[Interview] RH First Look: Caleb James
When I walked into Leaders 1354 on Friday night, it was immediately apparent the path Chicago Hip Hop is heading. About 60 of us packed the Chicago boutique to witness the first sounds from Caleb James' debut project Ground Up. Recently, Chicago's scene has become a hotbed for new talent and many artists are bringing our sound to a national stage. That list includes recent major label signees like Chief Keef and King Louie, as well as soon to sign artists like Rockie Fresh and L.E.P. In this new wave of attention, it is important to understand who the new fans are. They are the consumers who watched "3Hunna" 1 million times, the kids standing in lines wrapped around the block at Leaders waiting to meet Chance The Rapper on a cold and rainy day in November, they are the youth. Caleb's listening party was even more proof that the enthused teenage fan will be a leading factor in deciding the future of Hip Hop, not only here in Chicago, but everywhere.
There is an honest and personal connection that James and SaveMoney have with their fans. For one, a big foundation of the SaveMoney Army (as their called) come from the same Chicago (and surrounding) high schools as Vic Mensa, Caleb James, Chance The Rapper, St. Millie, Calez and others. They've been to almost every in-store at Leaders or Jugrnaut since last September, and wouldn't miss a Chance, Caleb, or Kids These Days show unless Kanye was playing the Metro unexpectedly. The national popularity surrounding artists like Louie and Keef has only strengthened the other local scenes, as their rising star power has not only inspired local artists to reach that level, but have unearthed Hip Hop fans of all ages. This bond has centered around supporting the young talent of our city, that ultimately is the future of Hip Hop. This allows for scenes like Friday where everyone from MC Juice, Treated Crew's Sulaiman, Gzus piece, and ShowYouSuck, The Village's Alex Wiley and a buttload of teenage stans came together supporting Caleb and his team's Movement.
For James, the road to this launching point of his career has been a random one of some sorts. Yet, with a renowned producer as a father who worked closely with Avant and the Isley Brothers and owned a studio in Wicker Park, this path can be seen as destiny for "Mr. DoItForSaveMoney". Keep reading to learn more about Caleb's emergence into the industry in this new First Look.
[Interview] RH First Look: Chandler London
About a year and a half ago, Stefan Ponce started telling me about this new kid he was working with and an upcoming project that they created all on their own. That new kid was Chandler London, and the early skeletons of songs appearing in my inbox were off Chandler's debut mixtape, The Science of Sleep. Chandler London and Stefan Ponce created a new kind of sound for Chicago's buzzing Hip Hop scene and after speaking to Chandler about his influences, it becomes clearer where that sound came from and how he got here. Drawing inspiration from sources stretching from "Grease" and Ritchie Valens all the way to DMX and Motown, London is building a name for himself and his style of music.
In the newest RH First Look, we spoke to Chandler London about his early days sitting in on his dad's practice sessions, linking up with Stefan Ponce, wyling out to It's Dark And Hell Is Hot, and hopefully collaborating with Tree and Chance The Rapper. Check out the interview to get familiar with one of Chicago's most promising artists.
Interview by Peter Kole.
[Interview] Chance The Rapper: Off Suspension
Someone recently asked me to describe Chance The Rapper. After thinking for a while, I told them that Chance is really best described by the music. Not just in the sense of the music he makes, the words he raps or sings, but the music. Lil' Wayne created the I Am Music Tour, Chance The Rapper should be opening the next leg. At only 19 years old, Chance is musically mature beyond his age. Every time that I listen to his recent mixtape, #10Day, I continue to be amazed by some of the layouts and song structures, as well as the cohesiveness of the project.
Way before he dropped #10Day, he asked me to meet him at Panera Bread near Columbia College and the high school where he fatefully got suspended. He ran down a plan of finishing the mixtape, creating storytelling music videos, and a path that would see him skip college and pursue the music full-time. It's a meeting that I'd had, and a story that I had heard many times over, but it was different coming from Chance The Rapper. It seemed believable. It's been less than a year since that sit down, and Chance has gone from pretty much unknown to one of the most sought after artists in Chicago's Hip Hop scene. He is regularly mentioned by national press, and most recently has been added to spot dates opening for Childish Gambino.
