If you haven’t heard of St. Millie by now, you obviously haven’t been paying attention to this thing called hip-hop in Chicago. The 22-year-old Treated Crew affiliate has built a following through both talented projects, (NoReligionButUp, Road To Glory) as well as clever marketing and general good-natured-ness (Face decals around the city, Christmas food drive at Jugrnaut). Pair these qualities with the fact you’d be hard-pressed to find an act west of Lake Michigan that hasn’t worked with, played a show with or somehow been connected to the young artist you can most often find behind the register at Jugrnaut. Continue reading |Video| St. Millie: “Dream 312”
All posts by Jake Krez
The Chicago Narrative: Lil Herb and ‘Post Drill’
Photo by Elevator
As the hip-hop scene in Chicago has exploded over the past two years or so since Keef, Reese and the GBE boys made national headlines with their “Don’t Like” video, the narrative coming out of Chicago hasn’t changed much. Guns, murder, death and entrapment from above are the motifs that drive the sound of “drill” music which piqued the country’s interest with its inherent street soliloquies told by teenagers reporting on the state of their environment. Continue reading The Chicago Narrative: Lil Herb and ‘Post Drill’
|Video| Calez: “Positive Energy”
As scenes grow and expand, many artists can get caught up in the pervading sound of the time, the flavor of the month and lose themselves trying to re-create another artist’s creative flair in their own words. This is not Calez. The 21-year-old artist from the southside of Chicago has gone about creating a space for himself within the ever-growing hip-hop scene that has exploded in the Second City since Chief Keef brought listeners to the city with his gritty street tales and gunshot-ridden hooks. Continue reading |Video| Calez: “Positive Energy”
Top Artists To Catch At SXSW 2014 + Spotify Playlist
No matter how prepared I get, South by Southwest seems to sneak up on me. This year, though, preparedness is at a premium. As the festival balloons larger and larger each year, it brings with it a more bountiful harvest of talented artists along with it. In the spirit of getting ready to soak in ridiculous amounts of music over the next week and a half or so, I decided to put together a list of the bands, acts and artists that I am most excited to catch while down in Austin for my annual pilgrimage. Hit the jump for the full list. Continue reading Top Artists To Catch At SXSW 2014 + Spotify Playlist
|Video| ShowYouSuck: “Make Out King”
As SXSW nears, there are few independent hip-hop artists coming out of Chicago with more of a foundation (and polka dots) than Treated Crew/LOD member ShowYouSuck, who showed his best work is still coming with his talented project to begin 2014, Dude Bro. The album was a culmination of the work he had done throughout his previous four-part “One Man Pizza Party” series and, although the subject matter stayed largely where it had been since his first project (couch surfing, slurpees and cartoons), things felt more matured. Continue reading |Video| ShowYouSuck: “Make Out King”
|Video| Auggie The 9th: “GWS”
Auggie The 9th, emerged late last year with a string of new music in the lead up to his debut project GAWS, an amped-up, personal hip-hop journey that quite literally flipped ‘swag’ on his head. To be sure, Auggie has been around the Chicago hip-hop scene for a minute, working with Legion of Dudes as well as handling duties as one of the best hype men in the game when he took the stage with close friend ShowYouSuck. 2014 was a year of growth for the flat-topped, muscle heavy ball of energy that can be found biking the city’s streets in the worst of snow. Continue reading |Video| Auggie The 9th: “GWS”
|Video| Saba: “Secondhand Smoke”
One of my “Acts to Look Out For“ from Chicago, Saba, dropped his long-awaited video for “Secondhand Smoke” yesterday, which offered glimpses of wintertime Chi alongside Vesely-esque digital effect to create a powerful aesthetic in the lead up to his project, ComfortZone. Since seeing Saba and his co-horts, Pivot Gang, for the first time at the after-school spoken word poetry program, Young Chicago Authors, it has been refreshing to see his uniquely powerful, yet ultimately conscious rhymes begin to find their way out of the city. As we saw a crop of artists rise from Chicago last year, Saba has gone about positioning himself for the bright lights of the big time perhaps better than anyone else, playing what seems like a show a day around the city, and keeping his travel schedule tight in getting around the country to spread the Pivot word. “Secondhand Smoke”, shot by the ever-talented guys over at Heart of the City, continues to build the buzz that has surrounded Saba for some time, keep an eye out for ComfortZone.
|Video| Netherfriends: “Uptown Boys”
If you happened to spend time in Chicago’s Logan Square over the past year or so, Netherfriends and his three-fingered salute shouldn’t be wildly unfamiliar to you. To be honest, there aren’t many places unrecognizable to the wildly eclectic 27-year-old producer/performer. Having crisscrossed the country several times and one-upped Sufjan Stevens by writing a song in every state, Netherfriends has grown a truly grassroots following among indie fans, electronic heads and rap aficionados alike. His latest working, “Uptown Boys” is a rumination on time spent in the north side neighborhood of Chicago, known for its upscale music venues and dark corners and alleys, the video, shot by Elevator, is a sort of montage of Netherfriends live shows, intense personality and off-the-wall disposition. He’s kind of a weird guy, but it’s what makes his music so endearing, you can feel every ounce of him poured into each track, a tall order for someone who seems intent on working constantly.
|Interview| Sidewalk Chalk Grows, Releases ‘Leaves’
Sidewalk Chalk embodies Chicago. As much as the recent Vice “Chiraq” documentaries have done the opposite as of late, the eclectic eight piece band from the Second City pulls from both their hometown’s past and present while focusing on writing it’s future. The immediately soulful feelings of their latest project, Leaves, released February 24, is the result of an penchant for a sound that came off less polished and more gritty, capturing the sensibilities of both vocals and instrumentation that can be lost in post-production. Continue reading |Interview| Sidewalk Chalk Grows, Releases ‘Leaves’
Vic Mensa Will Be 2014′s Breakout Hip-Hop Star
The clock had just rounded one in the morning and the party was still going strong at an apartment on the campus of the University of Illinois. I had traveled south from Chicago to catch Chance The Rapper, arguably hip-hop’s breakout star of 2013, open his Social Experiment Tour. I noticed the Chicago emcee Vic Mensa leaning against a counter next to me, idly checking his phone. Looking around, I saw many at the party gawking at the 20-year-old rapper and quickly whispering to friends, as others aimed cell phones his way. Walking over, I asked Mensa, who an hour earlier had sent the crowd of college students into a frenzy with a guest verse on Chance’s “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” what it was like to be the most popular person at a party that no one seemed to talk to. Escaping the glare of his phone, Mensa’s eyes snapped up. “It’s hella weird, G,” he said. “It’s been happening more and more, and it just keeps getting weirder.” Continue reading Vic Mensa Will Be 2014′s Breakout Hip-Hop Star
Jake Krzeczowski 