[RH Interview] North Coast Music Festival: Jesse Miller of Lotus
Photos by Bobby Reys
Lotus has carried the flag for their own genre for awhile now. "Jamtronica", the band's signature blend of electronic elements paired with a creatively unique jam band aesthetic that has kept them at the forefront of both genres for close to 15 years now. Lotus' ability to master a wide range of disciplines musically has allowed the Indiana-based group to constantly tinker with it's sound and evolve the band's dynamic. Lotus is a fully adaptable animal, with the ability to go from rock to dance to hip hop all in one rocking set and, largely without vocal aid. I had a chance to catch Lotus frontman Jesse Miller while backstage at The Last Stand Stage, check out the interview below.
Jake: Welcome to Chicago, what are the feelings about playing at North Coast and what do you all have in store?
Jesse: Our set is always interesting. At a festival, I feel like Lotus tends to stretch things out so ours sometimes we have to take it down to this package but this is a young crowd at this festival so I'm sure we're going to keep it on the dance tip. So we're planning on dancing and rocking out.
Jake: I know you all have a new album coming out as well that is tailored more towards a hip-hop aspect?
Jesse: Yeah, Monks. It's more of just a project for the album. We actually had started working on a track with Mr. Lif in maybe like 2011, maybe even a little bit before and we were working on it while we were working on other tracks and we didn't really feel ike we had a great place for it, we didn't want to drop it in the middle of another album and have it feel like it was this totally different thing so we were going to release it as a single but then started doing a few more and then we got Lyrics Born on for a track and Gift of Gab on there. So we just sort of built it out and said "Ok, what can we do with this" and then we ended up going back through it and weaving in the whole story, recorded some instrumentals and the whole project really came together really organically.
[RH First Look] Introducing KSRA: What Will Be, Will Be
Photo by Tasya Menaker
It's 2006, and Rachel Thomas is staring down the edge of a long blade.
A decision had to be made. Die right now or live, because pointing a knife at yourself daily is no kind of life.
A choice was made, the knife lowered. The next day, Thomas re-discovered sound.
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Thomas, better known in Chicago as KSRA, has had a life journey that embodies itself whole-heartedly in the music she makes.
On the cover of her debut album, Petra, Thomas lays amongst a field of paper, pages detailing a long period of self-reflection; one that spanned five years, two countries, two states and hundreds of pages of notes on the events therein.
In 2005, as a junior music student at the University of Michigan, Thomas took the opportunity to travel to Chile for a study abroad trip. Disenchanted with the classical route she chose to pursue in school, it was to be a trip of discovery; a chance to experience new things and grow.
Soon after landing in Santiago, Thomas hopped a cab south to a small fishing village. While riding through dense forest and steep inclines, the steering column broke and sent the cab, with Thomas inside, barreling into a home. Having survived, she began looking for a way back to town, eventually flagging down another driver.
[RH First Look] Lucki Eck$
Harold's Chicken is packed with a bunch of rowdy teenagers who seem to thrive on the relaxed chaos of chatter and laughs while enjoying a cool summer day at Wicker Park’s annual summer festival. By the front door, a tall skinny kid stands-out wearing a red BAPE hoodie paired with a sort of nonchalant swagger that shatters the moment he hears a song by one of the bands playing in the distance and he joyously exclaims with a lit-up smile, "Is this a Prince song?!"
The 17 year-old, --who at this point finds himself spaced-out and trying to figure the logistics of the Prince track--is Lucki Eck$, the latest emcee from Chicago to have gained significant traction in the blogosphere, largely due to his work on his debut mixtape, Alternative Trap.
Back at Harold’s, Lucki stops paying attention to the song and gathers most of his friends outside for a quick improvised photo-shoot of the crew in the middle of Milwaukee Ave. Settling back in the chicken joint, Lucki briefly takes a break from his incessant movement to talk about the project. But, just as we begin the interview, he starts bobbing his head as he states with a gleeful laughter, "Aye, this my song. This song’s raw as hell!"
Initial perceptions of the West Side native's talent might be misguided by his propensity to have his mind in various places all at once, even attesting to it on the track “New Life” where he raps, “I been in and out of these thoughts […] You ain’t even figured that I’m Usain Bolt going on a little run trying to track my thoughts.” —But, when it comes to his craft, Lucki is able to forget the world, if only briefly, and focus solely on the record at hand. The complexity of his rhymes is way beyond his years, yet there's a youthful essence stemming from his stubbornness and loyalty to his childhood friends. He engages the listener with double-entendres, mixing drug slang and pop culture references from start to end.
