PLAYING CINCY: Oski Isaiah Compiles Show Footage For “Company” Music Video

Company

Fresh off the heels of his F*ck A Job album release, Oski Isaiah drops a new clip for smoothly-served project cut, “Company.” Oski released the 10-track Autumn Jivenchy-produced album this summer, which celebrated the Cincinnati rapper focusing full-time on his music career.

Directed by Dre Shot This, the clip opens up on a signed poster for Oski’s Sept. 6 “F*ck A Show” at Madison Live. The concert celebrated the rapper’s latest album and was filled with lively F*ck A Job performance cuts, along with guest performances from Cincinnati’s Bla’szé and Chris Crooks. Oski also brought out his album collaborators Aziza Love, who is featured in “Anytime,” Jus Clay, who raps in “Business,” and Monty C. Benjamin, who can be heard on “Over.”

The visual goes on to compile footage from the show, from backstage to the jumping crowd, to the For Tha Cribb merch table. With F*ck A Job being one of Oski’s most successful projects to date and with stunning performances from the show’s featured acts, the venue was bursting at the seams with crowd energy and support. As the first visual to drop since the show, the new “Company” clip perfectly reflects the night’s contagious energy.

“It was genuine,” Oski said of the video. “It couldn’t have existed without such good energy from everyone. The crowd included. Everything fell into place.”

Company
Oski Isaiah/ Photo by Dre Shot This

The “Company” video follows previous album visual, “Anytime,” directed by Dre Shot This and CEOPE$O and featuring TRIIIBE‘s Aziza Love. F*ck A Job is Oski’s third album to date and follows his 2018 sophomore record Adventure 2 and 2019 singles “Rent” and “Catch It.”

Check out Oski Isaiah’s latest F*ck A Job clip for “Company” up above and stream the album below.

PLAYING CINCY: Oski Isaiah Enlists the City’s Best to Deliver New LP

F*ck A Job / Company

Oski Isaiah finished out a busy July with the release of his highly-anticipated new album, Fuck A Job. The 10-track LP features assists from Aziza Love on “Anytime,” Monty C. Benjamin on “Over” and Jus Clay on “Business.” Fuck A Job follows up Oski’s 2018 album, Adventure 2, and a compilation music video released just two weeks ago. Filmed by Dre Shot This, the three-part visual bridges Adventure 2 cut, “Mob,” Fuck A Job highlight, “Apply,” and an unreleased track, “Mention Me,” that comes from a mysterious future project.

Fuck A Job is produced completely by Autumn Jivenchy, who provides hard-hitting beats that bring enough energy to match Oski’s lively tempo, yet remain stripped-down enough to let his vocals shine. Oski’s bars take the listener on a journey through hardship and success and shine a light on themes of support and believing in yourself.

“It was rough end of 2018. I feel like I lost everything. I nearly folded,” the Ohio rapper wrote on Instagram. “Having to be strong. Mentally and physically changing. I felt like a failure. It hurt to exist, I didn’t want to. In those moments, at my lowest, I remembered who I am. I started to understand my purpose. I’m here to promote loyalty, prosperity, love and mental health. I’ve done that with all my music.”

After thanking everyone who contributed to his album, he wrote, “I’ve been able to make Fuck A Job my best album yet.”

Listen to the full album below.

PLAYING CINCY: Cash Daniel Talks Touring, Latest LP & Next Project

Cash Daniel / Not Just Another Vacation Too

Cash Daniel has a lot to celebrate. AudioFemme caught up with the Ohio rapper at the listening party for his new project, Not Just Another Vacation Too, where he was celebrating his album, wedding anniversary, and birthday.

Not Just Another Vacation Too is the second of its series, following up the original, which Cash dropped back in 2016. A lot has changed for the rapper during the past three years, and the new banger-laden record proves it.

The album’s title comes from Cash’s touring experiences and a reminder of his hard work every time he leaves his home state. He’s about to finish up a tour that took him through Vegas, Phoenix, Miami, Toronto, the West Coast, Mississippi and more, which inspired him to put together this latest project in his Not Just Another Vacation series.

“I’ve been going places that look like vacations, but it’s also work,” Cash said to the crowd at his album release party. “When you’re going somewhere, you take advantage of it. Networking opportunities, opportunities to get outside of the area.”

Not Just Another Vacation Too boasts several noteworthy producers, like CashMoneyAp, and hits its highlights on “Way Up,” “Spinach” featuring Lil Mopp Topp, “Back to the Money,” “If I Ain’t the Best” and closing track, “Parachute.”

Here, Cash talks his new album, what traveling has taught him, and reveals some details about his next project.

AF: The idea behind the title of your album is that you’re not vacationing; you’re traveling and taking things in. So what are some things you’ve been learning from your tour stops and the people that you’ve met?

CD: Really it’s like people are people everywhere. They’re not too much different wherever you go. People are kind of stuck in their bubbles and at times afraid of what’s going to be outside of that bubble and who’s going to be outside of it. I come from a small town, I grew up with people whose parents have never left that town. They might drive an hour out of the way to a bigger city and feel like they’re going somewhere. So it’s just like there’s no reason to be afraid to travel. That’s the main thing. There’s no reason to be afraid to travel and get things from it. I aim to inspire people from my hometown, like, look, I’m doing these things, you can do these things too.

AF: What’s been your favorite part of touring?

CD: My favorite part is really just getting experience and new energy with all types of different people. Getting to see new people that have never heard the music, never experienced the music, people who are not familiar with me and become instant fans. It’s not necessarily a surprise because I’m confident in my music, but I would have never gotten to touch these people if I hadn’t decided to go out on a limb and do these things.

AF: “Way Up” is produced by CashMoneyAp. How did that collaboration come about?

CD: I met him and heard him speak and he was just cool and I had heard a lot about him, so I just reached out.

AF: Are you working on any visuals for this album?

CD: “Parachute” is probably the song we’ll do a visual for first and then we’ll kind of figure it out from there. Those are probably gonna be done by Dre Shot This.

Cash Daniel / Not Just Another Vacation Too
Courtesy of Cash Daniel.

AF: You mentioned you’ll be working with Cincinnati producer Evan on your next project. What will that look like?

CD: The next one will probably get into a more reflective, deeper space, and that’s kind of a space if you have to get yourself into. You can kind of make yourself sad doing records like that. When I’m working with Evan, that’ll probably be the vibe that we’re working with.

AF: Are you thinking a full album?

CD: I want to let this breathe. But I’m still thinking I’ll probably drop an EP in the fall. I’m planning on working with Cincinnati producers for the next project I do.

AF: Not Just Another Vacation Too is a fun album. Where were you at mentally when you created the lyrical concepts?

CD: I didn’t really go into it to create the album. All of my records before this have been kind of darker for a while, but then I started to make lighter records, funner records, and then I came across these songs [and they] sounded fun. I put them together to make Not Just Another Vacation Too. I had about 40 to 50 songs to select from and we wanted to get it together in the summer.

AF: Since this album is a sequel, have you seen your growth since your initial 2016 project?

CD: Definitely. I feel like I kind of cut corners making that record, and older ones, and now I can see some growth. Definitely have developed my craft.

Cash Daniel / Not Just Another Vacation Too
Courtesy of Cash Daniel.

PLAYING DETROIT: Curtis Roach shines on Sophomore LP, ‘Lellow’

Like any 20-year-old, Curtis Roach has gone through some major changes in the last year: moving out of his mom’s house, entering and exiting college, trying out veganism. However, navigating life as an up-and-coming, critically acclaimed hip hop artist has proved to be the most difficult. Regardless, Roach is determined to stay positive through it all, which explains the UV-level brightness of his latest record, Lellow. Roach’s sophomore LP reflects exactly where he’s at in this season of life – on the rise, a little overwhelmed, but facing every day with unyielding optimism.

