[RH Interview] Black Milk Breaks Down The Fever, and The Importance of Truth
For over a decade Black Milk has been an integral part of the Hip Hop scene in Detroit, and the independent scene worldwide. As a producer, emcee, and performer, Black Milk has had a dynamic career, completely changing his style more than a few times while always staying true to himself and to his art. Back in February, he released his 7th entirely self-produced studio album, Fever, which he is currently touring on. Recorded in 2017, Fever is an intense, emotional album that addresses the tumultuous political and social climate in America since the 2016 election. I called him up to talk about his career, his city, and to ask if he thinks there is a cure to the “fever” that we all have. Read the full interview below.
https://youtu.be/rihOZ6z2ZyY
rubyhornet: How’s the tour going?
Black Milk: It’s going good so far. It’s good to play the new music, hear the new music and see people’s response to it, so it’s been good.
rubyhornet: The outro on laugh now cry later says “He just said the truth will make us free/Question that we have to ask is do people know the truth?” What is the truth that you want to bring to the world?
Black Milk: I don’t know if there’s an actual truth that I’m trying to bring to the world outside of staying true to what I do, who I am and what I believe. You know what I’m saying? Even with this album, I’m giving my own perspective on how I see the world and what’s going on in this day and age, I guess that’s the only way I can put that answer.
rubyhornet: It’s interesting because right now is a time in history when truth is up for debate.
Black Milk: Yeah definitely, even when we all know what the truth is, the powers that be find another way to distort what we already know. So many people are easily swayed into believing nonsense, that’s where the challenge comes in.
rubyhornet: So do you think that people do know the truth?
Black Milk: A lot of people do. Or at least I feel like some people have common sense, or a good intuition, to know when they’re on the right path. It’s a challenge to get the other side to not fall for the trap. It’s like a war that’s been going on for so long. It’s amazing how the people who always fall for the trap can’t see how the world is being pulled over their eyes. A lot of people don’t want information, some people just ignore the truth. It’s a cliché that has been around for a long time, the truth hurts. And it really does hurt and people have to face what the real is.
rubyhornet: One of the themes on Fever is how people are getting information, and how the culture around that is impacting us. If we look at the last few months in hip hop from Kanye West to the Drake/Pusha T beef, to what happened yesterday with X is this what you’re talking about on “Laugh Now Cry Later”?
Black Milk: Yeah man, I feel like we’re getting to a place where you’re not even conscious that you’re being consumed by being online, on social media. How many hours are you spending on your phone, in front of your screen? So me making a song called “Laugh Now Cry Later” it’s just about putting attention on that topic. It’s also about the emotional rollercoaster that you’re going through that people don’t even realize they’re going through. Feeling all of these different feelings while looking at all these posts. Scrolling through their timeline, stuff making them happy, stuff making them mad, stuff making them sad. You’re going through an emotional rollercoaster every few minutes, every few seconds, and it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays, if it even has an effect on us, years down the line. Especially the younger generation because they were born into this era of social media so it’s going to be really interesting to see how they handle it.
rubyhornet: And you don’t even really have time to process it.
Black Milk: You don't. You really don't. There’s so much coming at you that you put your phone down and it all kind of blows through your head and disappears. It’s an interesting thing, and an interesting period of time to be living in.
rubyhornet: You’re an artist that came up on the cusp of two major moments in the rap game, it was right at the end of the old way of doing things, and the very beginning of social media, how did that impact your career?
Black Milk: Coming up online and on social media, the internet is a gift and a curse. Without it who knows if I would have an audience. Who knows how I would have been able to connect to all of those people who listen to my music. If you take the traditional way of getting on, getting a major record deal then they take you through the motions. I don’t know if my music at the time would be considered something that a major label would take on. Luckily enough I had the internet. I came up in the MySpace age so I used Myspace as a tool to get exposure, to get connected to people and put my music out there. It was a snowball effect, over time it just kept building and building. The internet is a tool, but I think over time we’re being used by the tool instead of us using the tool, I think everyone is a victim of it to a degree. It’s kind of not to be caught up in it, it’s just the world we’re in.
rubyhornet: What were your main influences when making Fever?
