The Audacity of Dope

Incredible new visuals from Nabil Elderkin and the Distant Relatives.  “Patience” is found on one of two albums Lupe mentioned as his favorites of 2010 in our interview, and I must agree.  I remember hyping this album up and then being surprised when people didn’t generally rank it as high as I did.  It’s going to go down as one of the more underrated projects of the last decade.

Sidenote: how salty does Kanye have to be after seeing this?  Nabil is virtually his in-house director and he was sitting on this gem that would have been perfect for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy aesthetics…

My strategy is to keep the circle to a minimum.  That way, I never even have to worry about cutting you off.  But in case you get too close and I need theme music, Kendrick provides it nicely.

Yeah, the vocal tone, vocabulary, and delivery are perhaps a little too close to Ghostface, but I don’t care one bit.  This dude is dope!

Wow.  Great video and great record.  Shout to the homey Sol for passing this on.

We may be interviewing Saadiq next week…any questions?

A few days ago, we all watched in agony as the Black Eyed Peas performed during half time of the Super Bowl and following that debacle, I had numerous debates with friends centered upon the notion of authenticity and “selling out.”  Without rehashing those conversations and instead to take it another direction, it’s safe to say that Shad represents everything that I look for in a MC in 2011.  Obviously, the skills are there, but lots of people can rhyme.  It’s another thing to not just speak on “real” issues, but to do so in an intelligent, thought provoking, and positive manner.

“Be the change you want to see in the world,” and take pride in the music you create, consume, and generally identify with.  Would you be comfortable playing the music you listen to for kids in your neighborhood?  Your parents?  Your coworkers?  If not, you should reevaluate your consumption.  This isn’t to say that you have to listen to nothing but positive music, but you must be able to explain why you appreciate the art you associate yourself with, at least on some level.  Assuming, of course, you consider yourself a music lover.  If you’re just a listener and not a lover, carry on.

These two kids from the town are dope.  Learn more about and download their new EP over at their site.  SNSS listeners will recognize the records with Vitamin D, Sol, and JusMoni that we played on the air.  Cop that!

If you think Ghost is hilarious in his songs and on TV, just multiply that by about 25x for the “in person” effect.  Definition of a legend.

Really looking forward to Lykke’s Wounded Rhymes album.  Sometimes you just get a little rapped out.

Another rather generic video, but again, the music is dope.  I’ve always had mixed feelings on Banks…obviously he puts a bit more into his bars than the other G-Unit MC’s over the years, but there’s something forced about his records/rhymes/overall image.  That said, he’s capable of making great grimy tracks (see “Reach Out“) and even some good ones for the ladies.  The beat and hook here are smashes, but I just get the feeling any decent MC could make the same track with that combo.

Video doesn’t do much for me, but this record is dope.  Snoop’s flooded the net with these viral videos recently and while it’s a good way to stay top of mind, I’d rather see a few higher budget clips rather than the WSHH style joints.  We do get our first look at Snoop’s 15 year old signing, Pilot, though it’s too early to judge his ability.  The voice is unique though, which can help.

Oh, and Jake One on the beat…if you ain’t know.