As someone who openly struggles with anxiety, it’s clear that Roach has repeatedly turned to music again and again as the ultimate antidote. But if his 2017 single “Anxietea.” is a vivid depiction of the hopeless perspective anxiety can paint,  Lellow’s “I’m Good!” is a clap back, reminding him that there’s a light at the end of this tunnel.  “I know that life ain’t all rainbows but / bitch I am thankful / yo I’m good” Roach puts simply. Actually, it’s the simplicity of the song that makes it so calming. Roach repeats “I’m good,” throughout the song like a mantra, until he, and whoever’s listening, actually believe it. 

Roach’s positive affirmations prove to be a much healthier coping mechanism for anxiety than most people in their early twenties turn to. In fact, he seems to have a more well-rounded viewpoint on self-care than a lot of people who have been trying the adult thing for years, even decades. “Affirmations, eating good, paying attention to my health… I take time to just breathe,” says Roach. “Little stuff like that you don’t think is important, it helps tremendously.”

Taking time to breathe is important when you have as much on your plate as Roach does. Although he released his first project when he was sixteen, this past year following the release of Highly Caffeinated has opened a lot of doors for the young rapper. But Roach explains that these new doors also opened up new avenues for stress. 

“It gets overwhelming at times,” says Roach. “At one point, it didn’t even matter to me, the whole business thing. I’d just be making music in my basement and then I’d release it on Soundcloud and hope for the best. Now… there’s just a lot of things you have to take into consideration if you want to be somewhat successful in the music industry.” 

That being said, the veins of positivity that run through Lellow indicate that Roach is taking everything in stride. His moment is now, and he’s not afraid to tell the world. Listen to Lellow below and catch Roach at Detroit’s AfroFuture Fest and Kindred Music & Culture Festival this summer. 

PLAYING SEATTLE: Nauticult Scream Into the Void on Human Use of Human Beings EP

Seattle’s Nauticult— equal parts industrial hip-hop and thrashing noise punk—was born in a moment of raw inspiration. For years, the members had known each other and even considered rapping over beats together, but they didn’t actually pull the trigger until a surprise birthday party performance in 2015.  The result was cataclysmic innovation—electric drums, synth guitar and rasping energetic rap over a rousing Busta Rhymes instrumental—so memorable, friends at the party were reliving the moment on social media the next day.

This marked the beginning of Nauticult and the fiercely conscious music they continually chew on and spit out. Their new EP, Human Use of Human Beings, the follow up to 2017’s Phantom Limb, drops July 9th, and all three members of Nauticult—vocalist Austin Sankley (She/Her), guitarist and synth Dylan Berry (He/They), and drummer/sampler Evan Fitzgerald (He/Him)gave Audiofemme the scoop on their upcoming release show at The Ruins on July 9th, bridging the seemingly disparate genres of hip hop and noise punk, and their preoccupation with themes of religion, cults, and group thought.

AF: Tell me in more detail how you got started making music together—and about that birthday party in 2015.

EF: We had been friends or at least known each other for years and wanted to do some sort of rap group type shit for a while. In 2015,  we had a birthday party for Dylan, and that night Austin had some intense family trauma happen and said she didn’t want to perform that night at all. We had only thought about just making beats and rapping to them, but we got juiced and put on Busta Rhymes instrumentals, then I got on my electric drum set and Dylan picked up his synth guitar and Austin quote “channeled the negative energy into the mic.” At the time I actually didn’t remember a thing about it until Dylan told me the next day “yo, Geoff got a sick Snapchat of us last night.” I watched it, and it was the filthiest blend of bassy, thrashy hardcore rap that I hadn’t heard, and I was like yo, fuck making beats, we’re doing this.

AF: What was the objective you had when you first started out?

AS: Our objective was purely to make music we wanted to hear. I had never really imagined I would be in a band, let alone making the music I was making. I think the feeling was mutual. We were all obsessed with experimentation. We were really trying to create a style we hadn’t heard before, and to make music that contrasted what was being made around us. It took me a while to really learn how to match the energy and for us to find our rhythm together. 

AF: What’s Nauticult mean?

AS: It is a play on “Not a cult.” To me it really means not assimilating to toxic bullshit and group thought, and not making music that everyone else is making. And trying to be successful while retaining individualism. Sort of critiquing the cult-like logic that goes into writing processes, and social dynamics and powers and the way we operate in society. It’s also thought of as something that someone says about the cult they are in to someone they are trying to indoctrinate into a cult. It also plays into nautical themes. My rap name is Argonaut so it plays into the last four letters of my rap name. 

DB: Nauticult also directly translates to a cult of the sea, and relates to how a lot of sounds and textures we use are drenched in effects and very wet in the mix of things, almost to the point of being overloaded; it represents the more psychedelic elements of our band and the overall vastness of the influences we are pooling from. Nauticult is definitely a multiple iteration type of name. 

EF: Naughty cult (lmao). We were way more naughty and trouble making a few years ago; now we’ve cooled our shit down. But yeah we used to go egging and shit. Ah man, I got some good stories from then though.

AF: What inspired you to combine elements of hip hop with punk? 

EF: I wouldn’t say we were inspired to do anything from other artists, [but] me and Dylan had been death metal musicians from the jump, and now we are just influenced from a wider range of music. [We’re] heavily [into] production of rap, goth synth shit, all that, and now with our unique music equipment, the music is an organic blend of how we play our instruments naturally and what we listen to. And Austin has rapped since she was five, so why would she do anything else than her super power? Might I also add she is the greatest lyricist of all time.

AF: Who or what do you feel like your music is in conversation with? A place, another artist, an era? 

DB: There was never one artist that we’ve all looked to as a band upon starting this group. Part of what made the inception of Nauticult so exciting was the raw energy of all the genres we were bringing to the table. This day and age there is more noisy/industrial music than ever, bridging from hardcore to hip-hop and psychedelic music and everywhere in between, screaming out to the void of the world. This tension we all feel. We have been inspired by artists such as Shabazz Palaces who blend live percussion with psychedelic productions and more metaphysical and spacial themes, similar to the lyrical themes used in the group, clipping. who also bring a blistering, industrial flavor to hip-hop, and JPEGMAFIA, who has some of the grittiest production and lyrical style out there in this genre—which has been described as nihilistic, villainous or satirical. Our music is not a nod to any of these artists but an acknowledgement that we are all a product of our environments and influences in an intense and evolving sort of way when it comes to our experimental approach, musical background and industrial creed in approach to sampling, ideology and crafting our own sounds. 

AF: What spaces and communities in Seattle have been most supportive to you and your music? 

AS: There have been so many spaces that have supported us: Fred Wildlife Refuge, The Ruins, Chop Suey, Barboza. We have gotten a lot of support from the hip hop community, punk, queer community, burlesque, and metal scene. We are so lucky to have the support that we do. I love everyone who comes out to our shows!

AF: Tell me about your new EP, out July 9th. What energies or forces brought it to fruition? What are some of its underlying themes and drives? 

AS: We honestly wrote a lot of the songs on this EP directly after Phantom Limb came out and have just been refining them. The process has taken a long time with playing shows and everything else taking up time. The themes are commodification, violence, group thought, possession, technology, and war. It really plays into a lot of the themes behind our name. It’s an exorcism for the things that possess us, such as religion, group thought, trauma, identity, abuse, sexism, masculinity and all things cult. 

AF: How did the new EP challenge you? 