Black Milk: I was listening to a lot of wavy type stuff, really vibey stuff at the time. I remember I was listening to Tame Impala’s Currents a lot. I was listening to The Internet’s Ego Death a lot too around the time so it put me in a place where I wanted to make something vibey and good, with my own twist of course, and that’s pretty much what I did. Going into the album it was supposed to be a feel good, upbeat album but because of where the world was at at the time and everything that was going on, you know with the election and police and everything, it changed what I was going to talk about, I felt like I had to give my perspective and address certain things that I saw going on. So when the album came out the music was feel good but the lyrical content was kind of heavy.
rubyhornet: So is that what the “Fever” is?
Black Milk: Yeah, it’s about living in a time when it feels like the temperature is high and everyone is on edge. It feels like it could explode at any minute. That’s why I named the album Fever.
rubyhornet: Do you think that there’s a cure to the “Fever” that the world has now?
Black Milk: Hey man, look, I’m not sure. Human nature is an interesting thing, I don’t think it’s anything that you can really cure. I do think that a lot of people are influenced by outside forces. I think that’s the goal. All you can do is influence people’s behavior and if you don’t get a hold on some of that then people will just keep getting crazier and crazier. I think that’s the first part, targeting the different forces that influence the way people think and the way people act, especially when those forces come from a negative space.
rubyhornet: What makes the Detroit sound?
Black Milk: The environment, I think the environment plays a part in the Detroit sound. It’s kind of a gloomy city, it’s always pretty cloudy and grey. I think that affects the music. Years ago when the auto industry began it brought an industrial vibe which is why a lot of the music sounds the way it sounds now. The streets of Detroit, the hood, plays a part in the way that the music sounds. I definitely think the environment has a big part in the sound.
rubyhornet: If you think about the biggest rappers from any other city, they tend to rap about all of the money and materials that they have, but rappers from Detroit don’t really do that. Why do you think it’s like that?
Black Milk: I think the Detroit rappers that are most known are the more lyrical rappers, even though we have street rappers… Most of the time they’re lyrical artists, for the most part the “hip hop” artists don’t brag as much as the street rappers. You have artists like Eminem, Royce da 5’9” and Danny Brown they come from the school that’s more lyrical, but then you have artists like Big Sean who’s a little more materialistic in his rhymes but he comes from a slightly different area. Plus a lot of the artists that are from Detroit still live in Detroit so you don’t want to be throwing that type of stuff in people’s faces that don’t have those material things cause that will put you in a place of danger.
rubyhornet: Even though you don’t live in Detroit anymore you still work with a ton of artists from your city, are there any that we should know about?
Black Milk: Artists from Detroit: Sam Austins, he’s a young artist. He makes real melodic, even kind of poppy, wavy type music which I think is really interesting for a kid that’s coming out of the city. Artists like ZelooperZ, he’s from danny brown’s camp. There’s a lot of artists coming out of the city with all kinds of sounds, all kinds of genres, so it’s kind of hard to give you a list.
rubyhornet: Definitely. I was in Detroit a few weeks ago and I was completely blown away by this group called Video7, have you heard of them?
Black Milk: Yeah, a couple of those guys played on my album. The guitarist, Sasha Kashperko he’s in Video7 and played on the album and keyboardist Ian Fink, he played all the keys on the album. Those two guys are incredible. Video7 is dope.
rubyhornet: What does it do for you creatively to work with a live band?
Black Milk: It just allows me to have a little more freedom in terms of where I can go. I can have a little more spontaneity in the live show. It opens my mind up to more things rather than just being stuck to just a record or a sample. You can be more original and do more things. It allows me to take chord progressions and melodies to a whole new level. I love incorporating live instrumentation into my show.
rubyhornet: How does that work? Do you bring the band a track and say, “This is a skeleton of it, let’s build it out”?
