Sterling Hayes Delivers a Haunting New LP in SideFX
People want authenticity. I often ask my students, 'what don't you like about music?' One of the biggest responses is the lack of honesty they perceive from artists of all genres who pretend everything is always going well. It's a common theme, and a common criticism. In recent years though - and many younger people credit Kid Cudi in this regard - subjects such as depression, drug abuse, and just feeling shitty have taken a more prominent role in Hip Hop music. If you are searching for something raw, emotional, and honest (almost to a fault), then I highly suggest SideFX, the new album from SaveMoney's Sterling Hayes.
From the start, SideFX removes all barriers and at times is downright scary and hard to listen to. Hayes' delivery is gruff and even chill-invoking as he howls "Chicago is killing me" on the album's third track, "Suicide". A few themes run throughout SideFX, maybe none more prominent than Hayes' ownership of his own problems and his resolve to conquer them. He is worried about being a bad son, being a bad friend, doing too many drugs, not being able to stop doing too many drugs, being hurt by his girlfriend, the violence in Chicago, allowing blogs to dictate his self-worth and generally wasting away. His parents also play a prominent role on this record as he tackles their marriage, their divorce, and the realization that many young adults come to abruptly that one day they will die, and you can find yourself alone. In that regard, SideFX plays out somewhat like a manifesto for Hayes who commits to counting on himself, and at the end of the day making himself proud as a conduit to doing right by others.
This is a haunting and honest LP from a Chicago artist often overlooked alongside his "friends with Grammys". And while his friends such as Smoko Ono, Malcolm London, Via Rosa, and Chance The Rapper all make cameos, it is Hayes who maintains centerstage on this LP. With SideFX, Sterling Hayes clearly establishes how he is different from his peers and at the same time, like so many of his listeners going through similar situations. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for Hayes, and hopefully this album makes it a shine a little brighter.
https://soundcloud.com/sterlinghayes-1/sets/sidefx
KAMI- PAYLOAD
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KAMI rings in the new year with a jubilant new video for "PAYLOAD". With his excitable delivery and a synth heavy instrumental the track is a certified banger. Starting off with a grainy IPhone video the video morphs into a behind the scenes experience showcasing KAMI and the Savemoney crews carefree antics. The song is a celebration, toasting to coming from nothing, and making it in this cruel world.
A perfect mood for 2018. Listen above.
Vic Mensa performs private show for Summer of Collaboration
Summer of Collaboration presented by AT&T partnered with Vic Mensa for a private show at Chicago's AT&T Michigan Ave store with street photographer Vivian Maier’s.
Maier was street photography’s best kept secret. Maier worked as a nanny in the Chicago suburb North Shore in the late 1990’s. That's where while working she took what would become some of the best street photography.
Maier’s work almost never saw the light of day if it wasn’t for Chicago artist John Maloof. Maloof purchased Maier’s extensive work at an auction. He found an extensive amount of film, negatives, and prints of hundred rolls of film, home movies, and audio tape interviews that all belonged to Maier.
Maloof hosted a presentation going over Maier’s mysterious life and talking about her work and the impact surrounding it. Described as a Mary Poppin’s type, this introverted photographer opened her subjects up in the most beautiful way.
Chicago rapper Vic Mensa when up on stage admired Maloof’s courage and passion for being bold and fearless. Mensa was set to perform only three songs but added an additional for go measure. He performed: 16 Shots, Shades of Blue, There’s Alot Going On, and U Mad.
We recently caught Vic Mensa at The Vic Theater while on his "There’s Alot Going On" Tour. While at the Summer of Collaboration event we witnessed a side of Mensa that most music fans don’t. Pegged as a south side rapper and Kanye West pupil, Mensa is keeping busy with work outside the studio.
Vic Mensa has been politically active when it’s come to personal issues. Vic Mensa participated in the Laquan McDonald demonstrations. He also volunteered at Flint, Michigan during their water crisis. Vic urges young voters to register to vote by offering his latest EP “There’s ALot Going On” for free when they registered to vote.
Vic Mensa made sure his personal efforts were made clear as the Roc Nation rapper treated fans to a stadium caliber performance. With so few attending the private event, from seeing the incredible photographs from Maloof and seeing one of best in the city with Vic Mensa, the Summer of Collaboration was one of the purest ways to end the summer off right.