DB: Some of the material on Human Use of Human Beings we’ve been sitting on for some time but with how many shows we would be playing and tours we went on we had a hard time solidifying our writing process in the studio, having four different practice spaces since our first album. We took a much needed hiatus last fall/winter in order to distill these elements and finally put together our own home setting where we have the utmost control in our writing process and production as well as the workflow of putting together our music. It was a real challenge to get to this point.

AF: In comparison to your other releases, how does the new EP stack up? 

DB: With our first EP, Phantom Limb, I feel like we were really finding our voice, charging straight ahead into making these songs that were thrashy, psychedelic and dense. With this EP we are about to put out I feel as though all of our approaches are much more developed. We use more effects and arrangement and samples, pieced together with more progressive song structures, longer songs and even more conceptual lyrics. We have all integrated more as far as how we write together and communicate and that has definitely translated into the music.

AF: Tell me a bit about the show at The Ruins. Is this a place you play often? Will you have an opener? Any surprises as a part of the release show?

AS: This is our first time playing the venue. We are playing with So Pitted, Fucked & Bound, and Guayaba. OC Notes is doing a DJ Set, we have burlesque and aerialists, as well as live tattooing & vendors. It’s going to be wild. 

AF: Are you touring with the EP? What are your future goals for Nauticult?

AS: We actually aren’t going to tour with this EP – we want to play a few more shows  and then go back into writing. We have the skeleton of an album that we are writing done, and it’s a big switch up from either of our EPs. It’s going to be our first full length. So after this release we are going to get back to cooking. 

AF: How can people follow your band/buy your music?

AS: We are available on all streaming websites – Bandcamp is a good place to purchase our music and merch. We are most active on Instagram and Facebook as far as updates go.

PLAYING CINCY: Ronin Halloway & SmokeFace Walk Us Through “Pressure”

Pressure
Pressure
Photo by Mandy Di Salvo

Cincinnati rapper Ronin Halloway and producer SmokeFace teamed up to release their collaborative album, Pressure. The six-track project has been four years in the making and with its release, the duo is able to reflect on how far they’ve come. Although they say the style of the record is vastly different to what they’re creating now, Pressure reveals a unique drama and depth, with Halloway spitting ferocious bars over SmokeFace’s meticulously crafted beats.

Here, AudioFemme catches up with the rapper-and-producer team as they tell us the story behind their one-of-a-kind project.

AF: How long in the making was Pressure?

SF: Four years exactly.

AF: Why did it take four years?

RH: So we started making it and it took us about—for the first version to be done—two years and we went through a long mixing process trying to get everything to sound right. This is when we were still dumb kids, and we didn’t have any proper representation or know how to properly promote it, so no one heard it, so we pulled it. We reworked it and trimmed the fat and made it a better album, and we’re going to finally let it out and give it its actual day in the sun.

AF: So it’s getting its second chance here and will get its justice this time.

SF: I definitely think so. It’s like half the length, which helps, and I already think that there’s more of a response to it than there was the first time. We did a video for the title track, which was good, and there’s a couple more visuals to follow. It’s exciting.

AF: Ronin, you’ve been putting out projects in the meantime, like your most recent EP, Icarus. How have those other projects influenced the direction of this album?

RH: I think it’s kind of cool because a lot of these songs were done and one of the main reasons we even went back to this was because we did this song called “Sirens.” We probably would’ve let [the album] just go away, but we loved that song a lot and really wanted to put it out with the project. I think it’s cool because the stuff that I’ve done recently is like way different. Him, too.

SF: Yeah, my stuff now doesn’t sound anything like this, but it’s still a great album.

AF: Does your new music sound different because your styles have evolved?

RH: Big time. Artistically, personally, I feel like I found my voice. Pressure is a lot of working out and finding out what that might be, experimenting with a lot more aggressive, industrial types of styles, which is not what I do. I think it was good though, but it’s not really my wheelhouse anymore.

AF: What were some big lyrical and compositional concepts that you were both inspired by?

RH: A lot of it is just really aggressive and crazy and some of it I didn’t even put the pen down, I just freestyled.

SF: At the time, I was really inspired and listening to a lot of El-P, specifically he has a song called “Up All Night.” I was listening to a lot of slow, dredge-y, synth-heavy, trap drums—big epic stuff. The song “Cartoons and Cereal” by Kendrick [Lamar] was probably one of my biggest influences. That song was always in the back of my mind when I was making this record. I’ve since fallen in love with sampling old records and really twisting sounds.

By Samuel Steezmore

AF: For somebody who’s about to listen to the album, what would you tell them so they can experience it in the way it’s intended?

RH: Buckle up! I think it does have a little bit of a story to it, a loose story. It starts off with this song called “Fading Blade,” which I recorded myself as a choir. It almost sounds like this Lion King-thing. And then “Pressure” sounds really, really dark, it does all the way through. I think it does end on an interesting note.

It definitely changes in the middle of the album, it goes into the “Be Okay” beat, [which is] up-tempo and manic. The track after that is probably the closest to a ’90s rap sound, and then the next track is completely left-field. And then we have “Sirens.” I would definitely categorize it as almost alternative hip-hop, like Danny Brown, JPEGMAFIA, Death Grips.

AF: What kind of story does it tell?

SF: One of my favorite things about the album is the backstory. You can kind of hear it in the album – it’s a coming-of-age story starting off as kind of young crazy boys. We’re kind of going through it and growing up and experiencing consequences for decisions and then, coming out on the other side, hopefully having learned something. Especially with the pair of songs “Be Okay” and “Hangover.”

AF: Are you working on any individual projects right now?

SF: I just put out a tape with some beats on SoundCloud and Bandcamp. I just want to keep doing that for a little bit, make something and put it out. I don’t want to sit around and wait around.

RH: I have a couple things I’m working on. The next project is going to be called Excalibur and I’m working with Devin Burgess on part of it. It’s going to be three parts and one of them is produced by XVII, so that’s almost done. I’ve been recording that at Timeless. So XVII and then Devin Burgess are working on a set of songs for it and then the last one will be with [SmokeFace]. It’s going to be like three EPs.

AF: But for now, just excited that Pressure is finally out?

RH: Yes!

SF: I’m so glad—it’s finally out of our hands!

PLAYING CINCY: Aziza Love Awakens Her Phoenix With “Views From The Cut”

Aziza Love, one-third of Cincinnati hip hop group TRIIIBE, released her debut solo project, Views From The Cut, earlier this month. Aziza gracefully balance rapping, singing, and spoken word – a style she’s honed in her previous work with the group. Although brief, the four-song EP powerfully reverberates self-worth and makes an impact as an artistic extension of the activist, singer, and TRIIIBE member herself.

“Phoenix Rising” launches the EP off to a bold start with Aziza manifesting her own self-worth and demanding that other women do the same. “You a bad bitch and you’re beautiful / You are much more than usual / Don’t you dare wait ’til your funeral / To give ’em all a reason to acknowedge / That your essence is a blessing / Girl, you better see it as a lesson,” she sings.

Chase Watkins’ production really gets going on the next song, “Spiritus Scronk,” featuring Josh Jessen, and Aziza plays with different vocal tones, pitches and singing styles. But her energy truly peaks in the Devin Burgess-mixed “Shemix” of Cardi B’s “Backing It Up.” Aziza raps non-stop and claims ownership of her sexuality and attitude in the new empowering remix of the already catchy single. She bounces effortlessly along the jingling beat with words of fully-realized confidence and self-worth.

The overall lyrical content of the project contains an important lesson. While TRIIIBE is known for their charitable actions and giving back to their community, Views From The Cut‘s themes of reflection and self-love show that to invest in each other we must also invest in ourselves. Outward love and compassion are themes TRIIIBE commonly portrays in their music, but with Aziza’s solo project, we see that glimpsing inward and owning one’s independent process and worth is equally important.

