The Audacity of Dope

Really pressed for time these days, so nothing fancy this week…just the business.

Great music from the likes of Pac Div, One Be Lo, Fashawn, J. Cole, Kam Moye, Othello, The Nope, Kid Cudi, Dynas, Little Dragon, Drake, Anton Genius, and more.  Big shout to the homey El Prez for letting us world premiere his “Victory Lapse” track with Donwill and Von Pea of Tanya Morgan.  Great song.  Shout to Buckshot (and the whole Duck Down fam) as well for calling in this week to talk about his new album with KRS-One.  Cop Survival Skills in stores now!

Show #225 (9-20-09)

1. Pac Div – “Whiplash”
2. One Be Lo ft. Mike Posner – “Pigs”
3. Eclipse ft. BJ – “Still Parker Brothaz” (Local Music)
4. Fashawn – “Fash Plays It Cool”
5. Strong Arm Steady ft. Defari – “Get Ya Money Right”
6. Rashid Hadee – “LA Girls”
7. Brother Ali ft. Freeway & Joell Ortiz – “Best@it”
8. Apathy ft. Phonte – “True Love”
9. Skyzoo – “The Beautiful Decay”
10. J. Cole – “Lights Please”
11. Jay-Z – “Thank You”
12. Othello ft. Now On & Mayer Hawthorne – “Active Balanced (Terry Cole Remix)” (Local Music)
13. Crown Royale (Buff1 & DJ Rhettmatic) – “We Gotcha”
14. Ghostface Killah ft. Shareefa – “Not Ur Average Girl”
15. Anton Genius ft. Naledge, Dominique Larue, Apollo Cain, Truth, & Pugs Atomz – “Gettin’ Up (Remix)”
16. Consequence ft. Rick Ross – “The More I Get”
17. **INTERVIEW WITH BUCKSHOT #02**
18. KRS-One & Buckshot ft. Naledge & Melanie Fiona – “Past, Present, Future”
19. Kam Moye – “Blue Skies”
20. Raekwon ft. Lyfe Jennings – “Catalina”
21. Dynas ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff – “The Future”
22. The Nope (Moka Only & Psy) – “Rain All Day” (Local Music)
23. Drake ft. Nipsey Hussle – “Killer”
24. **El Prez ft. Donwill & Von Pea (of Tanya Morgan) – “Victory Lapse”** (WORLD PREMIERE)
25. Kid Cudi – “Sky Might Fall”
26. Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima – “Lil Girl”
27. Little Dragon – “Feather”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?vhvozkez3b3
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/6594250678c199e9/)

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.

So much going on in the world of Hyph…good music, cool homies, great sports, artists coming into town, even a job promotion (raises FTW!), etc…all sorts of dopeness, so I’ll get right to it.

Check out the latest episode of SNSS for new tracks from people like Sean Price, Raekwon, Fashawn, Mayer Hawthorne, Drake, Wale, Crown Royale, Shafiq Husayn, Felt, and many more.  Special shout to Phonte and Nicolay of The Foreign Exchange calling in to talk about their show TONIGHT (Tuesday, the 15th) at Nectar Lounge.  Everyone here in Seattle better come through…it’s sure to be one of the best concerts of the year.  We gave out more tickets to that this week, along with tix to the Method Man & Redman show on Thursday and copies of the soundtrack to the new Big Pun documentary.  Thanks to everyone involved and congrats to our winners!

Lastly, as I mentioned last week, I had the pleasure of DJ’ing for U-N-I during their Bumbershoot performance.  With J. Moore aka Jonny Tarantino on the cam, we grabbed some footage for y’all too.  Be sure to watch it here to see Thurz & Y-O tear down the Fisher Green Stage in the shadow of the Space Needle.

