The Audacity of Dope

ahahahahahaah aw man, look at the homies Krispy and Al!  The Knux made one of the least diverse crowds I’ve ever seen go absolutely crazy at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee this weekend.  LOL @ the irony of ending with Dead Prez’ “Hip-Hop”…I love it.

Seattle people: Be sure to come check out the Knux at Bumbershoot this year, where they’ll be opening up for the Black Eyed Peas on the mainstage.  Shout to Krispy, Al, Josh, and the whole crew.  See y’all soon fellas.

Suspect voice…naked pics on the net…dating Diddy…half her head shaved…I don’t even care, I love this woman.  And to be honest, I actually do like this song.  The beat is on some underground hip-hop ish or maybe something that Nas woulda told a crazy story over in the late 90’s.  I’d rather hear this on the airwaves than most other pop-R&B singles these days, but it doesn’t look like it’s catching on too well.

Cassie ft. Diddy – “Must Be Love”

Perhaps she’ll hit with the second single.  Either way, Diddy knew exactly what he was doing when he signed her.  Well played sir.

Even though “Day N Nite” is about 2 years old now, the mainstream is still getting to know Cudi.  Further, even those in the know still aren’t that familiar with the track’s producer, Dot Da Genius.  The homies at Ruby Hornet put together this dope clip with Dot, shining some light on a producer that won’t be overlooked for much longer…

Damn…the L’s keep coming for Charles Hamilton.  I like a lot of Charles’ music and he was real cool when we chopped it up in Austin at SXSW, but all these crazy situations are not helping his career.  I hope he can avoid the drama and put out a dope record, cause he’s certainly capable.

But yeah…don’t mess with Houseshoes, Hex, or the D.  For real.

Swiped from the Dopehouse, courtesy of HHO.

Marco is one of my favorite producers these days and honestly, nobody is really seeing him on some straight up boom-bap head nodding type slaps.  Check out this clip to watch him piece together sounds from multiple sources to make yet another banger.

Cop MP’s project with Torae, Double Barrel, in stores now!  Support dope music & good dudes.

Yes y’all, the time has finally come for the release of the newest Cornerstone Mixtape, presented by J. Moore, DJ B-Mello, and yours truly.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, Cornerstone is one of the preeminent marketing companies in the music industry and they’ve been releasing a monthly mixtape for years.  The hosts of each edition are hand selected by the Cornerstone staff and to be picked is considered a pretty high honor within hip-hop, one we’re thankful and proud to receive.  Some of the past participants  include  legends like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, DJ Jazzy Jeff, the Fantastic Four (from Friday Night Flavas), DJ Revolution, and countless others.  J and I are excited to be able to join those ranks and represent Seattle alongside our longtime friend and fellow DJ, the original West Coast Tapemaster, DJ B-Mello.

To be honest, it’s a bit surreal to see myself plastered on one of these covers since I’ve been collecting the tapes for years.  To go from a kid bumming copies from my industry friends each month, to being added to the Cornerstone ship list (what up TNT!), to now helping host a tape myself…I can’t front, it’s a really cool feeling.  Big shout to the entire 1200 Squad, particularly Blaze Wong, J, Dru Ha, and Rob Stone, for working with me throughout my college radio years and now at KUBE with Sunday Night Sound Session.  They truly respect and live this culture, and they recognize folks who are helping keep it alive like J, Mello, and myself.  Much appreciated fellas.

Alright, enough sentimentality.  If you’re interested, peep the tracklisting for our mix and download it through one of the links below.  We finished this up back in April, so a few of the songs are a little old right now.  That said, I think we did a pretty damn good job keeping it current and we even managed to hang on to a couple exclusives…no small feat in this day and age.  As always, our goal was to provide you with some great music and perhaps expose you to an artist you might not be familiar with.

Please feel free to repost and share around the net to all your people.  Most importantly, just like on my old Beats, Rhymes, and Life mixtapes, remember to support the artists if you’re feeling their music!

Download Cornerstone Mixtape #115 – http://sharebee.com/9c9bde51
(back up link #1 – http://www.mediafire.com/?ejzak2y2itz)
(back up link #2 – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7IHDF1P6)

Enjoy!

There are some artists in this industry who are talented, and then there are a few that seem to be on another level, closer to genius status.  I won’t put the pressure on the homey Exile by calling him a genius, but he’s clearly working on another plane than your average ‘dope’ producer.  Between his beats, his live MPC performances, his beatboxing, and even his rapping, he hears things that we don’t, and puts sounds together in ways that we would never think to do.

A little while back, Ex came through Sound Session to talk all about his latest opus, Radio, an album crafted entirely out of sounds culled from his home radio.  He detailed the creative process behind the project and how it gave him a deeper respect for radio in general.  He also talked about his crazy live MPC sets with DJ Day, how his family influenced his music, his upcoming Boy Meets World album with Fashawn, a follow up to Blu’s Below The Heavens, and the 2892412931 other projects he’s got on his plate.  Check it all out right here:

Exile on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?gjnb13y1muj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/610749136fb90d7d/)

If you haven’t already, cop Radio in stores now!

GMK is one of the dopest cats from the Northwest doing it right now.  If you need proof, cop his new project, Songs For Bloggers, right now on iTunes.  It’s worth it, trust.

I remember the first time I heard this track, the beat was so dope and classic feeling, I swore I’d heard it hundreds of times.  Since then, I probably have.  This is my ish…shout to the TM homies!  Cop Brooklynati in stores now…

The long awaited visuals for Wale’s lead single have finally leaked and I think the clip came out pretty nice.  Definitely crisp and I dig the track, though the blatant M.I.A. swagger jacking from GaGa’s hook still seems a little weird to me.  I’m sure Cool & Dre or someone ran it by M.I.A., but I’d be curious to hear what she feels about the hook.

Anyway, hopefully this single will catch on and Wale can join the ranks of Asher, Cudi, and Drake as the only new cats to actually get a crossover hit.  One of my old workplaces, KIIS in LA, has already added it so that’s a great sign.

Here’s another new video from Wale and Rik Cordero for “Family Affair” while we’re at it:

Seattle folks: Wale will be performing at Bumbershoot this year…don’t miss it…