The Audacity of Dope

Hard to believe, but it’s true: this is the last episode of Sound Session during Barack Obama’s presidency.  We started the show in May of 2005, so we’ve been on air to witness most of his meteoric rise and discussed it quite a bit over the last decade.  The Obama era certainly helped shape the sound of the show, as his influence permeated every facet of our society and impacted the hip-hop world perhaps more than any other part of pop culture.  We’ve never had a more hip-hop friendly president…nor one with better musical taste.  We’re sad to see him go, for too many reasons to list.

Here’s our latest playlist, featuring new music from artists like Tribe, Common, Run The Jewels, AJ Tracey, Wiley, The Lox, Oddisee, The-Dream, Syd, Marian Hill, Nick Grant, J. Cole, Khalid, Sinead Harnett, Chris McClenney, Kid Cudi, Sampha, Raleigh Ritchie, and more.  Classic 90’s R&B throwback goes out to my guy Barack.

Enjoy!

Show #582 (1/15/17)

1. A Tribe Called Quest ft. Busta Rhymes – “The Donald”
2. Common ft. Gucci Mane, Pusha T, & BJ The Chicago Kid – “Black America Again (Remix)”
3. Run The Jewels ft. Joi – “Down”
4. MJ Cole & AJ Tracey – “Rumble”
5. Wiley – “Can’t Go Wrong”
6. The Lox – “Move Forward”
7. Tope ft. Erikka J & Farnell Newton – “Thank You” (Local Music)
8. Amine – “Baba” (Local Music)
9. Oddisee – “Things”
10. Tom Misch – “Watch Me Dance (Crackazat Remix)”
11. The Weeknd – “Rockin’”
12. The-Dream – “Ferris Wheel”
13. Ryan Caraveo – “Ten Times” (Local Music)
14. Smino – “blkswn”
15. Syd (of The Internet) – “All About Me”
16. Azad – “Sweet”
17. Marian Hill – “Down”
18. J. Cole – “Ville Mentality”
19. Nick Grant ft. BJ The Chicago Kid – “Gotta Be More”
20. Khalid – “Saved”
21. Sinead Harnett – “Rather Be With You”
22. Raleigh Ritchie – “Unicron Loev”
23. Kid Cudi – “Mature Nature”
24. Chris McClenney – “What You Mean To Me”
25. Sampha – “(No One Knows Me) Like The Piano”
26. Blackstreet – “Don’t Leave Me” (Throwback of the Week)

Link to download - https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B72U-rgJjvmWcEp0aUFoeG40X28

If you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and stream/download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

I was sold when Optimus Prime showed up and knew I was going to post by the time they dropped Lion King. This is the Barry we all know and love, and the one whose personality won us over years ago.

As Barack says in the speech, “the honeymoon is over” in regards to his presidency, but I’m not too disappointed in what many consider to be a lack of progress towards the tasks he laid out during his campaign. I’ve never been a fan of any portion of the political process and I really think you just have to make the best decisions when they come up. Barack was the best choice we had at the time and he continues to be just that. Hopefully he gets back in office and swags out in his 2nd term when there’s no concern over being reelected.

We shall see. But in the interim, enjoy the jokes!

As a new owner of a sparkling MacBook Pro, I was definitely curious to see Henny and Dow Jones break down the making of Jeezy’s “My President Is Black” joint using Logic.  I’m not a huge fan of this song, mainly because Jeezy’s lyrics just come off so ridiculous.  I mean…even more than usual.  Hearing him try to be half-political, half-Jeezy is just odd.  “My president is black!  My Lambo’s blue.”  Hmmmm.

Can someone CC Allah on this post for me though?

Yeah, yeah, I know WLotD has been MIA for a minute, but hey…I’m a busy man and I think y’all can live without it.  That said, I just heard this atrocity on the new remix for The Dream’s “Rockin’ That Thang” and it has to be called out.

