The Audacity of Dope

Alright, I’ve put this off long enough but the time has come for me to officially put out the call: we are looking for an intern to assist with Sunday Night Sound Session on KUBE 93 and The Audacity of Dope.

Long story short, with my day job going well, I’m finding less and less time for SNSS and TAOD related projects.  Meanwhile, the demand for radio show and website content gets greater and greater. 

Sound Session has been broadcasting on KUBE’s 100K watts for over 4 years now and we’ve established ourselves as one of the premier outlets for dope, progressive hip-hop on the radio throughout the country.  We have great relationships with artists and labels and folks tune in from all over the world each week.

Likewise, the blog has grown from merely a place where I archived radio shows and interviews, to a fairly active site with an increasing amount of traffic every quarter.  I would like to post up more content, but my schedule doesn’t allow that many updates each week.  Even with the limited posts, TAOD is pretty well known in the hip-hop blogosphere, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when I’m talking with an artist or label and they mention they check out the site regularly.  But the bottom line is that there’s a lot of untapped potential here, so it’s time to turn this up a notch.

That’s where you come in.

I’m looking for someone to assist with a few main things regarding the radio show and the website:

• Recording and editing our video interviews. We interview artists almost every week, but the amount of time it takes to edit the video and post it often means that they sit on my computer for weeks, if not months (…or even years).  We turn down interviews all the time as well, just cause we don’t have time to put together the content after recording.  We want someone who can record them (either on your own camera or our Kodak Zi8) and then edit them in iMovie or Final Cut Express/Pro for posting online.  We can tweak the format if you have new ideas, or we can stick to the current presentation that we use.  Check out www.vimeo.com/hyphentv for some examples.
• Editing our audio interviews. Sometimes we don’t record video (though hopefully this would be less often if we had an assistant), so we’d like someone familiar with editing audio.  You don’t need to be a Pro Tools expert by any stretch of the imagination, but you should be familiar with basic editing concepts and be able to use an audio editing program or two.
• Assisting in the studio during Sound Session. If you’re able to come down to the station most Sunday nights, we’d love to have someone help take phone calls and assist with the production of the show.  We don’t run a very complicated broadcast, but if you’re interested in learning how it all goes down and chilling with J. Moore and myself, we could use an extra hand.
• Blogging on The Audacity of Dope. I would like someone to help post dope content on the site.  It would probably work two ways: 1) I’d send you some material to post up when you have the chance.  2) You’d find content that you think should be posted on your own and then toss it up (probably with my approval at first and then if that goes well, you could post up whatever fits with the site at your discretion).  This would also entail sending content to some of the other main blogs to post up from time to time, so you should be able to network fairly well without annoying folks.  I.e., if you’re unfamiliar with the magic of the BCC function in emails, please stop reading now.

So there you have it.  Nothing too fancy and, in all honesty, nothing too glamorous.  This won’t make you a star or guarantee you a job in this industry, but it should be a great way to learn about the business.  Plus, you’ll get some fun perks like hanging out with artists, free tickets to shows, being cooler than your friends, etc..

Unfortunately, we cannot offer school credit right now because the Clear Channel intern system would require us to get a new person after every quarter.  I don’t want to have to find a different person every few months if I can help it.  I’m looking for someone who wants to really throw themselves into this, take pride in his/her work, and dedicate a few hours a week to it for a long period of time.  If you’re interested in interning for the KUBE promotions staff and receiving school credit, you can read more here.

A few people have also already asked, “is there any pay?”

Of course not, welcome to the music industry!

If you’re interested, please email me at DJHyphen@gmail.com with a brief letter and any links to work you’ve done that might be similar to this position.  I’d also like to know:

• Who you are
• Why you want to help
• Why we should select you
• What special skills you may have

Obviously you’ll need to be a Seattle-area resident to help, but if you’re not and still want to get involved, hit me up and we can talk about it.  If you know someone who might be interested, please help spread the word via email, messageboards, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc..

Thanks y’all…

Thanks to a pretty massive power outage in the Queen Anne/Magnolia area of Seattle on Sunday night, our recorded archive of SNSS had a bit of a malfunction.  While we lost the first 30 minutes of the show when we got knocked off the air, the back up generators kicked in and we still have the final hour for y’all.  The link below picks up right before the brand new track from Big Boi, so you can still hear great music from Kid Cudi, Bilal, Shad, De La Soul, Warren G, Aloe Blacc, and more.

