The Smoking Section

All Of The Important Things I Learned At Pitchfork Festival 2015

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In its tenth year, Pitchfork Festival looked to its hometown of Chicago for support. The city that birthed indie-music celebration was this year’s theme, as it helped honor P4K’s ten-year anniversary. While rain was the fest’s biggest news—it forced several Saturday artists to cancel last minute—hometown talent was Pitchfork’s most salient aspect. Chicago claimed seven of the festival’s total acts, including three of the headliners: Wilco, Vic Mensa, who was elevated to headliner last minute, and, of course, Chance The Rapper, who closed out P4K with a rousing rendition of “Sunday Candy” with none other than gospel legend Kirk Franklin.

Through the course of the three days we learned a handful of new truths. These are just eight of them. Continue reading All Of The Important Things I Learned At Pitchfork Festival 2015 →

The New City

My Lolla: Jake Krzeczowski

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Ah, Lollapalooza! Like an old friend you’ve grown apart from, the Lolla of today hardly resembles the festival I spent all my summer cash on as a teenager, to drink cheap vodka out of a water bottle and watch Kid Cudi. The Lollapalooza of 2015 is an aggressive beast that appears poised to burst its Grant Park confines and spill into the city at large—as indeed it does every night at 10pm during its three-day stretch. Continue reading My Lolla: Jake Krzeczowski →

Music Review, The Smoking Section

Chicago’s Hurt Everybody Brings Grunge To Hip-Hop On ‘2K47’ Mixtape

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The Hurt Everybody movement is in full swing.

A year removed from their debut release on July 4, 2014, the trio of Supa BWE, Carl and Mulatto Beats have built a large and dedicated fanbase through their constant releases on SoundCloud. The group’s 4th of July release 2K47 recently demonstrated their feverish work ethic. The sophomore project, more importantly, positioned the group as one of the next up from a crowded Chicago scene.

2K47 arrives as a much sleeker, tightly-wound unveil than last year’s debut. Whereas the Hurt Everybody EP was a collection of favorite tracks recorded and released for short periods of time online, 2K47 comes packaged with an understanding of over-arching themes that pace the project. “F*ck you I’m amazing” is prevalent throughout, both a boastful declaration and a serious assertion. Continue reading Chicago’s Hurt Everybody Brings Grunge To Hip-Hop On ‘2K47’ Mixtape →

Features, Interview, Music, Noisey

SURF’S UP! DONNIE TRUMPET, NATE FOX, AND PETER COTTONTALE DISCUSS ‘SURF’

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Originally Appeared for Vice/Noisey

Last Thursday night, Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment’s album Surf appeared as a free download on iTunes (reportedly the first Apple had allowed), its arrival sudden yet highly anticipated. Promises that the album was coming soon—before the end of the year, then “soon,” then “very soon”—had been floating around since Chance the Rapper announced it in an interview with Billboard last fall, and hip-hop fans were eager to find out what the project that most saw as the follow-up to Chance’s acclaimed 2013 mixtape Acid Rap would sound like.

Surf sounds like a party. It’s a different sonic world from any other hip-hop album released this year, and its cast of contributors is impressive, featuring local Chicago friends like NoNameGypsy, Saba, and Joey Purp as well as big names like Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, Big Sean, and J. Cole. It’s also—although he’s the most well known name attached to it, and The Social Experiment is his touring band—not a Chance the Rapper album. It’s a collaborative effort with other band members Peter Cottontale and Nate Fox, overseen by Donnie Trumpet, a.k.a. Nico Segal.

“What I wanted to accomplish on this project most was to convey to people that I’m a producer and not just a trumpet player in Chance’s band,” Segal told me last Friday morning, groggy from an all-nighter scanning Twitter and reading initial reviews. “This is supposed to be the beginning of something, the first of its kind for something new.”

Continued below… Continue reading SURF’S UP! DONNIE TRUMPET, NATE FOX, AND PETER COTTONTALE DISCUSS ‘SURF’ →

