The Audacity of Dope

We can only hope!

If you haven’t heard the news yet, Phonte and Nicolay, collectively known as The Foreign Exchange, have been nominated for a Grammy Award for their song, “Daykeeper.”  Normally, I hate award shows and rarely care about the Grammys at all, mainly because they not only pick awful songs (big songs do not equal best songs) but they also nominate artists out of category too much.

Thankfully, and perhaps just by enough trial and error, they finally seem to have gotten something right.  With any luck, Tay and Nic will walk away with a Grammy in hand, completely independent and thanks to their passion for making great music they believe in.  Artists take note.

Here’s a dope new EP from Zo!, covering some classic songs by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince, Bobby Caldwell, Quincy Jones, the Isley Brothers, and more.  Zo! (I always like including the exclamation point in his name) is insanely talented by himself, and when you bring in Phonte, Darien Brockington, Carlitta Durand, Sy Smith, and Yahzarah, you already know how it’s going to turn out.  Enjoy some more grown folks music, perfect for this rainy Saturday night…

Zo! – …just visiting too

Okaaaaaay, you can blame it all on me tonight.

Real music.

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.

So much going on in the world of Hyph…good music, cool homies, great sports, artists coming into town, even a job promotion (raises FTW!), etc…all sorts of dopeness, so I’ll get right to it.

Check out the latest episode of SNSS for new tracks from people like Sean Price, Raekwon, Fashawn, Mayer Hawthorne, Drake, Wale, Crown Royale, Shafiq Husayn, Felt, and many more.  Special shout to Phonte and Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange calling in to talk about their show TONIGHT (Tuesday, the 15th) at Nectar Lounge.  Everyone here in Seattle better come through…it’s sure to be one of the best concerts of the year.  We gave out more tickets to that this week, along with tix to the Method Man & Redman show on Thursday and copies of the soundtrack to the new Big Pun documentary.  Thanks to everyone involved and congrats to our winners!

Lastly, as I mentioned last week, I had the pleasure of DJ’ing for U-N-I during their Bumbershoot performance.  With J. Moore aka Jonny Tarantino on the cam, we grabbed some footage for y’all too.  Be sure to watch it here to see Thurz & Y-O tear down the Fisher Green Stage in the shadow of the Space Needle.

Show #224 (9-13-09)

1. Marco Polo & Torae ft. DJ Revolution – “Double Barrel”
2. Sean Price ft. Skyzoo & Torae – “Duck Down”
3. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
4. Fashawn – “Fash Plays It Cool”
5. Strong Arm Steady ft. The Game – “Trunk Music”
6. BK-One ft. Phonte, Brother Ali, & The Grouch – “Here I Am”
7. Skyzoo – “Popularity”
8. D. Black – “The Return” (Local Music)
9. Jay-Z ft. Kid Cudi – “Already Home”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE**
11. Nicolay ft. Carlitta Durand – “Lose Your Way”
12. Mayer Hawthorne – “Shiny and New”
13. Wale ft. Jazmine Sullivan – “Award Tour”
14. Drake – “Fear”
15. Dynas – “Challenges Of L.O.V.E. (Leaving One’s Virtues Exposed)”
16. Big Pun ft. Fat Joe – “Twinz (Deep Cover ’98)”
17. Crown Royale (Buff1 & DJ Rhettmatic) – “We Gotcha”
18. Sonny Bonoho – “Judge Brown” (Local Music)
19. Felt (Slug & Murs) – “Protagonists”
20. Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima – “Lil Girl”
21. Macklemore – “And We Danced” (Local Music)

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?yiggnz0ux2m
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/65592032ba214e50/)

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.

Just when you start to wonder when Phonte and Brainchild are dropping another GGR…”BAM!”…they’re back.  Enjoy:

1. B. Bravo “Midnite”
2. Method Man & Redman “Dangerous Mcees” (cookin soul remix)
3. Che Grand “People Bowling” (feat. Tanya Morgan)
4. Mos Def “Auditorium” (feat. Slick Rick)
5. DJ Mitsu “Get ‘Em Up” (feat. Elzhi)
6. Amerie “Why R U”
7. Kan Kick “I’m Going To Take U Out To Dinner”
8. GB “Dealer Dog”
9. Morgan Zarate “Satin White”
10. Kenlo “Pont”
11. Jay Dee “Come Get It”
12. Freddie Joachim “Silent”
13. Raheem DeVaughn “Wanna Love You” (feat Young Chris)
14. Slum Village “Cloud 9″ (feat. Marsha Ambrosius)
15. DJ Spinna “Guaranteed” (feat. Phonte & Yahzarah)
16. Reggie B “Spirtual Fi”
17. Zo! & Asylum 7 “The Lineup” (feat. Metasyons, Finale & Buff)
18. Karriem Riggins “I Want You”
19. Byron The Aquarius “Repetitive” (feat. Daru & Da Button Pusha)
20. Lunice “This Time”
21. Onra “My Comet”
22. Floyd The Locsmif “Fuzzy Navel”
23. Afta-1 “Flor Y Uva
24. Nicolay “Lose Your Way” (feat. Carlitta Durand)

Download here.

Wow.  An excellent video from Phonte, Nicolay, Muhsinah, and Matt Koza for an excellent song off FE’s Leave It All Behind opus.  I hope you younger cats are feeling Foreign Exchange, cause their music is so necessary for when you’re feeling grown like I do these days.

Seattle people: Phonte, Nicolay, Yahzarah, Carlitta Durand, Darien Brockington, and Zo! will be performing at Nectar on September 15th and it’s sure to be an incredible show.  Even the opener, The Physics, will be great, so everyone 21+ needs to be there.  We’ll be giving away tickets each week on Sound Session leading up to the show and we’ll also be holding a contest here on TAOD to sit in on our interview with them.  Stay tuned and make sure to be there!  More info right here.

GGR is back after a long hiatus, but it’s with a heavy heart as Phonte and Brainchild dedicate this edition to the King of Pop.  Rest in peace Mike…

The Long Live The Kaing Edition

Michael Jackson
August 1958 – June 2009

Michael Jackson “Billie Jean” (DJ Brainchild’s Power Trio Mix)
The Jackson 5 “Can’t Get Ready For Losing You”
The Jackson 5 “It’s Great To Be Here”
The Jackson 5 “Lookin’ Through The Windows”
The Jackson 5 “I’ll Bet You”
The Jacksons “Give It Up”
The Jacksons “That’s What You Get For Being Polite”
Michael Jackson “Pretty Young Thing” (demo)
Michael Jackson “Someone Put Your Hand Out”
Michael Jackson “Good Thing Goin’ (DJ Bobo James Remix)”
Q-Tip “Move”
De La Soul “Breakadawn”
Kanye West “Good Life”
Jay-Z “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)
Michael Jackson “Stranger In Moscow”
Michael Jackson “Whatever Happens”
Michael Jackson “In The Closet”
Michael Jackson “Scream”
The Jackson 5 “Superstition”
Michael Jackson “Call On Me”
Michael Jackson “Got To Be There”

Download here. (right click, save as)

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 mentioned in the post for the viral clip of “We Made It,” Kee & Zee’s newest video for “Alright With Me” has already been picked up by MTVu.  Dopeness.  Phonte had like 8 bars in this track and killed it.  Shout to all my Cali familia in the video too…

Spotted at the Smoking Section.