Shout to the homey Skyzoo calling in from Brooklyn as well.  Be sure you cop his official debut album, The Salvation, in stores today!

Show #226 (9-27-09)

1. Crown Royale – “We Gotcha”
2. Royce Da 5’9” – “New Money”
3. Mistah F.A.B. – “Follow Me”
4. Consequence ft. Rick Ross – “The More I Get”
5. Wale ft. K’Naan – “Um Ricka”
6. Brother Ali – “Crown Jewel”
7. Anton Genius ft. Naledge, Dominique Larue, Apollo Cain, Truth, & Pugs Atomz – “Gettin’ Up (Remix)”
8. J. Cole – “Lights Please”
9. Big Boi ft. Too $hort & George Clinton – “Fo’ Yo’ Sorrows”
10. Kid Cudi ft. Chip Tha Ripper – “Hyyerr”
11. Shafiq Husayn ft. Bilal – “Cheeba (Nottz Remix)”
12. They Live – “Meth Heads” (Local Music)
13. **INTERVIEW WITH SKYZOO #03**
14. Skyzoo – “The Beautiful Decay”
15. El Prez ft. Donwill & Von Pea (of Tanya Morgan) – “Victory Lapse”
16. Shad ft. Jermiside & Destruments – “The Calling”
17. De La Soul – “La La La”
18. Warren G ft. Raekwon & Nate Dogg – “100 Miles”
19. Kyle Lucas & Captain Midnite ft. Sol & Grynch – “The New Light” (Local Music)
20. Othello ft. Now On & Mayer Hawthorne – “Active Balanced (Terry Cole Remix)” (Local Music)
21. Kam Moye – “Let’s Be Honest”
22. Aloe Blacc – “Houston”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?z1gymnywiix
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6627369668e80d1f/ )

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

Really pressed for time these days, so nothing fancy this week…just the business.

Great music from the likes of Pac Div, One Be Lo, Fashawn, J. Cole, Kam Moye, Othello, The Nope, Kid Cudi, Dynas, Little Dragon, Drake, Anton Genius, and more.  Big shout to the homey El Prez for letting us world premiere his “Victory Lapse” track with Donwill and Von Pea of Tanya Morgan.  Great song.  Shout to Buckshot (and the whole Duck Down fam) as well for calling in this week to talk about his new album with KRS-One.  Cop Survival Skills in stores now!

Show #225 (9-20-09)

1. Pac Div – “Whiplash”
2. One Be Lo ft. Mike Posner – “Pigs”
3. Eclipse ft. BJ – “Still Parker Brothaz” (Local Music)
4. Fashawn – “Fash Plays It Cool”
5. Strong Arm Steady ft. Defari – “Get Ya Money Right”
6. Rashid Hadee – “LA Girls”
7. Brother Ali ft. Freeway & Joell Ortiz – “Best@it”
8. Apathy ft. Phonte – “True Love”
9. Skyzoo – “The Beautiful Decay”
10. J. Cole – “Lights Please”
11. Jay-Z – “Thank You”
12. Othello ft. Now On & Mayer Hawthorne – “Active Balanced (Terry Cole Remix)” (Local Music)
13. Crown Royale (Buff1 & DJ Rhettmatic) – “We Gotcha”
14. Ghostface Killah ft. Shareefa – “Not Ur Average Girl”
15. Anton Genius ft. Naledge, Dominique Larue, Apollo Cain, Truth, & Pugs Atomz – “Gettin’ Up (Remix)”
16. Consequence ft. Rick Ross – “The More I Get”
17. **INTERVIEW WITH BUCKSHOT #02**
18. KRS-One & Buckshot ft. Naledge & Melanie Fiona – “Past, Present, Future”
19. Kam Moye – “Blue Skies”
20. Raekwon ft. Lyfe Jennings – “Catalina”
21. Dynas ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff – “The Future”
22. The Nope (Moka Only & Psy) – “Rain All Day” (Local Music)
23. Drake ft. Nipsey Hussle – “Killer”
24. **El Prez ft. Donwill & Von Pea (of Tanya Morgan) – “Victory Lapse”** (WORLD PREMIERE)
25. Kid Cudi – “Sky Might Fall”
26. Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima – “Lil Girl”
27. Little Dragon – “Feather”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?vhvozkez3b3
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6594250678c199e9/)

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

So much going on in the world of Hyph…good music, cool homies, great sports, artists coming into town, even a job promotion (raises FTW!), etc…all sorts of dopeness, so I’ll get right to it.

