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Jaxon Free is a familiar face to the Lyrical Lemonade pages if you remember our coverage on the Raleighwood Hills record in which landed in former President Obama’s playlist last year. Today the Raleigh, North Carolina vocalist returns with a brand new single and video for “Fly.” The 20-year old’s sound is influenced by artists ranging from Drake, Khalid, and 6lack. You can see all of these inspirations in Jaxson’s music as he includes melodic sounds of r&b, pop, and hip-hop cadences. This is an upbeat single in which Free claims derives from a conversation he had with a friend. The record provides a message in which everyone can apply in some aspect in life and that message is letting go. Free states via email “When working on this record I started with the loop made by the homies xynothing, anselynl, and michaelcollinsprice. I just punched in and let it all flow out after having a conversation with a friend of mine about other anxieties and struggles.” Stream Jaxson Free’s new single “Fly” after the break.

FOREWORD In the history of the hip-hop industry, there has never been a more dominant artist than Aubrey “Drake” Graham. The 33 year-old superstar has undergone several re-inventions over the years, much to the delight of his ever-growing fanbase. As much as we have seen him progress, however, the substance in his music carries one glaring constant – heartbreak. It’s no secret that Drake is the master of the introspective love song, and as much as it probably pains him to have to go through experiences that inspire these records, the music has continued to serve as salvation for distraught fans everywhere.  At this point, we owe Drake for giving us all this incredible music at the expense of his own emotional distress. My first thought in paying homage was to curate a carefully-selected 100-song playlist of all his best music. Quickly, I realized that: 1) it’s an impossibly subjective task to narrow down his 100 “best” records, and 2) a playlist that deep is sure to oversaturate the respect we’re trying to pay in this instance. So I took a different approach. I thought to myself, ‘what would Drake appreciate the most from the perspective of a long-time fan? …

There are several different ways to describe someone on a hot streak. Comparable to a LeBron James triple double, or a thirty kill-streak on Call of Duty, Lil Baby is undeniably one of, if not the hottest rapper in the game right now. The Atlanta, Georgia native and Quality Control member turned heads when he released his second studio album My Turn in February, with guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, 42 Dugg, Young Thug, Gunna, Rylo Rodriguez, and Moneybagg Yo. The chemistry shared between Lil Baby and his chosen features is magnificent like a Lamar Jackson juke. Lil Uzi Vert arguably delivered the most memorable guest verse of the year on “Commercial,” with Lil Baby somehow not being overshadowed on his own part. From “Drip Too Hard,” “Sold Out Dates,” Life Goes On,” and more, it is no secret that Lil Baby and Gunna are a formidable brotherly duo, linking up once more on “Heatin Up.” According to Billboard, in its first week alone, My Turn debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 charts, with a staggering 197,000 album-equivalent units (including just under 10,000 legitimate album sales). Lil Baby is a fascinating artist because he completely understands what he’s best …

Dave East has been one of my favorite rappers since his highly regarded 2016 Kairi Chanel mixtape. The Harlem, New York emcee’s rapid semi-aggressive flow is what earned him a cosign from all-time great Nas, among multiple features such as “The Hated” and “Godfather 4.” However, before his illustrious rap career launched, East was on a mission to make it to the NBA, having been AAU teammates with Kevin Durant and Michael Beasely, followed by a division 1 NCAA scholarship. I highly recommend reading Dave East’s interview with basketball magazine SlamOnline, as it highlights what could have been the emcee’s profession. What makes East a special artist is that he receives head nods from both old and new school judges, having a working formula to satisfy all rap listeners. The perfect illustration of East catering to the style of hip-hop’s pioneers is through his phenomenal collaborative album Beloved with The Lox legend Styles P. Moreover, the opening track “They wanna Kill You” on East’s debut album Survival is produced by DJ Premier. On the flip side, East makes sure to remain relevant with the modern rap sound, having collaborated with Lil Baby, Gunna, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Offset, 2 Chainz, MoneyBagg Yo, Lil Durk …

Nearing the end of any year — nevermind a decade — blogs get crowded with lists about the objective “best” projects of the year. Even Lyrical Lemonade has one. But looking toward the end of the 2010s, we decided that we’d try something a bit different. For just about all of our writers, the 2010s capture the period of growing up, per se. As such, the music to come from the past decade is what has shaped us into the people that we are. Taking this into consideration, we asked 5 writers to each list 3 albums from the 2010s that had the most personal impact on them. Not the “best” albums, or even necessarily the hits. Just 3 albums that spoke to them on a personal level. Below is the result. Enjoy, and feel free to share with us your own 3 picks on social media! – – – Brodie Harvey If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late – Drake (2015) Of all artists on this list, it would be hard to argue that anybody had a better 10 years than Drake. This project, in particular, was wildly impactful on the decade as a whole. It came at a time …

