could recruit the same cast for an appropriate “HoustAtlantaVegas” video though…

The long awaited video for Pac Div’s “Mayor” just dropped and I think the visuals fit nicely with the 2009 west coast anthem (any other contenders so far?).  Rapping in front of the old Forum was a great touch, though using the “clean” edit with dirty adlibs and sample in the beat was kinda strange.  Universal Motown had that problem when they first sent out the clean edit and it looks like it struck again.  No matter, still a dope track and that beat [west coaster] is hella hooard homey [/*dub*].

Video courtesy of OnSmash.  Be on the lookout for a Pac Div appearance on SNSS soon…

Ok…Steve is having entirely too much fun.  And it’s for a good cause.

In case you see me around town, it wasn’t a punch, obviously.  The last fight I was in was like 7th grade (ironically also on the court).  It was an elbow during one of my basketball games last night.  And I’m happy to say I was killing it both pre and post ‘bow.  Still probably should have got a few stitches.

My chin scar story is still my favorite though…what’s your best battle wound?

The fine folks over at iMeem linked up with the homies U-N-I for a Los Angeles edition of their “Keys 2 The City” series.  In chapter one, Thurz & Y-O give you a basic introduction to the crew and we even get some footage of them on the court.  Which reminds me…every time I see these dudes, we’re supposed to get out there and play but it always falls through.  They’ll be up here in Seattle this weekend for a show on Sunday the 7th at Nectar (with Blu!), so perhaps we can finally do this.  Bring your game fellas.

On Sunday, the Guardian reported on the image above, which features the Spanish men’s national basketball team in an advertisement for the Beijing Olympics.  The dragon in the center circle?  Clumsy, but admissable.  The fingers pulling back the skin around their eyes in an attempt to mimic asian features?  Yeaaaaaah, I’m going to go ahead and hit you with the:

You’d think that the European country closest to Africa (separated by only 8 miles at the Strait of Gibraltar) might be the most racially tolerant member of the E.U., but unfortunately, you’d be dead wrong.  Spain has a long history of racism, and in recent years, it’s repeatedly reared its ugly head in their sporting events.  From the abuse Lewis Hamilton received earlier this year, to Luis Aragones’ moronic comments about Thierry Henry, it seems like a new incident pops up every few months.  We also can’t forget about when Samuel Eto’o almost left the pitch a few years back:

And now the Spanish basketball team, one of the best squads in the world, has again demonstrated the ignorance and racism that appears so prevalent in their culture.  It’s shocking enough that this actually made it’s way into an officially sanctioned advertisement (apparently involving the female team in the same pose on the opposite page), but how could players who’ve spent time here in the NBA agree to this?  You’re telling me Pau and Marc Gasol, Rudy Fernandez, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jose Calderon, and Jorge Garbajosa didn’t know any better?  Wow.

I don’t want to sound too high and mighty, because we clearly have lots of race issues here (cough, cough, cough), but it’s time for Spain to get a grip on this.  If they’re going continue campaigning for Madrid to host the 2016 or 2020 Olympics, they have to get serious about this problem.