The Audacity of Dope

While in Seattle for the 2012 Capitol Hill Block Party, Malaysian-born singer Yuna visited SNSS for an interview and live performance.  We discussed her transition from Asia, the role MySpace, Indie Pop, and FADER played in her success, meeting and working with Pharrell, her creative process, her growing collection of cover records, life on tour, her self-titled US debut album, her next project, and more. Additionally, she performed two acoustic songs live in studio: “Live Your Life” (5:40) and “Decorate” (16:08).

Yuna is a true talent.  Catch up if you’ve been sleeping and keep an eye out for her to make some big waves in the near future.

Shout out to the Cornerstone, Detooz Films, and Le Fresh Perspective homies for helping make this happen.

While I don’t think anyone is capable of improving on Frank Ocean’s flawless original, I was happy to see Yuna cover “Thinkin’ Bout You.”  She came with a unique twist on it and it turned out dope.  There’s a rumor that a certain Seattle based radio show might be linking up with Yuna in a few days for an interview and exclusive acoustic performance…

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  Yin vs. Yang, if you will.  Good vs. Evil, Light vs. Dark, this intro vs. a good one.  You get the picture.

So when I noticed things were on an incredible roll lately, I should have also realized that something was about to go awry.  Luckily, it wasn’t anything that serious, but I’m sad to report that this week’s episode of Sound Session was recorded too ‘hot’ on our computer (thanks engineers!) so it sounds pretty atrocious.  On the plus side, I just got a new whip (and J got one a few months ago), it was Mother’s Day, and everyone in our circle is happy, healthy, and having more success than ever, so, as the cool folks say, it’s all good.

Oh, and did I mention that 5-8-11 marked our 6 year SNSS anniversary? That’s right…through hard work, great support, and an undying passion for the music and culture, J and I have had the pleasure of broadcasting SNSS live and direct for 6 full years.  Massive thank you shouts to everyone involved, especially the listeners.  We appreciate y’all so much and we’re happy to be one of the last outlets for independent/underground hip-hop on commercial radio.  Let’s keep it going y’all.

Die hard SNSS fans who missed the live broadcast may want to check out the archive since the music is still dope.  Sincere apologies if you can’t put up with the sub-par sound for the entire episode though.  At the very least, I recommend fast forwarding to 51:15 and checking out our interview with the founder of The FADER magazine and Cornerstone Promotions, Rob Stone.  You remember Cornerstone Mixtape #115, right?!  Shouts to the homies Jack & Cash for coming through the studio to talk about their new project too.

FADER just released their annual “Icon” issue and this time around, they honored the legendary Notorious B.I.G..  Obviously any Biggie-centric magazine would be dope, but with Rob’s unique history working closely with Puff in the early days of Bad Boy Records, he made sure FADER took it to the next level.  There’s all sorts of great behind the scenes stories and anecdotes, along with some never before seen photos, that make for a great read.  Cop it on newsstands now or hit up their site for more info.

We’ll see y’all next week, with the new and improved audio to kick off year six…

Show #310 (5-8-11)

1. Big K.R.I.T. ft. Ludacris & Bun B – “Country Sh*t (Remix)”
2. Killer Mike – “Blinded By Justice”
3. Freddie Gibbs – “Way 2 Fast”
4. Elzhi – “Halftime”
5. Roc Marciano & Killah Priest – “Slugs Thru Ya Papaya”
6. Asher Roth & Nottz – “Enforce The Law”
7. Focus ft. Phonte – “Uh!”
8. Gods’illa ft. Maimouna Youssef – “You Don’t Have To Be A Star”
9. Rockwell & Ill Pill ft. Grynch & Ra Scion – “My Way” (Local Music)
10. Fashawn ft. Sam Hook – “Down That Road”
11. Schoolboy Q ft. Jhene Aiko – “Fantasy”
12. Consequence ft. Ryan Leslie & Tony Williams – “Waited Too Long”
13. DJ Quik ft. Gift Reynolds & Jon B – “Hydromatic”
14. Fresh Daily – “Easy”
15. **INTERVIEW WITH ROB STONE**
16. The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Puff Daddy – “Who Shot Ya” (Throwback of the Week)
17. Illvibe Collective ft. A.R.M. – “Medicine Men”
18. **INTERVIEW WITH JACK & CASH, PT. 1**
19. Jack & Cash – “Bad Girl” (Local Music)
20. CunninLynguists ft. Big K.R.I.T. – “Murder (Act II)”
21. **INTERVIEW WITH JACK & CASH, PT. 2**
22. Tyler, The Creator ft. Frank Ocean – “She”
23. Joe Budden – “Ordinary Sh*t, Pt. 3 (Closure)”
24. Luck One – “Palestine” (Local Music)
25. Apollo The Great ft. Joell Ortiz – “Call It Quits (Remix)”
26. Dom Kennedy – “Playa’s Punch”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?crrq1c7cj73q0dd
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/899743745c742f7e/)
(2nd back up / streaming link – http://www.usershare.net/ikpat35um1yf/DJ Hyphen and J. Moore – Sunday Night Sound Session, Show 310, 5-8-11.mp3)