When I met Victor for the first time, the then 17-year-old musician and I had arranged to link up at a coffee shop in Wicker Park to record an interview. Huddled in the corner of the crowded room on a snowy afternoon, I asked the up-and-coming artist, whose track “Tinder Song” I’d just discovered a month prior, about the artists that had been inspiring him most lately. At the time, he’d mentioned names like Jasper Bones, Banes World, and Cuco. I remind him of that day now as we’re sitting in the chilly lobby of the Lyrical Lemonade office in the middle of summer in Chicago. He’d just gotten off the road opening for Cuco’s headlining tour, a full-circle moment that even Victor has trouble summing up in words. His new project, simply titled ‘Victor’s Debut’, seeks to take the experiences he’s had over this time period and sum them up in song form. The breadth of his music has grown along with him–a quality that comes through in the carefully arranged tracklisting of ‘Victor’s Debut’. While the first half presents more of the dreamy, emotional side that Victor’s music has explored deeply in the past, the second half undergoes …

By: Lee Mcintosh When it comes to creating great music, the artists are the ones who receive most of the recognition for the creation of the song. Their name is what’s attached to the song, their flows, their likeness, and even the features that the artist may have. However, the song making process all begins with one entity… the producer/s. No matter how creative the lyrics may be, how great the artist’s cadence sounds, the beat behind it all is a huge factor behind the overall appeal of the song, and that is what moves people and captures their attention as soon as they hit play. We are in a different era of music now. Technology has advanced to a point where producers and artists don’t have to be in the studio together anymore. This can be a gift and a curse at the same time. Often so, producers may send over a beat pack to an artist and then they select the songs they want and don’t want. From there, the studio session may be recorded or put on Instagram live, and the producer may be nowhere in sight. This may create confusion as to who actually made the …

Atlanta talent Kelechi has been a frequently featured artist on LL for quite some time now, so it was only a matter of time before I brought him in for a brand new Q&A! Kelechi is set to drop a new project titled “SpringBreakUp” in the near future, clearly it was the perfect time to get in tune with him as we are almost to his new content. Learn a thing or two about Kelechi below and be sure to keep up with him by giving him a follow on Twitter here!   — EM: Before we dive into the questions, give our readers who may not be familiar with you a brief introduction of yourself. KE: I’m Kelechi. I make music and everything that goes along with it. I sing kinda. I produce. I engineer all my songs. I help curate my music videos. I design websites. I create microcontent for my social media. I’m just a creator.  — EM: Where are you from? KE: I’m from Marietta. Right on the north side of Atlanta.  — EM: What is your earliest memory of music? KE: Listening to the Titanic soundtrack in my dad’s old Benz.  That and “No Pain, No Gain” by Betty Wright. I …

Ric Wilson has been a frequently featured artist on our platform for quite some time now, so it was a matter of time before we brought him in for a Q&A! About a week ago Ric blessed his growing fan base with an impressive new EP titled “BANBA”, and it has been in rotation in my headphones nonstop since the drop & for good reason too. He has been putting out some good music for quite some time now but this new tape was on another level, and I picture Ric continuing to prosper & becoming one of the new faces of Chicago in the years to come. Learn a thing a two about Ric below & if you’re in the city be sure to come out to his show at Lincoln Hall this Saturday by copping a ticket here!     — EM: Before we dive into the questions, give our readers who may not be familiar with you a brief introduction of yourself.   RW: I’m Ric Wilson, I make rap music & I fake sing. — EM: What is your earliest memory of music? RW: One of my earliest memories is seeing Alicia Key’s Fallen video on MTV where …

If youve been following Lil Baby since day 1, you know he’s been putting out consistently hard music ever since he hit the scene. However, he didn’t grab national fame until his smash hit, “My Dawg” started going viral. When he released that, that’s when his career really started taking off and everyone started wondering who Lil Baby was. It was only a matter of time after he dropped that that he started getting featured on a number of artists’ songs. Atlanta artists most notably which doesn’t come as a surprise since that is where he is from. Lil Baby has a series of “hard” mixtapes that he’s been dropping with each one being better than the last, and last night he released the third installment of that series titled, “Harder Than Ever,” and his music on this tape truly is harder than ever. With 17 tracks in total, the tape features production from the likes of Southside, Quay Global, DJ Durel, Wheezy, Tay Keith, London, Turbo, and Earl The Pearl. “Harder Than Ever also has  number of artists featured on it too such as Gunna, Drake, Lil Uzi, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, Young Thug, Offset, Starlito, and Moneybagg Yo. Some …