Drake talks with DJ Semtex

Posted in Artists, Live Performances, Other Peoples' Interviews on June 19th, 2010 by Hyphen

If you’re like me, you’ve been listening to Drake’s Thank Me Later album quite heavily the past few weeks, so you’ll probably also enjoy this interview with Semtex.  While they don’t break down every song on the album (I would have been particularly interested to hear the story behind “Karaoke”), there’s a lot of good info in here.  I did laugh at the “sounds like your parents played a big role in your life” question though.  Generally speaking, that’s pretty much what they tend to do.

You can also check out footage of Drake murdering our Summer Jam last night over on the KUBE site.  It was impressive to watch, thinking back to when we played him over 3 years ago on Sound Session.  I never would have anticipated his success to be this great, but it’s really ill to have the hottest rapper of the moment actually be dope.  Novel concept, I know.

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Shad – TSOL (album preview)

Posted in Artists, Joints on May 4th, 2010 by Hyphen

As I mentioned during this week’s SNSS recap, there’s no MC in the game today that makes me wear out the rewind button like Shad.  His music represents pretty much everything I look for as a listener: skills, quality production, intelligence, and above all, truthful and genuine expression through this art form.  His last record, The Old Prince Still Lives At Home, is a classic album and his new project, TSOL, drops on May 25th (at least in his native Canada…and I assume online at the least for us Americans).

I’ve been lucky enough to vibe with TSOL for a minute and it’s another flawless release from Shad.  Now you can listen to it in its entirety thanks to Spinner, complete with a track by track breakdown from the man himself.  What are you waiting for??? LISTEN HERE!

Oh, and if anyone out there isn’t convinced, I don’t know a soul who wasn’t an instant fan after seeing this:

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Wale – Breakdown (live in Seattle)

Posted in Artists, Live Performances, Videos on May 11th, 2009 by Hyphen

If you missed the Wale/Colin Munroe show at Neumos here in Seattle from the end of last month, never fear, Hugh from BlogsIsWatching has your back.  He linked up with Jason Hakala, Same Bae, James Chong, and Cahn Solo to produce this excellent clip of Wale’s introduction and the first track, “Breakdown.”  More clips will be coming soon…

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Tha Bizness walk you through My President Is Black

Posted in Artists, Politics, Videos on February 19th, 2009 by Hyphen

As a new owner of a sparkling MacBook Pro, I was definitely curious to see Henny and Dow Jones break down the making of Jeezy’s “My President Is Black” joint using Logic.  I’m not a huge fan of this song, mainly because Jeezy’s lyrics just come off so ridiculous.  I mean…even more than usual.  Hearing him try to be half-political, half-Jeezy is just odd.  “My president is black!  My Lambo’s blue.”  Hmmmm.

Can someone CC Allah on this post for me though?

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M.anifest – Babylon Breakdown (video)

Posted in Artists, Music Videos on July 11th, 2008 by Hyphen

Here’s the new video from M.anifest off his album Manifestations.  To be honest, I haven’t heard a ton from dude, but everything I’ve checked out, I’ve liked a lot.  Also, he’s working on a project called A.R.M. (African Rebel Movement.) with another dope MC, Krukid, and Seattle’s own Budo on production.  The title plays off the fact that M.anifest is from Ghana and Krukid’s from Uganda.  I’m still trying to research exactly what part of Africa Budo is representing…but in any case, the music is fire!  They should have a single leaking to y’all real soon, be on the lookout for it.

For more, check out M.anifest’s official site.

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