The Audacity of Dope

(man, Marco is smoking in every video.  we gotta get you off those homey!)

Here’s the brand new video for Reef The Lost Cauze‘s “I Wonder,” produced by Marco Polo.  They circulated a trailer for this a few days ago, but here’s the full product.  Super dope.  In Reef’s own words:

This song actually was never supposed to happen. I got a beat cd from Marco at a Beat Society in like 2005. He gave me all these bangers, battle ready type joints. I was lovin it but there was this one joint that had such a dope feel to it, and it had this voice sayin “I wonder” in the chorus and I knew that was my beat. This shit was like number 14 on the cd and he was like “you sure? This is the one you want?” but I convinced him I would do it justice.

So some time went by and due to my budget I couldn’t afford to cop it off him, and he was trying to hook me up but he had bills too so I understood. I told him to try and hold it for as long as he could. So like a year went by, and the track was pretty much not gonna happen. We hadn’t spoken really, he was grinding and getting his placements and he was workin on his album as well. So I figured by now it was gone.

So as fate would have it, I seen him in Philly at this show I was playin at wit Wu, Redman, Jedi, and mad other people. It was nuts. He was supposed to have some tickets waiting but things got screwed up and I got him in, and after that he waived the fee haha. Funny thing is, after I got the greenlight to write to it, I got shook. I knew I wanted to say something but I didn’t know what. So I ended up not even finishing the song until I was on the train to his crib in Brooklyn to record it. I got high as shit, got on the train with the first verse written, put the beat on in my headphones and just wrote around the hook. It’s just things I wonder about, things I think about as a grown man in America. My perspective has changed over the years, I’m aware of more things going on in the world and this song articulates that somewhat.

A lot of it is just me trying to sound smart.

Word up.  Cop Reef’s album, A Vicious Cycle, on the 28th.  I thiiiiiiiink Seattle’s own MTK might have a beat on there.

Reef The Lost Cauze – “I Wonder”

Swiped from 2DopeBoyz.

Well, this is embarrassing.  Not the video itself, and certainly not Murs’ song, but you see all that footage inside the metal barriers from what appears to be the desert?  Yeah, that would be the Washington stop of the Rock The Bells tour down at the Gorge.  I think the only positive aspect of seeing all my fellow NW’ers look like idiots wild out in front of the camera is that my dudes got their “Wake Up and Smell The Hip-Hop” shirt in a Murs video.  That’s whassup.  Actually, this reminds me…I have random RTB footage to edit…I should probably get on that.

Seattle people:  be sure to catch Murs and Kidz In The Hall at Nectar on Saturday.  It’s gonna be a great show and it’s a weekend so you have no excuses.  I’ll leave you with a little treat courtesy of Kevin Nottingham‘s excellent blog:

Al Hirt – “The Green Hornet Theme (Flight of the Bumble Bee)”

Video swiped from OnSmash.

It’s 3 in the morning and I just got home after being out of the house from 8am on.  So in other other words, I’m damn tired.  Despite that, I saw this clip earlier today and wanted to make sure to post it up before I crash.  I’ve been waiting for the “U.M.C.” video for a minute and it’s finally here.  Enjoy the freshness…

Video courtesy of OnSmash.

It’s 3AM.  I’m chillin’ at home, smashing Otter Pops, and loving this video.  Kind of a strange life I lead, but I’ll take it.  Cop Jack & Brook‘s The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost ASAP.

Swiped from 2DopeBoyz.

Hahaha, I’m not even mad at this.  Rock City redid John Legend’s song of the year contender, “Green Light,” with a nice little twist.  Reminds me of Chappelle’s real life Pretty Woman: “…youuuu need to get the f*ck out.”

Swiped from TunjBob Squarepants.

(had to embed the high quality version…those visuals are too crisp + I’m a sucker for the fish eye lens)

That might be the longest post title I’ve had.  Anyway, we’ve been playing this track on Sound Session recently and now the mighty Decon Media crew has come through with a video for it.  If you know anything about Decon, you know that nobody’s touching their multimedia work right now.  Seriously, top notch.  This clip is comprised of footage taken from the FRV tour (remember when I interviewed 88 Keys?) and it’ll be on a DVD/EP they’re dropping on the 14th.  Cop that!

Joey’s one of my favorite MC’s, but this joint never did a whole lot for me.  The rhyming is certainly miles better than what you’d hear on similar tracks, but I don’t know why he’d make this song in 2008 when radio airplay should be the last thing he strives for.  In any case, here are the new visuals for the first single off his upcoming digital only release on Amalgam, Halfway House, due out on the 28th.  Jumpoff!

The homey Tor just dropped a dope video for one of my favorite songs of the past year, “Switch,” off his Daily Conversation album.  Shout to Black Milk on the beat.  There are also a ton of cameos from great artists (check Marco Polo’s appearance in that Godzilla suit) and LOL @ Tor-Pac, Lil’ Tor, and Torminator X.  Where was the Cam costume ‘switch’ though?

Swiped from the Dopehouse.

Here’s the official promo video for Coldplay’s “Lost” off Viva La Vida….  Been trying to tell y’all, this is still my ish.  I’ve heard one random MC try to hop this and “remix” it, but I wonder why more aren’t trying it.  There’s a built in spot right when the guitar solo drops.  If you’re dope, rap there please.

Ha, that’s funny…I just chopped it up with Shawn Jack and the old homey Newman (of Giant Panda) last night before their show here in Seattle, and I come home to see this ill video in my inbox (whatup Sweeney?).  In case you aren’t aware, Shawn and Newman have teamed up to form New Jack Hustle and they’re releasing an album called Soundcheck on October 21st.  This track won’t be on it since it’s from 2006, but it’s a dope wake up slap to make sure y’all are ready for the new ish.  A little closer to the release date, I’ll post up the interview I did with ’em so you can get the full scoop.

Sidenote: Last night’s Sound Session will be coming shortly.  We’re trying a little something different with the video from our interview with The Knux and it’ll take an extra day or so to put online.  Hold tight and it’ll be available online before you know it.