“Demolition Man, tell ya friends I demolish ya/
Plus I’m that n***a, baby I can make ya popular/
So get another shot of that Ciroc in ya/
Cause I’m gonna be rockin’ ya/
Treat ya like the first lady, I’ll put my Barack in ya”
–Juelz Santana, “Rockin’ That Thang (Remix)”

This is pretty much what the internet was invented for.

Sidenote: Rock The Bells was dope…footage and stuff coming soon.  Tune in to Sound Session tonight as well for all sorts of dopeness!

As always, Jay Smooth is so on point. Between all of the fire and brimstone spewed by Palin, Romney, and Rudy and the 9-11’s, there was one overriding theme: these people have no ideas of their own and have nothing left other than attacking Barack. Besides the fact that we’re all tired of these divisive tactics, last night, Palin crossed the line by disrespecting and belittling community organizers. This is the year when the voters, especially all the new blood registered by the Obama campaign, will step up and change American politics. Goodbye Rove and company. Your days are numbered.

Ready to go!

Masterful.  Inspirational.  Heroic.  Epic.  Brilliant.  Educational.  Transcendent.  A moment in history.

Was it the potential all-timer that I talked about yesterday?  No, but it was up there.  Again, I don’t recommend trying to blog at 6 AM, especially about an event as monumental as Barack accepting the Democratic nomination last night in Denver, but I’ll give some quick thoughts before I crash.  My sleep schedule is so effed up.

First off, the spectacle was outstanding.  Barack effortlessly pulled in 85,000+ people to watch him speak, not to mention the thousands that watched it from outside the venue and at special events all around the globe.  Oh, and the millions on television.  While the crowd wasn’t as large as the 200K he drew in Berlin, it speaks to the same undeniable inspiration that Barack has brought to the world.  The Republicans have tried to attack him by saying this popularity is actually a negative, and he’s nothing more than a celebrity or phenomenon.  How completely false.

Obama is not here because he’s a celebrity, he’s a celebrity because he’s here.  He’s a celebrity because of the man he is, what he’s accomplished, and what he has already meant to the world.  Without his fundamental ideals, morals, policies, and passions, he would not be in this position.  Any attempt to trivialize that is absurd.  I’m sorry John McCain pulls crowds the size of local musicians and can’t read off a teleprompter.  Perhaps if he could, or had any worthwhile ideas and policies (did you hear he was a prisoner of war?), the Republicans would focus their campaign around their candidate.  Since he’s a sham, they have no choice but to try to tear down Barack.

Unfortunately for them, it won’t work and tonight Barack struck back.  The difference between McCain’s attacks and Barack’s is that Obama stays focused on the issues and policies to score direct hits.  McCain and his cronies continue to insinuate that Barack is an “other” and he’s not ready to lead this country.  While there are surely legitimate criticisms centered around Barack’s “inexperience,” far too many are using that word as code for “different,” or perhaps too bluntly, “black.”

As I mentioned last night, Barack is one of us.  He’s the face of the new America.  The multi-racial America.  The America that is pushing past the social problems of our past like Usain Bolt down the straightaway.  Is he all the way there?  No, he’s not.  For example, like many in his age group, he’s a little behind on gay rights.  However, he still understands that everyone deserves equal treatment and even if his religion doesn’t understand them, he welcomes “our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters” into the fold.  That is what a true leader does.  When speaking at a college during the primaries, he said that he “may be on the wrong side of history” in respect to his personal beliefs on homosexuality and I think that will ultimately be proven true.  The important thing is that he understands this and understands the importance of looking towards the future.

This election is not about rich vs. poor, white vs. black, left vs. right, blue vs. red, etc..  This election is about the past vs. the future, and whether we want to be progressive in moving forward, or conservative while holding on to the notion of “the good ol’ days.”  You know what?  The good ol’ days had their share of bright spots, but they were far from perfect.  We’ll never achieve any sort of utopia, but we must always strive to “work towards a more perfect union.”  We can be better in the future, every single one of us.  We can be smarter.  We can be healthier.  We can be friendlier.  We can be more understanding.  We can be harder, better, faster, stronger.