Check out the latest episode of SNSS for new tracks from people like Sean Price, Raekwon, Fashawn, Mayer Hawthorne, Drake, Wale, Crown Royale, Shafiq Husayn, Felt, and many more.  Special shout to Phonte and Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange calling in to talk about their show TONIGHT (Tuesday, the 15th) at Nectar Lounge.  Everyone here in Seattle better come through…it’s sure to be one of the best concerts of the year.  We gave out more tickets to that this week, along with tix to the Method Man & Redman show on Thursday and copies of the soundtrack to the new Big Pun documentary.  Thanks to everyone involved and congrats to our winners!

Lastly, as I mentioned last week, I had the pleasure of DJ’ing for U-N-I during their Bumbershoot performance.  With J. Moore aka Jonny Tarantino on the cam, we grabbed some footage for y’all too.  Be sure to watch it here to see Thurz & Y-O tear down the Fisher Green Stage in the shadow of the Space Needle.

Show #224 (9-13-09)

1. Marco Polo & Torae ft. DJ Revolution – “Double Barrel”
2. Sean Price ft. Skyzoo & Torae – “Duck Down”
3. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
4. Fashawn – “Fash Plays It Cool”
5. Strong Arm Steady ft. The Game – “Trunk Music”
6. BK-One ft. Phonte, Brother Ali, & The Grouch – “Here I Am”
7. Skyzoo – “Popularity”
8. D. Black – “The Return” (Local Music)
9. Jay-Z ft. Kid Cudi – “Already Home”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE**
11. Nicolay ft. Carlitta Durand – “Lose Your Way”
12. Mayer Hawthorne – “Shiny and New”
13. Wale ft. Jazmine Sullivan – “Award Tour”
14. Drake – “Fear”
15. Dynas – “Challenges Of L.O.V.E. (Leaving One’s Virtues Exposed)”
16. Big Pun ft. Fat Joe – “Twinz (Deep Cover ’98)”
17. Crown Royale (Buff1 & DJ Rhettmatic) – “We Gotcha”
18. Sonny Bonoho – “Judge Brown” (Local Music)
19. Felt (Slug & Murs) – “Protagonists”
20. Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima – “Lil Girl”
21. Macklemore – “And We Danced” (Local Music)

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?yiggnz0ux2m
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/65592032ba214e50/)

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

(watch in better quality on HyphenTV)

Anyone who follows TAOD knows that last week marked Seattle’s annual music & arts festival, Bumbershoot.  J. Moore and I have hosted the main stage hip-hop show for the past few years, but this time around, I had the special pleasure of not only being on the “Bumberboard” that helped plan the entire event, but I even got to perform by DJ’ing for the homies U-N-I.

Thurzday and Y-O took to the Fisher Green Stage (alongside artists like Mayer Hawthorne, Janelle Monae, De La Soul, and more) to rock in front of an enthusiastic crowd. We ran through a high energy set including tracks like “Cali Soul,” “Beautiful Day,” “Land Of The Kings,” “Supreme,” “K.R.E.A.M.,” “Hollywood Hiatus,” and more.  Aside from the classicness that occurs at 1:29, the highlight has to be “Supreme.”  The kids were wylin’ out to that one and both Y-O and Thurz got some crowd surfing in.

I had a really good time all weekend, so big shouts to everyone involved: One Reel, the artists, KUBE, the homies, the new folks I met, and [Jay-Z] most importantly, you, the customer [/Hov!].  If I have time, I’ll be posting up some more footage of various Bumbershoot performances here on TAOD.  Stay tuned.

I’m not quite sure how I had a 3-day weekend and yet I’m still scrambling to catch up coming into the work week…hmm.  Oh wait, sure I do.  BUMBERSHOOT.

Long story short, Seattle hosted our annual Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival this weekend and despite the rain sneaking in here and there, it was a smashing success.  Along with countless dope indie rock cats, we saw some great performances from folks like De La Soul, The Knux, Mayer Hawthorne, Janelle Monae, many of our favorite local artists, and more.  Even the Black Eyed Peas rocked it, no lie.

