The Audacity of Dope

It’s too hot outside to blog anything worthwhile.  So, as T.I. said in that track with Bobby Ray, “I must…take a chuckle.”

As much as I love all my favorite classic artists, there’s really nothing better than seeing the next generation come up and begin to establish themselves.  I remember when I first heard of B.o.B., I was impressed, but not blown away.  Fast forward to almost 2 years later and now I’m definitely a huge fan of Mr. Bobby Ray.  He killed every verse and hook in 2008 and ‘09 will officially be his break out year.

Not only is he insanely talented, but he’s also a real cool dude.  You all saw a glimpse of that in the “Autotune” video, but I got to see it firsthand when B.o.B., Playboy Tre, and their manager B. Rich came through Sound Session to chop it up a while back.  We talked all about their backgrounds, B.o.B.’s upcoming debut album, the lead single (“I’ll Be In The Sky”), their ability to write infectious hooks, why their music has to be genuine, why the industry needs a reality check, and much more.  You can check out the full interview below:

B.o.B. & Playboy Tre on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?xnlx1wmo0gz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/54012448089f57ba/ )

Big shout to the whole crew for dropping by and a special shout to TJ Chapman too.  Get ready for the B.o.B./Tre takeover in ‘09, for real.

Yeah, yeah, WLotD has been on vacation for a while, I know.  Honestly, when you work 2.5 jobs, I spend most of my free time trying to avoid wackness so it may be somewhat sparse from here on out.  That said, my jobs still have me listening to new music all the time and sure enough, wackness is inevitable:

“Her booty big enough to swallow up a g-string/
Hey, go on, put that ass on me like a bee sting”
–T.I., “Day Dreaming”

I heard that and had the same expression as Tip did above.

(if you prefer YouTube, go here. Part 2 will be up in a few days)

Here’s the footage of T.I.’s Bumbershoot performance that I grabbed from the stage a few weeks back. The festival’s “Hip-Hop 101″ main stage at Memorial Stadium is always one of my favorite events of the year. We’ve been lucky enough to introduce people like Lupe, Wu-Tang, Kanye, Atmosphere, Pharcyde, Common, Talib, and A Tribe Called Quest and watch these artists deliver incredible shows from just a few feet away. It’s really dope to watch ‘em rock a huge venue like this and although T.I.’s crowd was a bit smaller than past years, this was another great experience. I’m not a huge Tip fan, but he killed it.

My favorite moment was definitely at 18:40, when he talked to the crowd about voting and then, with phenomenal swag, told Drama to drop “What You Know.” That might be my favorite T.I. record, [Kanye] Toomp killed that ish [/Kanye].

(if you prefer Vimeo, click here)

I’ve been meaning to post up the footage I grabbed from our Bumbershoot Festival here in Seattle a few weeks ago, but I’ve been slacking. Once I saw Eskay toss up my T.I. video, I figured I should get on it haha. Here’s the first clip, where Keyshia Cole runs through some hits from her catalog on the main stage at Memorial Stadium. I can’t say I’m a huge Keyshia fan, but she has some joints I really dig (namely “(I Just Want It) To Be Over” and her hook on Diddy’s “Last Night”).

I’ll make a separate post with the T.I. footage, which is better quality and far more interesting, imo.