The Audacity of Dope

I mentioned this at the end of last night’s SNSS (which I’ll post up late tonight), so I thought I’d toss up the video for y’all.  Drake took NYC by storm at the end of last week and closed it out with a live show at SUNY Purchase.  If you weren’t convinced that this dude is going to be a huge star, watch how the audience is singing/rapping every word to “Best I Ever Had” like it’s the biggest song out right now.  Oh…and it was girls too…so you know Drizzy is gonna blow the hell up this summer.

“spending every moment in the studiooooo”

I’ve been way too busy recently, which can be a good thing, but sometimes you need to take a night off…or in this case, two.  Back on Sunday in time for Sound Session, but first, heading up north with wifey…

Drake ft. Lloyd – “A Night Off”

Really can’t go wrong with Kanye + basketball.  That’s about as good as it gets.

The NBA…where millionaires steal memories from cities and move teams at their whim happens.

Dana Diaz-Tutaan + Raphael LaMotta = ApSci.  Peep how this video came together:

“The main story on it is that it was shot using an iPhone, a portable printer and a webcam. The printouts are from us performing to webcam on a mac. The webcam video was converted to black & white, and printed out at 5 frames per second (4 up on a page, cut by hand). We then walked around different cities we were touring and shot the photos in sequence. Every frame in the clip is a picture, no video was shot. No special effects in post-production. About 4,000 pictures were edited into the clip (whew). It starts in Brooklyn, goes to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Honolulu and ends in Sydney.”

Woah.

Hands down, my favorite part of hosting a radio show for the last decade (wow…i’m old) is helping shine light on folks who aren’t getting the respect they deserve.  Now, those within the industry obviously know how talented Focus is, but the general public is still a bit behind.  Recently, they’ve started to learn as he’s unleashed his “homage” series of songs dedicated towards some of his biggest inspirations (DJ Premier, J Dilla, and Pete Rock so far).

We had the chance to catch up with Focus on Sound Session and talk all about how that series came together and who will be next up to receive a homage production.  We also talked about his background (his dad was the bass player in Chic…what!?!), what it’s like working with Dre on Detox, his creative process, the development of his artist, Kida, why there are more good beats than good rappers, and much more.  You can even hear Kida’s new track with Focus, “Must Be Nice,” included in the interview.  Peep it:

Focus on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?u1ekwyj4zmn
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/5867236469e95e65/)

Be on the lookout for the next homage to drop real soon and please stop sleeping on this dude.  He flips every style better than most producers flip their specialties and he’s also taking music in his own direction at the same time.  Get familiar now or play catch up later.

Fire.

In case you aren’t aware, the Red Bull Big Tune event is the brainchild of our very own J. Moore, along with the big homies Vitamin D, Jake One, Marcus Lalario, and DV-One.  Saturday night, the 11th, you can watch an excellent special on this past year’s competitions on BET at 7:30 EST/PST.  Don’t miss it, for real.  206 stand up.

Seeing as how I’m currently infatuated with Drake’s So Far Gone mixtape, I was excited to see this dope fan made project for the first 2 tracks off that project.  Lyle at 5846 Films mashed up “Lust For Life” and “HoustAtlantaVegas” with footage from Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046.  I’ve never seen that movie, but the visuals alone look fly.  Combining them with Drake’s melancholy intro and ode to the ladies in the club turned out to be a great fit.

Rock to this and if you haven’t downloaded the mixtape yet, I don’t know what you’re waiting for…

The much anticipated new mixtape/album from Chester French has finally dropped, but I’ll let D.A. tell it:

It’s 5am and we’re sitting in our tour bus with the lights dimmed finalizing mixes while we write this email and invite you to finally check out the first new music we’ve released since 2007. First, we’d like to thank you for helping us get this far. We started Chester French in 2003, during our freshman year of college, and the past six years have been a remarkable journey.

On April 21, we’ll be releasing our full-length debut album, “Love the Future,” a record that we began more than four years ago. We hope that with that release we’ll be able to convert millions of music fans into Chester French supporters. But you’ve been with us from the start, so we wanted to give you a special gift today: a totally free full-length album. Welcome to “Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance.”

Last year DJ Clinton Sparks came to us with an offer to make a Chester French mixtape. While we appreciated his enthusiasm (and peerless physique), we wanted “Love the Future” to be the World’s first taste of CF. A few months ago, though, we caved to Clinton’s relentless advances and agreed to work on a project with him, but only if it would be more than a mixtape. Since then we’ve had an amazingly fun time making the free album that you’re about to experience.

“Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance” is a chronicle of the past six years of our lives. It tells our story, from the gymnasiums of Harvard to the hills of Hollywood. Unlike “Love the Future,” which we’ve written, arranged, performed, produced, and engineered by ourselves, “Jacques Jams” features a collection of new, original music that we created in the hills of Massachusetts and then invited some of our favorite artists to grace.

As young artists, we couldn’t be more grateful for this opporunity to collaborate with legends like Jermaine Dupri, Diddy, Pharrell, Pusha, Talib Kweli, Bun B., The Mad Rapper, Kardinal Offishall, N.O.R.E, and Jadakiss as well as younger friends like Janelle Monae, Cassie, Wale, Solange, Lady Gaga, and Mickey Factz. All of these fantastic artists have been more than generous with their creativity and hard work, so we owe them an enormous debt. Clinton Sparks, above all, has tirelessly guided us toward success and endurance, a tall order with obnoxious perfectionists like us! We’d also like to thank Clinton’s manager, Daouda Leonard, for his endless help and beautifully manicured beard.

Now CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD “Jacques Jams, Vol. 1: Endurance.”

The next month will be pivotal as we put out “Love the Future” through Star Trak / Interscope records. We hope that you will continue to tell all of your friends and family about our music and movement. Consider yourself an ambassador of our VIP Concierge Service, which anyone can join for free at www.chesterfrench.com . Please encourage everyone you meet to visit our site and join. Every single new supporter truly takes us one step closer to sustaining our touring and recording. As always, we love to hear from you so respond to this email or write to chester@chesterfrench.com any time with any ideas you might have for how we can better spread the word!

D.A., you’re foul for those shorts bruh.

What are you waiting for?  Download here.

Oh, and be on the lookout for D.A. and Max on Sound Session real soon…

Man, I’m kinda speechless right now.  The homies Y-O and Thurz have really outdone themselves with the new clip for “Hollywood Hiatus” off A Love Supreme.  Much respect to super director Tomas Whitmore who has directed all their clips (and El Prez’ “UAINTUPONTHIS!”), and they seem to get better each time.  All these joints are smashing major label videos right now.

Cop that Love Supreme if you haven’t already…hint: it’s free!