Lyrical Exercise: J. Cole, ‘Premeditated Murder’

J. Cole has The Audio Dope licking our chops in anticipation for his second studio album set to release sometime in the beginning of 2013. After the release of ‘Miss America’, we have a sneaking suspicion that “Born Sinner” will draw more parallel’s to Cole’s mixtape/album “Friday Night Lights” than his debut studio album “Cole … Continue reading →

Joey Bada$$ links up with DJ Premier for ‘Unorthadox’

The popularity of Joey Bada$$ keeps on rising due to the people he is associating himself with. It is obvious that Joey has been inspired by Primo as some of his favorite albums include Gang Starr’s Moment of Truth and Nas’ Illmatic and it is awesome that this 18-year old kid is able to work with such a … Continue reading →

Ab-Soul to release joint album with JMSN in February

This news came as a bit of a surprise. We knew that Soulo was planning on releasing another full-length album this year, but we were not expecting it to be a collaboration project.  When this news broke, many people were asking who JMSN is.  He is a singer, songwriter, and producer from Detroit who released … Continue reading →

J. Cole reveals ‘Born Sinner’ Delay

We all knew it was coming folks. In this day and age, hip-hop fans can consider themselves lucky if their favorite artists only delay their album once. When J. Cole announced his second studio album ‘Born Sinner’ was set to hit stores late January, The Audio Dope had its doubts. Don’t get us wrong… we … Continue reading →

Kendrick Lamar- Backseat Freestyle [Video]

Kendrick just released these visuals for his next single, Backseat Freestyle.  This black-and-white video is set in Paris, France and is filled with many trippy visual effects and interesting camera angles.  Cut to 2:30 for the ass-shaking.

Jay-Z working on “The Great Gatsby” Score?

You won’t find bigger Jay-Z fans than the writers of The Audio Dope. That being said, why the hell is he working on the score for Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming “The Great Gatsby” film adaptation? If Jay isn’t a talented enough to do his own beats and loops on the tracks he raps over, how the … Continue reading →

Phony Ppl- Statues [Video]

Phony Ppl is one of the two hip-hop bands that really caught my eye in 2012 (the other being Kids these Days).  Their EP nothinG. speciaL expands the genre of hip-hop and rock to create a perfect summertime chilling soundscape.  Check out the video for Statues below.

First came the kilt, now masks? C’mon Kanye

Kanye took the stage last night at the Revel Hotel in Atlantic City wearing some very questionable accessories.  Although Kanye is known to cross the line with his fashion sense, I’m not sure how I feel about these masks that he was sporting last night.  In my opinion, this shit has gone too far.  I … Continue reading →

Kendrick Lamar announces his top 2 albums of 2012

It looks like Kendrick has some good taste. Kendrick claims that his favorite albums of 2012 were Nas’ Life is Good and Frank Ocean’s channel ORANGE. Look out for The Audio Dope’s Top Hip-Hop Projects of 2012 coming soon…

The Audio Dope’s ‘Since We’ve Been Gone’ Tape

After a few months of silence, The Audio Dope is ready to get it going again but before that happens, I’ve made a mix of 10 of our favorite songs that dropped during our hiatus. Check it out: DOWNLOAD IT HERE 1.) Like Water- Capital STEEZ, Joey Bada$$, CJ Fly 2.) 2012- J. Cole 3.) … Continue reading →

Lyrical Exercise: J. Cole, ‘Sideline Story’

Although the two albums are completely different, Kendrick Lamar’s new “GKMC” debut album reminds us so much of J. Cole’s debut release “Cole World: The Sideline Story”. Today’s Lyrical Exercise features lines from the the title track ‘Sideline Story’. ‘Sideline Story’ is one of my favorites on the album and always a good one to bump when … Continue reading →

Dopest Dope: Earl Sweatshirt- Chum

The other day, I was thinking about the albums that I was excited for this year and Earl’s name came to mind. It made me realize that he has stayed pretty quiet, with the exception of a few features, since he’s been back from Samoa. Today, Earl released this track titled Chum via his Tumblr page. … Continue reading →

Kendrick given words to freestyle with on K104

In this freestyle, Kendrick picks a stack of index cards that have Halloween themed words written on them and incorporated the words into his rhymes flawlessly. As I’ve said before, actually freestyling today is a lost art. It is good to see that the best written-word lyricists in the game is also one of the … Continue reading →

Joey Bada$$- FromdaTomb$ ft. Chuck Strangers [Video]

It’s been a minute since I’ve posted about Joey Bada$$ but he is definitely still doing his thing. In preparation for the upcoming Pro Era project scheduled to drop on December 21st, Joey and his producer/rapper crew-member, Chuck Strangers, release this video for the 1999 standout track, FromdaTomb$. This set of visuals really gives off the old … Continue reading →

Review: Kendrick Lamar- good kid, m.A.A.d city

If you visit this site regularly, or even somewhat often, you have probably noticed that we are pretty big fans of Kendrick Lamar. The  Compton MC is by far the most original and versatile rapper that we have come across in some time. For this reason, good kid, m.A.A.d city takes the cake for our most highly … Continue reading →