TRIIIBE will be performing at Bunbury next month and Aziza says visuals for Views From The Cut are coming soon.

PLAYING CINCY: Dayo Gold Talks New Album, Soul Music & Nipsey Hussle

Dayo Gold

Cincinnati hip hop artist Dayo Gold is gearing up to release his 10-track album, EPSM Essential Postive Soul Music. The Lima, Ohio rapper first hit the Cincinnati music scene in 2016 and has spent the last two years perfecting his craft. Currently being mixed by Devin Burgess, EPSM will follow his 2018 project, The Love EP, as well as several singles he’s dropped this year. Coming sooner will be a single (and perhaps a visual) called “Ohio Livin.” The talented MC first caught Audiofemme’s attention when he performed at Urban Artifact, rapping to an enthusiastic crowd that screamed back his notorious catchphrase: “Ask Ya Dad!” Here, Dayo Gold lets us in on some R&B-inspired details on his upcoming album, discusses the effect of Nipsey Hussle’s recent and tragic passing and its connection to his forthcoming single “Ohio Livin,” and explains where his name and famed catchphrase originally comes from.

AF: What are you working on currently?

DG: I’m in the works of a project right now! It’s called EPSM – that stands for Essential Positive Soul Music. I ended up making seven tracks. I made them in probably about a week, honestly. We just let it sit for a little minute, for probably two months, trying to find somebody to mix it. It didn’t quite go as planned and from that I ended up making three more songs. So I ended up making it ten tracks.

AF: Do you have a release date set?

DG: This summer for sure.

AF: That title, EPSM, does it hint at any R&B or soul influences?

DG: It kind of hints at a couple of R&B things. I think the most it does is the samples. We’ve got a “Let It Burn” sample in there, and that’s from Usher, we’ve got a Beyoncé sample from “Me, Myself and I,” that’s in there. We’ve got a Keith Sweat sample in there. It’s just a lot of that soul essence. I think what really made it soulful was we got into that bag of songs that really brought it out, we kind of touched into that 2000s era of R&B.

Dayo Gold
Dayo Gold/ Photo by Ian Massie

AF: Anything coming out before the summer?

DG: I’m thinking of dropping a single within the next two weeks. It’s a song I’ve been performing, “Ohio Livin.” I just think, with this Nipsey thing transpired, this song puts me back to a place where I felt the same way. I had a relative, he was killed the same way as Nip. This whole Nipsey thing transpiring made me think back to that time and I made “Ohio Livin” around that time, so once I played it back it brought back all those emotions again. So I was like, you know what, I think this is something that the world needs to hear. I’m definitely looking forward to that release.

AF: What other artists influence your music?

DG: I’m influenced by a lot of artists. Of course Nip, J. Cole, Joey Bada$$, Jadakiss, JAY-Z, Rick Ross. I’m kind of all over the place—I love street music and I love stuff that actually talks to the soul. That’s what I think this whole EPSM encompasses, like not only is it giving you messages for your soul but it just has an all-around good vibe to it that I think anybody would like, from the streets to the book-smarts.

AF: Your name – Dayo Gold. How’d you come up with that? And what about the catchphrase, ‘Ask Ya Dad,’ that the audience yells back to you at shows?

DG: At first, it was Golden Child. When I came around to trying to copyright it I saw that a lot of people already had it covered. So I knew I had to get a little more creative. I was taking a lot of African Studies classes back then and I was looking up on this site different African names and their meanings and I came across “Dayo.” When I read the definition it said, “joy arrives.” That’s the exact feeling I have about music and the exact feeling I want to have about life in general. If I’m not in a joyous state, if I’m not around people who are making me happy or enjoying my company or I’m not enjoying theirs, then I don’t want to be around them. I just thought that was a good life lesson to learn from that word alone and I wanted to embody it. I still wanted to keep Gold in there somewhere, so I got Dayo Gold.

The ‘Ask Ya Dad,’ that came from—I’m from Lima, Ohio. That’s a very small city. Our dads really knew what was going on in the city. My dad owns a barbershop down there so it’s a lot of barbershop talk, ‘he say, she say’ type shit. So if you wanted to know what was going on, you had to ask your dad. So we ended up making that a confirmation, like if your dad knows it then everybody knows it. Not only did it get to that, I started using it myself because I want to teach people through my music as well. Not only do I want to entertain and have fun with it but I want people to learn something.

AF: What do you think of the Cincinnati music scene right now?

DG: I came as a college student around 2013. Probably around 2016 is when I saw the Cincinnati music scene. I’ve always been the type of person to talk to anybody so when I got to doing my shows and stuff I was feeling a lot of love. I think the city is vibing right now, it’s kind of breaking out as we speak. Right now I think Cincinnati is on its way up.

Dayo Gold
Dayo Gold/ Photo by Annie Noelker

PLAYING CINCY: Sarai The Artist Makes Impressive Debut With “No More Humble”

Sarai

Sarai The Artist didn’t come to play on her new album, No More Humble. Showcasing a diverse range from slowed-down vibey R&B-tinged singles to spitting ferociously at an intimidating energy and pace, Sarai debuts as a Cincinnati rapper with serious skills. She previously teased the album’s release with No More Humble singles, “Switch Up” and “Normally” in 2018. Now, with the entire project out, Sarai makes her full first impression.

Although a fierce introduction from a new artist demanding to be taken seriously, No More Humble was born of more somber inspirations.

“This album came from a place of darkness, growth, but also triumph,” says Sarai. “It’s my message to the world that I [am] no longer doubting myself or selling myself short. Everything I’ve gone through has made me into the artist I am today. I lost a relationship and had to bury five family members in 2017. I was lost, but music helped me find my way.”

No More Humble hardly sounds like a debut, with Sarai’s lyrical dexterity and the project’s overall fluidity. The album starts strong with “Snapped,” a fast-paced intro where she can flex her rapid verbal flow and give listeners a reason to understand the LP’s title. Sarai transitions to “Amen,” a standout track, where she makes a flute-driven beat sound hard.

She gets more in her feelings later on in the 8-track album, exploring relationships in “2 Ways” and “To Be Loved” and reverberating struggle in the Great Wu-assisted “Normally” and “Neva Lost.”

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Sarai The Artist / Photo by Andre Whaley

Besides making an impressive introduction into the Cincinnati hip hop scene, Sarai uses No More Humble to make a point about grief and hardship. She’s only been making music for about a year, but found solace in hard times through her creation and hopes her album will help others in similar situations see the same light.

“My goal is to encourage others that it’s very possible to turn something dark into a beautiful situation. Stay the course and the work will pay off.”

Check out Sarai The Artist’s debut album No More Humble above and catch her performing for Industry Night at PRVLGD Nightclub April 12.

PLAYING CINCY: Hip Hop Showcase Brings Out Cincinnati Talents

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Dayo Flow at Urban Artifact in Cincinnati rounded up some of the city’s top-rated hip hop acts. The evening showcased headliners Dayo Gold and Eb&Flow, singer Joness, Kelby Savage, Devin Burgess and more.

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Freestyling underway at Dayo Flow. Photos by Victoria Moorwood.

The show started out with some playful freestyling, where rappers and artists in the crowd were welcomed on stage. Kelby Savage started off the individual performances. His most recent production appeared on Big18foot’s Hogwash, which came out earlier this year.

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Kelby Savage at Dayo Flow.

