almost six months ago, I started a little tradition here of wait what wednesdays. what was originally just going to go until the end of 2011 is now 24 songs deep with over 100k downloads, a bunch of blog coverage, and something that’s kept me consistently making music every week over that time.

I’m happy to announce that this tradition is culminating with a couple of cool things: first, a mixtape release. it’ll be a collection of the best tracks from the series along with a couple skits, and it’ll be pay what you want through gumroad (because their product is awesome and sahil lavingia is the man), with all proceeds going to 826Valencia (just like the last mixtape, this is real life, which raised $10000).

second cool thing is an SF release show in may — still squaring away details, but rest assured, it’s going to be a blast. stay tuned for more details on that and the mixtape release date in may. thanks for all your support; you guys are awesome.

cheers,
charlie (wait what)

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wait what wednesday isn’t a teenager anymore, with number 20 here presented by kanye west and kennedy explaining their optimal fitness plans for females with the new karate workout.

I found this kennedy song from a friend of mine posting it on facebook and then remembering it’s the song from the dollar shave club ad. was also really digging that it was about karate because one of the interesting tidbits about my girlfriend is that she’s a black belt and so thought it would be funny if the cover art was of her doing karate. couldn’t find a photo of that, though, and she might not have been super into it. anyway, the kanye track is a nice college dropout throwback and liked that it thematically fit.

sitting on a rooftop balcony in an apartment in berlin, and this city is spectacular — great food, cool areas, chill people. we were in copenhagen for a couple days earlier this week and had an awesome time there, too. flying to milan and driving around southern italy and france, arriving in barcelona the weekend of march 31. trying to get tickets to see rick ross in villeurbanne, france this week. the adventure moves forward.

“every tat mean something, that’s my word on my body,”
charlie

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one away from twenty here with number nineteen in the wait what wednesday series. lil wayne, kanye, and static major run into memory tapes at a summer barbeque to create lollipops in the sun.

played a really fun show in palo alto last week, finished at 2am and then took the 6am flight to pheonix with my dad and spent last weekend there for the giants spring training (preseason baseball for those unacquainted). my best friend was there too and wrote a good argument for why everyone should go. hung out in the arizona sun for three days and then spent this week not sleeping and writing an obscene amount for the end of the quarter at Stanford. memory tapes makes some great summertime music, and their original track, sun hits, was a great soundtrack for the sun-soaked arizona days.

leaving tomorrow for copenhagen and backpacking/roadtripping around europe for two and a half weeks. still taking recs for what I should check out in Berlin, Copenhagen, northern Italy, and Barcelona: euro12 [at] waitwhatmusic [dot] com. be well, and listen to the new wiz khalifa mixtape if you haven’t.

“got the windows down, radio’s on,”
charlie

just in time to promote the show tonight, my incredibly talented friend and artistic accomplice will reid put together this awesome video to accompany the live version of ‘dead wrong intro.’ enjoy, and hope to catch bay area friends tonight in palo alto — drink specials from 9-10, dance party til midnight+. see you there.

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eighteen is a big birthday for anyone, and that’s exactly what we’re here to celebrate today for wait what wednesdays. to celebrate the occasion, fabolous and carly rae jepsen both put their best foot forward in asking an acquaintance to call them in holla back maybe.

just heard this carly rae jepsen track this week, and it’s one of the catchiest pop songs I can remember (at least since taylor swift & kelly clarkson). none of my friends agree, unfortunately. the fab song reminded me of how underrated he is — few rappers have crossed over mainstream and still manage to drop quality mixtape material.

booked a trip to copenhagen, berlin, barcelona, and one as yet to be determined european city for the last two weeks of march. created an hour of video for my palo alto show tomorrow, 3/8, (tickets still available, and a steal at $6). come by, say hello and grab some drinks if you’re around. and if you live in/know one of those european cities, would be great to get some venue recs: euro12 [at] waitwhatmusic [dot] com.

