SEARCH FOR: NOAH

Chicago’s own Ajani Jones return to Lyrical Lemonade with a bouncy new single titled “Hey Yah.” Produced by Sebastian Kamae and Core REX, Noah Sims serves as the feature with his own smooth vocals. With playful, flirtatious lyricism, Jones and Sims glide over the synthetic instrumental to deliver your new favorite summer-anthem. The chorus is invitingly catchy and the short duration of the track elevates its replay-value. With intent to release a new song every 3-4 weeks through 2022, Ajani Jones is more than prepared for the new heights he’s bound to reach. Listen to “Hey Yah” below:  

  A couple of weeks ago the guys with L3MON went to Gary Vee’s first VeeCon up in Minnesota, and from what I’ve heard, it was a great and productive weekend trip. During the trip, Noah Keckler captured some behind-the-scenes footage of what the guys were up to, and yesterday we uploaded it to Lyrical Lemonade 2. This is the perfect sneak peek and introduction to the L3MON team, anyone who is tapped into the NFT space will enjoy this one.

Music can be used as an outlet of many different forms for musicians from all different walks of life, and while some narratives bring me in more than others, I always appreciate it when someone uses their gift to share their emotions. Noah Vela is a talent who has gotten very good at this throughout his tenure, beginning his music writing journey while in college and constantly transforming as an artist but also as a person first and foremost. The San Gabriel Valley emcee might be new to me as a listener, but his song “Anything for You” was my first taste of his skill set, and I’m definitely excited to see what he has in store as he continues to progress. This track has an extremely intoxicating instrumental that boasts an unforgettable drumline alongside this pounding vibrance that will become lodged in your head as soon as you hear the first chorus. As he sings, there is clearly a ton of emotion behind his message, and considering he seems to annunciate very clearly in order to make sure that none of his messages become misconstrued, you have a direct path straight to his soul and that’s something I appreciate …

New Jersey emcee Noah dropped off his first project ever recently entitled ‘Mirrors In A Mausoleum’. This album is everything that’s happened in Noah’s life leading up to this point. Over the course of this 36-minute body of work, Noah isn’t afraid to blend melodic rap flows and records with classic and more traditional-sounding singles. I really appreciate him for trying different sounds and flows on this project. It showcases the willingness to be versatile and wants to try new things. Some of the things I feel like Noah could work on are his beat selection and his execution at times. Sometimes I felt as if a couple of beats or moments were a little bland but had good rapping and flows on the singles. At other times when I’m speaking on how he can execute better, I feel like that will just come with more practice. The ideas are there I just feel as if he can deliver the record, verse, or flow in a more sonically pleasing way. However, this doesn’t take away a solid debut for Noah, yes, there are things he can work on but this is his first real body of work. I expect him …

Although I feel like producers never get nearly enough shine for the work that they do for the emcees they work with, I am always going to be the first one to show appreciation and admiration for the insane artistry that they possess. Out of everyone in the game right now, Pi’erre Bourne is one of my absolute favorite artists, because although he blazed a trail as a producer, he has made an equally impressive run as an emcee himself, and I think that everything he touches turns to gold without a doubt. His collective Sosshouse is already a force to be reckoned with, but when he continues to build this empire with artists like J Billz, there is no predicting what this group of immensely talented creatives can achieve. I am still just getting acquainted with J Billz at this point, but everything I’ve heard so far has been enthralling, and with his latest Pi’erre Bourne-produced record “Fresh Off the Plane”, there is even more proof that these two phenoms are nothing short of captivating when they work together. The instrumental’s melody is really light and almost tiptoes around in your ears while the bass and percussion just pierce …

