The Audacity of Dope

Dope visuals by Punit Dhesi for Fashawn & Blu’s “Samsonite Man” off the instant classic album, Boy Meets World.  Speaking of being a traveling man, Fash will be in Seattle today for 2 shows with Wiz Khalifa.  He’ll also be stopping by the Sound Session studio, so if you have any questions you want me to ask, email me.

Let’s see…you have a) Asher spitting over the classic Pace Won “I Declare War” beat, b) BBGUN on the directorial tip, and c) a random topless girl halfway through the video.  Yep, I approve.

Wow.  Do they make ’em any better than Alicia?

Drake gets much respect for writing this song as well.  I’ve always thought the “is Drake dope?” argument is silly, in part because there are very few MC’s that could write a song like this.  Ultimately, much of what Drake touches turns into good music, much like this song.

Granted, this is not difficult, but I’ll never get tired of people calling out Glenn Beck’s idiocy.

This jawn reminds me of my Cali days…ah, I reminisce I reminisce…

Download SLikd‘s full LP, Midnight Vibes, right here.

Interview coming soon…

Oh vey!  The homey Kosha is back with his 2nd video off Beverly Dillz.  If you haven’t peeped it yet, the album is completely produced by Belief and Kosha’s spitting these kind of playful bars throughout.  Good stuff.

Everything about this record is [Charles Barkley] fantastic [/Chuck].  My personal highlights:

1. You can’t tell me Robin Thicke isn’t the hip-hop/R&B James Bond.  This dude staaaaaays with ridiculously hot girls (and pushes the interracial relationship boundary).  I approve.
2. “You got the hottest body/I got the hottest hottie/Lemme put some cream in your coffee” – hilarious.  I’m adding that to the vocabulary.  Ok maybe not.
3. Snoop’s verse is so epically bad, it’s incredible.  It’s not as bad/good as Kurupt’s classic “Xxxplosive” verse, but this is one of those all time “so wack, it’s dope” verses.  I love that when you think it’s over….nope!  He’s bizzack.

This is actually the kind of bright, positive vibe that I expected from the “Find Your Love” video.  Whoops.

As I was jotting down this week’s playlist, I looked at the date and thought, “hmm…May…isn’t that supposed to signify something special?”  I suppose this is how married folks feel when anniversary time comes around (speaking of which, happy anniversary to the ‘rents! And Happy Mother’s Day as well! Love you guys).  You realize you’re supposed to do something, but you can’t remember exactly what.

After checking my ring finger, I realized, no…I’m not married…but damn, this past week marks 5 full years of Sound Session on the air at KUBE 93.  Our very first episode was on May 8th, 2005 and 257 shows later, here we are at May 9th, 2010.  Since we tend to keep track of milestones by episode rather than date, J. Moore and I didn’t even realize it until just now.  While we’re certainly proud of hosting an independent hip-hop show on commercial radio without compromising one iota for 5 years, as we’ve always maintained, everything we do actually has little to do with us.  Instead, it has everything to do with the artists, the listeners, the higher ups who believe in our abilities, and most importantly, the culture that we live and breathe every day.

Even when we play non-hip-hop records, we are hip-hop in our mindset, ideals, and actions.  The folks that can relate also know that you do what you do without any need for praise or recognition.  You do it because you don’t know any other way.  That’s Sound Session and that’s why 5 years have gone by in a blink of an eye.  Here’s to many more…

Show #258 (5-9-10)

1. Jay Rock – “Love My Momma”
2. Donwill ft. Ca$he & The Park – “Love Junkie Wallpaper (Remix)”
3. Kidz In The Hall – “Grizzly Man”
4. Eminem – “Despicable”
5. Shad – “Yaa I Get It”
6. J-Live – “The Way That I Rhyme”
7. Moe Green – “Hometown”
8. Aloe Blacc – “Take Me Back”
9. The Physics – “My Place” (Local Music)
10. Bruno Mars ft. Cee-Lo & B.o.B – “The Other Side”
11. N.E.R.D. ft. Nelly Furtado – “Hot-N-Fun”
12. Lupe Fiasco ft. Alicia Keys – “Love Letter To The Beat”
13. Theophilus London – “I Want You”
14. Jay Electronica ft. Diddy – “Ghost Of Christopher Wallace”
15. Diamond District – “Streets Won’t Let Me Chill (Apollo Brown Remix)”
16. Roc Marciano – “Thug’s Prayer”
17. J. Cole – “Who Dat”
18. Bop Alloy (Substantial & Marcus D) – “Save The Day” (Local Music)
19. Ghostface Killah ft. Mary J. Blige – “All That I Got Is You” (Throwback of the Week)
20. B.o.B ft. Ricco Barrino – “5th Dimension”
21. Jack The Ripper ft. Geologic, Sol, & Scribes – “Don’t Look Back” (Local Music)
22. Nas & Damian Marley ft. Dennis Brown – “The Promised Land”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?njjydlde0yh
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/75946676a98fa748/)
(2nd back up – http://usershare.net/fbd1pudjnx7c)

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.

Web 2.0 is all about social media and appropriation, right?  So as long as I credit Chris Ryan at MTV, I can steal use his write up, right?  Works for me:

We’re not only devotees to Mayer Hawthorne’s impeccable neo-retro soul stylings but also his panache when it comes to making music videos, especially the melancholy beauty of his recent clip “I Wish It Would Rain.” So we’re pretty excited (in a melancholy way) to bring you his new video for “One Track Mind,” taken from his delightful A Strange Arrangement album.

“One Track Mind” mixes the innocence and wit of early ’60s rom-coms with the concept of the ’80s classic (using the term “classic” loosely) “Mannequin.” Over a note-perfect Motown arrangement, Hawthorne and his almost-perfect woman (save the whole being-plastic-thing) have a tea party in a garden, go on a boat ride, share an ice cream … pretty much the perfect day. Like most love stories, this one has a bump in the road. But you’ll have to watch to see how it plays out.

Watch Mayer Hawthorne’s “One Track Mind” video below. A Strange Arrangement is out now.