I met up with Chance again on the day after the release of his #10Day mixtape. This time we didn't talk what about he plans to do. There were no more timelines and sketches of future plans. We talked about what he has done, and how wild some of it really is. We also spoke about his connection to his fans, the evolution of his music, and what exactly he was doing before he got handed a ten-day suspension from Jones College prep that would forever change his life. Check out the full in-depth interview below.
[Interview] RH First Look: Warm Brew
Artists evolve throughout their careers. Some change for the better and some for the worse. Some artists don’t change much at all, producing a catalog of stale material with redundant lyrics and sounds. Other artists change noticeably from project to project, but struggle to recreate the same success found in earlier work. Luckily for us, there are a handful of artists who seem to just get it and manage to deliver a variety of quality music.
Enter Warm Brew. These guys get it. They have an expanding collection of tracks that might make some listeners reminisce on the Cali Hip Hop stylings of the 90’s. Warm Brew has a similar kind of “style with ease” (steez) that was seen in artists such as Hieroglyphics, Pharcyde, and Jurassic 5. The Left-Coasters have proven themselves on a collection of tracks with a wide range of both sound and subject matter.
Warm Brew’s latest mixtape, Kottabos, dropped on April 26th and it’s pretty different from their prior tape, Warm Brew. That being said, both tapes are impressive in their own right because Warm Brew is able to deliver such unique and well rounded tracks. Their material isn’t only unique in that it doesn’t sound like what other artists are doing. Each track is unique from the rest of their catalog, making it easy to listen to Warm Brew’s material for a while without it getting stale. This young and talented collective is definitely worth keeping an eye on and we’re excited to see what they do next. Make the jump to check out RH’s First Look with Warm Brew.
[Interview] RH First Look: The Pro Letarians
The saying, “I’d rather be lucky than good,” chooses one of two desirable options, but what if you could have both?
The duo known as the Pro Letarians were fortunate enough to be just doors apart at Indiana university, a school of over 40,000 students. That's pretty lucky. With JO on production and Jupiter Jim emceeing, The Pro Letarians have created plenty of well-rounded tracks that often uniquely sample familiar songs such as The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back”. Their tracks possess an infectious enthusiasm that makes it hard not to nod along. That's pretty good.
The Pro Letarians have already come out with two mixtapes despite having just met each other around 7 months ago and being in school for almost the entire time. Their first tape, The Pregame, may have been a little rough around the edges in some spots, but the tape showcased the duo’s potential and received positive praise in the blogosphere. They followed this up with the March release of Hello, Forever, which made the duo’s sonic evolution apparent. Hello, Forever was a longer, more diverse tape, which like their debut mixtape, had no features. That fact kept the spotlight, and the pressure, on them throughout. It seems like the young duo is heading in the right direction and it will be interesting to see where The Pro Letarians end up. The maturation seen in such a short time is encouraging and further proof that these kids out of Indiana are good enough to make their own luck.
Make the jump to check out our First Look with The Pro Letarians.
[Interview] RH First Look: Supreme Regime
In Chicago's burgeoning Hip Hop scene, standing out is a challenge. The numerous cliques and crews offer a way to sort through the mass of artists, helping to draw distinctions between the styles and motivations that drive the music. This phenomenon is not a new one, however the idea of a crew had certainly faltered in past years. Artists seemed to see bigger benefits flying solo than they did by bolstering themselves with a solid cast of supporting artists. This is no longer the case. Chicago's Savemoney and 2008ighties are local evidence, while A$AP Mob and Odd Future are proving it on a national and international scale. It is indeed possible for artists to share the limelight, make great music and be rewarded for the collaboration.
