The Audacity of Dope

Sound Session #452 was an episode all about celebration.  As we always do around his birthday, we celebrated J Dilla’s life by playing his instrumentals all night long and talking a bit about his dopeness.  Still the greatest producer of all time in my book!

We also discussed the 10 year anniversary of a classic album, Kanye’s debut, College Dropout, which coincidentally dropped during the 2nd semester of my senior year in college.  We were graduating, not dropping out, but that album still defined that time of my life and encapsulated so many of the feelings my friends and I had back then.  It helped that we got to kick it with a younger Yeezy when he was on tour in LA that year, and the stories we have from those encounters are some of my favorite memories ever.

Kanye rapping his “18 years, 18 years!” verse from “Gold Digger” acapella to us 2 years before we’d hear it again on Late Registration?  Check.  Kanye asking us incredulously, “you’ve actually heard of me?” when we were telling him about how much we liked his mixtape freestyles?  Check.  The turntables skipping so much at the El Rey that Ye stopped Don C from playing the instrumentals and had John Stephens (later renamed John Legend) sing background melodies for him to rap over?  Check.  Kanye pouring us all glasses of champagne as he performed “Last Call”?  Check.

Ironically enough, I went back to my college last week to play in an alumni game with my old basketball teammates and it definitely brought me back to those days.  Shout to everyone I saw in LA, I appreciate y’all!

Enough of that, enjoy this week’s show and be sure to come out to the release party for our new Northwest Fresh mixtape on Saturday at 2312 2nd Ave in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood.  Free entry, open bar, prizes, good music, good people…what else do you need?  You can even celebrate Valentine’s Day and my birthday at the same time!  Here are the details.

Show #452 (2-9-14)

1. YG ft. Drake – “Who Do You Love”
2. Schoolboy Q – “Break The Bank”
3. Future ft. Pusha T & Pharrell – “Move That Dope”
4. Raz Simone – “Don’t Shine” (Local Music)
5. Yelawolf – “Box Chevy V”
6. CyHi Da Prynce – “Napoleon”
7. Phife Dawg – “Dear Dilla”
8. Add-2 – “Bomber & A Fly Chick”
9. Joey Badass – “Pantie Raid, Pt. 2”
10. Jarell Perry – “Black Valentine”
11. Rashad – “First Move”
12. Miguel – “Simplethings”
13. Mar – “Man x Woman”
14. J. Pinder – “Orange Papers” (Local Music)
15. Isaiah Rashad – “Soliloquy”
16. Step Brothers (Evidence & Alchemist) – “More Wins”
17. OB Obrien – “Steve Nash”
18. Grieves – “Shreds” (Local Music)
19. Tech N9ne ft. Mayday, Kendrick Lamar, & Kendall Morgan – “Fragile”
20. Kanye West ft. Jay-Z & J. Ivy – “Never Let Me Down” (Throwback of the Week)
21. Sam Smith – “Nirvana (Harry Fraud Remix)”
22. Fabolous ft. Jeremih – “Thim Slick”
23. Major Lazer ft. Pharrell – “Aerosol Can”

Link to download/stream the mp3 of the show – http://www.solidfiles.com/d/2b48507905/DJ_Hyphen_and_J._Moore_-_Sunday_Night_Sound_Session%2C_Show_452%2C_2-9-14.mp3
(back up – http://www69.zippyshare.com/v/63999368/file.html)
(2nd back up – http://linkmixes.com/u98z3ledypgd)

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.

Some great footage recapping Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ two shows in Seattle, courtesy of Ryan and Jon Jon. Watching Mack’s ascent has been amazing and something that the entire region should be proud of. He’s doing it.

On what appears to be the most packed couch in recent memory, Thaddeus spits a quickie from his upcoming album, Maven.  Thad will be coming through SNSS this coming weekend to talk all about the project.  Coming off one of the best releases of last year with Taysean for Helluvastate, everyone should be anticipating Thad’s first solo project.

Shout to all the homies on this record…some of my favorite folks in our Northwest music community.  Luck kinda murdered this record, btw.

Download J. Bre’s The Revelation EP right here.

I’m in awe.

What started out as somewhat of a novelty record has attained cult-like status, and it’s sure to grow to unprecedented heights with the release of the visuals for “And We Danced.”  I remember when we played this on Sound Session after Ryan first sent it over and we confused the hell out of our listeners.  I don’t know why though…the proposition is simple:

We’re having a hoedown…are you hoes down?

You should be.

I’ll readily admit that I’ve been sleeping on Allen’s music (unaware, even), which is especially embarrassing because he’s from the NW. In any event, I’m asleep no longer! Check out this live performance of “Unaware” to hear his incredible voice and see his mom’s living room decor.

Sound Session listeners will recognize this track from some of our recent episodes and it’s one of my favorite Pacific Northwest records of the year.  JayKin played this for me when I dropped by Alife Vancouver a few weeks ago and I was hooked right away.  Even with our fleeting summer weather, the vibe instantly puts you in a good mood.  Combine the audio with dope shots of Vancouver at night (Gastown!) and you can’t go wrong.

Off JayKin’s Sneakers and Video Games 2 (Bonus), which you should download right here…RIGHT NOW!

The Portland to Seattle transplant, Luck One, delivers the visuals for his first single off True Theory Outtakes.  We had Luck on SNSS a while back and I’m really excited to hear more from him.  He’s a very dope writer and a cool dude as well.  More northwest talent!

Parker (formerly known as Eclipse), aka one half of the Parker Brothaz, might just have one of my favorite records from the NW here in 2010.  We played this joint on SNSS a while back and Tha Bizness have just released some visuals for it this past week.  The beauty of this track is the simplicity: dope beat, good hook, and heartfelt rhymes.  Shout to Stretch, hope he gets out soon.  And shout to my city too, we’re filthy.

Fice and Erik Soderquist team up for this ode to Tacoma, our friendly neighbors just south of Seattle.  I’m digging the record and the video, though I will say, one of my rules in life is to never answer an unknown number from the 253.  Life lesson.