The Sermon's Domain

As I mentioned last week, we had some big events here in Seattle over the past few days.  First off, shout to Nottz, DJ Toomp, and all the competitors in the Seattle stop of the Red Bull Big Tune.  Well…all the producers…except one.  If you were there, you already know.  If not, enjoy the awkwardness.  But on the real, congrats to Rising Son and Trox for repping the NW nicely.  See y’all in the finals fellas…Secondly, many thanks to everyone who came through Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival over the holiday weekend.  By all accounts, the festival was a smashing success and J. Moore and I enjoyed hosting the main stage on Monday night to wrap up the show.  J. Cole, Drake, and Mary J. Blige combined to close out the weekend and pretty much killed it.  I didn’t hear a single account from someone who didn’t enjoy the concert and from where we watched, it certainly looked like the audience loved it.

Special shout to J. Cole and his crew for coming through KUBE for an interview and hopping in a live web chat with almost a thousand fans.  If you missed it, you can check out the archived video right here.  We’ll air the formal interview shortly…

Lastly, thanks to Thee Satisfaction and Angela Yee (shout to her artist, Jay Electronica too) for dropping by Sound Session live on Sunday night to co-host with us.  If you missed the lovely ladies of Thee Satisfaction performing at the festival, you definitely missed one of the highlights.  And if you aren’t familiar with Angela’s work on Sirius XM’s Shade 45, you’re sleeping.  She’s a cool, hilarious, cultured hip-hop head…can you say wifey material?  Well, depending on how you view her Lip Service show haaaa…but I digress…enjoy SNSS!

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Check out this week’s edition of SNSS to hear brand new music from the likes of Slum Village, Black Milk, Kanye West, Vandalyzm, Cee-Lo, Aloe Blacc, Lupe Fiasco, Fresh Daily, Nas, J. Cole, Drake, Nottz, and more.  Speaking of those last 3, there are 2 events this week that all our fellow Pacific NW’ers should come to Seattle for:

• Thursday, Sept. 2nd – Red Bull Big Tune at Neumos.  You already know what it is since J. Moore is one of the founding members of the Red Bull Big Tune, but if you’re sleeping for some reason, peep the site for more info.  This year’s Seattle stop goes down on Thursday and along with a plethora of talented producers from around the NW, Nottz and DJ Toomp will be on hand as the featured guests.  To top it all off, it’s FREE.  You have no excuse not to be there…unless you’re agoraphobic, I suppose.

• Saturday, Sept. 4th – Monday, Sept. 6th – Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music & Arts Festival at the Seattle Center.  That’s right, the world famous Bumbershoot Festival is back for it’s 40th year, complete with all sorts of incredible musicians.  Seriously, the lineup is packed across all genres.  Check it out here.  Be sure to peep the main stage on Monday evening to catch J. Cole and Drake perform at the same concert for the first time.  You’ll also be treated to Mary J. Blige closing out the show that night, plus J. Moore and myself will be hosting.  I think this is the 5th year J and I have hosted the main stage and it’s always a blast.  Last year, I was fortunate enough to DJ for the U-N-I homies (footage if you missed it) and this year we get J. Cole and Drizzy.  Doesn’t get much better…

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Another edition of SNSS is in the books, but as usual, we have your back on the archival tip.  Shout to Mister D.O.G. for coming through and to the One Reel/Bumbershoot family for providing some free tickets to their upcoming festival.  You don’t want to miss it!  More details here.

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Apologies for the delay on this week’s show, but you know how it goes.  Peep this week’s show to hear great music (as always) and the homey Lace Cadence joining us to debut “Moonlight” off his brand new mixtape.  J. Moore and I hosted the tape, while it was mixed by DJ B-Mello.  Sound familiar?  Cop Lace’s tape for the free right here – http://lacecadence.com

Super duper big time shout to Aloe Blacc coming through the studio this past week to bless us with an exclusive performance of his “Politician” record.  If you aren’t aware, Aloe has been a dope MC for years but in the last few, he’s started to branch out and really illustrate his musical genius.  His new project, Good Things, is, simply put, incredible.  It’s one of the best albums of the year and a throwback to when soul music not only sounded great, but also pushed buttons in society.  Nowhere is this more evident with “Politician,” a track that only appears as an instrumental reprise on the album.

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Super busy reviewing a TON of resumes for that job posting I mentioned last week, so I’ll keep this week’s SNSS update to a minimum.  Having the ability to hire someone and potentially change his/her life is somewhat daunting.  No one Hyphen should have all this power.

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Shout to a Northwest hip-hop legend and pioneer, Cool Nutz for sitting in with us on this week’s SNSS and co-hosting.  Cool Nutz founded his Jus Family record label in 1993 and has been a staple of the NW scene for years, both in the booth and the community.  His new project, Incredible, is in-stores now…cop that – http://www.myspace.com/coolnutz

Another shout to the homey Outasight for letting us world premiere the title track from his upcoming mixtape, Never Say Never.  OU is one of our favorite artists and with his recent signing to Warner Bros., it’s only a matter of time before his shine extends from the blogosphere and those of us in the know, out to the general public.  So when Becky in Bellevue says she likes his sunglasses, remember where you heard him first.

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At the end of this week’s Sound Session, we started tossing around the topic of “your favorite rapper.”  Of all the pointless music debates I seem to have every day, this one has to be my favorite.  I just love that there’s no wrong answer.  How are you going to correct me on my favorite MC?  That said, I reserve the right to clown you when you say something off the wall.  “Pras?!?!?!  PRAS?!?!?!?!  I guess that’s how you was raised…”

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On the positive side, I got a promotion at the day job so I’m now managing our Client Services division…along with about 4 other jobs there (raise FTW though).  On the downside, I worked a 14 hour day today.  So yeah, just the basics…but know that we murdered this show…[Dame Dash] lyrically, B!!!! [/Dash]

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You remember when you were a kid and your parents (if they loved you…shots fired) would ask about your day at school?  Regardless of what happened, 90% of the time, you’d respond to “how was your day?” with “…good.”  I mean, you could have aced a test…gotten into a fight…got that date to Homecoming…etc., but it’s always first nature to just sum it up.  “Good.”Well, sometimes these Sound Session archives feel the same way.  That’s not a bad thing.  On the contrary, we just continue to provide that piffery.  Uncut, raw, dopeness…straight to your veins each week (enough overt drug references for ya?).  “How was Sound Session this week?”…”Dope.”

And in case you’re wondering, our throwback is in response to the Oscar Grant madness…aka the only decision worse than Bron Bron this week.  Speaking of which, here’s some advice: announce the creation of a specific chapter of your charity that will focus on Cleveland’s youth.  Pledge a minimum of 2 million, which is a drop in the bucket for you.  Anytime someone attacks you for the callousness you showed the Cavs, say you’re sorry but that’s just sports anyway…your charity work shows how you really feel about the community.  Diffuses the situation and 2 million in donations buys you 10 million in PR.  But nah…run with the “all the ad revenue from my ego-tastic special goes to the B&G Club” angle.  [Jamie Foxx] Yeah, that’ll get ‘em on your side…yeah [/I am your conscience].

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I’ll be honest…I’m spending my day off eating waffles, watching the end of Spike’s Star Wars marathon (greatest movie series ever?), and getting some work done for the day job, so I’ll keep this brief.  Just more good music on a rainy and cloudy 4th of July episode of SNSS this week (wtf is a “summer?”).  Oh, also, happy Tactical Retreat Day to all my British folks.  Ahhh, memories.

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