Kweku Collins Perfectly Captures The Summer Fling With "Sisko and Kasidy"
Kweku Collins' newest track "Sisko and Kasidy" is a summer love anthem. Linking up for another collaboration with fellow Closed Sessions artist Ajani Jones, this is his first release of 2018 and it perfectly captures the heat of the summer and the uncertainty that comes with a fling. In the chorus Kweku sings "It's been hot, it's the summer, what you expect?" in a thickly layered, Dan Deacon-esque, harmony that adds to the disorienting effect that makes the song feel like the subject.
There's a heat that's captured within the production and combined with the lyrics it creates a summer-in-a-bottle effect that will definitely have you coming back in the middle of the winter. Just like with a fling there is a melancholy underneath the surface, Kweku even asks “What if the sun doesn’t come out tomorrow?”.
"Sisko and Kasidy" is a reference to the two black commanders in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
You can see Kweku and Ajani perform together at their Pitchfork after party at Schubas on July 21st.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1DXlJYboCnmNC35GcLyYtm?si=3EIaZxmFRYOc0B3eLq47DQ
Sebastian Kamae's Makes "Waves" Around The World
Dutch producer, audio engeineer, and composer, Sebastian Kamae released his debut album last week. As a whole the album is a trip around the globe, showcasing the community that rap has build around the world. With features from artists from Toronto, Chicago and the Netherlands the album is also inadvertently auto-biographical. Last year Sebastian Kamae was an intern at SoundScape Studios in Chicago. "Everything that I learned in the past years are coming together on this album. I was already making lo-fi beats for a while, but was still searching for artists to lay vocals on my beats. During my internship at SoundScape Studios and Closed Sessions in Chicago, I got to meet a lot of new people. I finally found talented artists that fit perfectly on my beats. Delivery, lyrics and sound-wise."
The 10 track album consists of 3 instrumentals and 7 tracks with vocals from Femdot, Ajani Jones, Jack Red and more talent from around the world. The 3 singles off of the album that were pre-released have already ammased more than 120,000 aggregated streams. This is a personal project for Sebastian with every single sound created and controlled by him, "After my intership, I finished the album back home in the netherlands. I mixed, mastered, produced, recorded and composed everything myself."
Stream it here.
https://soundcloud.com/sebastiankamae/sets/waves
Ajani Jones Takes Another Step Forward with "Bloom" Video
"Spitting at these open mics, I was killing."
Ajani Jones is special. I'm not even going to front like I am not invested in his career, like I didn't discover his music through my AEMMP Hip Hop Class, like I didn't connect with Ajani on a personal level, and like I didn't sign him to Closed Sessions. We're not idiots, and the handful millions of you reading this are not stupid. So that's out of the way...
Last night, as the music industry was in Wyoming or watching the playoffs, Ajani Jones released his new video for "Bloom", a beautiful track off his recently released EP, Cocoons. As Ajani says in the second verse, "I spit it for the people that's on EBT". That message is at the heart of "Bloom", a track that is about keeping your head up, and waiting for the time when everything pays off. Ajani is certainly ready for that time, and Strpmall did an excellent job of bringing this record to life visually, packing Ajani's theme of self-discovery into this video.
I'm out of words... Watch this clip below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAHGsP7FqQY
Sebastian Kamae Links Chicago And The Netherlands With "Precious"
A few days ago Sebastian Kamae released a new track called "Precious" featuring Ajani Jones, Shao Doja and King Khamen. It's a celebration of love with melodic rap over a dusty lo-fi beat from the Dutch producer. This isn't his first time working with artists in Chicago, he produced "Bloom" off of Ajani Jones' album Cocoons and on "Precious" he brings the same light soul vibes that made "Bloom" so striking. Last year Sebastian Kamae was an intern at SoundScape Studios here in Chicago and on this track he brings together two Chicago artists with Dutch rapper King Khamen. Check it out here.
Ajani Jones' New EP Is An Exhibition of Growth
Ajani Jones released his new EP today, Cocoons. As the title suggests, transformation and growth is a large theme for the new project.
