The Audacity of Dope

If you’ve been following along, we’ve hit some nice milestones recently, namely Show #200 a few weeks ago.  It doesn’t take a math major to realize that 200 shows = 200 weeks and give or take a few Sundays off, that’s adding up to about 4 years.  Well this past week, we officially celebrated 4 full years of Sunday Night Sound Session on KUBE 93.

While we have a lot of fun on SNSS and don’t take ourselves very seriously at all, broadcasting a show like ours on a 100K-watt Clear Channel station in a top market for 4 years is actually a pretty special accomplishment.  As a media studies major from back in my college days, I’ve always been cognizant of the effects of media consolidation and the danger it brings.  To combat that, it’s been a pleasure using the airwaves and the website to provide a powerful, consistent voice for alternative and independent artists from around the world.  It’s a responsibility we take seriously and we work hard every week to create a quality program for listeners to enjoy.  All the while, our number one goal is to be true to our beliefs and represent the hip-hop culture with the respect it deserves.

To four…and hopefully many more…years of SNSS – “raise your glasses to the sky”

Show #207 (5-17-09)

1. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
2. Elzhi – “Deep”
3. Cory Gunz ft. Willie The Kid & MarVo – “A New Day”
4. Drake ft. Bun B – “Uptown”
5. Mos Def – “Casa Bey”
6. Donny Goines ft. Outasight & Peter Hadar – “Sublime”
7. Scribes – “Roll My Way” (Local Artist)
8. Chester French – “Time To Unwind”
9. Eminem – “My Mom”
10. Asher Roth – “La Di Da”
11. Bruce Leroy – “Million Dollar Dream” (Local Artist)
12. Busta Rhymes – “Shoot For The Moon”
13. Izza Kizza ft. Colin Munroe – “Connect The Dots”
14. Colin Munroe ft. Joell Ortiz – “Piano Lessons”
15. The Kid Daytona – “The Engine”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH BLUE SCHOLARS, GRYNCH, & DV-ONE**
17. Toni Hill – “This Thing Called Love” (Local Artist)
18. Slakah The BeatChild ft. Drake – “Enjoy Ya Self (Remix)”
19. Julian Marley ft. Damian Marley – “Violence In The Streets”
20. J Dilla ft. Black Thought – “Reality TV”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?zuuymgqmjjz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/60217878c91f946b/ )

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.

As I mentioned, Shad is releasing his insta-classic The Old Prince Still Lives At Home album in America on June 30th.  Since the LP has been out in Canada for a while, they’ve already dropped some excellent videos for it (including possibly my favorite video ever for the title track), but the new one for “Compromise” will be coming at the start of next month.  In the meantime, director Christopher Mills created this prelude with some extra footage from the video and a quick spoken word poem by Ian Kamau to hold folks over.

Additionally, they released the US artwork today too:

Freshness.

Lastly, even though the Warped Tour doesn’t have a ton of hip-hop on the bill, I highly recommend you check it out when it comes through your town this summer so you can catch Shad’s live set.  Dates are below:

6/26/09    Pomona, CA
6/27/09    San Francisco, CA
6/28/09    Ventura, CA
6/30/09    Phoenix, AZ
7/1/09    Las Cruces, NM
7/2/09    San Antonio, TX
7/3/09    Houston, TX
7/5/09    Dallas, TX
7/7/09    Indianapolis, IN
7/8/09    Pittsburgh, PA
7/9/09    Cleveland, OH
7/10/09    Toronto, ON
7/11/09    Montreal, QC
7/12/09    Hartford, CT
7/14/09    Columbia, MD
7/15/09    Scranton, PA
7/16/09    Buffalo, NY
7/17/09    Camden, NJ
7/18/09    Uniondale, NY
7/19/09    Oceanport, NJ
7/21/09    Boston, MA
7/22/09    Virginia Beach, VA
7/23/09    Charlotte, NC
7/24/09    Orlando, FL
7/25/09    Miami, FL
7/26/09    St.Petersburg, FL
7/28/09    Atlanta, GA
7/29/09    Cincinnati, OH
7/30/09    Milwaukee, WI
7/31/09    Detroit, MI
8/1/09    Chicago, IL
8/2/09    Minneapolis, MN
8/3/09    St.Louis, MO
8/4/09    Kansas City, KS
8/7/09    Boise, ID
8/8/09    Salt Lake City, UT
8/9/09    Denver, CO
8/12/09    Calgary, AB
8/14/09    Vancouver, BC
8/15/09    Seattle, WA
8/16/09    Portland, OR
8/19/09    Fresno, CA
8/20/09    Mountain View, CA
8/21/09    Sacramento, CA
8/22/09    San Diego, CA
8/23/09    Los Angeles, CA

August 15th it is…

As I mentioned in the post for the viral clip of “We Made It,” Kee & Zee’s newest video for “Alright With Me” has already been picked up by MTVu.  Dopeness.  Phonte had like 8 bars in this track and killed it.  Shout to all my Cali familia in the video too…

Spotted at the Smoking Section.