I had the special pleasure of DJ’ing for the homies U-N-I during their set and we’ll be posting up some footage of that soon on the blog.  Shout to Y-O and Thurz for putting on a great performance and also getting some hoops in on their trip.  The last game may or may not have ended with your truly draining a 3 pointer in Thurz’ eye.  I’m not sure.  My memory is a bit fuzzy.  Ask about me.

Peep this week’s show for all sorts of great music, plus a snippet of our interview with Kid Cudi.  The full interview will be posted up soon, but if you’re dying for Cudi Content, chew on this.  We also had A. Uno of Steelo come through to give away tickets for the Sneaker Pimps show on Thursday (performances by the Clipse, Slick Rick, Steelo, They Live, GMK, Fresh Espresso, future ABDC champs the Massive Monkees, and more!) plus Nightclubber Lang (aka Karim of Myx Music) dropped in as well for some updates on the burgeoning hip-hop empire that is Myx.  What a weekend…

Show #223 (9-6-09)

1. Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – “Empire State Of Mind”
2. Dynas ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff – “The Future”
3. A.R.M. ft. Brother Ali – “Heaven Only Knows”
4. D. Black ft. Marissa – “Yesterday” (Local Music)
5. **INTERVIEW WITH NIGHTCLUBBER LANG (KARIM OF MYX MUSIC), PT. 1**
6. Jern Eye ft. Mistah F.A.B. & Zion I – “Get Right”
7. Rashid Hadee – “Set In Stone”
8. Fresh Daily – “Video Gaming”
9. **INTERVIEW WITH NIGHTCLUBBER LANG (KARIM OF MYX MUSIC), PT. 2**
10. Mayer Hawthorne – “The Ills”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH KID CUDI (SNIPPET)**
12. Kid Cudi – “Soundtrack 2 My Life”
13. Drake – “Fear”
14. Sean Price ft. Skyzoo & Torae – “Duck Down”
15. KRS-One & Buckshot ft. Mary J. Blige – “The Way I Live”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH A. UNO (OF STEELO)**
17. Pac Div – “Whiplash”
18. Blue Scholars ft. Shad – “Dawn’s Song” (Local Music)
19. Macklemore – “The Town” (Local Music)
20. Raekwon ft. Lyfe Jennings – “Catalina”
21. BK-One ft. Phonte, Brother Ali, & The Grouch – “Here I Am”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?hcyt25ngjmz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/65294337ab35170c/ )

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

D. Black and the Sport’n Life crew came through Sound Session recently to talk all about D’s upcoming Ali’Yah album that drops on the 15th.  Always a pleasure to open the SNSS studio up to dope artists, but it’s especially fun to chill with good people.  Download the whole audio of the show right here.

D.Black, a Seattle-based rising hip-hop artist, took some time out to visit the good folks J. Moore and DJ Hyphen over at KUBE 93 for Sunday Night Sessions to speak about his newest release Ali’Yah. While talking about Ali’Yah, D.Black made special note of the increase in maturity and artistic development since his last album. That maturity is evident on such songs as the recently released “Yesterday,” the first single off Ali’Yah, and when asked about the song D.Black explained the concept saying, “All of us have had situations in our past that if we look back at it, we breathe life back into it. So it’s better to leave yesterday behind and look forward to tomorrow.” The positive vibe was reflected back by the fans as well as D.Black spoke with a few folks who called. D.Black also spoke on the opportunity he had to work with so many talented artists while crafting Ali’Yah, noting the contributions of fellow artists Jake One, Vitamin D, B. Brown, Melissa, Choklate, Spaceman, Kuddie Mak and many others. Be on the lookout for D.Black’s newest album Ali’Yah available September 15th via Sport’n Life Records/MYX Music Label.

Another fun week here on SNSS in the 206, peep the highlights:

