The Audacity of Dope

Here’s a dope new EP from Zo!, covering some classic songs by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince, Bobby Caldwell, Quincy Jones, the Isley Brothers, and more.  Zo! (I always like including the exclamation point in his name) is insanely talented by himself, and when you bring in Phonte, Darien Brockington, Carlitta Durand, Sy Smith, and Yahzarah, you already know how it’s going to turn out.  Enjoy some more grown folks music, perfect for this rainy Saturday night…

Zo! – …just visiting too

Here’s the first video from Supastition’s Kam Moye’s album, Splitting Image, out now on Myx Music Label.  There’s a lot to be said about being content with the little things in life and realizing that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.  I think you understand this more and more with every day that passes and at 27, I see this so much clearer than I did at, say, 22.

Grown folks hip-hop FTW.

The homey Kosha Dillz came through the station recently while he was out on tour with the RZA.  You know we couldn’t let him leave before he kicked a little freestyle in the KUBE 93 parking lot.

Kosha will be joining us in the studio on this week’s SNSS as the road warrior himself is back in Seattle.  I’m predicting another dope free off the dome…

No time (as usual:  working 3 jobs, playing for 3 sports teams, and coaching 1!), so just the biz on this SNSS recap.  Assuming I can find a free moment, we’ll be posting up the full interview with one of the illest up and comers in the game, J. Cole, later this week on The Audacity of Dope and Kube93.com.  Don’t miss it…it was a dope one and Cole is about to take this industry over.

Show #231 (11-1-09)

1. Royce Da 5’9” – “Count For Nothing”
2. Crooked I ft. Snoop Dogg – “Guess Who’s Back”
3. Emilio Rojas – “Bold and Arrogant”
4. Rakim ft. Maino – “Walk These Streets”
5. Sean Price – “Car Thieves”
6. BK-One ft. Brother Ali & Scarface – “American Nightmare”
7. CunninLynguists – “To Be For Real”
8. Mike Posner ft. Big Sean & Freddie Gibbs – “Bring Me Down”
9. Clipse ft. Cam’ron & Pharrell – “Popular Demand (Popeyes)”
10. Timbaland ft. Drake & Lupe Fiasco – “Say Something (DJ Hyphen Edit)”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH J. COLE (SNIPPET)**
12. J. Cole – “Lights Please”
13. Fresh Espresso ft. Grynch, Macklemore, & Gatsby – “Something New (Remix)” (Local Music)
14. Camp Lo – “Satin Amnesia”
15. Fashawn – “Stars”
16. Sol – “Hyyy” (Local Music)
17. Paten Locke – “Wadaap!”
18. Little Dragon – “Runabout”
19. Logics ft. Geologic (of the Blue Scholars) & Fice – “The Last Hope” (Local Music)
20. Wale – “Prescription”
21. Kam Moye ft. Tiffany Paige – “Don’t Forget”
22. Mr. Hudson – “There Will Be Tears”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?umwf53gwm5z
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/67886221246b10d5/)

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.

Since I’m gonna run this on Sound Session tomorrow, I figured I’d post up this quick mix I made combining Timbaland’s “Say Something” featuring Drake with the freestyle that Lupe murdered last week.  Someone’s verse had to go…sorry Tim.

Timbaland ft. Drake & Lupe Fiasco – “Say Something (Hyphen Edit)”
(back up link)

Timbaland ft. Drake & Lupe Fiasco – “Say Something (Hyphen Edit) (Clean)”
(back up link)

Clean included for my fellow DJ’s.

*Speechless*

This was the best concert I’ve ever been too and with everything going on that day (girl was in town, chilling with N.E.R.D., catching up with Lupe, etc.), it was probably one of my favorite days ever.  Ah, memories.

Someone buy me this book for Christmas.  Kthxbye.

From the homey G:

This is some old footage from Shad’s 2006 performance at the Beats, Breaks & Culture festival. He was opening up for Cadence Weapon in the Brigantine Room at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre.  There were some technical difficulties with the decks in the middle of the performance, so Shad dropped a free, and I started handing him stuff that I found by the stage.

I love ish like this.  Reminds me of simpler times.

See, even though this video plays off an established theme (Saved By The Bell FTW), it’s still more entertaining than Hype’s big budget production below.  But anyway, how popular are you?

Skyzoo – “Popularity” (Seattle edit)

Little present for y’all that Sky cooked up for us…cop The Salvation in stores now!

I have mixed feelings about this song and video.  First off, since switching to a job where I see hundreds of music videos a week, I’m afraid Hype’s clips just don’t do much for me these days.  Perhaps he was at his pinnacle when I was younger and I was easily impressed by the old super glossy, big budget videos he shot, but I haven’t seen anything from him lately that’s absolutely wowed me.  This one is cool visually, but nothing too special and I see more innovative clips every day at the office.

Secondly, you will never, ever…[old school Jay] eva eva eva eva [/old Hov]…look cool/hard playing the piano in a video.  So while Alicia is quite possibly the hottest girl out there right now, I still think the piano shots look hilarious.  I don’t care if you’re a guy or a girl, you just can’t try to look cool in a video while playing the piano.  Sorry, just how it is.

Lastly, this song is overrated to me.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, but it seems like everyone is trying to make it some epic, classic record.  Sorry again, it’s not.  The beat is cool, but not great, and there’s a horrible glitching sound in the loop from where they cut off the tambourine that comes around every time and annoys the hell out of me.  Jay’s lyrics are dope, but that sing-song flow gets old real quick and makes for boring repeated listens too.  Being one of the best songs on Blueprint 3 doesn’t mean it’s an incredible record.  It just means it’s not “Forever Young.”

I think this is a classic case of the music industry being a bit too NYC-centric.  With a lot of the labels, magazines, websites, and TV stations centered out there, they automatically assume what’s big in NY should be big all over the country (and the world).  NYC isn’t the center of the hip-hop universe anymore and just because this record is a great anthem for them, doesn’t mean it’s going to resonate with everyone else throughout the country.  Or if it does, not nearly to the extent they think.

It’s kinda like when XXL pressed up this cover:

There’s no way in hell…in 2009…that cover ever should have been made for a national publication.  None of those artists are remotely hot or popular outside of the Northeast.  I’d say 90% of people who listen to hip-hop on the west coast don’t even know who Freekey Zekey is, let alone like him.  Anyway, I get a similar feeling when I hear all these magazines, TV hosts, and label dudes tell me how classic “Empire State Of Mind” is.

If you’re from NY?  Sure.  Bang it.

If you’re not from NYC?  It’s cool, but it’s not a classic hip-hop record and nowhere near one of Jay’s best.

And this video isn’t either.

Mixed by Mick Boogie, this project has been one people have been waiting on for a while now. Track listing and download link are below.

Idle Warship – Party Robot (mixtape)

Editor’s note: The Graph Nobel “Fyah” song is so aptly titled… – Hyph