The Audacity of Dope

“Honestly, I don’t even listen to rap/
Cause when I turn the radio on, out comes crap/
And if you make good music, that’s ok/
On the radio, that, they don’t play/
It’s easy to see, we created a beast/
Cause everybody wants to hear what they don’t need/
And now all the rappers gotta struggle to give you/
That bullsh*t music so they can continue/
…to live”

Bobby Ray is killing it these days.  If you missed my interview with him a while back, peep game.

The brand new video for ‘Ye’s “Welcome To Heartbreak” just leaked today, completely out of nowhere.  While I really dig this track, I’m not quite sure how I feel about the video yet.  Since I work with videos all day, I instantly recognized all the “effects” in this clip as various video errors that are generally the result of poor sourcing/encoding.  Kanye, of course, had the director do ’em all on purpose…and some look dope, but others look wack to me.  Either way, it’s entertaining and I’m a sucker for bright colors and trippy effects.  Also good to see Cudi get in the clip too…he’s about to be huge this year.

I’m still waiting for “Paranoid” to be a single though.  That’s the jam.

Nothing spectacular, but I dig this track and video from Blaq Poet and DJ Premier.  You could easily tell me this was from ’99 and I wouldn’t think twice.  Great use of Akon’s vocals…woah, never thought I’d say that.

Video swiped from OnSmash.

Great pre-Valentine’s Day video from quite possibly the best male R&B singer out right now.  Who else is up there?  John Legend, definitely…Raheem and Dwele, yeah…who am I forgetting?  Either way, Robin is killing it these days by singing with more passion than virtually everyone else in his lane.

Black Milk and Royce just dropped the visuals for one of the best songs of the past year, “Losing Out,” of Black’s Tronic project.  Just as you’d expect from a Detroit video in the dead of winter, the D is looking real grimy here.  My only complaint is that I would have loved to see the video ride out for the extra minute of the album version where Black absolutely murders the sample.  Perhaps that would have been hard to match with images, but that might be my favorite part of the song itself.  Either way, dopeness.

Shout to the whole D, particular Hex…the most entertaining person to follow on all of Twitter.

The second of director Court Dunn’s 4 part series on the elements of hip-hop highlights the graff writers and also acts as the video for Termanology’s “Circulate (100 Bars)” joint off his Dilla tribute tape, If Heaven Was A Mile Away.  Watch the first one with Camp Lo and the breakers right here if you missed it.  Term rips this apart.

Shout to Termy Term, Court, Dan, and the whole ST click.

After dropping videos for almost every track off his excellent Layover EP, Ev is back with what I believe is the final clip for the project.  As expected, this one doesn’t disappoint either.  When has Decon ever steered you wrong on the visuals (or anywhere else for that matter)?

In honor of Black History Month, the Blacksmith family has recorded this dope song and video where Phil Da Agony, Chace Infinite, Planet Asia, and Affion Crockett spit about their family heritage.  I’m not a huge fan of the beat, but the verses give you a little biography of each dude’s family tree, which is something dope that you rarely hear from MC’s.

Shout to Tunji for sending this one through as well.  Hit up the YOTB for more…

(^^ah…college)

As I sit here in disbelief watching this standoff between the LAPD and some dude who looks an awful like DJ Khaled driving a Bentley, I’m pretty shocked.  Granted, Khaled is the punchline of every hip-hop head’s jokes, but this obviously isn’t something you’d wish on anyone.  Wow.

In a completely unrelated matter, here’s the new video for Asher’s uber-smash-in-the-making, “I Love College.”  I heard this on the rock station here in Seattle when I was getting a haircut earlier tonight and the buzz is really starting to take off.  I give it one more month before it’s a certified hit and Asher’s a star.  And for the record, I like this song…plus dude is dope.  He’s working with a lot of talented people on his album too, so I think it should eliminate a lot of the Em-parisons.

Now…Khaled…get out of the car and end this peacefully….please.

If you couldn’t tell, they’re on a boat.  Where was Khaled at though?

The Lonely Island ft. T-Pain – “I’m On A Boat”

It’s no Ras Trent, but I’m not mad at it.  I think the Poseidon line did it for me.

Swiped from IllRoots.