Alternative Trap is an anthology of narratives from an arrogant drug dealer that mostly consists of selling the highest of quality, his junkie customers, and how reckless his crew is, but there are times when he shows a lighter side, such as in “Cocaine Woman,” where he falls for a white girl who only uses him to get her daily high. This contrast in themes humanizes Lucki, who is able to portray a character with depth and emotions that has a bold persona with hints of insecurities. The trippy and eccentric instrumentals provided by the likes of Hippie Dream, Plu2o Nash, Doc Da Mindbenda, Nate Fox and Odd Couple, accentuates the sentiments Lucki delivers with a buoyance effect.
Bobbing his head to the last beats of the song, Lucki quickly looks back at me, getting back to business and knocking out question after question. He enjoys being interviewed, especially because this is one of the few he has done. Eric Montanez conducted the rapper’s first ever for SeeBeyondGenre back in May, and the Chicago Reader had a feature of him on their blog the day the ‘tape dropped. Lucki seems to embrace the craziness of his newfound buzz as good as any 17 year-old kid can, and he indulges on his promising future during our Q&A, which you can read in the following pages.
[Video] #FACTSONLY Interview With Jay Z
Y'all didn't think YN was just going to sit back and let everyone but him get their one on one time with SC, did you? Rap Radar's Elliott Wilson sat down with enigma Jay Z for an installment of "The Truth With Elliott Wilson" exclusively on Jay Z's Life + Times YouTube channel.
In this two part #FactsOnly interview, Mr. Wilson picks Mr. Carter's brain at the Yankees baseball museum inside Yankeees stadium before Hov's "Legends Of The Summer" show alongside Justin Timberlake. In part one, the New Yorkers discuss the fruition of Magna Carta... Holy Grail, re-writing the rules in the music industry, his connection to NYC, and the new legends. In the second installment Jay speaks about the competitiveness in hip hop, his responsibility to managing young athletes, and his thoughts on the Trayvon Martin verdict.
Throughout the interview Jay is earnest, brutally honest, and seemingly comfortable - sharing vignettes of his life and declaring his reign over the multiple facets of business including music and sports management. Though Jay is typically meek and sarcastic in interviews, tip-toeing around questions he doesn't feel like answering, he divulges information and gives the viewer a sincere glimpse of himself as a man, husband, father, and artist.
Check out the #FactsOnly interview below. Shout-out to Elliott Wilson for this!
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[Video] #100Trill X ElevenHundred interview
#100Trill (MikeJaxx and Grade Aplus) were recently interviewed by ElevenHundred for their upcoming documentary. Shot inside Jugrnaut, the mini-interview goes into a bit behind the mindset of the LOD members, including their adoption of the trill lifestyle, as well as a question I personally have wondered myself: "What's up with that gold piece, Jaxx?" The interview is set to #100Trill's "Chain Clean," which was a nice touch. Expect to hear more from the group... hopefully really soon.
http://youtu.be/LmOa2cwYBUs
[via ElevenHundred]
Wyclef Jean Interview On Closed Sessions Radio
We've already talked about Wyclef Jean's recent visits to Chicago, but this past weekend the man himself called in during the latest Closed Sessions Radio with DJ RTC & J.R. Bang and discussed several topics including his new mixtape, Young Chop and the records he made with Closed Sessions. Check it out below.
RH First Look: Jarred A.G.
Native Chicagoan Jarred A.G. recently dropped the first track off of his debut Luxury Tax titled "Play Around". Featuring Dally Auston, the laid-back, snare snapping production comes from his younger brother Smoko Ono. The track acts as a great representation of A.G.'s spot in Chicago hip hop right now. Working with other up-and-comers, he has positioned himself as an intriguing new artist that's building a name through quality releases and dope collaborations.
This current positioning is evidence of a strong progression as an artist. No longer do does his material go up because of the potential, rather it is due to the merit of his work and how sharp his new material sounds. Now he is on the verge of dropping his first project to date, a six track EP that is just a taste of what's to come. When asked about his debut album Stepchild, he told us that he has " files and files of music that we’ve worked on and are still working on". What does this mean for fans and listeners? We sat down with the young artist to get a better idea of things to come, the work he's done in the last year and where he's at now.
[Interview] DJ RTC On Leaving RubyHornet, Focusing on Closed Sessions
DJ RTC was recently interviewed by the Chicago Reader about his decision to step down as E-I-C here at RubyHornet, in order to concentrate 110% on ClosedSessions. As I stated on #ClosedSessionsRadio last week, RTC & I are still very good friends and will continue to work together in the near future. In today's Chicago Reader, RTC explains the reasons for his departure from RH, as well as going into great detail on what is next for ClosedSessions. There's a lot to read, so I suggest heading over to The Reader site & check it out for yourself. Lookout for a special RTC feature on RubyHornet next week. Shouts to RTC for his honesty here. One of the most truthful people I know, who I can luckily call a great friend.