Music, Music Review, The New City

Record Review: “.Wav Theory” by Towkio

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Chicago continued its dominance over new music last week as Preston Oshita, better known to the world as Towkio of the SaveMoney hip-hop collective, unveiled his highly anticipated “.Wav Theory” project to the world. Part of the group that brought us Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper, Towkio here steps out with a talented, genre-bending release that comes packed with local intonations while looking optimistically outward, as the world opens up for the young artist. Formerly know locally as Tokyo Shawn, Towkio has always been the outlying presence in a collective that boasts some diagonal personalities. A former quarterback at Lane Tech High School, he’s been a leader for a new school of fashion-forward rhymesayers who have paced the Chicago scene. “.Wav Theory” is his magnum opus—at least to this point in his career. Packed full from start to finish, the project benefits from the work of executive producer Peter CottonTale of The Social Experiment, who worked closely with him for more than two years, tinkering with the project and all its abstracted hip-hop and dance aesthetics. The pair come together most notably on “Heaven Only Knows” featuring Chance, fellow local Eryn Allen Kane and Lido. Using nuanced, bracketed organ chords and Kane’s Sunday church-invoking vocals, Towkio shows off his witty wordplay and penchant for careful sentence structure on a track that racked up over five million plays on Soundcloud upon release. Top to bottom, this project is a success. Similar to Chance’s “Acid Rap” and Vic Mensa’s “Innanetape,” this release is poised to vault Towkio from hangouts and parties around the city to major events and festivals across the country. As we all wait on pins and needles for The Social Experiment’s “Surf” project, Towkio serves up a wave for us to ride. It’s both a continuance of what the SaveMoney collective has proven to locals over the last few years, and a welcome, uplifting collection for a city that can always use it. (Jake Krzeczowski) – See more at: http://music.newcity.com/2015/05/08/record-review-wav-theory-by-towkio/#sthash.aYx3lbya.dpuf

Music, News, XXL

Towkio and Kehlani Pack Out The Metro in Chicago

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Photos by Bryan Lamb

Two years ago I stood on the floor of The Metro in the shadow of Chicago’s Wrigley Field and watched as Chance The Rapper turned a crowd of teenagers and kids in their early 20s into a frenzy. It’s crazy to think it’s been two years since Acid Rap Live. The movement continued Saturday (May 16) as the latest member to emerge from the local SaveMoney contingent took his place alongside Chancelor Bennett and Vic Mensa, proving himself a formidable act on the strength of his recent release,.Wav Theory. Continue reading Towkio and Kehlani Pack Out The Metro in Chicago →

Features, News, Uncategorized, XXL

Vic Mensa Rocks Secret Show in Chicago

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Originally Appeared for XXL Magazine

The ripples of Kanye West were abundant at the Chop Shop in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood Friday night for 21-year-old Vic Mensa’s homecoming. That the show sold out in under 20 minutes was no surprise given the hometown hero’s recent ascendance via Yeezy. Fresh off unveiling “Wolves” alongside ‘Ye at Saturday Night Live and then again the following week in London, the show was the city’s first glimpse of Vic as a bonafide star that many watched grow from day one. Continue reading Vic Mensa Rocks Secret Show in Chicago →

Features, Viper Magazine

[Feature] Growing up on Glenwood: An Interview with A Billion Young

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Over the past couple of years, Chicago has become a fertile locale for new musical talent. From Chief Keef to Chance The Rapper to The Orwells and all that’s in between, the plethora of music happening in the ‘Second City’ has some residents whispering words like renaissance and golden age. The reason for the progression is the city’s innate relationship with a series of musical movements spawned and perfected within Cook County’s borders. By playing on a cross-section of those influences and the movement created by their peers, production duo A Billion Young have positioned themselves as the next act to emerge from a crowded ground floor. Continue reading [Feature] Growing up on Glenwood: An Interview with A Billion Young →

Features, The Smoking Section

[Feature] Meet A-Villa, The Chicago Producer Who’s A Banker By Day And Created His First Album By Night

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Adrian Villagomez is a bank manager at Suburban Bank & Trust in the Chicago suburb of Bourbounais. The 33-year-old married father of one wakes up around daybreak every morning, checks on his daughter, puts on a suit and handles transactions, customers and all that goes on in a house of finance. After five though, Villagomez takes on a different persona. Loosening his tie, tossing on a pair of sneakers; Adrian Villagomez becomes A-Villa. Continue reading [Feature] Meet A-Villa, The Chicago Producer Who’s A Banker By Day And Created His First Album By Night →

Features, Music, Noisey

Saba’s West Side Story Is One Worth Listening To

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Originally Appeared on Noisey

“It’s go time! Y’all not acting like it’s go time,” Saba shouts to the people gathered backstage at North Coast Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park. He turns around with wide eyes, clapping loudly, in a moment of enthusiasm that seems uncharacteristic from the self-professed nerd and career quiet kid. After pacing the distance from his tent to the stage several times, he dips his head and trots up the stairs leading to the stage. As his band goes through sound check, he squints through the stage’s backdrop at the slowly gathering crowd. His feet move up and down, fingertips nervously drumming against his microphone. He holds it tight to his chin. “PIVOT!” he yells, a smile crossing his face as he repeats his clique’s nickname in call and response. “PIVOT” the hundred or so in attendance for the set shout back. Continue reading Saba’s West Side Story Is One Worth Listening To →

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