Black Milk: Yeah pretty much. For the most part I’ll bring ideas to them or I’ll hear a melody on a song from back in the day and we’ll build on it and expand on it and try to make something else out of it. That’s basically what it is, just bringing ideas whether it’s a beat or a melody and then we build on it in the studio. It’s bomb man, it makes you want to keep creating.
rubyhornet: I see a lot of Flying Lotus influence in the production on Fever.
Black Milk: That’s crazy. I feel like me and Flying Lotus are kind of cut from the same cloth so I can see how someone could hear similarities in the music, or hear some kind of connection. But with this one, I already mentioned some of the albums I was listening to when I was putting this together, but I wasn’t really listening to very much hip hop I was listening to a lot of indie stuff.
rubyhornet: How do you keep your sound so unique? I know a lot of artists that don’t listen to other people in their genre when they’re writing and recording an album, do you do that?
Black Milk: Nah, I still listen to what’s going on. Cause when I walk into projects I feel like I always have my own unique perspective or direction in a way that no one else is going to think about going in so I don’t really about being influenced by other projects or other artists that might steer me in a different direction, I kind of always know what I want to do. I’m always listening to the music that’s out there to try to stay aware of what’s going on in modern music. I try to take little things here and there and incorporate it into my sound because you never want to sound dated.
Kanye West Mario Game "Lil Ye Land"
The demo version of "Lil Ye Land", a 2D Mario like game starring Kanye West has been released this week. The 'lil pixelated rapper travels through a dark dungeon fighting ghosts trying to escape. As funny as this game sounds, the artwork posted on the "Lil Ye" Instagram account is very well done. The amount of creativity Ye fans have with incorporating their favorite rapper into a video game is impressive. You can even hear the melody of "Amazing" playing in the background of the trailer video.
Play the game here.
Kanye Shares New Nas Album Tracklist
Last night Kanye tweeted a picture with the tracklist for the upcoming 7 track colaborative album between him and Nas.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1006739170897743872
This is the 4th album of the summer for Kanye West, who has been releasing a new 7 track album with different artists every week, and there's still one more to go after this one. The album, Nas's 12th album, comes out this Friday and it may be his most experimental. Kanye tweeted "We’re trying new ideas without the fear of not being perfect… It’s just a gut feeling sometimes… just making stuff with your friends…" But if the previous albums show anything about this one expect to hear a lot of Nas this summer.
Title Error on Kids See Ghosts
Without pushing back the date, Kid Cudi and Kanye West released Kids See Ghosts today. The 7 song project contains features from Pusha T, Ty Dolla Sign, and others. The outro also contains a Kurt Cobain guitar sample.
The incorrect titles seen on streaming services might be an error when uploading the album. No report has dropped yet explaining why this is.
Overall, the project felt well prepared, even with the rushed debut date. The production on tracks such as "4th Dimension" and "Reborn" stand out with their lo-fi distorted percussion. This sound reminisces on the iconic Kayne West sound first brought forth on 808's and Heartbreak.
On "Cudi Montage" the second verse describes the corruption of a person due to their niece being shot. This leads to them creating their own justice, which results in their arrest, only causing more pain that family. This might be one of the best verses where Kanye is telling a non personal story.
[RH Interview] Jack Larsen
At 22 years old, Chicago’s Jack Larsen brings a loss of innocence to the table—creating a nostalgic sound through his alternative pop music. With a melodic songwriting ability, Larsen is able to capture wistful stories in his coming-of-age work. Growing up an hour away from Chicago, Larsen first began making his name on the scene by releasing songs that he made in his bedroom during high school. As an introverted music junkie, Larsen has used the internet to collaborate with other self-proclaimed bedroom artists across the country including Brockhampton’s own Kevin Abstract. We sat down with Jack to find out where his music comes from and where he’s trying to go with it.
rubyhornet: I know you’ve been asked this a ton of times but, how would you classify yourself?
Jack Larsen: That’s a question that I still don’t even know. I would definitely say like indie-pop, but there’s some future R&B just through the effects that I use are pretty futuristic or avant-garde, plus I draw from a lot of R&B influences, new-age as well as old.
rubyhornet: Any artists specifically?
