![[Feature] Growing up on Glenwood: An Interview with A Billion Young](https://jakekrzeczowski.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/aby-1-1000x520.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
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
Tag Archives: chicago
Saba’s West Side Story Is One Worth Listening To
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
![[Review] Lucki Eck$: ‘Body High’](https://jakekrzeczowski.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/lucki-ecks-body-high-cover11.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1)
[Review] Lucki Eck$: ‘Body High’
Sometime last summer, set amongst the rippling gunfire of drill and the eclectic storytelling of SaveMoney, a new voice emerged from Chicago’s bountiful streets with a melancholy mood and an almost chillingly calm disposition in relaying tales of growing up in one of the country’s roughest cities.
That voice was Lucki Eck$ and listeners got to know him on his debut, Alternative Trap, a project that eschewed raucous, repetitive choruses and trap beats for a more gentle, soft-spoken aesthetic from which to explain the world he exists in. On his latest project, BODY HIGH, released last week, we get a continuance of those elements that show a mastery of his own distinct sound, without exploring too far beyond it. Continue reading [Review] Lucki Eck$: ‘Body High’
XXL’s Guide To Chicago Hip-Hop: 5 Influential Hot Spots
Classick Studios
Chris Classick started his studio out of his parents basement over fours years ago. Today, he oversees one of the busiest sound booths in Chicago with a team of engineers and a client list that would make even the most on-point blogger blush. I remember stopping by last summer before North Coast festival as Chance The Rapper and his production team were cutting the early versions of “You Song” with Lil Wayne with tireless engineer Elton Chueng.
To be honest, stopping by the studio located on the near west side of the city at any time of the day or night could mean bumping into a who’s who of the local scene that makes the installation of a revolving door a solid investment. If you’re listening to anything coming out of the indie side of Chicago, there’s a good chance it was recorded at Classick Studios. Continue reading XXL’s Guide To Chicago Hip-Hop: 5 Influential Hot Spots
XXL’s Guide To Chicago Hip-Hop: Top Five Producers
The Social Experiment
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
|MIXTAPE| Calez: “Ceito”
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”
|MIXTAPE| Towkio: “Hotchips N’ Chopsticks”
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”
Saba: “Burnout” (Feat. Eryn Allen Kane)
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)
|ALBUM|ProbCause’s ‘WAVES’ Puts On For Chicago
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
|VIDEO|Donnie Trumpet: ‘Pasadena’ & Vic Mensa: ‘Down On My Luck’
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’
Jake Krzeczowski 