[Video] The Whoevers on WGCI Morning Riot
One of the biggest gripes artists have had with the Chicago market over the years has stemmed from getting local radio play. WGCI has done a lot lately to dispel that problem, hosting several Chicagoland artists on their Morning Riot show, including Chance The Rapper and Lili K. Most recently, The Whoevers visited Tony Sculfield in the studio September 10 and luckily had a video person with them to capture everything. Check out the video for yourself below.
http://youtu.be/cqvo1uAuGkg
[Video] Roman Flowrs: "Holographic Card"
Chicago artist Roman Flowrs released the brief visual for his single, "Holographic Card," from his #OneHellOfAPromo, which drops October 8, yesterday directed by Ralph Laureen. One of the most refreshing things about hip hop in Chicago in 2013 is the rise of multi-dimensional artists that can do more than just rap. Perhaps bolstered by acts like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, Tokyo Shawn and the rest of the "soul" side of Chicago, we are seeing it more often, and I can't say I'm mad about it. Video is here below, check it out.
http://youtu.be/Q_AhdnRXLN8
[Mixtape] Lil Wayne: "Dedication 5"
For the better part of a decade, Weezy's Dedication mixtape series has served as a platform from which to premier the latest Lil Wayne to the masses and is often credited with shaping the mixtape culture of today. On his latest offering, Wayne does it again in true Weezy fashion. The release date of the tape was pushed back as Wayne waited on a last minute track from Chance The Rapper produced by Peter CottonTale, Cam Osteen of J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and Nate Fox, "You Song". A late night call last Wednesday sent the production trio, along with Chance, to Classick Studios in Chicago where they shaped the song in an all-night session before sending it off later that week. Chance is truly blowing up, along with some superbly talented producers out of the Midwest. Check out the mixtape below and keep it locked on RubyHornet for exclusive content on "You".
[Video] Chance The Rapper in London
Photo by Allen Daniels, Art Edit by Will Prince
Chance The Rapper just got back from a European trip where he opened for Eminem in Ireland and played his first headlining show on the other side of the pond at XOYO in London. As if it couldn't get any better, Mr. Hudson surprised everyone by joining Chance onstage for "Chain Smoker." Check out the video below!
http://youtu.be/dx1BWH2ZbuI
"Acid Rap" Nominated for BET Best Mixtape
Photo by Virgil Solis
"Better than I was the last time/Did a ton of drugs and did better than all my alma mater"
Words have quickly become reality for Chancellor Bennett, better known to the rest of the world as Chance The Rapper, whose latest release, Acid Rap, was nominated this week for a BET Hip Hop Award for Mixtape of the Year.
The year-long rise of the 20-year-old Chatham native has been startling to say the least. This time last year, 10 Day was a blip on the national radar and Chano was preparing to play his first Metro headlining show. Since then Chance has played at SXSW with Kendrick Lamar, toured the country with Mac Miller, had his album bootlegged so much it hit the charts and soon will head to Europe with Macklemore, where he also opens for Eminem.
"Gravity had me up in a submission hold, like I'm dancing with the devil with two left feet and I'm pigeon toed."
That he is heading on tour with the Seattle-based purveyor for all things independent is at once both ironic and appropriate. Macklemore was a star in the Pacific Northwest for years before hitting the mainstream with a national following, selling out venues in Washington and playing half-filled rooms in Iowa the next day. By comparison, Chance rocketed to national consciousness, perhaps buoyed by his favorable location in the center of the country. While Macklemore may have played a longer waiting game, the two artists are experiencing the limelight at the same time, and from an increasingly more common, independent angle.
If there is one reason to point to for Acid Rap's inclusion on BET's Best Mixtape of the Year nominations, it would have to be the fact that the free release was so thoroughly bootlegged by shady third-party retailers both at home and abroad that it actually hit the charts, coming in at No. 68, as was reported by Billboard last week.
"Chano, Chatham's own, foolies glad I'm home, even my haters kinda glad I'm on"
Carefully crafted, and a wholly Chicago collaboration, Acid Rap has a feel about it around the city that possibly hasn't been seen since College Dropout. Bring up the project to anyone even marginally involved with Chicago hip-hop and smiles and favorite verses likely soon follow the statement "Damn, Chance is famous,". The fever was instantaneously evident to anyone who was within three blocks of Jugrnaut April 30 for the listening party that had lines stretching down Dearborn and around the corner.
