The Audacity of Dope

A few weeks back, Foul Mouth Jerk and TopR came through Seattle on their “Marathon of Shame Tour” and I had a chance to chop it up with ’em in the studio. We talked all about their recent albums, life on the road, collaborating with legendary figures in hip-hop, a little politics, and more. You can also hear Jerk’s song with Masta Ace, “Smalltown USA,” and TopR’s new track featuring Jerk, “The Name Game,” during the interview as well. Dope, boom bap inspired ish. Check it out and get familiar with the homies through the links below:

Foul Mouth Jerk & TopR on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?jy4c0i1gy3p
(Back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/13571318ee1dfcfb/ )

Be sure to check out their latest projects, Jerk’s Streetlight Music and TopR’s The Marathon of Shame!

The Roots and Erykah Badu came to Seattle last Thursday to perform at Marymoor Park. While there, J. Moore and I had a chance to hop aboard the Roots’ (dope as hell) tour bus and talk to their drummer/ringleader, the legendary ?uestlove. We recorded the whole interview (shout to Caitlin on the Flip Cam) for y’all to check out. It’s 5 parts on YouTube, but the conversation was so dope and extensive, I didn’t want to just put up clips.

?uest spoke about all sorts of topics, including their new Rising Down project, the lost Roots album, volunteering for Barack Obama’s campaign, working on albums from Al Green and Marvin Gaye, why Black Thought is continually underrated, the rumor of a sequel to Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, and more!

Check out the first video here, and the rest after the jump.

Part 1 of 5

Also, if you can’t watch the videos and just want to peep the audio, you can do that right here (ZShare link available here). Warning: the audio only quality is a bit janky…the Flip Cam’s microphone + a running tour bus = an audiophile’s nightmare.  I suggest watching the videos if you can.

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(“said i was a nerd, but i ain’t a punk” – Skateboard)

Chyea. I’ve been looking forward to the new N.E.R.D. album, Seeing Sounds, for a while and it’s finally here. In Search Of… is a personal classic to me, and while Fly or Die didn’t hit me as hard, it’s still real dope. The day before the Glow In The Dark Tour kicked off here in Seattle, Pharrell, Chad, and Shae came through Sound Session for a little listening party for material off this album (what up Blaze!). Ish sounded dope then, and it’s even better now. It drops this coming Tuesday, June 10th, and if you have any sense in you, you’ll cop this over Wayne’s Carter III disaster. Support good music from artists who put their hearts and souls into their art, painstakingly analyzing every frequency and note they create…not someone who wastes his talent by getting trashed off every drug imaginable, mumbling his way through disjointed rhymes, and slapping the auto-tune effect on it. Hmm, perhaps that was a bit much. Maybe I am a hater. [Mavado] Anywaaaaaaaaay [/Mavado]

Since I interviewed N.E.R.D. right before I launched this blog, here’s a clip of Pharrell explaining the meaning behind the album’s title in case you missed it. Be sure to download the full version of the interview as well, right here.

And a hilarious bonus clip of Pharrell pushing this kid off the stage that’s been all over the net this week. The dap + shove move is clutch.

Remember: Cop the N.E.R.D. album on Tuesday!