Win Tickets To CIMMFest x Closed Sessions Showcase
Tomorrow night our Closed Sessions buds put together a showcase for the 5th annual CIMM Fest. The showcase takes place on April 19th at the Double Door and will feature performances by Treated Crew, Alex Wiley, ShowYouSuck, Kembe X, and more. Along side some classic CS docs they will be premiering the newest CS video featuring Wyclef Jean and Young Chop.
We are giving away a pair of tickets to this event on Twitter later today. So make sure you're following us.
CS has also teamed up with CIMM Fest and Nike to create a limited edition Closed Sessions tee-shirt. The tee was designed by B-Easy of Jugrnaut, and will be available exclusively at the event.
Full flyer and tee below.
Rockie Fresh "Panera Bread" (feat. Rick Ross & Lunice)
Happy Birthday to the homie Rockie Fresh, who is 22 years young today. Rockie's had a helluve a year and to celebrate, he drops some new music for us. MMG jefe Ricky Rozay jumps on this Lunice produced track as well. "Panera Bread" is off of Rockie's latest mixtape,"The Birthday Tape" that drops next week. Panera Bread is pretty awesome, and if you don't believe us ask this girl.
Listen to "Panera Bread" below.Read more
[Video] YP: "Smoke Somthing" (feat. Rockie Fresh)
YP drops visuals for his track "Smoke Something", off his Wide Awake project. Rockie Fresh jumps on to assist, on this C-Sick produced track. Hit play, sit back, and smoke something....
[CS Documentary] Tree – “Trynawin” feat Roc Marciano (prod by Tree)
We’re very happy to bring you “Trynawin”, the new song and doc featuring Chicago’s Tree and NYC’s Roc Marciano. The song was made during a Closed Session in late February in which the two emcee/producers connected at SoundScape Studio and Tree put Roc Marciano onto the style and sounds of Soul Trap. ”Trynawin” is the first release from Tree’s highly anticipated new project, Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out, which is the follow-up to his acclaimed 2012 release, Sunday School. The new project drops in spring 2013 via Closed Sessions and Creative Control.
Watch the documentary and download the song below.
Written By: Alexander Fruchter for CS
Video By: Andrew Zeiter for CS
Mix & Mastered By: Michael Kolar for CS
[Video] A moment with Instagramer Elise Swopes aka @Swopes
Photo Credit: Roger Tino Morales
During SXSW any journalist will tell you that there are a million and one things to cover in any given day. Knowing this I made it my mission to set out and capture moments around the festival that would be easily over looked.
With this in mind I had sought out to capture interviews, performances, and moments that I felt people would have loved to experience if given the chance. This is how I found myself working out a day where I could follow around the Chicago Instagram queen herself Elise Swopes also known as in the Instagram world @Swopes.
Her story all started with an iPhone and a knack for perspective with the camera on it. She started her account on Instagram around 2010, shortly after Instagram's initial launched. Like all of us who took our first steps in this new land of Instagram, her photos consisted of selfies, pets, and food.
Then, gradually, Swopes' Instagram account began to turn into something else completely. Her photos went from portrait shots of her meals to portrait shots of the city that almost made Chicago look like a ghost town. She began to experiment with different apps on her phone that lead her to coining her own style of cropping into different scenes spheres and animals that seemed out of place and meant to be at the same time.
Since then, Swopes account has gained over 150,000 devoted followers who all look to her account as daily inspiration. Her success in the Instagram community has became so big that large companies such as Nike and Samsung have sponsored flights out of Chicago for her to come and work on promotional campaigns for them.
When I heard that Swopes was going to be in SXSW while I would be down there I knew there had to be content created from this. It was my chance to finally show her 150 followers a side of the Instagram account profile they had never seen before.
The day started with me simply following her and her friends around. I wanted the interviews to be as casual as possible, reflecting how her photos on Instagram feel. They all seem so intimate as if she is wondering the city all by herself on a private exploration where it's just her showing the world to her followers. To replicate that feeling I wanted to make part of the interview while we were on the go from place to place. Walking throughout eh mayhem that was 6th Street in Austin, Texas made that possible.
It was casual conversation that drove this entire video from beginning to end. While we stood in the crowd waiting for the Prince concert to start that night, she was invited to attend by Samsung, our interview simply started with a conversation. I had not plan it at all. It was as if I had pushed a button with one question and immediately the flood gates opened to Elise letting all she had in her mind out.
It was a fantastic opportunity to actually capture the artist in the moment, it was an inside look into capturing the new age artist of our generation. A new breed of artist that launches their careers through hashtags and social media. A new breed of artist whose career starts on the internet and that see's no boundaries when almost everyone that can consume their art can because of the wonder that is internet.
Here is an perspective that required no filters because the magic of the picture was the simple and colorful personality that is Elise Swopes.
[RH Photos] Baauer and Danny Brown Live @ Emo's East (Austin,TX)
Photos by Virgil Solis
Coming off of his huge internet hit "Harlem Shake", Baauer hits the road with Danny Brown for the "Worst of Both Worlds" tour. This past Thursday they hit Emo's East in Austin,TX. Check out the photos below.
[Video] Chance The Rapper: "NaNa" (Directed by Hannibal Buress)
Comedy video site Jash, gave Hannibal Buress 5K to direct (Co-directed with Austin Vesely) a video with Chance The Rapper. This is the result...Read more
[Closed Sessions] "Heads of The Heads" Feat. GLC & Freddie Gibbs
Here is the official video for "Heads of The Heads" featuring GLC and Freddie Gibbs. The song is produced by Tony Baines, and was recorded in Austin, Texas during March 2010 as part of Closed Sessions: ATX. The video was shot by Davy Greenberg and Elephilms.
"Heads of The Heads" and Closed Sessions: ATX are both available now and can be purchased via iTunes.