The Audacity of Dope

I’ve been meaning to make this post ever since Euro 2008 started and I watched my Swedish brethren (I was this close to having a Swedish first name, apparently “Torsten”…whew) play like bitches and fail to advance past the 1st round.  A little bit before that, The Fader featured a great article on indie-pop’s next big thing, Swedish singer Lykke Li (pronounced “lickee lee”).  I’d heard bits and pieces of her music before (shout to The Exactly for being one of the first hip-hop sites to feature her), but that article inspired me to check her out in full.  She released her debut album earlier this year, Youth Novels, and as expected, she’s dope as hell. Y’all need to get familiar.

Sweden’s been a surprising hot spot for quality pop music over the years (this was my jam back in middle school, I ain’t ashamed), thanks in part to a refreshing respect the Swedes have for the genre.  In essence, it’s a lot less disposable over there than we treat it here, and Lykke displays that in her music.  While the on the surface, it embodies that traditional playful pop vibe, there’s also a deeper emotional level in the way she sings about heartbreak and disappointment.  She’s not outwardly sexy like our stars aim to be, but there’s something sultry about her style and her voice when she sings lines like “…and for you I keep my legs apart/and forget about my tainted heart.”  Damn…and that’s just on the single, “Little Bit.”  Perhaps it’s the Scandinavian blond thing, but I feel like her stuff sounds like what Scarlett Johansson wishes she could make (when she’s not covering Tom Waits).  Anyway, peep her first two videos and download the mp3’s:

Lykke Li – “Little Bit”

Lykke Li – “I’m Good, I’m Gone”

You have to love Swedish people…I mean, really.

Hit the jump to watch some other ridiculously cool performances and download a ton of bonus tracks/remixes.  I’ll toss in a few of my favorite cuts off Youth Novels too.  I don’t want to post the whole thing, but if you want to check it out, shoot me an email and you might get a present back in return.  DJHyphen@gmail.com.

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Ha, ironic that I mention I don’t really like a capella verses like this and I end up posting 2 back to back.  Had to do it though.  The homies Skyzoo and Donny Goines spit a little something for y’all in Manhattan for part 9 of Donny’s “Bars” series.  I can’t wait to peep those projects Sky’s working on…

Kanye’s protege, Big Sean, spits a nice little verse a capella in the Def Jam offices.  Normally I hate these little a capella ‘freestyles,’ but I like the rhyme scheme on this one.  Props on using “al dente” in a rap too…might be the first time I’ve heard that.  Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from Sean’s style, because all the past lyrics I’ve heard from him sound waaaaaay too Kanye-ish.  He’s young so I hope he develops his own thing, rather than trying to rhyme just like ‘Ye.

Shout to Best of Both Offices for the clip.

Some nice live footage of Dwele performing at the Temple Bar in LA about a month ago courtesy of my favorite titled blog, NerdWithSwag.  Although, as a fellow nerd, and one with ample swag, I’m afraid I gotta call an Inigo Montoya on their usage of “complacent” in the description: “I do not think it means what you think it means.” Definitely has negative connotations.

Um, but yeah, *ends nerd rant*.  Andwele Gardner runs through “Flapjacks” and “I Think I Love You” in apparently stifling heat.  Of all the people in the industry, Dwele might be the only artist I haven’t seen live yet that I really want to.

Aside from Kanye’s “Glow In The Dark Tour,” I’ve never seen anyone do a better live performance than the Roots.  Seeing as how I’ve caught them about 15 times vs. 4 for ‘Ye, I think the overall edge has to go to Legendary.  In this clip from OKP TV, there’s some dope performance footage and ?uestlove and Black Thought talk about their live show strategy.  Plus, Greg The Dude broke out the fisheye.  I love the fisheye.

The homey Tunji also helped put this together (as you can partly see in the mirror while Tariq is talking), and he has additional clips over at his site…peep ’em.

The best rapper alive (well, maybe that’s Andre…eff a Weezy) performs two songs off his Euro Pass mixtape, “Motown 25” and “That’s That One.”  “Motown 25” might be my favorite song of the year, although part of that is due to Royce’s verse that isn’t in the above performance.  As a bonus, here’s a new Elzhi track off his upcoming album, The Preface, swiped from the Dopehouse:

Elzhi ft. Ayah – “The Leak”

And if you’ve never seen this clip of Elzhi breaking down his patterns, watch it now.

The criminally underrated Symbolic One (of the Strange Fruit Project) brings y’all inside his studio as he works on a beat that’ll hopefully end up on 50’s next project, Before I Self Destruct.  It’s a nice quick look at the creative process of one of the best producers out there, plus beat they’re working on sounds like a banger.  Shout to his dude Caleb on the keys as well.  Be on the lookout for S1’s debut solo project, The Music Box, coming real soon.

Spotted on S1’s blog.

I caught this live last night and wanted to share it right away.  As always, the net comes through in the clutch and it’s instantly archived.  I love technology.  Colby covers Nas & MoveOn.org’s protest of Fox News’ racist propaganda and then sits down with Nas for a brief interview.  Footage of that, plus Nas’ “Sly Fox” performance, and clips of the protest after the jump.  Well done Nasir.

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Since this was from the same show as Inverse’s VIMBY feature, it’s only right that it should get posted now too.  Like, Mibbs, and BeYoung of Pacific Division give a little interview and perform “F.A.T. Boys ’08” and “Paper.”  Dope ish.

One of my favorite MC’s of all time, Catashtrophe, was spotted rhyming with J-Ro, E-Swift, and Heltah Skeltah somewhere, but I’m too lazy to find out all the details.  I assume this is courtesy of SP1200.net, so perhaps they’ll have the details.  Wait, a session broke out and they rapped over “Tried By 12“?  Didn’t see that coming…naht.

Bonus video of Tha Liks performing “Only When I’m Drunk” after the jump.  How did a group called Tha Alkaholiks become one of my favorite groups when I don’t even drink?  Oh yeah, they make dope ish.  I need some new Tash in my life ASAP.

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