Jack Larsen: On the R&B front? I love PARTYNEXTDOOR, his old shit. When I heard that I really wanted to sing because it was such a new sound that was so fucking good. I don’t know like the classic R&B stuff because I didn't grow up on it; I grew up in a different environment.
rubyhornet: What’d you grow up listening to?
Jack Larsen: My dad and mom would play a lot of Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash… My first favorite song was "Our House" by Crosby Stills and Nash. And then when I first got my iPod, I was in 4th grade--that’s when I first got iTunes, and the first album I bought was 3 cheers by my chemical romance. I grew up on that emo/pop pop/punk. They were the queen of pop-punk, they were really bohemian, free-spirited and theatrical, so I loved My Chemical Romance. Even now, I still have a pop influence that stems back to them being pop in the punk game, like a darker pop. I feel like pop’s everywhere, so I would listen to them and then get into other music just through iTunes. I would explore iTunes for so many hours just finding people.
rubyhornet: You weren’t on limewire?
Jack Larsen: I wasn’t on limewire. My parents would track the computer so I couldn’t do any of that shit. Plus, I think I was a little too young for the limewire age, like to understand how to do it.
rubyhornet: So, you like making out. In your lyrics and videos it seems like making out is a pretty strong theme.
Jack Larsen: Obviously. Who doesn’t like making out? Also the intention was there because if I wanted to make a coming-of-age project, I had to think of stuff that related to coming of age experiences and I think making out is something that everyone when they’re younger is looking for their first make out. It’s definitely a young adult, teenager experience that helps you grow as a person you know?
rubyhornet: So, is that who the album is for, young adults?
Jack Larsen: I didn’t want it to be trapped to this young adult crowd because I want other people to listen to it as well. All of these songs were written at an age where they all made sense in my life so because I wrote it at like 19-20 years old--it’s probably going to attract people that age and I’m okay with that.
Photo by Sala Johnson
rubyhornet: I think maybe, with making out it’s interesting because it is a younger experience, but it also seems less aggressive, kind of more innocent. I think that you really balance between masculinity and affection throughout the album.
Jack Larsen: That’s just who I am, I’m a very feminine person. I don’t know, I’m not really a strong, in your face kind of guy, you know?
rubyhornet: Well, I don’t think it’s really feminine, it’s just don’t think it’s macho, it’s just a different kind of masculinity.
Jack Larsen: Exactly. That’s kind of why in these lyrics i’m kind of innocent, but with the art I want to look hard as hell. Just kind of scowl at the camera, because it kind of touches on that whole masculinity question, which is why in the art I want to come off as more masculine.
rubyhornet: It’s cool, it’s a redefinition of masculinity that’s happening as a larger social movement of questioning it, like with brockhampton for example.
Jack Larsen: Well that’s kind of why I am who I am, because of my relationship with them. Ever since I first met Kevin when I was 17, I was a senior in high school. Just being friends when him and then the rest of the group showed me a really interesting part of who you can be. I grew up in a very well-off suburb, lots of wealth in the community, and it was pretty much exclusively white. So you know, I didn’t grow up with a lot of diversity or other thoughts, it was very closed minded. So, I took to the internet and just started reaching out to people, then meeting all of them really opened up my mind, and I feel like I’ve definitely grown to see a lot of different parts of life and who you can be as a person.
rubyhornet: So you guys met on the internet? How did that happen?
Jack Larsen: My friend showed me a song, and so I DMed him (Kevin Abstract) saying, “I really like your stuff, if you ever want male vocals on a song I’d be down,” and then he sent me the track that went on his first album, 27, which I recorded to.
rubyhornet: So the internet is a big part of your presence and growth
Jack Larsen: Yeah. That goes back to me growing up in a town where sports are the main focus and art gets shoved aside. And I was kind of blinded to that;I played sports for so long and didn’t even touch art. But the internet was kind of my escape to new thoughts and new ideas, and it’s like my home now, you know? I love the internet.
rubyhornet: It’s easy to feel like an outsider on the internet though. It takes a sense of boldness to just message someone saying, “hey, I sing and I like what you’re doing. Maybe we can work together.”