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.

This is my jam right now.  That is all.

Yo…my people are DOIN’ IT y’all!

It’s so great to see two of my favorite people in the industry, Thurz & Y-O, really start to take off and make some major moves.  This track was produced by Ro Blvd (who gets a quick cameo in the clip as well), but it’s not from their Love Supreme project.  Instead, it was a special song and video commissioned by Mountain Dew’s Green Label Sound, closely affiliated with the FADER Label and my folks at Cornerstone.  Just like our collaboration with GLS, the project turned out great and this clip is yet another stellar music video in U-N-I’s library.  Do your thing fellas…

Sidenote, be on the lookout for the official Love Supreme documentary coming soon from DRG Films.  You just might recognize one of your favorite DJ’s as the narrator…nomorganfreemano.

Bobby Ray flips the classic Tribe track for his edition of the Reebok Classic series and absolutely murders the hook.  Super catchy.  Shout to the Cornerstone folks, B Rich, Tre, and TJ…dope job fellas.

This is too funny.  Shout to all my folks in the video…but damn, why did Sean have to do Blaze like that ahahahaha.  Here’s the track too, courtesy of 2DopeBoyz:

Sean Price – “Ruck Down”

Sean PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Yes y’all, the time has finally come for the release of the newest Cornerstone Mixtape, presented by J. Moore, DJ B-Mello, and yours truly.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, Cornerstone is one of the preeminent marketing companies in the music industry and they’ve been releasing a monthly mixtape for years.  The hosts of each edition are hand selected by the Cornerstone staff and to be picked is considered a pretty high honor within hip-hop, one we’re thankful and proud to receive.  Some of the past participants  include  legends like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Fantastic Four (from Friday Night Flavas), DJ Revolution, and countless others.  J and I are excited to be able to join those ranks and represent Seattle alongside our longtime friend and fellow DJ, the original West Coast Tapemaster, DJ B-Mello.

To be honest, it’s a bit surreal to see myself plastered on one of these covers since I’ve been collecting the tapes for years.  To go from a kid bumming copies from my industry friends each month, to being added to the Cornerstone ship list (what up TNT!), to now helping host a tape myself…I can’t front, it’s a really cool feeling.  Big shout to the entire 1200 Squad, particularly Blaze Wong, J, Dru Ha, and Rob Stone, for working with me throughout my college radio years and now at KUBE with Sunday Night Sound Session.  They truly respect and live this culture, and they recognize folks who are helping keep it alive like J, Mello, and myself.  Much appreciated fellas.

Alright, enough sentimentality.  If you’re interested, peep the tracklisting for our mix and download it through one of the links below.  We finished this up back in April, so a few of the songs are a little old right now.  That said, I think we did a pretty damn good job keeping it current and we even managed to hang on to a couple exclusives…no small feat in this day and age.  As always, our goal was to provide you with some great music and perhaps expose you to an artist you might not be familiar with.

Please feel free to repost and share around the net to all your people.  Most importantly, just like on my old Beats, Rhymes, and Life mixtapes, remember to support the artists if you’re feeling their music!

Download Cornerstone Mixtape #115 – http://sharebee.com/9c9bde51
(back up link #1 – http://www.mediafire.com/?ejzak2y2itz)
(back up link #2 – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7IHDF1P6)

Enjoy!