View our photo gallery of Vic Mensa’s Summer of Collaboration event below!
Chance The Rapper releases new album 'Coloring Book'
Chance The Rapper just dropped his best work yet with his highly anticipated third album, Coloring Book.
Formally known as Chance 3, Chance's Coloring Book features heavyweights like Kayne West, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz, Future, T-Pain, and Justin Bieber. Chicago talent is also present with features from Saba and Towkio.
The fourteen track album is Chance's biggest and most anticipated work. Chance's Acid Rap, his album that catapulted him into the limelight of new age hip-hop, was just released three years ago. In those three year Chance has continued to break records as an independent artist.
Working on it almost in secret Chance has been featured in some of the best songs of the year. Fresh off his appearance debuting 'Blessings' on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Chance has been hard at work making the release of Coloring Book a big one.
https://twitter.com/chancetherapper/status/730960861028700160?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
With little to no information on his latest mixtape Chance has left the world waiting for his next album. Chance has had quite a number of local blessings. Chance dropped one of the best Chicago music videos ever shot. The music video for his song “Angels” ft. Saba is one of the best videos to take place in Chicago, definitely taking advantage of the cityscape and signature ‘L’ train system.
Chance has been a staple of Chicago excellence as he continues to break records as an independent artist.
Chicago Acts to Look Out For in 2014
Photo by Bobby Reys
Chicago has been on lately. The Second City has always been known as a musical city and the current rate at which it has produced talent as of late is only adding to that legacy. As festival lineups roll out as we transition into Spring, it has become common to find a Chicago act, if not several, on the list. For this reason, we decided to put together a list of up and coming artists from Chicago that we expect to fully blossom throughout 2014. We added numbers, but there's no real order as far as rankings, just a collection of musical acts from the city that deserve a spotlight. Last year, Chance The Rapper, Chief Keef and a host of hip-hop artists dominated music headlines as a pipeline was established in the Midwest. There is plenty in the city that isn't rap music too though, and we made sure to highlight everyone. Take some time to flip through the next batch of stars to rise out of Chicago.
[Video] Scoolboy Q, Vic Mensa & Vado on 'RapFix Live'
Wednesday might as well have been "Come Up Day" over at the MTV RapFix studios in New York City. I say that because Sway, wearing a SaveMoney sweatshirt nonetheless, found himself flanked by two of the most aggressively progressive artists in hip-hop today in Vic Mensa and Schoolboy Q who were also joined by Cam'ron protege, Vado. The four men chopped it up between the couches with Sway, touching on what's come, what's gone and what's on the horizon. Schoolboy Q, whose album, Oxymoron is about ready to explode from anticipation leading up to the February 25 release date, showed up looking like he stole a page out of Pharrell's style book with a full brimmed hat capping off an ensemble that included a full-length grey trench coat and pink 'TDE' sweatshirt. Anything goes I guess when you're the 'Hood Pope'. Vic joined Schoolboy on the couch, rocking a matching sweatshirt to Sway's and giving the pink 'TDE' piece a run for its...money? Anyway, check out the full episode, streaming below courtesy of MTV.
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Chance The Rapper Hints at New Song
Chance The Rapper has been making the rounds while taking a break from the harsh Chicago winter out in Los Angeles. While on the left coast, he has been spotted in the studio with the likes of Skrillex, Justin Bieber, Jeremih, Common and No I.D., among others. All that time in the booth had to result in something, and today Chano hinted at what fans can begin to expect from his next project, not yet titled and currently in early production. The song is "Somewhere In Paradise" and was unveiled throughout Chance's "Social Experiment Tour" late last year, and again a few weeks ago at a show for DePaul students in Chicago with Jeremih. A soulfully poignant number, the track continues to build on the aesthetics of Chicago music that has come to characterize the young, terribly talented artist, this time taking things to a mix of gospel and juke music for something that is at once dancing and lyrically entrancing. Chance posted the below video to his Instagram last night of himself in the studio with savemoney horn players, Donnie Trumpet and J.P. Floyd getting down and layering the sound throughout. Chance had an amazing 2013, looks like he's cooking something up for 2014 now. Check out the Instagram video and Chance performing the song at The Riviera in Chicago in December.
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