Show #224 (9-13-09)

1. Marco Polo & Torae ft. DJ Revolution – “Double Barrel”
2. Sean Price ft. Skyzoo & Torae – “Duck Down”
3. Raekwon ft. Method Man & Ghostface Killah – “New Wu”
4. Fashawn – “Fash Plays It Cool”
5. Strong Arm Steady ft. The Game – “Trunk Music”
6. BK-One ft. Phonte, Brother Ali, & The Grouch – “Here I Am”
7. Skyzoo – “Popularity”
8. D. Black – “The Return” (Local Music)
9. Jay-Z ft. Kid Cudi – “Already Home”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE**
11. Nicolay ft. Carlitta Durand – “Lose Your Way”
12. Mayer Hawthorne – “Shiny and New”
13. Wale ft. Jazmine Sullivan – “Award Tour”
14. Drake – “Fear”
15. Dynas – “Challenges Of L.O.V.E. (Leaving One’s Virtues Exposed)”
16. Big Pun ft. Fat Joe – “Twinz (Deep Cover ’98)”
17. Crown Royale (Buff1 & DJ Rhettmatic) – “We Gotcha”
18. Sonny Bonoho – “Judge Brown” (Local Music)
19. Felt (Slug & Murs) – “Protagonists”
20. Shafiq Husayn ft. Fatima – “Lil Girl”
21. Macklemore – “And We Danced” (Local Music)

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?yiggnz0ux2m
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/65592032ba214e50/)

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.

I’m not quite sure how I had a 3-day weekend and yet I’m still scrambling to catch up coming into the work week…hmm.  Oh wait, sure I do.  BUMBERSHOOT.

Long story short, Seattle hosted our annual Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival this weekend and despite the rain sneaking in here and there, it was a smashing success.  Along with countless dope indie rock cats, we saw some great performances from folks like De La Soul, The Knux, Mayer Hawthorne, Janelle Monae, many of our favorite local artists, and more.  Even the Black Eyed Peas rocked it, no lie.

I had the special pleasure of DJ’ing for the homies U-N-I during their set and we’ll be posting up some footage of that soon on the blog.  Shout to Y-O and Thurz for putting on a great performance and also getting some hoops in on their trip.  The last game may or may not have ended with your truly draining a 3 pointer in Thurz’ eye.  I’m not sure.  My memory is a bit fuzzy.  Ask about me.

Peep this week’s show for all sorts of great music, plus a snippet of our interview with Kid Cudi.  The full interview will be posted up soon, but if you’re dying for Cudi Content, chew on this.  We also had A. Uno of Steelo come through to give away tickets for the Sneaker Pimps show on Thursday (performances by the Clipse, Slick Rick, Steelo, They Live, GMK, Fresh Espresso, future ABDC champs the Massive Monkees, and more!) plus Nightclubber Lang (aka Karim of Myx Music) dropped in as well for some updates on the burgeoning hip-hop empire that is Myx.  What a weekend…

Show #223 (9-6-09)

1. Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys – “Empire State Of Mind”
2. Dynas ft. DJ Jazzy Jeff – “The Future”
3. A.R.M. ft. Brother Ali – “Heaven Only Knows”
4. D. Black ft. Marissa – “Yesterday” (Local Music)
5. **INTERVIEW WITH NIGHTCLUBBER LANG (KARIM OF MYX MUSIC), PT. 1**
6. Jern Eye ft. Mistah F.A.B. & Zion I – “Get Right”
7. Rashid Hadee – “Set In Stone”
8. Fresh Daily – “Video Gaming”
9. **INTERVIEW WITH NIGHTCLUBBER LANG (KARIM OF MYX MUSIC), PT. 2**
10. Mayer Hawthorne – “The Ills”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH KID CUDI (SNIPPET)**
12. Kid Cudi – “Soundtrack 2 My Life”
13. Drake – “Fear”
14. Sean Price ft. Skyzoo & Torae – “Duck Down”
15. KRS-One & Buckshot ft. Mary J. Blige – “The Way I Live”
16. **INTERVIEW WITH A. UNO (OF STEELO)**
17. Pac Div – “Whiplash”
18. Blue Scholars ft. Shad – “Dawn’s Song” (Local Music)
19. Macklemore – “The Town” (Local Music)
20. Raekwon ft. Lyfe Jennings – “Catalina”
21. BK-One ft. Phonte, Brother Ali, & The Grouch – “Here I Am”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?hcyt25ngjmz
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/65294337ab35170c/ )

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.