• Great music from the likes of Brother Ali, Balance, One Be Lo, Fresh Daily, Raekwon, Little Dragon, U-N-I, Mayer Hawthorne, Phonte, and more.
• A world premiere for the new Blue Scholars track, “Dawn’s Song,” off the upcoming re-release of Bayani.  The track features Shad, possibly my favorite MC in the entire industry right now.  Yeah, I said it.  Not familiar?  Watch this and thank me later.
• We aired part of our interview with the Pac Div homies.  Be sure to catch the full interview for all sorts of hip-hop and basketball talk.  I mean…is there anything else in life?
• We gave out tickets for this weekend’s Bumbershoot Festival (where I’ll be DJ’ing for U-N-I) and my most anticipated concert of the year – The Foreign Exchange (Phonte & Nicolay), Darien Brockington, Carlitta Durand, Yahzarah, Zo!, the Physics, and more at Nectar Lounge on September 15th.  We’ll have more Foreign Exchange tickets next week too, so be sure to tune in…
• More EPL goodness: Chelsea is looking dominant…Arsenal squandered a great chance to put Manchester United further down the table (wtfffffff @ Diaby)…Aaron Lennon finished off Birmingham to keep Spurs’ 100% record intact.  Overall, very exciting.  Can’t wait until we get football and basketball on top of this in a few weeks…
• On a sad note, we have to give yet another RIP shout to DJ AM, easily one of the illest DJ’s and sneakerheads in the game.  This summer has been rough.

Show #222 (8-30-09)

1. Brother Ali – “Fresh Air”
2. D. Black ft. Tiffany Wilson – “Touch The Stars” (Local Music)
3. Balance ft. Freeway & Jay Rock – “We All In”
4. One Be Lo ft. Mike Posner – “Pigs”
5. Havoc ft. Lloyd Banks – “Bang, Bang”
6. Rashid Hadee – “(See You In My) Nightmares”
7. Fresh Daily – “Video Gaming”
8. Peter, Bjorn, & John ft. Big Pooh, Phil Nash, & Chaundon – “Stay This Way (DJ Jazzy Jeff Remix)”
9. Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem – “Forever”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH PAC DIV (SNIPPET)**
11. Pac Div – “Taste”
12. Little Dragon – “Never Never”
13. Mayer Hawthorne – “The Ills”
14. U-N-I – “Calendar Girls”
15. Kev Brown ft. Kenn Starr, Wayna, Raheem DeVaughn, & Eric Roberson – “The Hennessy Joint”
16. Blue Scholars ft. Shad – “Dawn’s Song” (Local Music) (WORLD PREMIERE)
17. Raheem DeVaughn ft. Ludacris – “Bulletproof”
18. The Nope (Moka Only & Psy) – “Rain All Day” (Local Music)
19. Raekwon ft. Cappadonna & Ghostface Killah – “10 Bricks”
20. 14KT – “Black N Gold”
21. Charlie Smarts – “Put You On”
22. Marc Mac ft. Phonte – “Take A Trip”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?ozmybywhidm
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649603854484e662/)

Link to download the full interview with Pac Div – http://www.mediafire.com/?nzmr3eh32oi
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649045665d98875b/)

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

A little before Pac Div dropped their Church League Champions project, Like, Mibbs, and BeYoung came through the Sound Session studio to chop it up on a variety of topics.  We discussed that mixtape, the digital EP they put on iTunes a while back, and of course their upcoming full length debut, Grown Kid Syndrome.  They also talked about the importance of their live show, how their creative process likens to their game on the court, their favorite underrated West Coast MC’s, the L.A. scene, a possible collaboration with Andre 3000, and much more.

Pac Div on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?nzmr3eh32oi
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649045665d98875b/)

This was one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve done, mainly because chilling with Pac Div reminded me of kicking it with my college homies back in SoCal.  These dudes are real hip-hop heads who love Dilla and basketball…pretty much all it takes to be cool in my book.  Plus, we’re both fans of the Arizona Wildcats and even spent time commiserating over that damn 2001 NCAA Championship game.  For the record: I still hate you, Mike Dunleavy.

Sometimes the industry moves fast, sometimes it moves slow.  We had Raheem DeVaughn on Sound Session in February of last year when he had just released Love Behind The Melody, and at the time, he was planning on dropping the follow up later in 2008.  Plans changed however, but his new single with Ludacris just leaked yesterday and lo and behold, it’s the same song he previewed for us a year and a half ago.

Since we grabbed this footage before TAOD was in existence, I figured I would bring it back for those who may have missed it.  Here’s the studio version of the track with Luda as well, courtesy of 2DopeBoyz:

Raheem DeVaughn ft. Ludacris – “Bulletproof”

If you want to go back and check out the full interview with Raheem, click here or peep our podcast page…although you’ll have to scroll down a bit haha.  Damn, we’ve interviewed hella folks…we might have to dip into the archives and put up all the interviews we did in the first 2 years of Sound Session too, cause those aren’t up there yet.  Rest assured though, as the son of a librarian, I’ve got everything archived offline.