Jack Larsen: Yeah... I don’t know if I would even do that today. I’ve had a few people follow me since Push-Ups that I really admire, and I haven’t messaged them yet because I kind of feel like, back then me and Ian we were bots so young that we were looking for anyone to work with but now we’re at an age where it’s like, “who’s this annoying person in my messages?” I guess I was more confident back then; the internet is very intimidating. I feel like social media has also changed since I first messaged Kevin years ago, it’s just a whole other world now. The internet was innocent.
rubyhornet: That’s also how you met Chris Hatam?
Jack Larsen: Yeah that’s how we met. I think he heard the song from Kevin’s album. That’s how I met a lot of people. We’ve just always clicked with what we wanted to make so he came up to Chicago for a week last summer, and that’s how we created the foundation for the EP. And then he left and I just recorded it in my dorm for the rest of the year.
rubyhornet: So it’s true bedroom-pop in that sense
Jack Larsen: Well yeah, Mike took what I made and beefed it up, but I recorded and did my mixing and all the effects in my bedroom. Then I finished up last November.
rubyhornet: Dream collaborations, if you could work with anybody who would it be?
Jack Larsen: I would say my idols, but I don’t even feel like I would make a good song with them right now. One artist I want to work with is Knox Fortune, probably because we have a similar indie-pop vibe and I like what his recordings sound like a lot, they’re really good. I dug his album. He does a lot of pitch shifting and I do a lot of pitch shifting, just modulating your voice and doing cool shit like that. I think we could make something really cool. That’s a realistic collaboration though, not really a dream. I don’t know, if I had Kanye call me up right now, man…
rubyhornet: Would you go?
Jack Larsen: I don’t know… I probably would, but dude…
Photo by Bridges
rubyhornet: What I really like is the honesty in your EP. I think the insecurity with relationships throughout it is really relatable. There’s a line specifically where you say, “stop looking under the bed,” that really struck a chord in me because it’s kind of childish but also very true and something that doesn’t really go away and not really something that goes away. Was that a goal of yours to talk about insecurity?
Jack Larsen: Oh yeah, on “Break” in particular. I was really inspired by Sufjan Stevens’ Carrie & Lowell--it’s one of my favorite albums of all time. He’s just super blunt with his lyrics. I was like alright, I need to make a song where I’m just super blunt and upfront about my childhood and growing up in general. The song took three months to write because I wanted to be really specific with all the lyrics to make sure it told a story. I was making the video at the same time, even before the song was finished, just shooting my life because I knew it would match the song in my head. So yeah, lines like, “stop looking under your bed,” or, “hand me a t-shirt, I know you have one at the foot of your bed,” are specific lyrics that resonated with childhood or growing up. All of that was purposefully written about growing up.
rubyhornet: It’s cool because the way that that video is shot is so vintage.
Jack Larsen: Yeah I bought a super 8 camera and film, then shot it and sent it to California. The other part was just handycam, digital 8, and then I mixed both together.
rubyhornet: wow that’s really cool. And it’s works with the idea of bringing childhood experiences into modernity and addressing how it’s still there underneath everything else. Even if you’re all bad ass and tattooed and running around being a punk there’s still a sense that you’re a kid and looking under your bed.
Jack Larsen: that’s just me.
rubyhornet: Who are you production influences?
Jack Larsen: Jai Paul, he’s been reclusive. He’s this British pop-artist who is Indian, so he has all these Indian influences in his music and he got signed to XL. There was this whole controversy about his album getting leaked on Bandcamp in 2012, and ever since then, he’s been gone. But he’s one of my biggest influences. I would say Frank [Ocean] is always going to be inspiring. And Sufjan Stevens; I think it’s because we both have soft voices I really resonate with him too. I’ve always wanted to belt, but I can’t be that singer. I’ve had to accept the fact that my voice is warm and soft, and I have to build around that.
rubyhornet: What color is your music?