R&B singer Joness opened up her acoustic set talking and joking with the crowd. Her debut EP, Rule Number 9, came out in 2017 and will be followed up Thursday by her forthcoming album, Sheep: An Extended Play, produced by Joey Thomas.

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Joness performing at Urban Artifact.

Emcees Dayo Gold and Eb&Flow and producer/ rapper Devin Burgess ended the night on a high. Eb&Flow’s 6-song EP, Sympathetic.Audience.Control, came out last month. He and Dayo Gold collaborated on “Dayo Flow” in 2017.

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Dayo Gold, Eb&Flow.

Dayo Gold released two singles, “Twang” and “Came Up” late last year, while Devin Burgess, clearly out of retirement, bopped some singles off his 2018 album, Trash.

PLAYING CINCY: Cash Daniel Tackles Suicide’s Aftermath with “Wonder Why” Video

Cash Daniel Wonder Why

Ohio rapper Cash Daniel dropped his music video for “Wonder Why” in conjunction with a Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) fundraiser in Cleveland. Daniel co-hosted the event, while remembering the four-year anniversary of his own brother’s suicide.

The video, produced by Dre Shot This and featuring Evan on the hook, asks the lingering questions so many are left with when a loved one takes their own life. In the song, Daniel takes an honest look at the anger, heartache and pain that followed his loss and admits he still ‘wonders why.’

Evan sings, “Everything’s still Devin / Yes I try, and try, and try, and try to find a way / To deal with the pain ’cause I cry like every day / Yes I’m trying, trying, I’m just trying to find my way / To deal with this pain cuz I wonder why like every day.”

Daniel comes in on his second verse rapping, “Little brother shot in his head and they said that he did it to himself / So what the f**k am I supposed to do when I can’t blame nobody else? / Man I be hurting, ’cause I could see that he was hurting / Wish I could see him one last time so I could tell him he was living with a purpose.”

His second single of the year, following “Parachute,” “Wonder Why” stands out as a vulnerable and hard-hitting track that equally showcases Daniel’s masterful flow and lyricism as well as provides an important dialogue for those that need to hear it.

Along with his latest song, Daniel aims to make a difference for those who are currently coping with loss and inspire others to check in on their loved ones. Dr. Dan Reidenberg, the Executive Director of SAVE, told DBLCIN, “It is through efforts like Cash Daniel’s and the music that we can begin to reach others with a message that if you reach out, you will see how much people care and want you around happy and healthy.”

Check out his new “Wonder Why” music video below and learn how you can get involved in SAVE here.

PLAYING ATLANTA: I The Victor Promotes Positivity with “Hypotheticals” Video

I discovered I The Victor by chance sometime in 2018. My band and I were asked to play an artist spotlight alongside Rebecca Ramos, the heart, brain, and creative force behind the act, that, unfortunately, coincided with a tour we were going on, but I started following her then and loved her bright, open, offbeat aesthetic. Almost a year later, I got the chance to talk with the “posi-rap” artist about all things music, Atlanta, and “Hypotheticals,” her latest release.

AF: Thanks so much for talking with me! Do you mind telling me a bit about your story? How did you get into music?

RR: Of course, thank you! I super appreciate getting to chat. I got into music shortly after discovering Avril Lavigne as a living, breathing, amazing entity on earth. She just really struck me, and from there, I was interested in making music of my own. Not too long after, my parents got me one of those $40 first act guitars, and I was off to the races. I ended up writing really bad songs for a long while and, as I got older, began writing stuff that I was excited about and wanted to put out into the world.

AF: What’s your creative process like? Has it changed over the years, as you’ve toured and recorded and released more music?

RR: Usually it starts at the guitar, but sometimes a line or melody will hit me at a random time, and I try to just drop everything and give it the attention it needs to become something bigger. I try to steer clear from sitting down to write and usually wait for something to come to me, and then I’ll sit with it and flesh it out into something more full. Otherwise, if I try to sit down and be creative, I get pretty in my head about if I’m being organic and real, and usually end up scrapping whatever I write if it feels forced.

As music has become more of the main focus of my life, I have a lot of new toys that have made their way into my process, whether it’s the instrument library on Logic, weird samples, or just messing around with different plugins or vocoders. I think it’s cool, when possible, to start with something kinda eclectic or weird and to pull out some pop sensibility from it. So all that’s in the mix as far as my process, but I definitely try to keep it fluid and let lyrics or melodies come to me naturally.

AF: Who do you consider your greatest influences? How do you draw from those influences while also staying true to what makes you unique as an artist? What inspires you as a songwriter?

RR: I’ve been listening a ton to Billie Eilish recently, along with Glass Animals, Still Woozy, Hippo Campus, Jaden Smith, and so many more. I try not to pull too many direct musical influences; I like to just listen to a ton of diverse stuff, and if I hear a sound or topic that inspires me, I’ll go from there. I do, however, get super inspired just watching artists as they blossom and create worlds around their songs. That’s something I feel like that takes songs to another realm.

I also get inspired by seeing other artists’ merch or marketing rollouts for albums. I love the whole packaging and how far a song can extend into other dimensions like visuals or live shows or clothing. I’ve been really inspired by artists like Halsey or The 1975, who are very meticulous about their aesthetic and the way their visuals and songs transcend into their shows. Anytime I see something unique, I’ll screenshot it and go back to it as I brainstorm for ITV content. I never want to copy what’s been done, but there are always ways of taking cool concepts and molding them into something unique to your own song or vision, so that’s what I try to do!

AF: Everything about you — your music, your visuals, all of the messages you send out to your fans — is so positive. How do you stay so optimistic, in both your music career and your personal life?

RR: Thank you so much! I aim for that. I definitely started writing songs out of a darker and more insecure place, but the purpose was to kind of seek out hope through writing about hopelessness. So, that whole theme of staying positive has just kind of stuck throughout and become this mantra for ITV as a whole, which I am really proud of. The music industry can definitely feel dark at times; there have been times I get so discouraged that I don’t know where else to go than to go back to that place of seeking out hope. I think life is that way too in general: a constant flux and flow of failure versus success, light versus dark, or progress versus setbacks.

I just don’t know what I’d take refuge in if I didn’t have music or wasn’t creating for the purpose of finding hope and staying positive, so I feel really lucky and comforted that it’s naturally become kind of the banner of ITV songs. It’s begun making its way into my mindset day to day, too, which is also lucky. I think there’s just a ton of darkness out there and we all kinda get to feeling alone or hopeless. As ITV grows, I just want it to be a light for people where we can discuss growing pains and dark times but still do that within the lens of hope because we all need that. 

TL;DR – life can get heavy. What would I have if I didn’t have hope? I literally don’t know and don’t want to know. ITV has been a vessel for finding positivity for me and I hope it can be that for others too.

AF: What’s your favorite part of the Atlanta music scene, and how has the city — and the creative community here — influenced you as an artist?

RR: I meet and find more and more amazing people in Atlanta daily, it seems. I adore it. Everything I do with ITV is super DIY or friends-only in a way. We just don’t have a label, don’t have big budgets or resources to do huge productions or outsource a lot of things. The result is myself and my closest friends getting to work on ITV things altogether, and it’s been life-changing. The output is so much more raw and organic, which makes it all the better. I’ve gone to Switchyards quite a bit with my brother and met some amazing designers and creatives there. ITV lets me meet awesome people, too, which is fortunate. It’s just so cool getting to meet people doing creative things that inspire them. It creates such a limitless space for organic collaboration and just freedom to keep doing you; it’s so exciting and definitely a huge part of how anything for I The Victor gets accomplished. 

AF: What’s next for I The Victor?

