The Audacity of Dope

I love that Drizzy had everyone thinking this was a(n attempt at a) hard, street record and then when the video drops, we see it open with kids playing soccer and extended comedic scenes with his boys.  Even when it gets a little darker at the end, it’s still centered around laughs with his homies.  Be careful with putting the whole team on though, Drizzy.  Go ask Hammer.

Also, this video solidifies Drake as the unequivocal king of unintentionally hilarious video faces.  He’s gotta be in on it at this point, right?

Wow, great to see this behind the scenes footage unearthed of The Pharcyde and Spike Jonze filming one of the best music videos ever created.  Classic in every sense of the word  Shout to 2DopeBoyz for posting.

And the result:

I just get rapped out sometimes. And when I do, I’m thankful records like this exist. Fresh.

The homey Thurz just dropped a new video for “Keep Livin'” featuring Jarell Perry off his upcoming album, Blood On The Canvas.  Produced by Phonix and DJ Khalil and directed by Super Official, the video is…well…super official.  Go head Thurz!

It’s no secret that Seattle’s hip-hop scene is thriving these days and the rest of the country is rapidly taking notice of the talent we have in the town.  Macklemore is leading the way, but there’s a bevvy of artists making great music with breakout potential.  People already know about folks like Sol, The Physics, Grynch, J. Pinder, Nacho Picasso, etc., but from what I’ve heard of Raz Simone, I think it’s safe to put him on that list as well.

Here’s the video for “Cold,” a record Raz debuted on Sound Session last week from his upcoming Solomon EP.  Great stuff.

Somewhat random, because it seemed like the buzz around this album had already passed, but Childish Gambino just put out the video for “L.E.S.,” which is definitely one of my favorites from him.  Dope beat, dope hook, lots of nice wordplay…what else do you need?  The video is pretty much a spot on representation of the Lower East Side…or at least the version they want the world to see.

Almost exactly a year after we played this record on SNSS, Nieve and the homey Tunji have released visuals for “California,” a straightforward ode to their state.  Better late than never!  Also, congrats to Tunj on his recent engagement.  Dopeness.

You can grab Nieve’s full project, Playback, right here.

Not sure why the official YouTube clip got pulled down with a notice saying “UMG Filed A Copyright Claim” on it, but hopefully UMG isn’t standing in the way of Kendrick and TDE running things the way they want. I’m pretty sure the success and classic music they’re releasing proves they know what they’re doing without major label meddling.

Anyway, enjoy this one until it gets taken down too…

The 2nd video from Toro Y Moi’s Anything In Return album isn’t as baller as the first, but makes up for it with subtle hilarity (1:14 is epic).  Go head Chaz.

Lost in all the (well deserved) mania about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ recent success is the fact that Allen Stone has taken the world by storm as well.  The Northwest native has been touring and performing non-stop for months, much of which is documented in his new video for “Sleep.”  This is the number one reason I could never do tour life.  I am NOT about that sleepless life.