Supreme Regime is a group with plans to pursue this philosophy whole heartedly. When asked what their role in the group was, each of the five members responded in one shape or form that it was "to make the group better." Hailing from the Northside of Chicago, the group members embody the cultural diversity of the city as a whole, which their debut project Sloane Peterson will reflect. With some big plans for the next month or so, the crew is focusing on the short term. Read on below to get a better idea of the crew, individually and as a whole, and look out for Sloane Peterson arriving May 15th.
RubyHornet: How'd you guys get together in the first place?
Supreme Regime (Paul O.): Jesse and I met in high school. We actually had class together. Jesse was the goofy kid always getting in trouble and they sat him next to me and we just hit it off. We started hanging out and after a while, because we both had this love for Hip Hop, Jesse was like, 'we should start rapping.' Smoko Ono was also in school with us and around the same time he got into making beats, bought an Akai and it was just like that, grind mode. As for Loudmouth, I went to middle school with him for sixth to eighth grade, but we were never really that cool until after we graduated from high school. Jesse met him, and told him that he rapped, and he just brought him around and we started writing songs together, rapping, drinking, doing normal shit and we got really close. After a while it was like 'why don't we bring him into this' and see where it goes. And around the same time we met Mulatto Beats. People filtered in over time.
RubyHornet: When did it come down to picking Supreme Regime as the name? How does that relate to yours guys attitude towards music?
Supreme Regime (Paul O.): It was the name before Loudmouth and Mulatto Beats joined. We were just sitting around one night at Jesse's house and someone came up with the name and when we heard it we were like 'Oh, shiiittt" that's it, I forgot who said it but we knew that had to be the name. It's pretty fitting, I don't want to say that we're the best, but we're good at what we do and we do a lot of different shit. We make beats, the videos are produced in house, the rapping. To a certain point we are sort of a regime. We're just trying to take what is ours, prove to people that we have talent and get the recognition that we feel we deserve.
[Interview] RH First Look: Legit
When Legit released his fifth project, Coloring Outside The Lines, the young #2008ighties member from the south suburbs of Chicago had no idea that it would be his most defining project yet. Legit was in a similar mindset when he penned "A N***er in Northface", the gem off of the tape about interracial relationships. With the help of the talented visual artists at Young Wonder, who translated the rhymes into a gripping video. "A N***er In Northface" went on to garner 100,ooo plus views on youtube and has given the emcee a nice cushion, the video "just extends the amount of time I have to work on my next project" he told me.
At the same time that "A N***er In Northface" was making a splash on the world wide web, the rest of the crew was also hitting their stride. Calez, Fonz-E Mak and Julian Malone (formerly of #2008ighties) all released high quality, hand-crafted projects that cemented the whole crew's expanding success in Chicago's burgeoning Hip Hop scene. We talked to Legit about his status as the 'Frank Ocean' of the group, the benefits of hard work, and where he's headed now.
[Interview] RH First Look: MaLLy
My favorite thing about Hip Hop music is the rawness. Before it became cliche and corny to 'keep it real', that phrase used to mean something, and that something was the shit. The first-person narratives of Nas, the true anger of Chuck D, the humorous honesty of the Beastie Boys, that's what fueled my earliest desires to hear Hip Hop music, and contribute to its culture. That lineage still continues to grow, as new generations take the place of the artists mentioned above. Just as past generations battled with Hip-Pop and other misuses, the current landscape is also filled with a fast-food equivalent of Hip Hop music. Yes, it satisfies the hunger for something new, but provides nothing of lasting value. So, when I hear a new artist with that raw aesthetic, I take notice. Minneapolis' MaLLy is one such artist.
In his mid-20's, MaLLy has been making music for half a decade. This past summer, Slug of Atmosphere repped a MaLLy t-shirt at SoundSet, setting off a chain of events that would see MaLLy on tour with Atmosphere, and his music spreading throughout the online world. His last release, Free on The 15th, is a remarkable collection of raw and reflective Hip Hop, dazzling wordplay, and a true-school mindframe. As he works on his new project, set for a May release, we turn our spotlight on MaLLy in this exclusive RH First Look.