The Audacity of Dope

Two of my favorite artists in music…and Santogold…combined for this dope track off N.A.S.A.’s debut album, The Spirit of Apollo.  I really dig the sounds at the beginning and end of this joint, but as with most N.A.S.A. videos, I don’t think I do enough (ok, any) drugs to enjoy the visuals as much as some folks do.  Seeing them live at SXSW was definitely an experience though.  Peace to the dancing alien go-go dancers at the Filter party…

“You’re good around celebs, not too laughy”

I’m not a huge fan of this track as a whole, but Kanye status = insta-post.  I readily admit that I jock dude, pause, but he’s probably my favorite artist doing it right now.  On a side note, do you think Keri Hilson’s album lived up to all the buzz/hype she’s been getting?  I’m only one listen in, and there are definitely some joints (“Alienated” and “Slow Dance” in particular), but I dunno…

This is exactly why I wasn’t running around SXSW trying to Flip Cam all the performances hahah.  Levi’s and Fader combined to do a great job covering the performances at the Fader Fort, and the highlight was Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music showcase.  Common came out to do “The Light” and get the ladies in the mood (handing out assists like Steve Nash…well done Com), and then Erykah popped up for the outro and an impromptu freestyle session.  Super dope.

“is niiiiiiiiiiiiice”

88, ‘Ye, and the Decon fam just released the video for “Stay Up,” one of the dopest tracks of the past year in my opinion.  It would weird me out too much to rock that old dude makeup, but it looks like 88 and ‘Ye felt at home as Clifford and Rufus.  The first verse on this reminds me of when ‘Ye was just starting to get his mixtape buzz and spitting hilarious bars all over the place.  Great stuff.

If you missed either of 88’s appearances on Sound Session from last year, peep ’em here and here.

Everybody seems to be getting down on this instrumental (shout to Drake especially), but this is the first video I’ve seen over it.  Big shout to Brain, Dyme Def, and the whole Soul Gorilla/800LB fam.  Gotta love the Kingdome footage at the end.  206 all day.

Sidenote:  I’m mad busy this week, semi-sick, and will be headed to Oregon this weekend…so blogging might be at a premium for the next few days.  Hold tight…

The brand new video for ‘Ye’s “Welcome To Heartbreak” just leaked today, completely out of nowhere.  While I really dig this track, I’m not quite sure how I feel about the video yet.  Since I work with videos all day, I instantly recognized all the “effects” in this clip as various video errors that are generally the result of poor sourcing/encoding.  Kanye, of course, had the director do ’em all on purpose…and some look dope, but others look wack to me.  Either way, it’s entertaining and I’m a sucker for bright colors and trippy effects.  Also good to see Cudi get in the clip too…he’s about to be huge this year.

I’m still waiting for “Paranoid” to be a single though.  That’s the jam.

He’s back!  Thanks to literally one of the only good things Bush ever did, John Forte has been pardoned and is already back in the studio.  Here’s a quick little video of John and Talib rocking over Kanye’s “Homecoming.”  People may think of John’s verse on “We’re Tryin’ To Stay Alive” and forget his other stuff, but this dude could really rhyme.  I hope he picks up right where he left off.  Welcome home.

Here’s Kanye’s performance from one of the inaugural balls last night in DC.  ‘Ye kinda killed it, mullet and all.  This was the same ball that after Barack and Michelle shared the dance, he told the crowd…”we call that ‘old school’.”

Coolest. President. Ever.