SEARCH FOR: JOONY

Joony has been an established artist in the DMV for a minute now, but after recent successes, his name reaches far beyond just his home region. Following his massively successful Pretty In Black tour, he’s expected to receive his first plaque after featuring on Brent Faiyaz’s WASTELAND, which reached gold status. In the meantime, listeners were blessed with “One Track Minded,” another wickedly creative production that features Brooklyn upcoming star Kelz, and a variety of other-worldly sounds, instruments, and vocal tones blending together with masterful precision. Both Joony and Kelz have loyal fanbases that cling to every release, and there’s no doubt that the collaboration of the two will cause this track to do well with their respective audience pool. I’m interested to see just how far this track can reach beyond that, though, as I feel the combination of the artists’ talents over this type of instrumental could do numbers far more than what may be expected. This two-minute-and-19-second song is a much-needed, refreshing piece of artistry that only further fueled my fandom for both artists. Check out “One Track Minded” on Spotify below!  

Interscope artist Jordan Ward recently collaborated with budding DMV superstar on a jam, in their latest release titled “IDC.” Sure to cross genre boundaries, this track features a bouncy, melodic instrumental that meshes seamlessly with the unique sounds and deliveries of the two. It’s a feel-good tune that showcases exactly why they’ll both continue on an upward trajectory to stardom. The track is met with a fantastic visual by Tuff productions; a comedic, cinematic piece that features a bright color scheme and energetic scenes that do a great job of representing the feelings the track produces. Though the song only lasts two minutes, the exceptional video storytelling to accompany it makes it feel much longer. Joony, a Lost Kids/Brent Faiyaz affiliate, recently wrapped up touring with fellow superstar Lancey Fouxx, and has now announced a four-stop December Pretty in Black tour that includes stops in NYC, Atlanta, L.A., and D.C. I’ve had the chance to talk to some fellow creatives in the industry who said his Minneapolis stop with Lancey was an incredible, must-see show, and I can only assume his solo tour stops will be the same. Watch and listen to Joony and Jordan Ward’s latest single “IDC” on …

Chow Lee Cover Photo By @filmandbandaids For those who pay any attention to my writing (for which I thank you), you may or may not have noticed that I’ve written much less over the past year or so. It’s a time thing, mainly; while I’d love to write in-depth articles about every release that I find interesting, the time that it takes to get those done is exactly what has hindered my ability to get more articles out there. Which is tough, because I love writing about new artists that I’ve been listening to. That said, I’ve decided to start a column called ‘FREE SOUNDs.’ Less words per artist, but more consistent and more music being shared. Below is volume 1 of the new column, meant to highlight those out there who are making interesting and true-to-self things that I’ve stumbled upon and enjoyed. – – – XJAY Houston producer Xjay is a cheat code right now. I originally became familiar with his work through Highway (who is on a run of his own right now), and after falling in love with the sound they built together, have really enjoyed watching Xjay grow his catalog with songs alongside other artists …

PG County, Maryland rapper Tae Dawg has been one of the most exciting voices in an underground scene that has been going cold to a certain degree lately, standing alongside artists like Joony and Lil Gray who continue to keep the equally unique and influential scene moving forwards. With the help of Sparkheem who is both a groundbreaking force in pioneering the distinctive DMV-sound but also uniquely gifted in terms of artist development as he diligently works with each artist he is engaged with, playing a big hand in every aspect of these releases from song structure to rollout. Tae Dawg is making his long overdue today in Lyrical Lemonade with his new project OozinDawg 2 and he much like his collaborator Lil Gray has a seemingly endless bag of flows that range from aggressive staccato bars over harsh hard thumping instrumentals to catchy melodic crooning that to me are equally enjoyable and his versatility is truly what has set him apart on his last two projects that both stuck out as underground gems in their own right. He includes two features coming from DMV rapper Big Flock who has been cultivating a massive cult following of his own over the …

