The Audacity of Dope

Philly freezer is the man, but…nah:

“Yes, I’m the sh*t, I am the real dookie”
–Freeway, “Rocket Ship Rap”

Nuff said.  Let’s get to work.

(hahahaha @ that dude on the left.  worst. bball extra. ever.)

“Bedroom time, boy, I make her Yale like the college”
–Bow Wow, “She’s My”

*cringe*

(watch part one in High-Def on HyphenTV)

Loyal listeners of Sound Session know that the big homey Jake One often drops by the studio to kick it, but we’ve never really done an official interview with him.  With the release of his debut album, White Van Music, a few weeks back, we had to bring in Jake and talk all about it.  Not only did he give us all sorts of behind the scenes stories about the project, but we ran through the entire album on air, joint by joint.

If you haven’t checked out White Van Music, you’re missing out on some of the best beats of the year and guest appearances from Black Milk, MF Doom, Alchemist, Busta Rhymes, Bishop Lamont, M.O.P., Freeway, Posdnuos, Slug, Little Brother, Prodigy, Elzhi, Royce The 5’9″, Young Buck, and many more.  Another guest from the album, Brother Ali, also came through SNSS that night to pay his respects to the latest chapter in Seattle’s rich musical history.

You can watch all the interview segments through part one (above) and part two (below), but make sure you watch them in HD on the HyphenTV Vimeo channel.  If you want the audio of the entire show for the mp3 player or the ride, here you go:

Jake One on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?ijm0j7uyj90
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/20192616e1aa393c/ )

(watch part two in High-Def on HyphenTV)

Cop White Van Music right now!

(watch it in High-Def on HyphenTV)

A few weeks back, David Banner came through Sound Session and I jumped at the chance to talk a little politics with one of the more socially aware rappers out there.  Granted, Banner drops his fair share of standard commercial/club type joints (“Play” comes to mind…), but it’s all about balance, and he provides that with his social commentary.

In this clip, Banner talked with me about the importance of the election coming up a week from today.  He explained why he supports Barack Obama, what the presidential candidate represents to him, and why it’s critical that the youth get involved in the political process.  With the election so close, we really need everyone on board down the home stretch.  Are you in or are you out?

WARNING. WARNING. We are now one week away from the most important day for the United States that any of us have lived through.  Are you ready to vote on Nov. 4th and turn this country around?

If you’ve listened to any episode of Sound Session or read a few blog posts here on TAOD, you know that I’m taking this election very seriously.  I hope the rest of you are too, because we simply can’t afford another 4 years of the same failed policies both home and abroad that we’ve witnessed during Bush’s disgraceful presidency.  We didn’t talk too much about the election on the latest episode of SNSS, mainly because I’m saving that for next week’s show on the 2nd.  Oooh boy, you hip-hop republicans will hate that one…

This past show featured our normal mix of dope music from people like Black Milk, Evidence, Kardinal Offishall, Q-Tip, Shad, Foreign Exchange, and more.  Plus we ran Kanye’s emotional ode to his mom, Joe Budden’s reworking of that Coldplay track I’ve been telling everyone to rhyme over, one of the standout tracks from the exceptional new album from The Knux, and more.

We also had Brainstorm of Dyme Def and Twixx of the world famous Massive Monkees crew come through to talk about the International B-Boy Championships going down at the Paramount on Saturday.  Dope breaking, DJ’ing, and performances by Dyme Def, B.o.B., and Pacific Division?  Wow.  I’m there.  Cop your tickets here.  Of course, if you were listening live, you could have won free tix to that show and Q-Tip, The Cool Kids, and The Knux too.  But you already knew that…

Show #178 (10-26-08)

1. Planet Asia & DJ Muggs ft. B-Real – “Lions In The Forest”
2. Ruste Juxx ft. Lil’ Vic – “Get Up”
3. The Knux – “Life In A Cage (Electric)”
4. **INTERVIEW WITH BRAINSTORM (of DYME DEF) & TWIXX (of MASSIVE MONKEES), PT. 1**
5. Jake One ft. M.O.P. – “Gangsta Boy” (Local Artist)
6. Saigon ft. Lil’ Fame (of M.O.P.) – “WW4”
7. Black Milk ft. Royce The 5’9” – “Losing Out”
8. Evidence ft. Phonte, Blu, & Will.I.Am – “For Whom The Bell Tolls”
9. **INTERVIEW WITH BRAINSTORM (of DYME DEF) & TWIXX (of MASSIVE MONKEES), PT. 2**
10. Kanye West – “Coldest Winter”
11. Kardinal Offishall – “Nina”
12. John Legend ft. Andre 3000 – “Green Light (Cook Classics Remix)”
13. Now On – “The Willows”
14. Joe Budden – “Sidetracked”
15. Mos Def – “Life In Marvelous Times”
16. Sweatshop Union – “Timelines” (Local Artist)
17. Shad – “Brother (Watching)”
18. Q-Tip – “Move”
19. Illa J ft. Affion Crockett – “DFTF”
20. Diverse – “Escape Earth”
21. Incise ft. Tunji (of Inverse) – “True Greatness”
22. Akrish – “No God” (Local Artist)
23. Foreign Exchange ft. Yahzarah – “If This Is Love”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?mbymlzle0lm
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/50562182aa8e6ee7/ )

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 with other WLotD winners that I actually enjoy listening to, I feel like I should preface this post by saying I dig Illa J.  It’s been sad to see how much hate dude is getting from damn near everyone – casual listeners, Dilla diehards, bloggers, fellow artists, etc..  Is he stepping into Dilla’s shoes right away?  No.  Does he have potential?  Yes.  Am I salty that he’s using his brother’s unreleased beats to help support his family?  Helllllllllll no.  Do your thing Illa.

I peeped the Yancey Boys album over the weekend and I really dug it.  The beats are clearly top notch, and they’re the exact kind of Dilla sound that I’ve always loved.  Illa’s rhymes actually remind me of some early SV stuff: laid back, somewhat rambling, and centered around everyday ish.  That said, we played this joint on Sound Session last night and this line was kinda painful:

“I see you outside, gettin’ in the club free/
Lookin’ lovely, as soon as I seen you, I wanted to f*ck thee”
–Illa J, “DFTF”

Ahhh, I just hate when people force a rhyme and it’s so obvious.  Anyway, this joint is still great.  Who knew Affion Crockett could rap for real?

Illa J ft. Affion Crockett – “DFTF”

Feels good, doesn’t it?

Perhaps a little amateurish, but like I mentioned with LL, I’m willing to give people a pass if their hearts are in the right places.  Nish Gaveer is a dude from Philly who put together this song and video in support of Obama.  You ever notice how diverse Barack’s supporters are versus John McCain’s?  The people I see at McCain/Palin rallies look like they’re from another world…and certainly not the America I live in where people of all backgrounds work and live together.  Oh, but I almost forgot, according to Palin, I live in an anti-America city.  GTFOH.

(chyea @ the Usain Bolt pose at 1:45)

This is the third incarnation of this song, as the initial leaked version featured the Pussycat Dolls, the album track featured Rihanna, and now the video features Keri Hilson.  To be honest, I can’t really pick one of those over the other, since they all do a decent job.  The best part of this song is clearly Kardi and his energy, and the video does a great job capturing what one of his live shows is like.  Dropping videos like this in October just isn’t fair though.  The weather is starting to get awful and [Biggie] I swear to God sometimes it feels like death Jamaica is callin’ me [/Big].

Huge shout to Kardi and the Black Jays fam, especially for tossing my favorite track off of Not 4 Sale, “Nina,” at the end of the clip.  Video courtesy of OnSmash.