“have you listened to me lately? lately, I’ve been going crazy,”
charlie

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seventeenth edition of the wait what wednesday series, and here we have drake, birdman, and weezy detailing a lifestyle of having too much money while mstrkrft and n.o.r.e. share their thoughts on what it’s like to party all the time to make money to bounce.

these two fit together initially under the theme of ‘lives of excess,’ and then hearing each of them rap over mstrkrft made it a lock for a track I had to make. I just got back from a 12-hour trip to Vegas and party at pure in Caesar’s, so this track feels especially appropriate. haven’t slept in a bit, minus a quick nap on the flight back, but about to pull a full out day-time 4-hour crash and get back to equilibrium. just locked down a bay area show and inquiring about some europe dates — more news to come soon.

“we’re going to skate to one song and one song only,”
charlie

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super sweet sixteen of this wait what wednesday series, and this one’s brought to you by waka flocka flame, wale, and roscoe dash espousing their experiences through life when not having hands as bag raiders plays a cheery tune in the background to create a backyard barbeque track, shooting stars without hands.

I liked the combination of these because they were both summer anthems for different situations — they both got people moving when they came on, whether at a club or a daytime gathering. also, lyrically both songs left some up for interpretation, but still managed to be super catchy. if you haven’t heard wale’s album, though it doesn’t actually have no hands, I highly recommend it.

helped out planning a cool conference at stanford last week, headed down to LA for the weekend, and got to have lunch with the founders of YouTube yesterday through a stanford class. also in good news: jeremy lin is still repping for palo alto, and pitchers and catchers reported at giants spring training. another great week in the books — have an excellent upcoming week, see you all back here next week.

“ten, ten, ten, twenties and them fifties chick,”
charlie

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fifteen, like the minutes of fame you get, as wait what wednesday gets to celebrate its Quinceañera. here we have trina and weezy f baby giving their brand of dating advice as mackintosh braun croons about the later stages of a relationship, and they combine to bring you don’t trip for us on the day following valentine’s day.

trina and lil wayne have an interesting history, making songs together, dating, and then making songs together about the single life shortly after breaking up. hip-hop, at the root of it, is people sharing their stories, and this one’s been an interesting one to follow. mackintosh braun is the kind of duo that could blow up pretty soon, and I’m surprised this song hasn’t yet — the original is called made for us, and is worth checking out.

this last week, I flew to DC and back, drove the three hours to lexington virginia, and had a great weekend visiting my sister in college. helped plan a conference at stanford, wrote one a paper on maybe my favorite topic, the san francisco giants, and met the CEO of the team along with one of the founders of Twitter. to top it off, had an excellent valentine’s day date in sf last night. until next time, my friends.

“baked a lot of bread but kept it off the books,”
charlie

fourteen deep, like the number of players on a rugby sevens field or days in a fortnight, of the wait what wednesday series. ludacris and nate dogg heard some röyksopp beats at a rooftop party and started espousing their thoughts on women in a variety of geographies to create happy up in these area codes.

hearing this ludacris & nate dogg track takes me back to summer of 2001, after freshman year of high school, and walking to get jamba juice. the video was on mtv a bunch that summer, back when TRL was something that existed. heard this röyksopp track by chance, recently — one of the virtues of having friends big into electronic music.

this week, I had an anniversary dinner, spun at stanford’s white party, watched a super bowl that the 49ers could have won, and posted a radio special. flying out tomorrow morning for virginia; see you all back here next week.

“my chain hits my chest when I’m banging on the dashboard,”
charlie

here’s my hourlong radio special — the rare instance in which my voice appears on a recording, and where I talk about pairs of my favorites of 2011 in a couple categories: new artists, songs to hear when I’m out, mashups, hip hop tracks about love lost, hip hop songs that elicit strong emotional responses, songs that sample the beatles, and a few of my own tracks sprinkled in there. special thanks to my friend anneke for making it happen.

download it, put it on your iPod, take it on a walk/subway/bus ride. let me know what you thought (@wtwht) or spread the word — thanks for checking it out, team.