P.G. County’s Joony has been one of the most unexpected breakout young stars of 2021, captivating his region and the internet all at once thanks initially to his unforgettable mixtape Silent Battles that implanted him onto the radars of just about everyone who wasn’t aware of his prior underground output. This project was incredibly transparent and masterfully written as Joony has a knack for describing very complex feelings and navigating nuanced personal relationships in a terse and nonchalant way as if nothing could phase the young artist. He was soon after featured on Brent Faiyaz’s ultra rare DropBox release on the track “Paper Soldier” which introduced even more to his music and Joony shortly after capitalized on this newfound momentum with his Silent Battles Deluxe that gave fans new features as well as new styles we have been yet to hear from him. He continues to be prolific with his new EP Proud of U that is much shorter than the aforementioned projects but nonetheless potent and I enjoyed it every bit as much as the Silent Battles series, although for different reasons. To Joony, all love is fleeting, money is the main goal, a litmus test, and incredibly divisive, all at the same time …

Landover Hills, MD artist Lil Gray is back in our pages again with his creative new ‘Reservoir Dogs’ themed visual to his aptly titled track “Reservoir” where he floats over AR and Mannyvelli production with his versatile and unpredictable flows that his region knows and loves him for. He switches his delivery up with more melodic passages as well which are some of the new additions to his vocal arsenal that seems to grow with every new Lil Gray release. Mike Ashes came up with the creative direction for the video as well as shot and edited it, putting Gray and a familiar cast of characters including DMV artists Joony and Tae Dawg, in an enviornment very similar to the one in the film for which the song is named. I hope we get a new project from Lil Gray soon as 10B410 was one of the best and most well-manicured projects to come out of the DMV-region in several years.

AMPD is absolutely on fire this week, first with the legendary Fat Trel first-day-out performance that has likely re-energized the entire DMV, but also with one of the area’s next stars who is poised to take over this region and beyond with his unique sound and velvety singing voice. Joony has been on the scene for a couple of years now but only over the past several months has he truly begun to find his sound and master whatever technique he approaches songwriting with. He has even captured the attention of Brent Faiyaz and it is easy to see why, as much like Brent, Joony places a premium on all of his words and covers a variety of topics between ambition, love, his lavish lifestyle, and even violence, covering an even more wide range of topics than Brent himself. Joony is also an obvious product of the DMV from his accent to his flows and even his beat selection, and given that Brent also hails from the same area its not hard to see why he is so enthralled by the musical universe of Joony. Hell it isn’t hard to see why anyone is for that matter. Joony is versatile …

Maryland’s Joony has had quite the year already, first with his inclusion on Brent Faiyaz’s revolutionary and highly unusual releasing of two songs on DropBox of all platforms, picking up an assist from Joony on the track “Paper Soldier” which fell under the radars of many because of the unorthodox release but is a stellar performance from Brent where Joony certainly holds his own and presents his own unique spin on the style Faiyaz has so firmly nailed down. Joony followed this shortly thereafter with a mixtape titled Silent Battles which was literally too good for me to even write about and Joony showed so much talent and potential as a songwriter who carefully crafts his words and expressions in such a way that is quite moving and also unveiled dozens of flows and vocal ranges he is capable of hitting over an array of beats ranging from melancholy r&b to true plugg-music. Today Joony continues to tease us with his versatility taking on a more “DMV” style with his track “No Hook” that reveals another side of Joony through a more grim and intimidating light but nonetheless his gift with his words is still as obvious as his hometown’s influence on …

DMV artist has been a new face in the underground scene this year but thanks to his consistency and variety of sounds he has already been able to carve out a lane for himself and seems poised to stick around for a while, as his talent and sound certainly would suggest. His video for “Lifestyle” is one of my favorite songs I have heard in the past few months and even though it is a little older than most of the songs I write about I had to make an exception. Joony floats over the sanguine beat and delivers a sticky, feel-good hook that has a very strong likelihood of getting stuck in your head for a few days. Tyler Kendall brought this wavy visual to life and did a great job of making sure the video fit the laid-back energy of the song. Keep an eye on Joony and definitely add his song “Lifestyle” to your playlist, you’re gonna love it.