Jack Larsen: Color? I would say a blue-ish green, kind of like the album cover. Also, the posters that are up now--the gold and pastel blue--those are really cool colors that I think reflect the music well.
rubyhornet: Tell me about the “Break” video.
Jack Larsen: That was just me and my girlfriend. If I wasn’t in the clip, I was shooting, if she wasn’t in the clip, she was shooting. Until the very last scene, we had one extra person help, Daniel Ruiz, who helped with the car scene where I was in the road, and he helped with the scenes where I was lip-syncing in the magnifying glasses. So, he came in at the end, but in the beginning, it was just me and my girlfriend. I put all the clips together, like I learned Final Cut and kind of learned as I made it. I had it in my head for sure. I knew I wanted to do a montage because that’s how you do coming-of-age, you know? Show your life. So I knew I wanted to do that, but there were elements that came later on like the magnifying glasses. I thought they would look cool for the cover, and then we put them in the video too.
rubyhornet: Fashion is something that is obviously important to you. What’s your approach when it comes to your style?
Jack Larsen: I just follow people if I like how they look. I take ideas from different people and put it on myself, just like art in general. You kind of copy in your own ways and make it your own. I’ll just look every day at what’s new and follow people on Instagram that I like. But I like to study brands a lot so I look at people who design the clothes to get inspiration for what to wear. I didn’t really get into that until later in my life, like 4 years ago. Before that, I had no clue about anything with clothes.
rubyhornet: Is there anything else that you want to say?
Jack Larsen: “Push-Ups” is out now. I feel like it’s a good introductory album. Up next, I’m working on new music. My friend from Canada came, and we were working on a lot. Chris just moved to Chicago, so we’re gonna get a ton of music done. And I’m working on my live show. You’re gonna see a lot more of me.
Kanye West's New LP Is Set In This Moment, And All The Moments Come Before It
"It was all part of the story, even the scary parts."
Last night, Kanye West flew a lot of people out to Wyoming and live streamed his new album, aptly titled, Ye. We already knew the LP would be seven songs (the God number), and that it was the second in a full line of new releases from the G.O.O.D. Music roster. There was a lot of skepticism heading into this album, much of it centered on if this album would truly appear on time. I think that Pusha-T's LP arrival last week set aside some of the doubts on the Kanye's album hitting properly on June 1st. But alas, following Mike Dean's promise of defecation everywhere, Kanye hit play, streamed his LP and now it is on streaming services everywhere.
Admittedly, I'm only on my second listen to the LP, probably too early to make a real judgment or in-depth review. One thing I know, The LP is set in the present and will stand as a capsule of what will be remembered as an odd and significant year for Kanye West. "I got dirt on my name, I got white on my beard, I had debt on my books, it's been a shaky ass year", he raps on "No Mistakes". Self-titled LPs are personal and exploratory by default. On Ye, Kanye embraces his impulsiveness and continues a theme brought up in his interview with Charlamagne The God that he feels his mental breakdown was in fact a "break through". He raps on "Wouldn't Leave", "I used the same attitude that done got us here, I live for now, I don't know what happened after here."
I think that's a good line to symbolize a lot of the album, and Kanye's career. He's built a huge fan base and influence off voicing his opinion. When that opinion matches his fans and what we think, he has tremendous success. When it goes against common ideas, he suffers huge setbacks and is abandoned. That is another theme running throughout the album as he talks about former friends, and others that have written him off - also something that can be found as early as College Dropout. It's clear that no matter how high Kanye ascends, he still sees himself as the underdog, still struggling to get out his ideas, "Thinking like George Jetson, but sounding like George Jefferson."