But, we have to work for it.  For Barack to become president, we all have to show people how important this particular election is and how we are teetering on a knife’s edge.  Do you think we can afford four more years of the current policies?  Not if you want to maintain or better your standard of living and participate in the global economy of tomorrow, no way in hell.  Make sure you and everyone you know are registered to vote.  [Hov] It’s so necessary [/Jay] and it’s easy, especially if you know how to use a computer.

Hmm, I guess that rules John McCain out. Think about it people: he can’t even use a computer (“ahhh…it’s beeping at me!”), so how could he possibly guide the free world without basic understanding of the single most important invention of our time?  I’m adding a rule to my presidential threshold test:  if you don’t know how to use the internet, you can’t be president.  I’m sorry, it’s 2008.  I demand you to be elite.

John McCain and the Republicans are simply on the wrong side of history right now.  They are wrong about the war.  They are wrong about health care and social security.  They are wrong about the rights of women and homosexuals.  They are wrong about education.  They are wrong about foreign policy.  They are wrong about taxes.  And most importantly, in our dollar euro dominated world, they are wrong about the economy.

They will do whatever it takes to maintain their power, so we have to rise above it and overpower them with our organization, numbers, and intelligence.  We don’t want to stoop to their level, but instead we need to brush them off and keep pushing forward.  Recognize and value where you’ve been, then apply what you’ve learned as you move in to the future.  gObama.

“They thought I’d make another Illmatic,
But it’s always forward I’m movin’,
Never backwards, stupid, here’s another classic”

Remember how the Republicans were so quick to use footage of Joe Biden campaigning against Barack during the primary after he was selected VP?  Well, since the rumors are that McCain will shortly be announcing Mitt “I strapped my dog on top of my roof during a family road trip” Romney as his own VP, this clip has surfaced right on cue.  Regardless of who he picks, his options are horrible and Biden will pwn ’em in the debates.

That said, these clips are pointless.  The entire point of the primary battle is to beat out your rivals, so you could find negative statements applied towards anyone.  However, unlike EVERY other candidate on both sides, Barack never attacked his opponent’s character or legitimacy.  Instead, he based his attacks around policy differences and campaign tactics.  See what happens when you take the high road?  You win.

Now this is the Bill I remember.  I can’t believe we impeached this man because of a booty call while George ‘Strategery’ Bush literally broke law after law while ruining our country and his only punishment is going down as the worst president of all time.  What a world.

Anyway, at last night’s Democratic National Convention, Bill dusted off his boots and got that old Clinton swag going with an excellent speech in support of Barack Obama.  Again, my late night blogging hours are killing me, so I won’t get too in depth here.  I just wanted to toss it up on TAOD, along with Hillary’s (good, not great) speech from Tuesday and Biden’s rousing performance, to remind y’all that tonight is the main event.

Forty-five years to the day after Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, Barack is set to formally accept the nomination tonight in Denver.  I hate to build the hype, but I’ve been saying for a while that Barack has one of the greatest speeches in history in him, it’s just a question of when he’s going to drop it.  You could argue that he’s already given a couple (2004’s keynote address at the Convention, “Yes We Can” in New Hampshire, and “A More Perfect Union” from earlier this year), but I think he’s capable of an all-timer.  I’m talking MLK meets JFK meets Gehrig meets Jimmy V meets William Wallace.  Will that be tonight?  Will that be his victory speech in November?  His inauguration speech in January?

Regardless, we’ll see history tonight.  Whatever you’re doing, make sure you tune in to watch. It’ll be on every channel and there’s a good chance it’ll be a moment you remember for the rest of your life.

Hit the jump to watch the speeches from Hillary and Biden (especially recommended).

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