The Audacity of Dope

Seattle: On Sunday, May 15th, I expect to see you all at the Croc to check out some of the illest (and criminally underrated) artists out there: The CunninLynguists, Tonedeff, and Homeboy Sandman.  You should be familiar with all of them by now, especially if you listen to Sound Session since we play them all quite often, but if not, come see them in person and learn something.  You’ll also get to see Blue Sky, Black Death, who make some incredible beats, and local music from the Knowmads.

Be there!

A few weeks ago, I randomly thought to myself that it was about time for two of my favorite non-hip-hop artists, Kenna and Miike Snow, to drop some new music. While I’m not aware of any music from the group, Kenna has just released the first of three EP’s in his Land 2 Air Chronicles series, all leading up to his next album, Songs For Flight.  Here’s the first video from the project for “Chains,” a song all about discovering what binds us in our every day life and trying to break these restraints.

Kenna was in town last week and stopped by Sound Session, only for the studio in our new production room to screw up the audio of our interview.  I do have some video, so I may still post it, even though the sound quality is pretty poor without the mic audio.  The conversation was great though, as it always is with Kenna.  We discussed the new projects in detail and dived deeper into some philosophical debates over artistry and musical integrity.  I’ll try to get it posted soon, but for now, he says hi:

Lykke returns with the newest visuals from her excellently titled Wounded Rhymes album.  This girl is on fire with her videos…all doper than the next.  Great stuff.

You’d think that if I took an extra day to archive this week’s SNSS, I would have an enthralling, lengthy write up detailing what went down on the show.  Well, if you thought that, you’d be wrong.

I will say this much though: last week, we discussed microfinancing higher education for students in 3rd world countries through a local non-profit organization called Vittana.  Read the details here.  I’m happy, and humbled, to report that since helping spread the word on our last show, over 60 new lenders have contributed loans to Vittana.  Say it with me: #swag.

Together, we’re making a difference with this music, this culture, this community, and this world.  Let’s keep going y’all.  Thank you!

Show #308 (4-24-11)

1. Dom Kennedy – “On The Way Home”
2. DJ Quik ft. Jon B – “Real Women”
3. Theophilus London ft. Devonte Hynes – “Century Girl”
4. Kenna – “Chains”
5. Childish Gambino – “Be Alone”
6. Aleon Craft ft. G-Wiz & Heavy Slim – “On The Air”
7. Rapper Big Pooh – “Zone Out”
8. The Physics – “These Moments” (Local Music)
9. J. Pinder ft. Royce The Choice, Eighty4 Fly, & Clemm Rishad – “The Opus” (Local Music)
10. Kendrick Lamar – “Hiii Power”
11. Big K.R.I.T. – “The Vent”
12. Kanye West – “Jesus Walks” (Throwback of the Week)
13. Curren$y ft. Freddie Gibbs – “Scottie Pippen”
14. Random Axe – “The Hex”
15. Elzhi – “Detroit State Of Mind”
16. Shane Eli ft. Playboy Tre & Rittz – “Let’s Ride”
17. Dice – “Things I Couldn’t Say” (Local Music)
18. Estelle ft. Rick Ross – “Break My Heart”
19. Frank Ocean – “Nature Feels”
20. Little Dragon – “NightLight”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?bdp7hgrp762sosy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/894799390f57d113/)
(2nd back up – http://www.usershare.net/xrgvzud7fbre/DJ Hyphen and J. Moore – Sunday Night Sound Session, Show 308, 4-24-11.mp3)

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.

Maybach Music!

New visuals from Pusha’s Fear Of God mixtape, which you can download here if you’re sleeping.  This ish is hard.  [Pusha] UGHHHH [/Pusha]

*DEAD* @ what he said about Kix cereal.

I’m a die hard sports fan, but somehow, I missed that one of my all time favorite players, Jason Williams, retired from the NBA (again).  Shout to the Smoking Section for blogging about it here and for posting the above video.

There was a point in high school where I pretty much wanted to be Jason Williams, aside from the West Virginian accent.  As a PG who prided myself on my passing and court vision, I was known to throw a few of these passes before I even started following him.  When I saw him playing in the league, it was a wrap.  I broke out the elbow pass (3:56 in the video) a million times in pick up and practice, but never pulled it in a game.  I did, however, use the fake behind the back cuff (:28 & 3:15) and the mini hop (1:09) a few times.  I’ll never forget being at the game where he crossed over GP in person (4:13) and finished with that floater high off the window.  We must have reenacted that 100 times in the gym the next day and I was KILLING the Sonics fans in my class.  If you’ve ever talked to me on AIM (not likely these days), you’ll now know where the 55 came from.

Thanks for the memories JWill.

This past week, J. Moore and I were joined in studio by the legendary Raphael Saadiq. While we thoroughly enjoy breaking new artists and conducting interviews with up and coming musicians, there’s always something special about chopping it up with someone of Saadiq’s stature. The man has been one of the brightest starts in R&B for over 20 years and yet couldn’t be a nicer, more down to earth dude.

In the first part of the interview above, we spoke about his new Stone Rollin’ album, the “neo” & “retro” soul tags heaped on his recent work, his creative process, his collaboration with Little Dragon, and more.

In the second half of the interview, Saadiq spoke about his fondest memories of the Tony! Toni! Toné! and Lucy Pearl days, his proudest moment in music, his advice for young artists, and even playing basketball with Prince.

If you prefer to listen to the audio instead, you can grab it below:

Raphael Saadiq on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?97cxf19frx4o7r7
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/891679810db2ee03/)

During our discussion, I mistakenly stated that Stone Rollin’ was in stores now (mp3’s have sadly rendered release dates somewhat moot…for listeners at least), when in actuality, the album will be released May 10th.  My bad.  Go support it when it drops!