D. Black and the Sport’n Life crew came through Sound Session recently to talk all about D’s upcoming Ali’Yah album that drops on the 15th.  Always a pleasure to open the SNSS studio up to dope artists, but it’s especially fun to chill with good people.  Download the whole audio of the show right here.

D.Black, a Seattle-based rising hip-hop artist, took some time out to visit the good folks J. Moore and DJ Hyphen over at KUBE 93 for Sunday Night Sessions to speak about his newest release Ali’Yah. While talking about Ali’Yah, D.Black made special note of the increase in maturity and artistic development since his last album. That maturity is evident on such songs as the recently released “Yesterday,” the first single off Ali’Yah, and when asked about the song D.Black explained the concept saying, “All of us have had situations in our past that if we look back at it, we breathe life back into it. So it’s better to leave yesterday behind and look forward to tomorrow.” The positive vibe was reflected back by the fans as well as D.Black spoke with a few folks who called. D.Black also spoke on the opportunity he had to work with so many talented artists while crafting Ali’Yah, noting the contributions of fellow artists Jake One, Vitamin D, B. Brown, Melissa, Choklate, Spaceman, Kuddie Mak and many others. Be on the lookout for D.Black’s newest album Ali’Yah available September 15th via Sport’n Life Records/MYX Music Label.

Another fun week here on SNSS in the 206, peep the highlights:

• Great music from the likes of Brother Ali, Balance, One Be Lo, Fresh Daily, Raekwon, Little Dragon, U-N-I, Mayer Hawthorne, Phonte, and more.
• A world premiere for the new Blue Scholars track, “Dawn’s Song,” off the upcoming re-release of Bayani.  The track features Shad, possibly my favorite MC in the entire industry right now.  Yeah, I said it.  Not familiar?  Watch this and thank me later.
• We aired part of our interview with the Pac Div homies.  Be sure to catch the full interview for all sorts of hip-hop and basketball talk.  I mean…is there anything else in life?
• We gave out tickets for this weekend’s Bumbershoot Festival (where I’ll be DJ’ing for U-N-I) and my most anticipated concert of the year – The Foreign Exchange (Phonte & Nicolay), Darien Brockington, Carlitta Durand, Yahzarah, Zo!, the Physics, and more at Nectar Lounge on September 15th.  We’ll have more Foreign Exchange tickets next week too, so be sure to tune in…
• More EPL goodness: Chelsea is looking dominant…Arsenal squandered a great chance to put Manchester United further down the table (wtfffffff @ Diaby)…Aaron Lennon finished off Birmingham to keep Spurs’ 100% record intact.  Overall, very exciting.  Can’t wait until we get football and basketball on top of this in a few weeks…
• On a sad note, we have to give yet another RIP shout to DJ AM, easily one of the illest DJ’s and sneakerheads in the game.  This summer has been rough.

Show #222 (8-30-09)

1. Brother Ali – “Fresh Air”
2. D. Black ft. Tiffany Wilson – “Touch The Stars” (Local Music)
3. Balance ft. Freeway & Jay Rock – “We All In”
4. One Be Lo ft. Mike Posner – “Pigs”
5. Havoc ft. Lloyd Banks – “Bang, Bang”
6. Rashid Hadee – “(See You In My) Nightmares”
7. Fresh Daily – “Video Gaming”
8. Peter, Bjorn, & John ft. Big Pooh, Phil Nash, & Chaundon – “Stay This Way (DJ Jazzy Jeff Remix)”
9. Drake ft. Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem – “Forever”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH PAC DIV (SNIPPET)**
11. Pac Div – “Taste”
12. Little Dragon – “Never Never”
13. Mayer Hawthorne – “The Ills”
14. U-N-I – “Calendar Girls”
15. Kev Brown ft. Kenn Starr, Wayna, Raheem DeVaughn, & Eric Roberson – “The Hennessy Joint”
16. Blue Scholars ft. Shad – “Dawn’s Song” (Local Music) (WORLD PREMIERE)
17. Raheem DeVaughn ft. Ludacris – “Bulletproof”
18. The Nope (Moka Only & Psy) – “Rain All Day” (Local Music)
19. Raekwon ft. Cappadonna & Ghostface Killah – “10 Bricks”
20. 14KT – “Black N Gold”
21. Charlie Smarts – “Put You On”
22. Marc Mac ft. Phonte – “Take A Trip”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?ozmybywhidm
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649603854484e662/)

Link to download the full interview with Pac Div – http://www.mediafire.com/?nzmr3eh32oi
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649045665d98875b/)

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.

