Photo of Nick Astro

[Video] Nick Astro: "Put Me On" (Feat. Legit)

Last summer, amidst a steady flow of exceptional projects from the Chicago hip-hop scene that gave us Acid Rap, Innanetape, Yeezus, Alternative Trap and The Recipe Vol. 2, among many others, newcomer Nick Astro snuck in an aesthetically interesting working in his debut project, Super16 which dropped in July. The project demonstrated Astro's careful, almost conversational rhyming tone and lyrical content that easily transitions between the powerful and mundane. After a wait, the Columbia Film student and LOD member dropped his visual treatment for "Put Me On" featuring fellow Chicagoan Legit.

The video certainly plays on Astro's background in film, with a theatrical opening sequence that gives way to a graphically-accented still shot, capturing the pair in a freight elevator. Shot by CAKEatersTV, it's a an appropriate prelude to Astro's "Scarlett Johansson" video. Check out the video below and keep an eye out for his latest project, ListenToNewMusic, due out this Summer.

[youtube id="WCVQtYRr7wQ"]


[Mixtape] Isaiah Rashad: "Cilvia"

Among one of the most talked about young artists in the game right now, TDE's latest signee, Isaiah Rashad, offered up his latest project, Cilvia today with a free stream on Spotify. The project comes as the hip-hop world anxiously awaits label-mate Schoolboy Q's upcoming Oxymoron project, and closely follows a disappointing Grammy Awards for TDE flagship artist Kendrick Lamar. Cilvia, which hit the net today, is the first full project we've heard from Rashad since joining the TDE imprint and continues to showcase the immense talent that the collective has been able to garner and develop over the past few years en route to being one of the premier labels in the game. The project has a healthy dose of fellow recent TDE appointee SZA, as well as a rousing performance from Chicago-bred newcomer Jean Deaux, who has quietly been establishing herself on the west coast. Jay Rock and Schoolboy also hop on the ride out track, "Shot You Down". With Ab-Soul also preparing his full-length, expect TDE to continue its hip-hop reign, on every level of the rap spectrum. Cilvia, streaming below.