RR: So. Much! So much. I keep feeling like we’re in the most exciting phase yet, and I get sad thinking about releasing it all because then this phase of anticipation and excitement will have to come to a close! But yes. A lot! Definitely some new music preceding an EP and then we have quite a bit planned to complement the songs coming out, from merch to videos to shows. Excited is an understatement and I feel really lucky for the small community growing around ITV because it’s a super exciting time right now!

Follow I The Victor on Facebook to stay up to date on new releases, music videos, and shows (and your daily dose of positivity in a crazy world).

PLAYING CINCY: Ronin Halloway Soars for the Sun with Icarus EP

Photo by Bradley Thompson

For the past year, Ronin Halloway has been hard at work on The Icarus Trilogy. Released a few weeks ago, the EP is a musical collaboration with JayBee Lamahj, with a visual component directed by Bradley Thompson. Icarus takes listeners through a journey of growth, power, and spirituality, all while giving Ronin and Jay a chance to flex their rapping skills as well as their creativity. Here, Ronin talks about how addiction and sobriety played a part in the themes of this project and how they’ve impacted his upcoming album, Pressure, due in June.

AF: When you were first planning The Icarus Trilogy were you planning it to be an EP or an album?

RH: I think we both always thought it’d be shorter. Especially toward the summertime when we realized we have this song and that song, and maybe one or two more.

AF: And you have an album coming out, too?

RH: The album is my solo album, entirely produced by SmokeFace, and that’s coming out in June. It’s actually four years old. It’s taken a lot. It’s only six songs long, now, but in the same way we did Icarus, it’s gonna be a very visual album. Lots of fantasy stuff. I’m a very David Bowie-inspired artist, I love theatrical stuff, and even making stories that people might not get yet.

AF: What made you name your EP The Icarus Trilogy?

RH: There’s definitely the mythology thing and the title track is called “Icarus.” It kind of teases at the stories I’m going to tell. Of course, the story of Icarus is he made wings from wax and he wanted to touch the sun and his wings melted. The chorus of that song is “Don’t’ fly too high you might end up burning” and really what’s interesting, too, is a common message throughout my music has been my journey with addiction and what that’s been in my life, what self-medication means. Especially now – I’ve started a journey of sobriety – I can look back through a different lens. “Icarus” touches a little bit on getting older, the uses of substances and trying to cope with the world around you. Then “Elijah,” the second song, is a song about being powerful—that was like the flex track—just rapping as aggressively as we both could. And then “Paul” is probably both our favorite song. It’s a very spiritual song, just kind of summing things up like, “Okay, we’re gonna move forward and grab life by the horns.”

AF: Will some of those same themes be expanded or explored in your upcoming solo album?

RH: Pressure – that’s the title of the album – is really dark. It’s very dark, almost industrial sounding, so I think people will get the Danny Brown influence, Run the Jewels influence, maybe even a little Death Grips. What’s gonna be cool and kind of important will be to try to portray it within the context of everything. The videos kind of inform and give you some of the themes I’m talking about. It’s gonna be cool. Moving forward from that I’ll be starting to explore still the intensity of stuff, but also my more whimsical side. It’s definitely a dark record. It’s definitely very vice-driven. But I think people will see, especially with the visuals, [I’m] not speaking on drinking to glorify it, [I’m] reflecting, and not necessarily in a sense of regret but just realizing the gravity of it. SmokeFace and myself decided to step into sobriety together. In the days we started working together it was a ton of partying, so it’s very interesting to now be in a space where we’re looking back on that in a different lens.

AF: For sure, and since the album comes from different times in your life, it’ll have different levels. What’s coming up after that?

RH: So my song “Fruit Fly!” was produced by my good friend Seventeen. We are working on something that’s gonna be like 2020 stuff, but like his sound—he’s like Metro [Boomin] beats, like Southside even. So I’m really excited to work on my melodic side, to work on my catchiness, while still being me and having room to lyrically chop it up.

AF: Who are some of your inspirations?

RH: Kendrick is huge obviously. But I always tell people my favorite emcee is Jay Electronica. He’s my favorite. When Jay raps he doesn’t do a lot of adlibs, his voice is so deep, he’s like a wizard [laughs].

AF: How did you get started rapping?

RH: I grew up as a musician, playing piano. I kind of stumbled into this, meeting people who were really good at freestyling. Then I wanted to get good at it, but it was still kind of a hobby. And then I started writing and it just snowballed, and now it’s my life.

Catch Ronin Halloway’s next performance at the Live on Short Vine Music Festival Saturday, April 6th.

PLAYING CINCY: GrandAce Teases Upcoming EP with New Single “GO!”

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GrandAce. Photo by Ciara Cruder.

You can easily chart the progression of Cincinnati rapper and producer GrandAce through his evolving lyrics and style. Born Jody Jones, GrandAce first hit the scene with singles in 2016 and 2017. Last year, he released two EPs – the first of which, Colors in the Office, existed as an outlet to release pent up frustrations and disappointment. His second project dropped the following month, and true to its title, Feel Good showed an elevated state of mind. His latest single “GO!” is an optimistic tune with an easygoing rhythm and bars; it will appear on his upcoming EP Also Codachrome, out March 12.

“It’s about progressing to a level where you are successful and love until your surroundings and mentality becomes unrecognizable,” he told DBLCIN about “GO!” and his upcoming EP.

Check out the single below and catch GrandAce live when he performs at Top Cats on February 21, with Dayo Gold, Leo Pastel and Isicle.

 

PLAYING CINCY: Tour the Nation’s First Smart Recording Studio

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Producer Evan “X” Johnson’s awards line the studio halls. Photos by Victoria Moorwood.

When CEO / award-winning producer Evan “X” Johnson and President Cameron Napier rebranded, relocated and launched Timeless Recording Studio, they had one question on their minds—how can we improve?

The two tech-savvy music professionals had already made names for themselves as innovative and reliable recording studio owners, but they were ready to elevate their craft. And so, the world’s first ‘smart recording studio’ was born.

“A smart studio is defined as a recording facility that has interconnected devices to make the experience for the client very unique,” said Cameron, explaining the concept behind their Cincinnati smart studio. “Specifically, imagine being able to book a recording session and create the environment you want to have—from lighting, interconnectivity from the Wi-Fi, and also having a sense of security for your data and your files, all being transferred all at the click of a button, all at voice automation.”

It sounds pretty complex, but it’s the future of recording technology. Everyday we use smart technology and voice automation to look up directions to nearby coffee shops, lock our doors after we’ve left the house and even order groceries. It makes sense that these technologies should infiltrate the artist recording process, and in Cameron and Evan’s studio, clients see the benefits that these advancements can have on their music.

Unlike analog studios, digital studios offer more flexibility in going back and making changes to recorded audio. A smart studio expands on that and integrates smart technology into the existing and versatile options that digital recording already provides. With the addition of the new tech, more doors are opened in terms of the artist’s recording experience, as well as data security and sharing. But, sometimes, artists just like to use the tech to flex in the booth.

“People book time just so they can come change the lights,” laughed Cameron.

It’s all about creating the most comfortable environment for recording, while using the latest technology to perfect your audio. And if that sometimes means voice-automated lighting color changes, so be it.

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Clients and recording artists sign the booth wall after recording.

Of course, smart technology is experimental technology, and a smart studio is not immune to occasional technical difficulties. Whereas Evan seems to have the magical vocal tone that allowed him to change lighting and play music via Alexa, Cameron joked “We fight sometimes” when referring to the voice-activated virtual assistant.

The guys are glad to make Cincinnati the birthplace of this studio tech integration and they hope to expand it to studios nationwide.

“I think this has the potential to be the next big thing,” said Evan. “We’re the first to kind of start the infrastructure and hopefully it can be perfected.”

