The Audacity of Dope

(shout to OnSmash with the premiere)

I love that I can follow up a post on design reform geared towards the triple bottom line with a hip-hop video/song that’s hard as f**k.  Such is, TAOD.

Anyway, I think Till The Casket Drops had a few sub-par moments (only for the Clipse’s high standards), but the highlights are 3 of the best tracks of the past year: “Kinda Like A Big Deal,” “Popular Demand,” and now “Freedom.”  Malice’s verse is nice, but Pusha slaughtered it.  He owns you all.

Be sure to check out our last interview with the Clipse as well, right here.

My nerd crush on Ms. Pilloton aside (smart women FTW), this is awesome.

In short, she graduated from Berkeley trained as an architect, but after working a few years in “the real world” making conventional goods, she realized she wanted to do more.  At 26, she founded Project H Design, a non-profit created to put design innovation to better use.  Rather than focus on making money, Project H seeks “the triple bottom line: planet, people, & profit.”

As a post grad that’s been disillusioned with the rat race from time to time myself, I love that she took a chance and put her ideals first.  It’s actually not that different from our mindset with Sound Session…well, in terms of doing work you believe in, rather than “selling out” if you well.  Kudos to Emily and if you’d like to read more or become involved, check out their site.

Here’s a great presentation of hers from last year that explains things a little further:

Seattle people: it looks like they have a chapter here in the 206, so if you’re looking for some direction in life and have extra time on your hands, you know what to do.

Aw man…

The homey Casey linked up with the other homies Thurz & Y-O for an interview at their Neumos show the other day in Seattle.  Homies everywhere!

Look out for the A Love Supreme documentary to drop soon, narrated by yours truly…

You might recall that Slaughterhouse recently dropped by the Sound Session studio, but soon after, Royce Da 5′9″ returned for another show in Seattle and came through solo.  We covered a ton of topics in the 3 part conversation so I decided to put the full video online for y’all to enjoy.

Shout to Royce, easily one of the most down to earth and talented artists that we’ve had on the show.  When I was a high school kid losing my mind to all his verses in the late 90’s, I never would have thought I’d have the opportunity to kick it with him a few times.  Craziness.  Go cop Street Hop immediately and peep below for the interview.

Part 1:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• Reception of the Slaughterhouse project
• Familial relationship of the group
• Future of Slaughterhouse
• Earliest memories of Eminem

Part 2:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• Working with Eminem as part of Bad Meets Evil
• Learning recording techniques from Em
• His favorite MC’s
• Detroit’s knack for producing dope rappers
• His thoughts on J. Cole

Part 3:

(watch on HyphenTV)

• The Charles Hamilton/J Dilla fiasco
• His current relationship with Dr. Dre
• His new Street Hop album
• What he has left to prove in the game
• Future Bar Exam mixtapes

If you would prefer to just listen to the discussion and toss it on your mp3 player, here’s the audio of the full interview:

Royce Da 5′9″ on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?mkjzymhzzj1
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/690590078f4fcc91/)

Enjoy!

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…”

On Monday, Nov. 16th, Raphael Saadiq will be performing at the Showbox Market and he’s bringing with him one of the dopest, up and coming singers out there, Anjulie.  Because Anjulie and her folks are so cool, she’ll be kicking it with us on Sound Session live in studio the night before.  And since we’re so cool, we’re giving you a chance to join us as well.

If you and a guest want to meet Anjulie, sit in the studio throughout our radio show, and take home a signed copy of her self titled debut, all you need to do is email me – DJHyphen@gmail.com – the answer to this (incredibly simple) question:

What province in Canada is Anjulie from?

That’s it.  Contest ends Friday at 10am.  I’ll be selecting one person to receive a pair of passes to join us, Anjulie, and the other winners we got on the air Sunday night.  Good luck!

In case you want a little video to go with the audio from this week’s SNSS, here’s some footage of the homey Sol sitting in with us.  We talked about his new EP (download here!), his upcoming trip to Brazil, and more.

I remember seeing BK-One mix for Brother Ali damn near a decade ago and I was blown away by how well he complimented Ali’s live show, especially during his solo.  Now he’s prepping the release of his first album and SNSS listeners will know that we’ve been rocking “Here I Am” with Phonte, Ali, and The Grouch real heavy lately.  You need to cop BK’s album on the 6th…[Clinton Sparks] get familiar! [/Clinton]

Shout to the homies Peter and Zeke for sending this through.

D. Black and the Sport’n Life crew came through Sound Session recently to talk all about D’s upcoming Ali’Yah album that drops on the 15th.  Always a pleasure to open the SNSS studio up to dope artists, but it’s especially fun to chill with good people.  Download the whole audio of the show right here.

D.Black, a Seattle-based rising hip-hop artist, took some time out to visit the good folks J. Moore and DJ Hyphen over at KUBE 93 for Sunday Night Sessions to speak about his newest release Ali’Yah. While talking about Ali’Yah, D.Black made special note of the increase in maturity and artistic development since his last album. That maturity is evident on such songs as the recently released “Yesterday,” the first single off Ali’Yah, and when asked about the song D.Black explained the concept saying, “All of us have had situations in our past that if we look back at it, we breathe life back into it. So it’s better to leave yesterday behind and look forward to tomorrow.” The positive vibe was reflected back by the fans as well as D.Black spoke with a few folks who called. D.Black also spoke on the opportunity he had to work with so many talented artists while crafting Ali’Yah, noting the contributions of fellow artists Jake One, Vitamin D, B. Brown, Melissa, Choklate, Spaceman, Kuddie Mak and many others. Be on the lookout for D.Black’s newest album Ali’Yah available September 15th via Sport’n Life Records/MYX Music Label.