The Audacity of Dope

GregTheDude gave me a sneak peak of this last night…pause…but now it’s officially ready for the world to see.  Greg + Tunji + Cook = Claremont Colleges talent at its finest, but y’all don’t know about that.

What you do know, however, is that it’s becoming quite evident that Tunj is a beast.  Here he runs down the artists appearing on the upcoming VIMBY mixtape in freestyle form.  If you’re up on your 5-C’s trivia, this will remind you of his classic Pomona-Pitzer bball intro.  Ah, the good ol’ days.

If you want to see more of Tunji freestyling, check his appearance on Sound Session a few weeks back.  Plus, there may be some more studio footage coming from Greg in a bit…

The homey Pack is linking up with Domingo to drop the most truthfully titled EP ever, I F*cking Hate Rappers, and he spit one of the verses acapella at a recent show in Boston.  Seriously, every line in this verse is on some real ish and there’s a good chance he’s talking to many of you reading this very blog.  I’m not trying to diss anyone who enjoys TAOD, but if you listen to this and the shoe fits, sorry dude.

Like the folks over at 206proof like to talk about, don’t be a hobby rapper.  If you do this for real, have some talent and some respect for yourself, your listeners, and the culture in general.  Pack’s been doing this for like 15+ years and he’s the definition of a real MC.  Don’t wait until the EP drops to realize he’s calling you out.

For more, hit up the homies on the official QN5 blog.

(watch in HD on HyphenTV here)

A few weeks ago, I posted up the video of Tunji (of Inverse) freestyling – and killing it – on Sound Session, but now I’ve got a longer clip of the interview for y’all.  Peep the video above (or in HD on the HyphenTV Vimeo page) to hear Tunji and Toby break down their backgrounds, their So Far and So True projects, how the internet and blog explosion has affected their careers as independent artists, and more.  You can also see some footage of their performance at Chop Suey from the night before.

Since there was one break that we didn’t include in the video, I’ve got the audio of the full interview here for all y’all Inverse fanatics:

Inverse on SNSS – http://www.mediafire.com/?mmmzy1oy5kd
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/549871929f867551/)

Be sure to hit up the homies on their MySpace and blog, and download their 2 free projects ASAP if you haven’t already.

Spot. On.

One of the nicest up-and-coming MC’s in the game, M.anifest, dropped by Peter Parker’s show on B96 in Minneapolis to drop a little verse and debut a new track from his upcoming Coming To America EP.  Big shout to both these dudes…M.anifest for making dope tracks (and being in a crew with the homey Budo) and Peter Parker for having a dope show in the vein of what we do here at KUBE with Sound Session.  There aren’t many big stations that have outlets like this in 2009 so I hope y’all are enjoying us while we’re still around!

Peep the joint too:

M.anifest – “Time Is”

He’s back!  Thanks to literally one of the only good things Bush ever did, John Forte has been pardoned and is already back in the studio.  Here’s a quick little video of John and Talib rocking over Kanye’s “Homecoming.”  People may think of John’s verse on “We’re Tryin’ To Stay Alive” and forget his other stuff, but this dude could really rhyme.  I hope he picks up right where he left off.  Welcome home.

(watch in HD on HyphenTV here)

As I mentioned in the show recap, we had the longtime Inverse homies, Tunji and Toby, come through Sound Session this past week.  You can peep that post for the audio of the entire interview, but I’ll be posting the video for it soon.  In the meantime, here’s a clip of the end of the interview, where Tunj spit a (real) freestyle to help close out the show.

Download Inverse’s So True EP right here if you haven’t already.  Oh, and you should probably remember the name too.  2009 is gonna be a big year y’all.

Hmm…not sure how I feel about this.  On one hand, Lykke Li is the ish and I love this chick.  On the other hand, I hate the whole “haha let’s have white people do something hip-hop and let’s all laugh” schtick.  I mean, we’ve seen her do covers of A Tribe Called Quest before, and those were dope, but I don’t think I needed to see her and Bjorn from Peter, Bjorn, and John remake Ricky Rawwwwwwss.  Yeah…I’m good (I’m gone).

Seattle people: Lykke will be back in town at the Showbox in February.  I’ll see y’all there.

Swiped from IllRoots.

Here’s Kanye’s performance from one of the inaugural balls last night in DC.  ‘Ye kinda killed it, mullet and all.  This was the same ball that after Barack and Michelle shared the dance, he told the crowd…”we call that ‘old school’.”

Coolest. President. Ever.

Then you’re lame.  Freshness from Tunji, Toby, Cook Classics, and Paul Dateh on the violin.  Inverse’s upcoming So True EP drops any moment now…get ready.

Seattle People: Remember, you can catch Inverse making their first appearance in the 206 on January 17th at Chop Suey.  Yes, that Chop Suey.  Don’t worry, there won’t be any of that idiocy going down that Saturday…just good times and great music.  Be there.