PLAYING CINCY: Watch Rapper Allen4President Kill This Friday Freestyle

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The rapper mentions Bird Box, the government shutdown, cell phone surveillance and homelessness in Cincinnati.

Last week, Cincinnati rapper Allen4President appeared on The Wiz radio station’s Freestyle Friday. Although a talented lyricist in the booth, Allen4President proved he’s just as comfortable and quick on his feet in a freestyle. He raps “lifestyle music,’ as he calls it, and recalls inspiration from things he’s seen to immediately spit over the air.

The hip hop artist also recently dropped The President’s Room, a 13-song album featuring Chris Cooks, LaBron Denair and TkoLa, but Allen4President stands out with his thoughtful verses and steady flow.

Freestyles are a central part of hip hop culture as well as one of the best tests of emcee talent. Right now, he’s riding high off two successes in a row, but he’s sure to impress us again very soon.

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Photo by Kevin J. Watkins (@ohthatsdubs)

 

PLAYING CINCY: Rapper Cing Curt Talks Latest Album, Upcoming Singles in Video Interview

Cing Curt

Ohio-native rapper Cing Curt first drew attention in 2016 with studio album Perspective and has since grown into a staple creative in the Cincinnati hip hop scene and a promising up-and-coming artist. This past year he released two new albums, Advantage Point and Problematic. We met up with the prolific artist to discuss where the inspiration for his latest project came from, and he dishes some details on new singles, videos and shows coming up this year. Check out our video interview, as well as the video for his latest single, “Overnight,” below.

Follow Cing Curt on Facebook for all the latest.

PLAYING CINCY: Robe-Clad Rapper-Producer Devin Burgess Will Not Retire After His Best Year Yet

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Devin Burgess
Devin Burgess rocking his robe. Photo by @lunarthoughtfilms

He may wear slippers and a robe to his shows, but this Cincinnati artist is hardly staying comfortable. In fact, he’s busier than ever. Producer and rapper Devin Burgess adopted the laid-back ensemble after doing over 70 shows in 2016 and, deserving a break, jokingly declared he’d be retiring. Although he’s kept up his comfy wardrobe, Devin didn’t rest for long. 2018 brought the release of his album Trash, the launch of his new podcast, shooting the music video for “Bounce Back,” and preparing for new music, videos and shows in 2019. Right now, Devin is in the planning stages of new videos for Trash songs “Glimpse” and “Prosper,” will soon be jetting off on tour in California and is about to undertake an ambitious producing project. He found a spare moment to chat with Audiofemme for Playing Cincy; read on below.

AF: What are you most excited to work on in 2019?

DB: I’m literally sitting on like two bodies of work right now—I just have to finish them. I produce as well, so I’m gonna start producing for people [more]. I have this idea of—you know how Wendy’s has a Four For Four? That’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna take four artists, and make four EPs, that have four songs on them. It’s just a way for me to be hands-on with peoples’ music. A way for my fanbase and the artists’ fanbase to kind of mesh together.

AF: How long have you been producing?

DB: That’s how I got into making music. I started making beats in 2010. I wanted to be like a DJ. That’s my first love, production, but all of that equipment can be relatively expensive and in 2010 I was like 16. I didn’t really have a job, so I couldn’t really afford a lot of it and one of my homies was like, ‘You should rap,’ so I rapped. I spit a verse for him, and he was like, ‘That was dope.’ I’ve been rapping ever since.

AF: So do you think 2019 will be heavier on the rapping or producing?

DB: We’ll see! I’ve been telling people that I’m not into rapping right now. All of my creative energy has been going into production. I’m an engineer as well, so I mix and master for other people. I don’t really have the time or the mental capacity to rap right now. I just put out an album out with 15 tracks. After I put out Trash I felt, like, empty. So I’m trying to find another way to get inspired, another angle to approach with rapping.

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Devin Burgess performing at The Comet in Cincinnati. Photo by @oussmane_.x

AF: Could you see yourself releasing another solo project in 2019?

DB: Only time will tell. With all of this producing for other people, I still want to keep my momentum going. 2018 [was] one of the biggest years I’ve had and I’m very aware of people’s short attention spans. You drop something and it’s cool for two months, but after that, they’ll forget about it. So I’ve got to still find a way to put my name in people’s mouths, whether it’s through production or engineering. I’m finding other ways to be creative.

AF: Tell me about Trash.

DB: After this year, I had this whole ‘I’m Retired’ campaign going on, which is why I’m in a robe right now—I’m in my pajamas, I’m comfortable everywhere I go. With that was going to come a body of work called I’m Retired. I wasn’t going to really retire, it was just that in 2016 I did like 75+ shows and I dropped like five to seven bodies of work, so I was like, I’m burnt the f*ck out. So it was a joke, but then it turned into a body of work.

Then the year progressed, I was doing so many things and I still didn’t have this body of work done. I was making all of these other songs in between me doing I’m Retired that weren’t necessarily tied to any body of work. I’d call [them] my throwaway songs, hence where the name Trash came from. I didn’t necessarily seek out to have a message because as I was making these tracks, they weren’t supposed to be one body of work. When I was making them, they were either part of other projects I wanted to do and I scrapped them and essentially I took my best 15 songs and put them together as a cohesive project.

AF: All together, it sounds like a cohesive record. But you’re saying, conceptually, it started out scattered.

DB: Yeah, for sure, it was all over the place. That was one of the things I was afraid of, it sounding like I threw it all together. I definitely tried my best to make sure it didn’t sound that way. Transitioning and making sure the songs flow is very important to me. I am a body-of-work-type of artist. I’m not really huge on singles, I drop bodies of work.

AF: So what were some of the connecting themes that brought these songs together?

DB: I talk about love a lot, the different parts of love. Being in love, trying to get over a love. I wrote “Drive” when I was in a relationship and I tried to write it from the perspective of my girlfriend. I tried to take myself out of myself—I think that’s what the theme is, self-refection. “Glimpse” is definitely a favorite of mine, and “Bounce Back” for sure.

AF: And you mentioned you have lots of shows coming up this year?

DB: Yes, the plan is to travel as much as possible. I’ve done a show in every venue in Cincinnati. I’ve been going out to Columbus a lot, but I’m trying to go out to Chicago, New York, eventually. I’m going to LA with Patterns of Chaos in January. My idea is to go to a different city every other weekend. Travel is definitely in my future and a lot more shows.

AF: Who are some of your biggest inspirations?

DB: Jay-Z is my favorite rapper of all time. I’m very influenced by Erykah Badu and Amy Winehouse is like my afterlife wife. Directors inspire me, like Quentin Tarantino.

AF: What do you think makes the Cincy hip hop scene unique?

DB: The Midwest is a melting pot of sounds and genres, so I don’t run into people sounding the same. I really appreciate the diversity that exists. And the love in the city.

PLAYING CINCY: Singer-Songwriter Audley Wants To Be The Light In Your Life

Audley takes in a performance at his residency last month. Photos by David Chimusoro.

It’s been a banner year for Cincinnati hip-hop artist Audley, who kicked off 2018 with the release of his debut studio album Pink in January and just finished up a month-long residency at Cincinnati’s The Comet. The weekly shows were named The Love and Light Series, which he says was inspired by the musicians he’s met and lessons he’s learned this year. Though he reps impressive rap skills with an energetic flow, what really shines on Pink are his buttery smooth R&B vocals—it’s no surprise that he names Childish Gambino as a musical influence. Here, Audley reflects on The Love and Light Series, how he manifests success through positivity and uplifting others around him, and gives us a sneak peek of what he’s bringing to 2019.

AF: How did your Love and Light Series go?

