It’s Winter Jazz Fest here in NYC and I am currently being pummeled by what feels like a bit of a head cold. It’s not too bad but definitely bad enough for me to feel the need to hang back tonight instead of going to see some amazing live music.
However the other night I got to see a guy by the name of Jesse Harris put on a pretty killer set. He’s probably most well known as the guy who wrote ‘Don’t Know Why’ for Norah Jones and his music is pretty good.
One of the shows that I’m missing right now is this guy named Daoud. He’s a french trumpeter and his music is really dope. I’ll link one of his videos in the VIDEOS section of the newsletter.
But yeah I’m at home resting up because I have a big show on Thursday!
SHOWS
1/15 - Shouting at the Screen is back and our special guest is Nonye Brown-West! She’ll be discovering the movie for the first time along with the audience and it’s sure to be a fun night full of controlled chaos. TICKETS
1/17 - I’m back on the decks at Franklin Park for the usual, a little bit of dining and a whole lot of dancing. Come through, it’s free!
1/19 - Frankenstein’s Baby is happening and Nori Reed, Yedoye Travis, Allison O’Connor, Andrew Durso and Carly Kane are all on the show. Joyelle and Tyrone are hosting. You comin? TICKETS
NEWS
In personal news The Almanac of Rap will be Back in February.
GOOD - Mero is taking over the morning show at Hot 97. He probably makes the most sense of anyone I can think of to have a slot on the station in lieu of Ebro in the Morning. I don’t even have a radio so I won’t be tuning in but I’ll definitely be checking the clips on Youtube. LINK
BAD - Salt N Pepa were suing UMG to reclaim ownership of their music and the case got dismissed. The court is basically saying they never owned their master so there is nothing to reclaim. It really sucks on multiple levels but aside from them not being able to profit off of their recordings UMG seems to have pulled their stuff off of streaming for some reason. Very wack. LINK
UGLY - Minneapolis. RIP Renee Good. I can’t believe folks voted for this and sadly I think that it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I wish I had something more uplifting to say but I don’t and I’m honestly holding back from saying more so yeah… this shit is beyond ugly.
VIDEOS
Here’s one of daoud’s videos. It’s the first one I saw and it is pretty insane. One of the biggest moments in the video is being hit by a rugby player and he told me he did three brutal takes to only end up using the first take. lol.
The music is fire tho.
Asap Rocky is the OK Go of Hip Hop. I say this because every video he drops is amazing and aside from his many other accolades he’s becoming known as the guy who drops Video Vanguard Award level visuals every time.
Also the foam roller hat feels like something designed by MSCHF.
Anybody remember those big red boots? Not gonna lie, I kinda liked em. They were ridiculous but they were also kinda silly and I like silly.
Bruno Mars dropped another ready made hit. It’s kinda crazy how every song he drops is a hit. Making hit records is not easy and he is at the core of so many hits.
RJD2 and Supastition have linked up on a full length and as a fan of both of them I am very excited!
MUSIC
SAULT dropped a new album. I haven’t heard it but I’m assuming it’s of SAULT’s typical high watermark quality.
UHMEER dropped an album and I haven’t heard it but he makes jams so it’s gonna be good.
Let The Dirt Say Amen dropped an album and I haven’t heard it but I enjoy their work so I’m pretty sure it’s good.
OMA dropped an EP and I haven’t heard it but they never do bad stuff so this is probably good too.
Sa Ra dropped a song. I heard it and while I don’t remember what it sounds like I do know that I enjoyed it.
Jill Scott dropped a song and I actually heard it! I liked it. She’s got an album coming.
IDK dropped a song and I haven’t heard it but he is dope and a Pusha T feature is an attention grabber.
Nubian Twist dropped a joint featuring Bootie Brown and that is interesting enough to warrant a including it. I also like Nubiyan Twist so that’s that.
BJ The Chicago Kid teamed up with Black Milk and while I haven’t heard it yet I can’t see how this could be bad.
Jason Martin dropped a new single. I like him. This song is gonna be dope.
RANDOM
I have been giving a lot of thought to my defunct Patreon page that I started in 2019 and then subsequently abandoned for some reason or the other. I feel like it might be time to revisit it. I won’t say too much yet as I am still figuring things out but there is a high probability I’ll be active over there.
How do you guys feel about Patreon? Do you subscribe to anyone who uses it? I have a few artist friends who do and it seems like a really dope way to build a community around your art.
Brilliant curation here! The comparison of Rocky to OK Go is spot on, there's defintely this throughline where both artists treat video production as the main event rather than afterthought. I've been tracking how visual storytelling in hiphop has shifted from MTV era budget cuts to now where artists are basically competing with film directors, and this newsletter format cuts through alll the noise perfectly. Keeps me way more plugged in than scrolling algorythm-fed playlists.
That Daoud video was INTENSE! And that Rugby player is MASSIVE! No way I could have allowed 3 takes! The song is def 🔥 tho
A$AP does it again! GTA Dollar Store Nyquil Fever Dreams fo sho!
Lookin' fwd to Jilly from Philly - I got a feeling tea will be spilt! - *insert MJ popcorn meme here*