Produced, engineered and mastered almost completely in Chicago at the likes of Soundscape Studios, Force One Seven, Classick and Fox and The Mule, the success of Acid Rap has been able to intrinsically elevate the ambitious young local music scene which has helped give way to a slew of young artists, Save Money and not. Chance would have been hard-pressed to find room for anyone else on the project, putting on for Chicago artists such as Lili K, Vic Mensa, Saba, NoNameGypsy, Twista, Kiara Lanier and host of moving parts such as Nico Segal and Greg Landfair, formerly of Kids These Days. Most notable are the talented producers (Peter CottonTale, Cam Osteen, Nate Fox, Stefan Ponce) that he has aligned himself with both on the album and future projects.
"Where the F#$K is Matt Lauer at? Somebody get Katie Couric in here."
Acid Rap transcends boundaries. Talking to Chance in the wake of 10 Day last November he mentioned making music that is both easily relatable and lyrically progressive. While songs like "Cocoa Butter Kisses", "Pusha Man" and "Nana" keep a playful tone, Chance is also able to take things down for moments. "Paranoia" reports on the state of Chicago better than most local media outlets, "Acid Rap" is a psychedelic introspection into life as an eccentric young adult, "Everybody's Something" touches on the intricacies of God, the world and personal interactions.
It has certainly been a year of moments for Chance The Rapper. Watching him open for Rockie Fresh at the Bottom Lounge in February to playing the Red Bull Sound Select stage in Austin in March, to the BMI stage at Lollapalooza with Twista, Vic Mensa and likely every festival-goes under 21 in attendance has been a whirlwind those who witnessed thus far won't soon forget. The nomination was deserved and will soon become a normal occurrence, but wins have been earned.
http://youtu.be/TTCveCPclSk
[Album] Stix: "Stix Jam Pack"
Photo by Jake Krez
Greg Landfair, aka Stix, former Kids These Days drummer and current backing for Chance The Rapper, released his drum pack for producers today via Hiphopdrumsamples.com. The pack features over a hundred sounds garnered from a number of sessions with artists including Jeff Tweedy, Beastie Boys producer Mario C at the Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas. The sounds are almost directly out of his work with Kids These Days and include a variety of sounds including elevator snares, snares in the shower, live claps, gongs and full drum loops, among others. Check out the promo video below by Bryan Lamb (@Fragdfilms) & myself and download the full pack via Hiphopdrumsamples.com.
http://youtu.be/xxbf_TqDKYY
[Video] Chance The Rapper & Childish Gambino: "Favorite Song" Live @ The Palladium in Hollywood
During the latest Space Migration Tour stop at the Palladium in Hollywood, Chance The Rapper brought out Childish Gambino for a surprise performance of "Favorite Song". One the actor/emcee hopped on stage to deliver his verse from their most recent collaboration off Chance's Acid Rap, the whole building went nuts and the intensity was cranked up to the max. Peep the footage below and also check out Gambino's latest trailer featuring Chano and a few other cameos.
Previously: The Day I Overdosed on Acid Rap
http://youtu.be/147VohTkHmQ
The Day I Overdosed on Acid Rap
Photo by: Roger Tino Morales
Since dropping Acid Rap in late April as the follow up to 2012's 10 Day, Chance The Rapper has quickly turned much of the city's youth into unapologetic junkies.
The squirrely nanas and schizophrenic flow have taken the city and the national underground hip-hop scene by storm over the past year, and Friday at Lollapalooza set the perfect stage for Chance's tie-dyed Acid raps to shine. First off, I'll admit I'm an avid user. Having followed Chance for most of the past year and for days at a time at SXSW in Austin, I felt more than prepared as I rode in the car to a noon rehearsal at The Music Garage on the near West Side with "Good Ass Intro" producer Peter CottonTale.
Chance arrived soon after we did. Dressed casually in grey pants cuffed around the ankles and a grey baseball t-shirt with Leaders emblazoned in pink across his chest, he dove into a quick once over of the album, played with a live band made up of former Kids These Days members Macie Stewart and Greg "Stix" Landfair alongside CottonTale. Between bites of McDonald's Chance sputtered over the quick-footed rhymes and crooned the nasal chorus of "Chain Smoker" as his brother Taylor Bennett, fellow artist NoNameGypsy, and others looked on.
The rehearsal came to an end just over two hours after it began when Chance mentioned a hidden plan to crowd surf through the crowd in an inflatable raft at the end of his set. "I'm gonna grab an oar and get all the way to the back of that bitch."