A little before Pac Div dropped their Church League Champions project, Like, Mibbs, and BeYoung came through the Sound Session studio to chop it up on a variety of topics.  We discussed that mixtape, the digital EP they put on iTunes a while back, and of course their upcoming full length debut, Grown Kid Syndrome.  They also talked about the importance of their live show, how their creative process likens to their game on the court, their favorite underrated West Coast MC’s, the L.A. scene, a possible collaboration with Andre 3000, and much more.

Pac Div on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?nzmr3eh32oi
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/649045665d98875b/)

This was one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve done, mainly because chilling with Pac Div reminded me of kicking it with my college homies back in SoCal.  These dudes are real hip-hop heads who love Dilla and basketball…pretty much all it takes to be cool in my book.  Plus, we’re both fans of the Arizona Wildcats and even spent time commiserating over that damn 2001 NCAA Championship game.  For the record: I still hate you, Mike Dunleavy.

Sometimes the industry moves fast, sometimes it moves slow.  We had Raheem DeVaughn on Sound Session in February of last year when he had just released Love Behind The Melody, and at the time, he was planning on dropping the follow up later in 2008.  Plans changed however, but his new single with Ludacris just leaked yesterday and lo and behold, it’s the same song he previewed for us a year and a half ago.

Since we grabbed this footage before TAOD was in existence, I figured I would bring it back for those who may have missed it.  Here’s the studio version of the track with Luda as well, courtesy of 2DopeBoyz:

Raheem DeVaughn ft. Ludacris – “Bulletproof”

If you want to go back and check out the full interview with Raheem, click here or peep our podcast page…although you’ll have to scroll down a bit haha.  Damn, we’ve interviewed hella folks…we might have to dip into the archives and put up all the interviews we did in the first 2 years of Sound Session too, cause those aren’t up there yet.  Rest assured though, as the son of a librarian, I’ve got everything archived offline.

(watch on HyphenTV)

While in town for our abridged version of Rock The Bells on the 14th, Slaughterhouse came through the Sound Session studio to kick it with J. Moore and myself.  Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Royce Da 5’9″ talked all about their Slaughterhouse project, while Crooked I was in another studio recording a verse for a Seattle artist. They also discussed the differences recording solo vs. as a group, if they felt any competition in the booth, who they’d pick in their own super groups, why real lyricists need to be back on the radio, and more.

To listen to the full interview, check the audio below:

Slaughterhouse on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?loylvmqrwyh
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/645664522cc5c5da/)

Go cop the album and support 4 of the hardest working and dopest MC’s in the game, period.

Another fun show this weekend (and another goal and assist for the big homey Didier Drogba, but y’all don’t know about that) with new joints from artists like Wale, Saigon, Drake, Pac Div, Brother Ali, 14KT, Rashid Hadee, Donnis, Kev Brown, K’Naan, Apathy, Phonte, and more.  We were also joined live in studio by “the voice of Sunday Night Sound Session” and one of the nicest MC’s in the town, D. Black.  Since lacing us with the vocals in our sweepers 4 years ago, D and his Sportn’ Life family have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with and when D’s new Ali’Yah project drops, the entire country is sure to take notice.

