At the beginning of this year, Kid Ink dropped his major label debut My Own Lane. It was an album where at best showed that Kid Ink knew his way around a melodic pop hook when he felt like it, but at worst he failed to present himself as a fully capable MC. Now Kid Ink has brought along his gang of fellow rappers known as Batgang for 4B’s. After giving him a second chance after said mediocre debut however, he fails to bring much to consider to the point of weighing down the whole mixtape. 4B’s is a good example of that when you lower the bar so far down to the ground, everyone else surrounding you doesn’t feel the need to try much.
This past weekend Talib Kweli set us up with one of Chicago’s emerging young artists, K’Valentine. From Chicago’s South Side, K’Valentine started her rap career from her passion for poetry and has been actively committed to her music since she began rapping. While speaking with K’Valentine backstage at the North Coast Music Festival after her performance with Kweli, she told us about her journey over the past few years, how she first got in touch with Talib, and her upcoming project “Organically Earned” (you heard it here first!), due out later this year and executively produced by Talib Kweli.
Later this month, Chicago’s Union Park is hosting Common’s AAHH! Fest. As announced last week, legendary comedian Dave Chappelle will be hosting this years event, which features a number of Chicago artists and one “very special surprise guest”. Time to speculate who that may be!
After canceling a number of summer shows following his headlining performance at Lollapalooza, Chance has announced his upcoming Verge CampusFall Tour. The tour hits up a number college cities from the University of Indiana to the University of Kentucky. The tour will also feature a number of opening performances that vary by date, including Travis Scott, Jason Derulo, and various others.
Jhené Aiko surprised us all as she released her debut album Souled Out a week early as a free stream on iTunes Radio to tide us over until we can download or buy a physical copy on September 9th for its official release. While the free stream was certainly unexpected, Jhené’s debut LP is far from unexpected as pop, R&B, and hip-hop fans alike have been patiently waiting its release. Jhené already has a great catalog of features, working previously with some of music’s biggest rappers (Drake, Big Sean, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino), but with Souled Out (which follows her 2013 debut EP Sail Out) she gives us our first full-length taste of what we can expect from Jhené Aiko as an artist.
“What’s in it for someone with nothing to do? What’s in it for me?” In 2010 Avi Zahner-Isenberg, front man of psychedelic indie rock group Avi Buffalo, asked this question with more earnest than his typical slacker self. Returning to true form with At Best Cuckold‘s lead single, he seems to have received an answer to that question. His response? “So What?” Four years after the Long Beach natives’ self titled debut, Avi Buffalo has emerged out of obscurity once again. Avi’s apathetic chant on “So What” seems to indicate that the crass twenty-something guitarist hasn’t grown much since we last saw him, but in fact At Best Cuckold proves to be a coy, vague portrait of a man who cared too much.
Yesterday ended North Coast Music Festival’s 5th Anniversary. With performances by artists such as Bassnectar, Talib Kweli, Kid Cudi, Action Bronson, Riff Raff and many others, the festival closed out with a headlining performance by Snoop Dogg. Check out some of our Sunday photos.
No better way to celebrate Labor Day than with some new Jody Highroller and Action Bronson. Check out the new, Alchemist produced, track by the ‘Hot Shots‘ rappers at the jump.
Chance the Rapper’s prayers have been answered, as he has finally met Kanye West. The Chicago rapper, who previously led a brief Twitter hashtag campaign to try to meet Kanye when they both performed at Bonnarro earlier this year, took to his Instagram to post a picture of the two.
The Early Registration 