The Audacity of Dope

I’ve been watching Hov make the rounds to damn near every media outlet in NYC over the past week, but I wasn’t really sold that I wanted to check out Decoded until this interview at the New York Public Library.  It’s almost 2 hours, so it’s certainly long, but if you can watch it, I highly recommend it.  There’s really good, insightful commentary from Jay, Cornel West, and Paul Holdengraber throughout.

Shout to Shad’s manager, G, who sent it over and summed it up nicely:

There is a video link below.  It’s not short.  But it’s great.

It reminded me about how important the work that we do is.  We are quite literally changing the future.

For the remaining history of this world, people who love really good food, will undoubtedly stumble upon the creative output of our friends.  I think that’s f*cking incredible, and I often forget…to remember it.

It was great to revisit Jay-Z as an artist…and it was great to see Cornel West attempt to evoke just a bit more enlightenment in a person who he clearly has a ton of respect for already.

This video also made me realize how important it is to have a Cornel West Uncle at the dinner table.

Anyways, here she is.  Dig in someday.

Now…who’s gonna cop Decoded for me for Christmas?

Remember where you heard this record first?  *Cough* Cornerstone Mixtape #115 *Cough*

Shout to the homies Buff & Rhett, two of the illest and nicest dudes in the industry.  Their collaborative self titled project is finally dropping on December 7th and it’ll be well worth the wait!

It’s great to see the homey Clipse doing big things with the whole Bizness/Kuddie Fresh crew.  I wish Stretch could be out there enjoying their success too, but hopefully he’ll get out soon.  Keep up the great work fellas…making Seattle proud.

And not to put him on blast (ok maybe a little), but mainly because this reminds me of the good ol’ days, peep a classic SNSS moment:

Woah.

It’s very rare that I get a submission from an artist that I’m not familiar with that I end up really liking.  Most of the time, if you’re dope, I’ve heard of you far before you’ve heard of me.  However, I must admit, I’ve been sleeping on Shane Eli.  The homey David sent over his newest directorial piece and not only is it a great video, but the song is ill too.  Sounds great, plus it tackles a real life issue that I know many folks work with every day.

I’ll be checking for Shane Eli in the future for sure.

So west coast.  How come every video these days makes me remember college?  I guess college is just the rap life…plus essays (no pun).

A cookie goes to the first person who can name Emilio’s last rap moniker…if you know it, you’ve been listening to him for at least a few years and you already know this tape is fire.  For the rest of you slowpokes, peep game:

Download here.

Good stuff from the homey Add-2, which made me think…

Hyph’s Dream Girl:

• Smart
• Smiles a lot
• Great sense of humor and laughs at horrible jokes
• Cute and prefers jeans/sweats to make up and fancy clothes (oh you fancy, huh?)
• Athletic & loves working out or playing sports
• Progressive and interested in making the world a better place
• Open minded
• Hard working
• Loves animals
• Loves kids
• Loves music
• Lady in the streets…
• A good cook…not to be chauvinistic, but cause we’re gonna starve if she ain’t
• No drugs or alcohol (“…so I can get the signal clear as day“)
• Standard wifey credentials…

Must live in my city.  Long distance gets you every damn time.  You know where to apply.

I can’t believe I forgot to post up the new video from the homies Y-O and Thurzday when it first dropped, but here’s “Windows” if you haven’t seen it.  I’m not sure if it’s official yet, but a certain group might be coming to a certain city and a certain local DJ might be performing with them in a few weeks…stay tuned.

Here’s U-N-I’s promo video for their hat collaboration with Hella Tight as well:

“it’s here, it’s here, it’s here…” – Com Sense

Download here.

Seu Jorge & Almaz dropped one of my favorite albums of the year and you can hear samples of three tracks in this short film.  It’s just so smooth…