After a long and glorious holiday weekend in Chicago, the scene was in full flight this week with a little bit of a shortened workload. This edition of Local Sounds includes a healthy dosage of news, tidbits, and music from a wide array of local artists including, The Cool Kids, Kidz In The Hall, Vic Mensa, Mic Terror, Common,Tony Shane, Vakill, Twista, Big Homie D.O.E, Thelonious Martin + More.
In Case You Missed It – Local Sounds: 7/1/11
News and Notes From The Windy City…
As The Cool Kids prepare for the long-awaited release of their debut LP When Fish Ride Bicycles, they just announced they have been added to this year’s already stacked, Lollapalooza line-up seeing a set at 3pm on Sunday August 7th at Perry’s Stage. They have also announced an official Lollapalooza after show on Friday August 5th at Reggie’s, and being the big weekend there is sure to be more to come for the bill of that show. With the album dropping next week, the duo has no plans to slow down hopping for the follow-up, “Shark Week” LP to drop this December, and a possible third LP next summer.
In other album news, last night at The Mercer Hotel in New York City Jay-Z hosted a very tight listening party for the hopeful August 2nd release of their collaborative project Watch The Throne. The guest list was pretty exclusive, and was filled with journalists from outlets such as Billboard, Rolling Stone, MTV, Rap Radar and more, with many mentioning stand out tracks featuring Frank Ocean, as well as a record in which Jay-Z and Kanye West rap to their unborn sons. Jay-Z also played some new records he is working on for his solo LP, and hopes to have the Watch The Throne tracklist finalized over the weekend. 3,000 miles west, Kanye & Jay-Z collaborator, and legend in his own right, Twista was in LA shooting a video for “Let’s Go” off Travis Barker’s Give The Drummer Some LP.
We caught a scare yesterday on the Twittersphere, as a rumor was swirling around that Chi-town staple Sharkula was dead, but was quickly shot down as FSD confirmed with Josh Conro, director of the documentary Sharkula: Diarrhea of a Madman that he was in fact still alive. “Martin Luther King Jr. Whopper With Cheese” forever!
While speaking to Jersey transplant, Thelonious Martin earlier this week, he relayed to me that he will be coming back home to Chicago at the end of this month as he readies his first year at Columbia College, majoring in Music Management. The determined 18-year old is ecstatic to return home and has hopes to jump right into the local scene, linking with Kids These Days for a project he and drummer Greg Landfair have been hypothesizing. Furthermore, Kidz In The Hall announced a Show at Reggie’s July 21st, which will feature fellow KTD member Vic Mensa & DJ’s Vic Lloyd – ibhappy – and RH’s own RTC.
Tonight our homie Mathien will be performing at the House Of Blues, celebrating The Night I Was An Alpha Male release party. Doors at 7:30 – Show at 9, as Mathien will be joined by Unemployed Architects, Animate Objects and Jackpot Donnie. Check out the title track for the LP Here.
New Music & Videos
On Tuesday local MC ShowYouSuck dropped the visuals for his smoker’s anthem “All Chill Everything”, done right here at RH. Show is definitely seeing a great response for the visuals and if you haven’t checked out his EP OneManPizzaParty do so Here. The videos didn’t stop there as, Mic Terror & Tony Baines (BainesGod) linked to shoot visuals for their track, “Public Skool Terror” on a gorgeous day at North Ave Beach, both videos being #Summertimechi certified.
Common & Nas also officially released “Ghetto Dreams”, the first song off, The Dreamer, The Beliver LP, that we will hopefully see this November. Common told MTV News it was the first song he recorded for the album and once he heard the Nas sample, he had to holla at the Queensbridge MC. As you may know, Nas is Common’s favorite MC and with No I.D. being the convenient link between the two at this point in time, it had to take place. “Me being a part of this thing right here, it’s meant to be,” spoke Nas, in the trailer for Ghetto Dreams. Video coming soon!
We also got an unexpected dose of new material from MC Tony Shane, who definitely made his presence felt on his single “Inside Out” off his crew #RobotArmy’s compilation titled Summer Shots. Produced by fellow Robot Army Fam Jason Davis, who also dropped some classic visuals for his track “Honesty”. If these two joints represent what #RobotArmy is all about, then we definitely need a re-up. Following the footsteps of his Duffmaster brother YP, Big Homie D.O.E hits us with a verse over “I’m On One”. Just wish these were both on one track, (Chi’s On One). No need for Weezy or Ross’s verses to reach my ears, I’ll simply turn on the radio if I’m looking for that.
Finally, The Cool Kids takeover continues as, “Summer Jam” & “Gas Station” the Pharrell produced (latter), and Bun-B assisted (former) tracks dropped a week before we all see Fishes on BMX’s down LSD.
After the acclaimed release of his Armor Of God, Molemen representer Vakill dropped the visuals for the track “Endless Road” Prod. by MGI. The visuals directed Sense Hernandez give a great insight to the realness and organic beauty of our city.
Another great week in the budding scene here in the Chi, which was full of upcoming young talent and masterful architects continuing their trade, next week can only hope for more of the same. If you’d like to contribute something to Local Sounds, just hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or send an email to RubyHornet@gmail.com. Happy Weekend.