Through it all, Kanye is still game for it. "No Mistake" uses a Slick Rick sample to illustrate that point - "tell all my dogs that been down, we're back up again." I woke up and scanned through the Twitter Moments (I kind of just threw up in my mouth writing that), someone wrote that this LP sounds like much of his back catalog all fused together, and I can see that a little bit. "No Mistakes" and "Wouldn't Leave" sound a lot like "the old Kanye", that many fans yearn for. "Yikes" draws parallels to MBDTF a little bit and also enforces that theme that he accepts the good and the bad of himself and this journey, and I think this album is somewhat telling the public that they must accept all the parts as well. But to me, Ye is a new work meant to be evaluated in the now, in the time since Kanye "turned TMZ to Smack DVD". Much of the project is reflective, he speaks a bit on recent events, his growth on how he perceives and interacts with women, and his struggles with mental health that kick off the LP on "I Thought About Killing You".
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how everything that's happened outside of the music influences how I started listening to this album. I still don't know what to make of the last few months and seeing Kanye in that MAGA hat. That shit hurt, for sure. But there's part of me that is still a fan of Kanye's music and wants this album to be excellent, and to really speak on things. There's a surface level commentary on recent events, but Kanye does not give us any "aha moment" or at least it not presented clearly and easily where all of his actions are now clear. Perhaps he is still working through that. Perhaps he wants us to work harder to understand. Perhaps it's just not coming. There's a lot to go through in only seven songs, and if you've been a Kanye fan since the early days like I have, this one will take multiple listens to process.
You can start that process below.
SHIRT Shares His Thoughts On Ye With "It Be Your Own Drums"
"I don't care if you made the album in the Everglades, Or in partnership with Tesla, K, your shit wrestling now Smarten up."
Last week, Kanye lit up the twitter by sharing a fly on the wall style video of him in beat-making mode. The video drew attention for multiple reasons, beyond the music, the video showed a white board listing all the upcoming G.O.O.D. Music releases and helped make Kanye's promises of new music a bit more tangible.
SHIRT - in classic SHIRT fashion - ripped the audio from Kanye's video and made a song expressing his feelings on Kanye and the upcoming releases. The track isn't a diss or any kind of Kanye takedown, but comes off a heartfelt open letter or a conversation set to drums.
Check it below. SHIRT latest album, Pure Beauty, is out now on Third Man Records.
https://soundcloud.com/shirt/it-be-your-own-drums-produced-by-ye#t=0:00
Hip-hop takes over Chicago in The Breaks
In recent years the Chicago’s hip-hop scene has grown global with the popularity of rappers like Kanye West, Chief Keef and Chance The Rapper. This weekend hip-hop comes to the city with a varsity roster of hip-hop heavyweights. These massive original kings in the hip-hop community take over Chicago for The Breaks.
Hosted in the largest venue in the city at Solider Field, it will host some of the best names to ever pick up the mic. Hip-hop legends Tech N9ne, Method Man & Redman are set to headline from By A Thread’s Vol. 1 The Breaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRdr1w3rBs
Slaughterhouse’s Royce Da 5’9, Joe Budden, Kxng Crooked and Joell Ortiz will bring their Shady Records aggression to The Breaks.
Harlem rapper and no stranger to controversies Cam’ron returns to Chicago. Activist and rapper Immortal Technique is also scheduled to bring his lyrically story driven raps to life at The Breaks.
Chicago’s own Crucial Conflict will bring members Coldhard, Wildstlye, Kilo and Never back together. Crucial Conflict aren’t the own hometown favorites. Belo Zero, N.A.R.D and AK from Do or Die will also add to the already impressive lineup.
Opening the night, the earlier spots are nothing to sleep on. Rittz, who just announced a new forthcoming album, is one of the openers who will guarantee earlier arrivals. YouTube and fast rapper Mac Lethal brings his fast flow to the main stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l75Z8wil_U
Underground Philadelphia group Jedi Mind Tricks will bring scratch expert DJ Kwestion, classic prouder Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind and lyricist Vinnie Paz to The Breaks.
The Breaks has many hip-hop heads old and new excited to see these legends on the stage. This weekend it will be a throwback to a long catalog of classics. Tickets are still available for purchase here.
The Breaks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-p2HQ2esrQ