Be sure to check out the full version of the Slaughterhouse interview below, and you can even watch some highlights on HyphenTV as well.  We chopped it up with Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, and Royce Da 5’9″ (Crooked I was recording a verse for another artist from Seattle) about everything from the new album, competition within the group, their writing styles, who would be in their own super groups, and much more.  Peep it:

(watch on HyphenTV)

Show #221 (8-23-09)

1. Wale – “Pretty Girls”
2. Saigon – “Aye, Aye, Aye”
3. Drake ft. Nipsey Hussle – “Killer”
4. Pac Div – “Young Black Male”
5. Chali 2na ft. Ming Xia – “4 Be Be”
6. **INTERVIEW WITH D. BLACK, PT. 1**
7. D. Black ft. Marissa – “Yesterday” (Local Music)
8. Lushlife – “Until The Sun Dies”
9. **INTERVIEW WITH D. BLACK, PT. 2**
10. Brother Ali – “Fresh Air”
11. **INTERVIEW WITH SLAUGHTERHOUSE (SNIPPET)**
12. Slaughterhouse – “Cut You Loose”
13. 14KT – “Black N Gold”
14. Rashid Hadee – “The Wrong Thangs”
15. Apathy ft. Phonte – “True Love”
16. Marc Mac ft. Phonte – “Take A Trip”
17. Fresh Espresso – “Big Or Small” (Local Music)
18. Donnis – “Sexytime”
19. Khingz – “Blaq Han Solo” (Local Music)
20. K’Naan & J. Period ft. Kardinal Offishall, Steele, & Bajah – “Belly Full”
21. Kev Brown ft. Kenn Starr, Wayna, Raheem DeVaughn, and Eric Roberson – “The Hennessy Joint”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?kjxzz5z5jzj
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/64621704b3bfcbde/)

Link to download the full interview with Slaughterhouse – http://www.mediafire.com/?loylvmqrwyh
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/645664522cc5c5da/)

Link to watch part of the Slaughterhouse interview – http://vimeo.com/6256723

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.

In the time it just took you to read this, Usain Bolt just ran 100m faster than anyone in history.  Wow.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who looks forward to every Saturday and Sunday for all the sporting events and this past weekend was another great one.  We had some important baseball games down the stretch, preseason NFL action, Usain dominating in Berlin, and…*drumroll*…the return of the English Premier League.  Perhaps it’s due in part to my British pops, but I definitely look forward to this time of year where the temperature begins to drop and the European clubs take the pitch.  Props to Arsenal for dropping 6 on Everton (wow) and the homey Didier Drogba for scoring a double in Chelsea’s win.  Season’s just getting started!

On the music tip, we had Slaughterhouse, Slum Village, Supernatural, Pete Rock, and Reflection Eternal in town for an abridged version of Rock The Bells on Friday, and we were joined by local artists Yirim Seck and Larue in the studio on Sunday night.  Lookout for our Slaughterhouse interview coming soon, but in the meantime, we ran a snippet of an interview we taped with Asher Roth a few weeks ago.  Even in the brief clip we aired, Asher dropped some serious knowledge.  Full interview & video will be up soon (sooner if we get a SNSS intern in the works…).

Show #220 (8-16-09)

1. Slaughterhouse ft. Fatman Scoop – “Onslaught 2”
2. Lushlife ft. Camp Lo – “Another Word For Paradise”
3. Rashid Hadee – “The Wrong Thangs”
4. Saukrates ft. Rich Kidd – “Salt N Pepper”
5. A.R.M. ft. Supastition – “I Shine”
6. Blue Scholars – “HI-808” (Local Music)
7. Wale – “Pretty Girls”
8. **INTERVIEW WITH YIRIM SECK & LARUE**
9. Mr. Hudson ft. Kanye West – “Supernova”
10. Matt & Kim ft. De La Soul – “Daylight (Remix)”
11. Fresh Espresso – “Vader Rap” (Local Music)
12. Raekwon ft. Inspectah Deck, Method Man, & Ghostface Killah – “House Of Flying Daggers”
13. **INTERVIEW WITH ASHER ROTH #02 (SNIPPET)**
14. Asher Roth – “Fallin’”
15. Pac Div – “Young Black Male”
16. Co$$ & Fonetik Simbol ft. Shawn Jackson – “L.A.’s Best”
17. Kev Brown – “The Random Joint”
18. Khingz – “Ponyboy” (Local Music)
19. Mayer Hawthorne – “A Strange Arrangement”
20. Little Dragon – “Never Never”
21. Drake – “Sooner Or Later”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?1wbadnvminm
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/64281029a06fce99/)

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.