The Audacity of Dope

Jay Smooth drops another one of his excellent vlogs, this time commenting on the faux news story regarding Luda’s Obama freestyle a few weeks back.  As always, he’s on point.  It’s annoying to see people with no understanding of our hip-hop culture talking about it on the news, but Jay makes a great point that Luda really should know better.  There have been a bunch of less tactful Obama songs/references too, but none with as high a profile as this one.  I knew it was going to be trouble when the story broke and some agencies were calling him an actor instead of rapper.  That’s when you know you’ve made it to the next tier and your words are going to be given a lot more legitimacy, right or wrong.

As further proof that Obama is the perfect presidential candidate for the hip-hop generation, here’s a clip from earlier this year:

I agree completely, and it’s shocking to see that kind of intelligence and understanding from a politician.  If you’re involved with hip-hop culture and NOT planning on voting for Obama, I’d love to know why.  Not to say it’s not possible, but you better have some substantive policy disagreements…

(if you prefer YouTube, go here)

I remember hearing Kardinal Offishall for the first time after stumbling upon his “U R Ghetto” joint (a classic, btw) during the Napster glory days in 2000.  A couple years later, he dropped Quest For Fire: Firestarter, Vol. 1 and from then on, I was a huge fan.  Nobody combines raw, lyrical, boom-bap hip-hop with dancehall/reggae as well as Kardi.  We brought him through the Sound Session studio a few weeks back while he was here in Seattle to open up for Wyclef Jean.  It was fun to meet him just cause I was a fan, but it was even doper to find out how cool and intelligent dude is.  Definitely one of my favorite artists out there.

We talked all about his upcoming Not 4 Sale album, breaking into the mainstream with Akon, his background growing up in Toronto, the differences between the Canadian and American music industries, his dream collaboration, and much more.  Like I said, he was mad cool, so we ended up having a real long discussion.  If you want a front row seat, you can watch the entire interview above, or you can download the broadcast audio feed below:

Kardinal Offishall on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?hzttvhqcyyv
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/16484508ab15efc9/ )

Remember to cop Not 4 Sale on September 9th!  In the meantime, download his Limited Time Only mixtape here.  It should tide you over.

Yessss.  I was worried we wouldn’t see any more of these since some oversensitive people complained about Nike’s Hyperdunk Recovery Center ads.  Perhaps the print versions will stay pulled, but the videos will continue to leak.  Fine by me.  Following in the tradition of Devante and Terry, Todd tells his story about how he ended up in rehab.

I decided last time to post one of my favorite dunks everytime a new ad drops, and the description of this posterization reminded me of when Hakim Warrick demonstrated what happens when you transfer away from my Arizona Wildcats.  Actually, after watching Dennis Latimore play at Notre Dame, we probably didn’t want him anyway:

Spotted on Hypebeast.

(I feel your pain man.  The $100 Bentley fill ups are killing me too.)

CNN featured a fluff nice piece on Antwan recently, highlighting his politically charged video for “Sumthin’ Gotta Give.”  I’m pleasantly surprised to see a network actually run a positive story about his beliefs, especially after Fixed News did their best xenophobic reporting on Luda last week.  Sidenote: the massive Obama attack and smear campaign that we all expected is just kicking off.  We have a long way to go, and the attacks will only get uglier and more illogical.  This is when we have to work extra hard to dispell rumors and innuendo, so let’s all stay focused.  gObama.

Swiped from Nah Right.

A little snippet of Kardinal, Solitair, and Lindo P performing “Dangerous” at a Pepsi DJ Division event in NYC a few days back.  Seeing these dudes rock live is a sight to behold.  In the interview with Kardi that I’ll post up tonight, he discusses the importance of his live show, how being raised by Jamaican parents in Toronto helped spark that energy, and a million other topics.  Get ready, this interview is a long one.  A couple more of these and I’m changing the show to Inside The Rappers Studio.

Shout to Info for the footage.

Here’s a dope little video of the homies Y-O, Thurz, and Swivll performing “Castlevania” from their Hip-Hop Official interview a little while back.  I love that Y-O always breaks out that NES during this song.  If you missed him doing just that at the Seattle DunkXchange a while back, the footage is up right here.

(LOL @ the Michael Eric Dyson shout…love that dude, pause)

The homies Tunji and Greg The Dude put together this video to introduce y’all to Krondon, Phil The Agony, and Mitchy Slick, collectively known as Strong Arm Steady.  You really should already be up on ’em, but if you aren’t, this will get you the basic info.  Be on the lookout for Arms & Hammers dropping later this year on Talib’s Blacksmith Music label.  If you checked the last episode of Sound Session, you heard the lead single “Can’t Let It Go,” which is a perfect summertime West Best Coast joint.  If you missed it, it’s your lucky day:

Strong Arm Steady ft. Blaqtoven – “Can’t Let It Go”

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.