The Audacity of Dope

Yes, she can.

I hit up the Lykke Li show in Seattle last night and it definitely lived up to my high expectations.  If you’re unfamiliar with her, peep this post from a while back.  As for the concert, let’s see…

• Performing my favorite songs of hers (“Little Bit,” “I’m Good, I’m Gone,” “Tonight” (ultimate mood music), and more)?  Check.
• Kanye-esque “Love Lockdown” style live percussion?  Check.
• Hauntingly dope live voice?  Check.
• Swedish swag (shout to my people)?  Check.
• Breaking out a megaphone to sing random verses?  Check.
• Covering 2 classic hip-hop songs (BDP’s “Sound of da Police” and Tribe’s “Can I Kick It”) and 2 of my favorite samples ever (Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam” and Wendy Rene’s “After Laughter (Comes Tears)”)?  Check.
• Crazy Euro hippie white girl sex appeal?  Check.

Even if you’re a novice to the indie rock scene like I am, break out your schmedium t-shirt and go see her when she comes to your town (dates available here).  Also be sure to check out her album, it’s dope.  Her live show is even better.

Get ’em Tunj.

Courtesy of Eighty’s Baby.

Nuff said.  Let’s get to work.

As always, Jay Smooth comes through with another on point video.  The importance of the youth vote has never been higher and this is the biggest election in our lifetimes.  It’s imperitive that you actually go vote (or send in your absentee ballots ASAP) on the 4th.  No excuses whatsoever.

Yes…super last minute, but for L.A. readers, go check out a special birthday party tonight for Planet Asia at Busby’s East.  Performances by Strong Arm Steady, DJ Muggs, and Asia himself.  Should be a great night so check it out if you’re in SoCal and your schedule’s open!

And just in case you’re on the fence, peep Asia & Muggs’ new video for “Lions In The Forest.”  This is my jam right now.

I’m glad this video is dope, because otherwise I’d almost feel contractually obligated to post it.  Let’s see…

• It features a ton of my good friends.
• It bigs up the 206.
• The Red Bull Big Tune was created by the other half of Sound Session, J. Moore, along with the homies Jake One, Vitamin D, and Marcus.
• I was in the building.
• It’s a great event.
• Budo is hilarious.

I could go on, but the video is pretty self explanatory.  Congrats to Brainstorm and Rising Son for advancing to the finals in NYC.  Let’s hope we get back to back Seattle champions…

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t particularly enjoy acapella “freestyles,” but the homey Alex over at Ruby Hornet always picks dope MC to kick verses for his videos.  In this edition, Blu recites another crazy verse and Chicago’s own Astonish joins in at the end.  If you don’t know, Astonish dropped a great project last year that a lot of you slept on.  Check him out here and get familiar.

Barack killed it last night at the Al Smith dinner in NYC.  Granted, a staffer obviously wrote his (and McCain’s) jokes, but still, great delivery and too many quotables.  Barack’s the man.

You can be cynical all you want, but I think it’s really dope to see people get inspired like Nas has been from Obama.  He’s obviously decided that he wants to educate himself on things that he wasn’t interested in prior to Barack running for office.  Whether you have this awakening at 18, 30, or have a reawakening at 65, this movement is real.  Is Barack the answer to all life’s ills?  Of course not.  Has he already changed the world for the better?  Definitely.

And are we just getting started?  Absolutely.

Shout to the homegirl KayCee for filming this.

I love studio footage, especially when it involves Kanye To The.  Paparazzi squabbles aside, ‘Ye’s life must be great.  He literally flies all around the world with his best friends, making dope music in amazing studios.  Sounds pretty good to me.  In related news, if you haven’t heard yet, 808’s and Heartbreak has been unofficially pushed up to November by Kanye himself.  We’ll see if Def Jam acquiesces.

Swiped from 2DopeBoyz, who also have the individual musical elements of Kanye’s “Love Lockdown” if you’re interested in remixing the track…