It's fitting that the EP dropped on the same day that Ajani announced joining Closed Sessions. I'm really excited about this EP. It is layered, it is specific, and it's competitive. Beats, rhymes, and life from a 24 year-old from the southside of Chicago, finding himself and his music.
Listen below on all platforms.
RH In The Studio With: Ajani Jones
When I started rubyhornet damn near 10 years ago, one of the biggest things for me and Virgil was being the studio with artists. Just the idea of “the studio” was a magic place, something like behind the curtain of the Wizard of Oz. I remember those early days fondly of being in the studio with artists like Naledge, GLC, Mikkey Halsted, Rhymefest and many others. The studio is where Closed Sessions launched, where I first met a 15 year-old Vic Mensa, and got to watch a hero like Raekwon breakdown his approach to music. I think back on that time, my early and mid-twenties, running around like a kid in the candy store. I had a flip cam, and would just hit record. One of my favorite articles on RH were the in-studio pieces where artists would share their creative process and their new work. Since I’m back at rubyhornet, we want to get back to some of our strengths, and the In The Studio articles are at the top of the list.
For this edition, Cooper Fox hung out with Ajani Jones at SoundScape Studio. He talked to Ajani about his new music, life since he released Eternal Bliss last year, and got a glimpse of new music to come. Check out the piece below, and look for more of these on the regular.
RubyHornet: What are you working on today?
Ajani Jones: Today I’m working on "Bloom", a song I did with my Manager (Alexy), and (Netherlands-based producer) Pim. And it’s going on a project called Cocoons.
When going into these sessions are you looking to build towards a project or just recording songs and figuring it afterwards?
Ajani Jones: I usually come up with a concept before I start a project. I like to have a genuine message behind what I’m doing, so when I get into it it’s not just music. There’s something behind it. Cocoons is an EP, and I have an LP I’m also doing after. They tie together, this one’s called Cocoons and the other one’s called Dragonfly. I have a third one, which I’m still working on. It’s basically all symbolizing growth, growth as an artist, growth as a human being. And having fun and being happy in life.
RubyHornet: What would you consider your ideal situation going into a session?
Ajani Jones: I don’t produce. I like to be with a producer. Usually it’s Banks The Genius or Boathouse. Both of them I can make a song with in 20 minutes. The vibe is, they start working and I let them do them. If there’s something I don’t like, I’ll say it, but for the most part I let them inspire me and I’ll go from there. I put down my ideas and it’s usually just we’re working together to complete the record.
RubyHornet: Do you usually come into them with a game plan?
Ajani Jones: It’s definitely off the cuff, they’ll play some shit and I’ll be like 'fire, lets run it.' And that’s what I do, it’s just good vibes everywhere.
RubyHornet: What’s been going on since putting out your last project Eternal Bliss?
Ajani Jones: The game plan after that was to push it, work on making a better sound than we made before and bettering our situation. And we did that. We now have the resources to work as much as we want, and be more creative and have the quality there as well. That was the plan and now it’s about delivering and letting everything come together.
Ajani Jones Teams Up With CPS & Columbia College to Raise Money for Southside Music Programs
Raised on the cities Southside, Ajani Jones, knows what it's like to finally get the opportunities that are too often reserved for more affluent parts of the Chicagoland area. After transferring schools and joining the poetry club the trajectory of Ajani's life changed dramatically. It was there that his passion for writing was nurtured and his horizons expanded.
In an effort to do the same for students who need it, Ajani has gathered his fellow MCs and Chicagoans Marko Stats, SoloSam, and Musa Reems to throw a free concert & fundraiser for the public. It will be in the South Loop area at 623 S. Wabash, tomorrow (Thursday November 2nd), at 6 30PM. The event is sponsored by Columbia College's student music club (CMC) and record label (AEMMP Records). All donations raised will go directly to the CPS Children First Fund and will be allocated to music programs for Southside Public Schools.
In an effort to raise all the funds possible a GoFundMe has been created as well for those that cannot make the event.