SEARCH FOR: LIVE PERFORMANCE

One of the most impactful Chicago artists over the last decade is Qari, who some may remember from his Hurt Everybody days or his amazing catalog of solo releases, most recently being 2022’s Stronghold project. This was one of my favorite bodies of work to come out of the city last year, and one of the fan-favorite tracks off of the tape was the introductory record “Rucksack”. Waaaaaay back in 2019, Qari and Eddie Burns actually teamed up with many other talented creatives to shoot a live performance of this record, and now nearly four years later, we are finally getting to see this masterpiece. Although it’s years later, I believe that it only adds to the allure of this piece of content, and I am glad that this didn’t slip through the cracks. They could have easily not have ever put this out, for reasons such as it being outdated or wanting to shoot something new with a similar concept, but I appreciate this not only for how good it is but for the moment in time that it captured. Shout out to everyone that was involved in this project, you all did a fantastic job and I thank …

FW Deem developed his passion for music in early 2015 after being inspired by a few of his older friends that went by the name of CloudSurferz. Deem would record his first song called “Just Chill” produced by Macklemore’s music producer, Zac Levine. He would go on to release several songs soon after. FW Deem would get his first live show In 2017, opening up for Kehlani at The Granada Theatre in Lawrence, KS. Only one week after his performance, he would get arrested for armed robbery. Once again, FW Deem knew that this was not going to define him. He would hone his craft behind bars where he would write songs and practice singing during his free time. Upon being released in 2020, Deem went right to work writing new music and performing at major concerts. Soon after, he dropped his hit single “Not A Safe Place” which would catch the attention of Rene Martinez better known as RGM150. RGM150 is the cofounder of Hoolie Nation, an independent record label based out of Texas. In 2021 FW Deem stood out at SXSW and hopped on the Ragland Tour with SauceWalka and The Sauce Factory and landed a spot on …

Asoh Black is an artist who I got familiar with maybe five or six years ago at this point, we got connected through a music submission in my email and we ended up getting to a point where we would always link up whenever I was in New York or he was visiting Chicago. He’s a solid human who just so happens to be very talented musically, and just recently, Asoh stopped by On The Radar Radio for a dope live performance of “Better Than Me”. I love everything that Gabe has been doing with On The Radar and Asoh is an extremely talented artist who I enjoy as well, so I was super glad to see this come out. Check it out for yourself below!

At this point in time, I’ve written so many articles about Keshore that I can’t keep track of everything I’ve said, but I do know that I haven’t had a single negative comment about him or his music throughout my writing career. I mean, when he consistently delivers hit after hit with his irreplicable personality and constant innovative creativity, if someone mentions anything even remotely negative, they’re just hating for the sake of being called a hater. Ke is just too captivating to dislike, and when he drops off as many imaginative jams as he regularly does, there’s no excuse as to why someone hasn’t listened to at least a song or two by now. Most recently, he linked up with 10cellphones and Brusho for their Eli-produced hit “06”, and it’s just another masterpiece that he can add to his collection. 10cellphones is someone who I’ve heard a lot about but haven’t quite been introduced to, and I got the chance to meet Brusho and chop it up back in November of last year when he opened for SNOT here in Chicago, so I already had high hopes, but these expectations were blown out of the water the minute I …

The music industry is full of so many different lanes, endeavors, and individuals who are always trying to push through boundaries and deliver something new. Whether it’s on the business side of things, concerts, or new music in general, there is no shortage of visionaries in the rap scene. I think what Rolling Loud has done for this industry is nothing short of monumental, creating one of the largest hip-hop festival empires in the world, and the fact that they continue to branch out and expand these festivals to other countries and unexpected meccas is absolutely unbelievable. Throughout their time in the live performance business, it’s no secret that they have a network of artists that continues to grow, from household names to underground noisemakers who are next up, but the one thing I didn’t quite expect was for them to create a compilation album with some of the world’s biggest emcees all in one place. This is exciting because I feel like there are going to be some collaborations we would never expect, some songs that are going to be massive successes on the radio and off, and I believe it’s going to be quite innovative as far as …