It’s been a busy past few days  for me, so I’ll run through my thoughts for this week’s SNSS quickly with bulletpoints:

• Courtney Lee.  Courtney, Courtney, Courtney.  That was a gimme and most likely cost the Magic any chance of winning the championship.  Not that they had a good chance to begin with, but that game might have been their only lifeline against a focused Laker squad.  For those of us hoping for a long series, our hopes were dashed with one blown layup (well, two I suppose…but the scoop was a bit tougher).  I hope I’m proven wrong and we get a classic 7-gamer, but I highly doubt it.

• Aw snap, our Cornerstone Mixtape is finally out.  Read more and download it right here!

• This week’s show featured music from some of the dopest artists around, including Ghostface, Dead Prez, A.R.M., Outasight, Mos Def, Drake, Tanya Morgan, and more.  And yes, of course we played Jay-Z’s “D.O.A.”…was there ever a doubt?

• We might have given a world premiere to DJ Spinna’s excellent record with Phonte and Yahzarah, “Guaranteed.”  Not sure if that one has hit the net at all, but if you haven’t heard it, peep it…asap.  Cop Sonic Smash on June 30th!

• We were also joined in the studio by Kyle Lucas (of Vonnegutt), who talked about signing with Big Boi’s Purple Ribbon label and his new project with Seattle’s own Captain Midnite, along with one of our most talented soul artists in the city, Mycle Wastman.  Speaking of signing, be on the lookout for Mycle to sign to a very major label soon…the ink is almost dry!

• Peep our final break to hear my mini-rant on T-Pain and his “Big Ass Chain.”  I like T-Pain (kinda), but I gotta call ‘em like I see ‘em.  $410K on a chain, recession or not, is asking for ridicule.

Show #210 (6-7-09)

1. Ghostface Killah, AZ, & Inspectah Deck – “Harbormasters”
2. Marco Polo & Torae – “Danger”
3. A.R.M. – “Blame My Ego”
4. U-N-I – “Land Of The Kings”
5. Dead Prez – “Summer Time”
6. **INTERVIEW WITH KYLE LUCAS (of VONNEGUTT), PT. 1**
7. Vonnegutt – “Here We Go Again (Repeat Offender)”
8. Outasight – “Destination Somewhere”
9. Mos Def ft. Slick Rick – “Auditorium”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH KYLE LUCAS & CAPTAIN MIDNITE, PT. 2**
11. Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)”
12. Drake – “The Calm”
13. B.o.B – “Put Me On ’09 (Reebok Classic Mix)”
14. **INTERVIEW WITH MYCLE WASTMAN, PT. 1**
15. Mycle Wastman – “Still Holdin’ On” (Local Artist)
16. Busta Rhymes ft. Common, Jamie Foxx, Mary J. Blige, & John Legend – “Decisions”
17. DJ Spinna ft. Phonte & Yahzarah – “Guaranteed”
18. M64 (Ragen Fykes & Ohmega Watts) – “In The Pocket” (Local Artist)
19. **INTERVIEW WITH MYCLE WASTMAN, PT. 2**
20. Shawn Starr ft. GMK – “Past The Games” (Local Artist)
21. Tanya Morgan ft. Phonte & Brittany Bosco – “She’s Gone AKA Without You”
22. B-Real ft. Young De & Tekneek – “6 Minutes”
23. Fresh Daily ft. Oddisee & Mela Machinko – “Universal Medicine”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?1mz51ydmtoj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/611304394b1ae0e3/)

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.

As I alluded to here, The Kid Daytona is one of the nicest MC’s doing it right now and I’m anxiously awaiting his debut album, Come Fly With Me.  To help set up the project and make sure that people are aware of the talent, he’s teamed up with Mick Boogie to drop The Daytona 500.  Each track flips the same legendary sample that Ghostface used (Bob James’ “Nautilus”), but Daytona and his stable of producers make each joint different and their own.  You need to download this immediately.

1.  The First Lap
2.  The Wings {prod. 6th Sense}
3.  The Body {prod. Ill Bomb}
4.  The Engine {prod. Double 0}
5.  The Navigation {prod. Jet Audio}
6.  The Take Off (Flight) {prod. The Government}
7.  The Pit Crew *BONUS TRACK* feat. Outasight, Harlem’s Cash, 6th Sense {prod. 6th Sense}

Download here.

Also, be on the lookout for another Daytona/Jet Audio collaboration on our upcoming Cornerstone Mixtape.  #115 drops any day now…peep the tracklisting here.