The Day I Overdosed on Acid Rap
Photo by: Roger Tino Morales
Since dropping Acid Rap in late April as the follow up to 2012's 10 Day, Chance The Rapper has quickly turned much of the city's youth into unapologetic junkies.
The squirrely nanas and schizophrenic flow have taken the city and the national underground hip-hop scene by storm over the past year, and Friday at Lollapalooza set the perfect stage for Chance's tie-dyed Acid raps to shine. First off, I'll admit I'm an avid user. Having followed Chance for most of the past year and for days at a time at SXSW in Austin, I felt more than prepared as I rode in the car to a noon rehearsal at The Music Garage on the near West Side with "Good Ass Intro" producer Peter CottonTale.
Chance arrived soon after we did. Dressed casually in grey pants cuffed around the ankles and a grey baseball t-shirt with Leaders emblazoned in pink across his chest, he dove into a quick once over of the album, played with a live band made up of former Kids These Days members Macie Stewart and Greg "Stix" Landfair alongside CottonTale. Between bites of McDonald's Chance sputtered over the quick-footed rhymes and crooned the nasal chorus of "Chain Smoker" as his brother Taylor Bennett, fellow artist NoNameGypsy, and others looked on.
The rehearsal came to an end just over two hours after it began when Chance mentioned a hidden plan to crowd surf through the crowd in an inflatable raft at the end of his set. "I'm gonna grab an oar and get all the way to the back of that bitch."
Party Supplies releases debut LP "Tough Love" via Fool's Gold
Party Supplies has been pumping out impressive production for a minute now, having completed solid projects with the likes of Action Bronson and Danny Brown. Together, Justin Nealis and Sean Mann create what they refer to as "classic rock from the future" as the pair out of Brooklyn combine "blue collar funk, school gym foot-stompers, and yearning city boy ballads over drum machine beats" on the Fool's Gold debut. Pitchfork premiered "Beautiful Girls," the lead single off the nine track album which comes out 8/27. For now, check out "Beautiful Girls" below.
[Video] Lollapalooza Sampler Platter
In case you missed the action this weekend we put together a quick sampler platter of the most entertaining performances of the weekend. Chance took over the BMI stage Friday evening while sandwiched between Queens of The Stone Age, Flux Pavilion and New Order before Nine Inch Nails and Steve Aoki finished things up. On Saturday Mumford & Sons closed out the day on the Red Bull Sound Select Stage while The Poastal Service united in person to re-hash their 2003 pen-pal album Give Up to follow a strong day that saw Kendrick Lamar, Charles Bradley, Ellie Goulding grace Grant Park. Sunday featured a little of everything with 2 Chainz, Beach House and Two Door Cinema Club rounding the day out before The Cure took the stage. Watch below.
Chance The Rapper with Vic Mensa & Twista at the BMI Stage Friday
http://youtu.be/XCjVl4w1D2w
Nine Inch Nails at Bud Light stage Friday
http://youtu.be/0dPga72LpzQ
Mumford and Sons at Red Bull Sound Select Stage Saturday
http://youtu.be/cYrgyUNN5uE
2 Chainz at The Grove
http://youtu.be/_KCKHxfMq_g
D'Angelo cancels Chicago shows
Photo by: Fouad
Say it ain't so! The sacred son of soul music, D'Angelo, has been hospitalized and as a result, cancelled his show in Chicago at The House of Blues set for tomorrow. Live Nation, who organized the tour, released a statement saying D'Angelo,“expresses his sincere regret due to this unfortunate circumstance.” Concerts last week in Maryland and New York and also dropped out of a show in Minneapolis today and San Diego on the tenth. He is, however, still scheduled for Outside Lands on the ninth which is interesting. . .
08-06 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
08-07 Chicago, IL - House of Blues
08-09 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands
08-10 San Diego, CA - Humphrey's Concerts by the Bay
10-04-06 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits
10-05 Thackerville, OK - Winstar Casino
10-11-13 Austin TX - Austin City Limits
Maya Symone: "SummerTime Chi" (feat. Kembe X) (Prod. Trackkadicts)
The debut single from 18 year old Chicago native Maya Symone featuring Kembe X that should bring some brightness to this cloudy Monday afternoon. Be sure to keep an eye out for her forthcoming debut LP Melodic Evolution.
[RH Interview] Soul Trapping with MC Tree G at Pitchfork 2013
Photography by Virgil Solis
Chicago's genre-bending MC Tree loves to make predictions. Last year, while attending Pitchfork as a guest, he told everyone who would listen that a year from then he would be on one of the four stages in Union Park. On July 21st, he proved that estimate true as he played the opening 1pm set on Sunday. It was an appropriate setting for the Soul Trap creator.
As he dabbled between the duo of Sunday School mixtapes released over the past year and a half, church bells rang out from service at First Baptist Congregational Church just west of the festival. By all accounts, it was a solid fest debut for Tree, who was joined onstage by a drummer and vocalists Lili K and BenOffishal. Tree's prediction this year? Read it in the Q+A below and hear the lofty goals the producer/MC has for the rest of this year and 2014.
[Interview] Idris "Peeda Pan" Speaks Out on Chief Keef's Arrest
Chief Keef has been arrested again, this time on trespassing charges. In what has become somewhat of a routine for the 17-year-old artist who has seemingly spent as much time in legal custody as not this year, Keef was apprehended as he left a court appearance in Skokie for a speeding violation last month in Northbrook. After learning that he was barred from driving a vehicle for 18 months due to his 110 mph joy ride down the Edens, Keef and his team were surprised to be confronted by an unmarked police car with officers allegedly brandishing AK-47s to arrest the unarmed Keef. The trespassing charge allegedly stems from a gathering near a school about a month and a half ago when Keef visited his old neighborhood. With the lockup of fellow GBE member Lil Durk on gun charges June 5, rumors have spread of a special CPD task force aimed at targeting Chicago hip-hop artists, most notably Keef's GBE clique. While the jury is still out on the existence of the task force, it is worth asking: do officers from the South Side really need to apprehend a 17-year-old with automatic weapons? While it may be easy to point a finger at Keef and his associates because of their lyrical content, it seems as if officials are permeating violence in the city in an attempt to find a "face" for the violence that has been plaguing the city even before the local artists made it big or even picked up a mic. Read the full interview with Idris Peeda Pan, part of Keef's management team, below.
[Interview] RH First Look: The GTW
words by Jake Krzeczowski
It's hard to miss James King when he enters a room. When I first met him he was wearing green fatigue pants tightly tucked into black combat boots and topped off by a patchwork bomber jacket. King, better known as The GTW (Greater Than Wealth), explains that his dress reflects his art, taking from many different scenes and cultures around Chicago and abroad to create a sound and attitude that is wholly his own. The sound he dubs "Chigerian" is a nod to the Nigerian heritage his immigrant parents bestowed on him since he was an infant.
The rapper/singer/producer embodies the collage of influences in everything he does, calling it a "random" mix of everything from art to music and life. His music is a sort of new-age 90's R&B with tribal twinges and a mix of down-tempo house with carefully crafted electronic undertones. His most recent project, 4814 with producer Beng Feng showed a flexibility to adapt and assimilate his tone and sound to a different production, something the 22-year old artist prides himself on. The GTW is a big Manchester United fan and has a keen eye on the european electronic scene and 4814 garnered him a write-up in the UK newspaperThe Guardian before he had much of any press here at home. With a video for his song "Cravings" on the way and upcoming projects with Beng Feng and others in the works, expect to see plenty more headlines on The GTW in 2013. I was able to catch up with the multi-talented artist just before his show January 25 at The Temple Head Gallery in Humboldt Park.