Before he brought his energetic performance to the Lollapalooza stage this past weekend, Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator performed a more intimate (but equally wild) set at the Concord Music Hall for an Official Afterparty of Lollapalooza 2015. With an opening performance from the uber talented band, BADBADNOTGOOD, Tyler (alongside Taco and Jasper) gave the Windy City fan’s their money’s worth. Not only did Tyler perform a number of tracks from his latest LP Cherry Bomb, but he performed a number of mixtape records for his day one fans. And if you missed out, don’t worry! Tyler will be back in Chicago with A$AP Rocky in September at the Aragon Ballroom (get your tickets Friday).
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
Mackelmore and Ryan Lewis are back, and this time they have recruited the help of Ed Sheeran for their new single. The new track is titled ‘Growing Up (Sloane’s Song)’ and it serves as an ode to Macklemore’s new-born daughter, Sloane Ava Simone Haggerty, who was just born 2 months ago on May 29th. Speaking on his inspiration for the record, Macklemore told fans “There is nothing like the joy and happiness that comes from bringing a baby into this universe. She has filled my heart in ways that I never knew were possible.” While this emotional single tides you over, stay tuned as we get more information on Macklemore’s forthcoming album.
If you weren’t in Chicago for this year’s Lollapalooza, you were probably pretty jealous that fans got to see performances from both Tyler the Creator and A$AP Rocky in one weekend. Well lucky for you, the two have teamed up with Vince Staples and Danny Brown for an upcoming fall tour. The 9-date tour will kick off in Lowell, MA in September and will hit stops in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and more, until it closes in Dallas at the South Side Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday at RockyAndTyler.com.
If you were anywhere near Chicago this weekend, then you know that music festivals in the Windy City do not just end after the night’s last performance. To fully experience a music festival you need to cap your night with an official after party. And if you’re going to the North Coast Music Festivalthis year, then luckily you will have many after parties to choose from, as the festival has announced 16 official parties after the party in Union Park wraps up. Fans will be able to choose from parties with Chromeo, Salva, Until the Ribbon Breaks, Steve Aoki and many more, so don’t miss out!
Check out the full list of after parties below and get your tickets at North Coast’s official website here. Also be sure to enter our North Coast Ticket giveaway, to win a pair of 3-Day passes!
James Fauntleroy, the behind-the-scenes artist who is responsible for writing many hit songs, released a song titled Magic late Monday night. It was produced by Frank Ocean’s go-to producer, Malay. The SoundCloud description states that Magic is a single from Fauntleroy’s “upcoming motion album” 1984. James is known by most music listeners as a featured artist on songs by Drake, J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Big Sean, and many more. Or maybe he’s known most as the lead singer for the No I.D.-led band, Cocaine 80s. It is very possible, though, that 1984 will allow the singer to become most known for his solo work.
We just got back from Lollapalooza 2015 and our second year at Chicago’s premiere music festival was as great as the first! Although a storm brought a brief evacuation to the Windy City festival, no performances where cancelled and fans saw some great sets from Sam Smith, Paul McCartney, The Weeknd, Metallica, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott (before he was arrested), Logic, Tyler the Creator, Marina and the Diamonds, George Ezra, and many many more.
Zayn Malik may have left the group to sign a solo deal with RCA but that isn’t stopping the guys from One Direction, as the group has released their new single ‘Drag Me Down’. The band dropped the song on iTunes and Spotify yesterday and it is available now here. Not only is this the first new music from One Direction in awhile, but it displays a new and more mature sound from the group. If you like what you hear, be sure to catch the guys on their current American leg of their On The Road Again stadium tour. Their forthcoming album is due to release this November.
In PND’s new song, he lets out the feelings he has for the R&B singer, Kehlani. The two were in a relationship for a while, until Kehlani claimed she was single in a recent tweet. Titled “Kehlani’s Freestyle”, this follows the footsteps of Drake’s “Bria’s Interlude” and “Cece’s Interlude” where the singing rapper also reveals his feelings towards his past girls. The dreamy beat mixes perfectly with PND’s smooth vocals. Listen to the track below.
Drake and Meek Mill may soon be old news for rap beef as Vic Mensa just took serious shots at G.O.O.D. Music‘s Travis Scott with his new ‘Heir To The Throne’ freestyle. Rapping over Biggie’s classic ‘Who Shot Ya?’ record, Mensa raps, “couple rap n*ggas you done thought that we was crew, real life n*ggas was corny, what can I do? Rich boy rappers get the notion that they tough, you a Cheddar Bob you better shooting yourself.” While mimicking Travis Scott’s “straight up” adlib between bars, Mensa is clearly talking about Scott, who (like Vic) is very close with Kanye West and producer Mike Dean.
While we aren’t certain where, how, or why this beef started, members of the KanyeToThe forum traced the beef back to last month, from one of Mensa’s tweets. In the tweet, Mensa is noticeably annoyed by a HNHH article that describes Vic’s unreleased track, ‘3 AM’, as sounding similar to a “Travis Scott song without the autotune.” Vic soon replied asking that they not mention him with “funny style n*ggas.”
It’s possible that something behind the scenes explains Mensa’s disliking of Scott, and there were rumors that a fight between Scott’s team and Vic’s SAVEMONEY crew broke out months ago, but for now it may just be the case that Mensa isn’t a fan of La Flame. Or perhaps the two are competing for studio time with Kanye and Mike Dean? Either way, this doesn’t seem like a necessary beef, and the unnecessary shots are overshadowing the dope bars Vic laid down in the new freestyle. Both Mensa and Scott will be in Chicago this weekend, as Travis is performing at Lollapalooza and Vic is performing a hometown show for an unofficial Lollapalooza Afterparty, so perhaps the two will cross paths…
Listen to Mensa’s shots towards Travis Scott at the 1:40 mark below.
Last night, rapper J. Cole brought his Forest Hills Drive Tour to Chicago with a stop at Tinley Park’s Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre. With opening performances from Cole’s Dreamville arts (Bas, Cozz, Omen), rapper YG, Chicago’s own Jeremih and G.O.O.D. Music‘s Big Sean, fans certainly got their money’s worth. To warm up the crowd for the main event, Big Sean performed a number of his best known tracks, including a large number of tracks from his Dark Sky Paradise album, as well as some of Sean’s best guest features. The highlight of Sean’s performance however came during technical difficulties, as Sean’s mic cut out during his emotional performance of ‘One Man Can Change The World’. While the crowd initially booed the sound team for the problems, once the Windy City fans could tell that the mic wasn’t going to immediately fix itself, the entire crowd stop their boos and instead cheered for Sean with all their energy as he continued to rap his latest single, dedicated to his late grandmother. Knowing the context behind the record, the crowd helped Sean turned a negative moment into a memorable on.
For J. Cole’s headlining set, the man proved why he is meant to top the bill of a long and talented list of performers. Cole not only played his entire album 2014 Forest Hills Drive, but he gave intimate stories behind the records (as almost a director’s commentary to the album). Cole also brought out Jeremih for a performances of their ‘Planes (Remix)’, and even sprinkled in a few tracks for some of his day one fans. Not one fan left the amphitheatre feeling that Cole and the rest of the lineup didn’t give them their money’s worth.
Check our more photos, from our photographer Dan Garcia, below.
The Early Registration 