“Get Refreshed” is a monthly column by Billy Bugara covering all things digital in the music world. Refresh yourself here. I Don’t Have The Stamina For This Blogging Shit Billy Bugara Hi. I’m back, and this time I brought my friends. So… I feel like this column could use a lot less Me every once in a while. I don’t treat blogging like a sport; I barely even blog at all. But even still, I know damn well that blogging isn’t really where I strive compared to others, and that’s okay! I have to write research papers every day… we are simply not the same. In all seriousness, I do want to explain what’s going on here before we jump into things. I am a person of platforming, a platforming person, if you will (it is my job for SoundCloud, after all). I just really enjoy turning the spotlight towards those who deserve it most. Most of the time – all of the time, really – I’m featuring musicians. But what about turning this spotlight towards other people who like to… spotlight musicians as well? Is this really ever done? Not often! Can it be done? Should it be done? Yes and yes! …

With the pandemic coming to a close soon (hopefully), the world is more and more excited for live music than ever before. It’s no secret that 2020 hit us hard, and one area that felt the brunt of that hit was live shows. Something we once took for granted because of its abundance, quickly became a scarce resource. The live music drought was not fun, but it ultimately became the reason why everyone is hyper appreciative that festivals and full scale concerts are officially back. Just last night, I had the pleasure of attending a show that was nothing short of special. Up and coming music blog, Early Rising is now hitting the live space with the announcement of their partnership with Venice Beach venue, Winston House. Since its inception, the legendary venue has helped hundreds of artists and have collaborated with some of the biggest in the world. Some artists who had their first or early shows at Winston House include Midland, Lauv, Yungblud, Billie Eilish, Noah Kahan, and many more. With this new partnership fully formed, the brands kicked it off with a jam packed show on 3/30 with Araya, Niko Rubio & Marinelli. Each artist played a …

2021 was a great year for Chicago music as a whole, but especially for femdot, who released a fantastic project called Not For Sale, a sensational tape that landed at #8 in our Top 50 Chicago Projects of 2021 list. Today, fem is back on our website with the release of his brand new music video for “Back on Road”, and it’s easily one of his best visuals yet. This video takes place at femdot’s welcome home party, and it’s shot through the lens of someone who got a little too drunk at the event. This music video was shot by upcoming director Noah Keckler, he did a fantastic job with this one, hopefully we see him + fem work more in the future. femdot has been on a great run lately, not only is his latest project Not For Sale his best yet, I’d argue that his past two music video releases are of that same stature. Watch this brand new music video below, and if you’re in Chicago, grab a couple of tickets to see fem perform at Bottom Lounge on March 11th!

Kami is a Chicago legend at this point, he’s someone who has helped pave the way and lay the blueprint for the next class of Chicago creatives, and today he is back on our website with his new music video for “NOAH’S ARK”. This visual is shot completely on a raft in the middle of a body of water, I’d assume Lake Michigan, and it finds Kami giving a pretty introspective verse that is serious at points and playful at others. I hope that KAMI is planning on releasing a project at some point soon, he’s extremely talented and his fans are waiting patiently!  Take some time out of your Tuesday to watch this new visual below, and be sure to keep up with KAMI by following him on Twitter here!

Houston artist HVN has had a whirlwind few months. Since we last covered his April ’21 single “Draco,” the rising talent appeared on Don Toliver’s “Smoke” alongside SoFaygo, performed at several U.S. dates with Toliver from Miami all the way to Los Angeles, modeled for Calvin Klein, and just last week, released a brand new single called “Marine.” Today, HVN is here to bless us with the song’s accompanying music video, directed by none other than visual genius and jack-of-many-trades, Noah Dillon, whose work spans from visual campaigns for North Face and Maison Margiela all the way to his band The Hellp and a brand called Hot Mess alongside Luka Sabbat, among other things. Simply put, “Marine” is an eccentric, deeply compelling music video, far from what one would expect from a rap video in both visual identity and substance. Dillon builds what feels like a singular world around the song, using different textures of footage, split-screen shots, strategic camera movements, and more to ingrain the visuals into the muddied feel of the production and the personality driven into the vocals. The yield is a music video that continues to build upon HVN’s differentiated sense of artistry, sonically and visually …