A writer/publicist/media hired hand from Chicago, Il who came up writing for the Chicago Sun Times where he helped break artists like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, Kids These Days and many more. Since then Jake has written for the likes of XXL, Complex, Noisey, New City, Billboard, DJBooth and many others while staying up to date on all things Chicago music and beyond.
If you’ve been to a festival or accessed the Internet anytime over the past few months, it’s pretty certain that you’ve heard something that’s been touched by The Social Experiment. Chance The Rapper’s in-house band and production team—comprised of Peter Cottontale, Nico Segal, Greg Landfair and Nate Fox—has been busy since releasing Acid Rap last April. That included crisscrossing trips across the country playing sold out venues as well as spending time in the studio with the likes of Skrillex, SZA, Jeremih, James Blake and Justin Bieber, just to name a few.
Producing sonically beautiful backing tracks that are both a play on the pillars of Chicago music thus far and a trajectory forward of where it can go, this group has been able to make hip-hop music that is palpable to the general public. Currently working on the follow up to Acid Rap, each of the members of the collective have plans for solo albums over the next year that should prove to continue the forward-thinking production across the spectrum of music. Continue reading XXL’s Guide To Chicago Hip-Hop: Top Five Producers→
On Chancelor Bennett’s sophomore mixtape, “Acid Rap,” he rhymes on “Paranoia”: “It just got warm out/this the s— I been warned about/I hope it storm in the morning/I hope it’s pouring out.” For those in-the-know about Chicago summers, it’s a nod to the dramatic uptick in gun violence that tends to follow the rising temperatures. Continue reading Chance the Rapper spearheads #SaveChicago campaign→
Amongst the increasingly crowded landscape of Chicago Hip-Hop these days, it is becoming harder to stand out. It seems as though you need to create an entirely new sound to even reach ears outside your own city. It’s with that as the backdrop that Calez released his latest project, Ceito, a decidedly turn-of-the-millennium, East Coast-feeling mixtape. Instead of creating a new lane, Calez plays on past aesthetics in one of the better listens of the year so far. Continue reading |MIXTAPE| Calez: “Ceito”→
If you want some good music out of Chicago, the SaveMoney clique is a good place to look. If you’re looking for something unique that will get your feet moving? Look no further than Towkio (formerly Tokyo Shawn). From head to toe, note to lyric Towkio is a unique talent that has been brewing on Chicago’s underground for some time now. As Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper have ascended to the stratosphere, Towkio may well be one of the city’s best kept secrets. Continue reading |MIXTAPE| Towkio: “Hotchips N’ Chopsticks”→
So for the past month there’s been this guy living in the attic of my house in Chicago. He goes by Netherfriends, and you may have heard of him. In the midst of keeping our neighborhood funky with his tunes emanating from the upstairs windows, the eclectic artist got together recently with Everett Ravens for a visual of his latest track “Joey Vision,” an uptempo cut that’ll remind listeners of mid-2000s Modest Mouse. Continue reading |VIDEO| Netherfriends: “Joey Vision”→
Consider the Soul Trap movement in full effect. Starting in 2012 with Chicago’s MC Tree’s project Sunday School, we have been consistently graced with the chopped soul sampling production that has come to define the 30-year-old artist. Recently, he teamed up with fellow Chicagoan Chris Crack for the much talked about release, TreeSwag, which dropped earlier this month (get it here). Continue reading |VIDEO| Tree x Chris Crack: “CUTS” + Two New Songs→
You should’ve heard about Saba by now. Since appearing on Chance The Rapper’s now-iconic Acid Rap project, the 19-year-old artist and leader of Chicago’s newest Hip-Hop clique, PIVOT, has reinvigorated his art while preparing for the release of his upcoming project, COMFORTzone. Continue reading Saba: “Burnout” (Feat. Eryn Allen Kane)→
I’d argue that few people in America are having a better few days than Chicago’s ProbCause. In the past week he arrived home from a nationwide tour with dance duo Cherub, released his latest project WAVES via SPIN and graduated with his Master’s degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Not bad. Continue reading |ALBUM|ProbCause’s ‘WAVES’ Puts On For Chicago→
Alex Wiley burst onto the Chicago Hip-Hop radar last year with his debut project, Club Wiley, as the initial signee to local independent label Closed Sessions. Since the new year, Wiley has dropped a steady line of content, and his latest video for “Ova”, shot by Visual Mecca, is a reflection of that growth. Continue reading |VIDEO| Alex Wiley: “Ova”→
If you don’t know Donnie Trumpet by now, you will very soon. In fact, there’s a good chance you’re unknowingly already a fan of his work. The artist sometimes known as Nico Segal has been working incessantly since the break up of Kids These Days, the band that spawned Vic Mensa and Marrow, and today delivers an artistic visual in the form of “Pasadena,” which you can watch below. Continue reading |VIDEO|Donnie Trumpet: ‘Pasadena’ & Vic Mensa: ‘Down On My Luck’→
The Social Experiment
Jake Krzeczowski 