This dude is freaking killing it.  Nice shot at the folks who took issue with his use of the Blackberry on the Funk Flex freestyle video.  Anyway, whoever brings him to the Northwest first will get major props.  Promoters, festivals, radio stations…hmmm…who will it be?

Courtesy of NahRight.

The two dopest artists in the game to me right now both hail from our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada.  Yeah, yeah, I still love all the usual folks I listen to, but in the past few months, I’ve been bumping nothing but Drake’s So Far Gone and Shad’s The Old Prince Still Lives At Home.  Even though it’s been available up north for a minute, Shad’s album is finally dropping here in the States on June 30th.  I really can’t recommend it enough…and those songs are like 2-4 years old now.  Wait till you hear the new ish.

And if you need any convincing that SK is dope, peep this…possibly the illest freeverse ever:

I’m sorry…WHAT?!!?!?  Incredible every time.

This joint follows that last post nicely.

So as I was saying, people who run around complaining that NYC has fallen off have no idea what they’re talking about, plain and simple.  Regardless of what superstars are dominating the mainstream hip-hop coverage, New York artists like PackFM and Domingo have been releasing quality music for years.  So remember all those years where you saw nothing but shiny suits and XXXXXXXXXXL white tee’s and you pined for “real” hip-hop?

It’s been there the whole time.  Stop sleeping.  PackFM & Domingo’s I F*cking Hate Rappers drops soon…

Hahaha MP & Tor are fools for this one.  Seeing Tor get his Rocky on is hyping me up for their upcoming album, Double Barrel, which drops on June 2nd on Duck Down (what up to the brothers ‘Ha!).  For all those complaining about a lack of that classic NYC boom-bap griminess in today’s music scene, this LP is gonna smack the ish out you.

In case anyone glossed over the weekly wrap up for SNSS below, I thought I’d make a separate post with the audio for my interview with 88 Keys and Izza Kizza from Sunday Night.  Big shout to 88, Izza, Daniel, Drastic, and the whole crew for coming through…definitely some real cool folks and dope artists.  Special thanks to DJ Pheloneous for helping make it all happen too.  More details about the show in the last post.

88 Keys & Izza Kizza on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?mimgontduuq
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/599085806f274121/)

If you missed our past interviews with 88 Keys, check ’em out here and here.

You know with Show #206 of SNSS, we had to make it a good one…Google “206” if you’re confused.

While J was holding it down it Phoenix at Sha Money XL’s One Stop Shop producer conference (“hardly home, but always reppin” – Drake), I was joined in the studio by 88 Keys & Izza Kizza before their show Sunday night at Nectar.  We chopped it up about Mother’s Day memories, Izza’s new Wizzard Of Iz mixtape, the debates 88 & Kanye had for The Death of Adam album, and more.  If one interview wasn’t enough, I also ran a snippet of a discussion I had with Louis Logic from a while back about his crazy new surf rock/hip-hop hybrid project, Spork Kills.

In addition to the special guests, the music this week was one of my favorite collections that we’ve played recently: new joints from Asher Roth, the Clipse, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Drake, Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves, Raekwon, and many more.  Be sure to peep XV’s ode to the leaked pictures from Cassie & Rihanna (hello!) and one of the smoothest R&B songs we’ve played in a while, “This Thing Called Love” by the Northwest’s own Toni Hill.  Enjoy!

Show #206 (5-10-09)

1. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 1**
2. Jae Millz – “Mother’s Day”
3. Asher Roth – “Fallin’”
4. Scribes – “Roll My Way” (Local Artist)
5. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 2**
6. Izza Kizza ft. Colin Munroe – “Connect The Dots”
7. Clipse ft. Kanye West – “Kinda Like A Big Deal”
8. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 3**
9. 88 Keys ft. Bilal – “M.I.L.F.”
10. Maxwell – “Pretty Wings”
11. Eminem – “Déjà Vu”
12. Busta Rhymes ft. Common, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Foxx, & John Legend – “Decisions”
13. Slakah The BeatChild ft. Drake – “Enjoy Ya Self (Remix)”
14. Drake – “HoustAtlantaVegas”
15. XV – “ADDicted”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS LOGIC (SNIPPET)**
17. Spork Kills – “Black Widow”
18. Eli Paperboy Reed & The True Loves – “I’ll Roll With You”
19. Reflection Eternal – “Back Again”
20. Macklemore – “The Party” (Local Artist)
21. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
22. Kanye West & Malik Yusef ft. Common & John Legend – “Magic Man”
23. Toni Hill – “This Thing Called Love” (Local Artist)
24. **INTERVIEW WITH 88 KEYS & IZZA KIZZA, PT. 4**

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?iwd03y1ztff
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/5990763456f148d1/)

Link to download just the parts with 88 Keys & Izza Kizza – http://www.mediafire.com/?mimgontduuq
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/599085806f274121/)

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.

If you missed the Wale/Colin Munroe show at Neumos here in Seattle from the end of last month, never fear, Hugh from BlogsIsWatching has your back.  He linked up with Jason Hakala, Same Bae, James Chong, and Cahn Solo to produce this excellent clip of Wale’s introduction and the first track, “Breakdown.”  More clips will be coming soon…