Some people make music just for the fun of it and don’t really put too much thought into what they create. I don’t hate on this because they just let their creativity flow and see what comes out of it, but I just think that emcees who have a vision along with a story to tell always end up with a more fruitful career that has longevity, and it makes sense why. DC the Don is one of these musicians because he incorporates his vision into every single thing he releases from songs to videos to entire projects, and it is obvious every step of the way. I had the pleasure of seeing this hitmaker live a month or so ago here in Chicago, and I was beyond enthused to know that the energy and emotion he pours into his art isn’t made up or fabricated because I could feel his passion, love, and charm in the air as he commanded a crowd at that show. I’m already itching to get to another performance of his ASAP, but with his album Funeral slowly unraveling in the form of amazing singles and visuals, I am just excited for what’s to come. …

If I’m being completely honest, not every single song I write about is something I’ll actually go on and continue listening to regularly. There’s just not enough time in the day for that, and even though I am often transparent and say what I will or won’t continue listening to, I still have a hard time with certain artists who make a track I love but then go on to underwhelm me with other releases. This isn’t applicable to all artists, though, and sometimes it just takes something really attention-grabbing to make me realize how much I’ve been sleeping. This is the case for Miami phenom K. Charles, a rising emcee that I’ve had on my radar for quite a while now, but really needed something even more special to finally open my eyes to his true potential. That’s where his brand-new project LFC comes into play because it really made me sit back and realize just how much of an actual artist this hitmaker truly is. With. 16 songs spanning almost 40 minutes long, K. Charles brings the heat during every single second of the effort’s runtime, and he wasn’t playing whatsoever. With the exclusion of any feature or …

If you have to ask yourself why JELEEL! has become one of the most notorious artists in the current generation of music, then you’re already far behind the curve. While I have admittedly never really gotten the right opportunity to listen to the rapidly growing phenom, I already knew I would like him based on his sheer energy and personality, but those are some of the first things people claim to notice about the exuberant emcee. I mean, I haven’t even seen him live and in person yet, but based on videos I’ve seen, I can say that he is one of the best performers you’ll see, and even with my novice experience of his music, he is on my bucket list of shows to attend without a doubt. If you haven’t seen videos of his performances, then look them up and you’ll see why I say this, but I knew it was about time to finally tune in and catch up on everything I’ve missed once I saw that he teamed up with Denzel Curry to bring their brand-new song “SHOTS!” to life. The Rhode Island emcee even produced this jam with some help from FNZ, using an entirely …

As I have spent more and more time in the music industry, I have learned to never let an opportunity to learn about a new artist go to waste. While I definitely don’t have the time to go through all of the cold direct messages that artists send to me day in and day out (although I wish I did), I try my best to listen to musicians that I’m not familiar with by randomly finding things on Spotify or YouTube, receiving a press release that catches my eye, hearing about an up-and-comer from a fellow music business friend, or any other way I can. One method that I often overlook is by paying attention to opening acts at concerts I attend, but that is one of the best ways I have come across artists I thoroughly enjoy. While I often get to shows late because I just want to see the main act, when I attended the DC the Don show a few weeks back, I made sure to get there as soon as doors opened because I’m homies with DC and some of his team members, so I wanted to take in the experience in its entirety, especially …

Lyrical Lemonade has come such a long way over the 9 years that it has existed in so many different ways. From bringing so many different artists to this city for performances, making worldwide headlines, and even spearheading one of the most formative hip-hop music festivals in the world, the world is in the palm of LL’s hands, and I love that everyone on the team seems to share an equally forward-looking form of creativity. From a writer’s perspective, one of the most amazing things that has happened to the blog is just how open-minded us writers are allowed to be, and we don’t have to strictly focus on pure hip-hop or rap because that’s certainly not all we listen to. While my admiration for various genres sways from day to day, I find myself constantly looking for something outside of the norm in terms of my own personal tastes, and Lauren Juzang is the most recent singer who took me by surprise in the most intriguing way. The homie who sent this one through explained her sound as “Phoebe Bridgers indie-pop energy”, so while I am not overly familiar with Phoebe Bridgers (although I really want to get more …