A: I honestly don’t even know where to begin! It was probably the biggest accomplishment I’ve ever done in my life. There was a lot of talent in one room every Thursday, just really good music bringing the community together. It felt like the perfect way to tip our hat to 2018, just one big celebration, and then MOTR Pub was absolutely nuts. TRIIIBE came up and did a guest performance out of nowhere and just slammed it down. It was everything I hoped for. I almost didn’t even do it.

AF: Really? Why not?

A: It’s just a huge commitment. If I wanted to do it, I wanted to do it right. So I told everyone I had too much going on at work, I had too much going on in my personal life, I just didn’t have time to do this and they’re like, ‘If there’s any time for you to do this, it’s right now.’ So I literally booked the whole series in four days and made it happen.

AF: What drew you to the Love and Light theme?

A: This year has been positivity-driven. I met Jess Lamb and The Factory last year at the CEAs [Cincinnati Entertainment Awards] and their message is very self-empowering, very spiritual. They’re just very much a beacon of light to tell you everything is gonna be okay. Their mantra is you’re beautiful, you’re powerful, you can make it. I was in a really rough spot when I met Jess and it really got me through the year, so the mantra has always been be a light, spread light, spread love.

AF: So based on the experience, would you do a residency like that again?

A: Something like it. I like the idea of a recurring event, just because it builds an audience and garners excitement. Would I do it every Tuesday for a month? Probably not. Would I pick a bigger venue and do it quarterly and do blow outs? Potentially. I’m looking into what that could be. Each venue has its pros, but it has its huge cons also.

AF: Your album Pink came out in January. Do you have a favorite song off the record?

A: I’d have to say my favorite song is “Sleep Alone.” That is like the best songwriting I’ve ever done. The melody, the progression from small to big from verse one to verse three, the beat is a banger—Devin Burgess produced it, he’s super talented. That song is just really pretty and I wrote it right before “Awaken, My Love!” came out, [Childish] Gambino’s record, and it just reaffirmed Pink for me. It was like, if he’s gonna dive into this beautiful funkadelic vibe, I can do the same. So I’d say “Sleep Alone” is probably my favorite. Obviously the bop of the record is “Game Over;” everyone loves that song. Honestly when I wrote it I didn’t know it was gonna be the song and then out of nowhere it had four times the streams as the other tracks, so it was like this one’s it, I guess.

AF: I love the R&B feels. Would you say Childish Gambino is a big influence on you?

A: Oh yeah, later Gambino. Because The Internet and on really spoke to me. I love his writing, [on] 30 Rock, and Community. He’s so funny and even his stand up is great, to the point where when I saw he was trying to make music I was like, dude, stay in your lane, because to me his music wasn’t as good as his writing. Now that I think of it, that’s such an ignorant perspective. He did a freestyle over Drake’s “Pound Cake” and it was amazing and I fell in love with him watching that.

808s & Heartbreak by Kanye West is my favorite album of all time. It’s the most vulnerable he’s ever been on a record, the best melodies he’s ever written, and I love 808 drums. André 3000 was the first rapper to show me that you can flex with class. He literally would be in a suit, but you’d still be intimidated. There’s such an elegance and fluidity to his flow, but that was his flex, and that was during the time of G-Unit and The Game. It was like these people that were really stunting on people, and I was like I wanna be like that guy.

AF: Looking into next year, what can fans expect?

A: Next year fans can expect definitely a new record. I think I’ll be able to make one relatively quickly. I can’t promise that it’s going to be [themed around] a color, which likes breaks my heart to even say, but I’ve learned and grown and have shifted my perspective so much this year that “colors” is such a single-faceted through-line. There’s textures, there’s emotions, there’s literal artifacts that symbolize things. I love the idea of owning a color because you get to own a world through a hue, but I think I’m ready to do something bigger. I’m ready to make a bigger world.

AF: You said you’re looking to collaborate more. Does the collectivity and openness of the Cincinnati hip-hop scene make that a little easier?

A: I would say a year and a half ago, it wasn’t like this. Everyone was so worried about putting themselves on that people didn’t understand that when you help someone else out, you get to elevate together. They thought that there was this finite amount of energy in a box and they thought people were taking their shovels and they were like, well, if I give him some then I don’t get some. Energy is infinite and the more that people have the more that people can grow off of each other’s energy. We’re all playing the same game. We’re all in the same scene; we all have the same obstacles. If you are trying to pull someone down to your level, that’s the same amount of time you could’ve used to elevate yourself to theirs. That’s why Love and Light was so important because we drove home every single Tuesday [that] you have to spread love, you have to be a light, even in your darkest of times. That’s when you need to shine your brightest because other people may need that light, too.

AF: That’s beautiful. Anything else you’d like to say to your fans?

A: I can promise that I will be doing a lot more shows out of town next year, and as of right now I’m working on the 2019 game plan. But I know that whatever I do, I’m going to curate something really special for this city, whether that’s a monthly or quarterly something—it’s gonna be Love and Light on steroids.

PLAYING CINCY: Introducing Cincinnati Rap Trio Patterns of Chaos

Patterns of Chaos is a Cincinnati hip hop trio creating positive and sometimes head-banging hip-hop emphasizing heavily conscious messages about to bless your life. Cellist and rapper Christoph “Toph” Sassmannshaus, producer Alexander “Stallitix” Stallings and rapper Jay Hill met at Off Tha Block Mondays, a collaborative hip-hop showcase that Stallitix launched at The Mockbee. The group has had a busy year, releasing their latest album Freedom in June and brand new single “Sleep Paralysis” last week. Right now, they’re gearing up for some big things in 2019, including a monthly residency at Revel OTR Urban Winery, a collaborative studio networking effort they’ve named the Nervous System and another full-length project. Here, get to know the guys, their album and what to expect next year.

AF: So the single that you just released, “Sleep Paralysis,” came about really organically; can you tell me more about that?

T: We all record at my house—I have a studio set up where everything can be recorded constantly all the time. [Alex] was making a beat, I was making a bass line, Jay was writing a rap and then Gabi (Ladi Tajo) just started singing and we were like, ‘Get in front of the microphone!’ So she got in front of the microphone and jammed for like ten minutes.

J: I actually wrote like the first eight bars of that verse before that night. It was about self-preservation, but in a healthy way, as in trying not to waste myself. It’s basically like what sleep paralysis feels like—you’re just watching it unfold.

A: It’s a smooth song, but it has a very cryptic theme to it. I think sleep paralysis is something anybody over the age of 18 has dealt with, and like figuring out what it is to be an adult. Feeling like you’ve got to make an impact on the world, but also loving thyself.

AF: Your album Freedom came out this year – what were some of your inspirations going into the album and what were some of the messages you were trying to convey?

A: We’re different people, but we have similar stories. I think our approach was we were trying to speak a story to people in high school, where you have all these different friends—there’s the nerd, the gamer, the cool one—but in that same breath you still feel alone. Our second song, “Amorphous,” came from how you can fit into all these constructs and yet nobody can put you in a box. And then also dealing with problems of the past that keep coming up, like racism.

J: Systematic oppression—we were born into this war that we have no choice but to participate in and it’s already my kid’s problem—and I don’t have kids! And I think it’s really weird how a lot of the world’s issues are based on millennials and they try to blame us for things that we’re not even old enough to influence because that’s just not how the government works. Watching this all happen again, after they told us these exact issues were solved when we were young—it’s kind of a shock. Being told you can do anything, you can be anything, and then accessing the Internet like, ‘These motherfuckers lied to me!’ More than anything, I feel angry. Feeling like we shouldn’t have had to worry about it—thought it was dead gone and forgotten.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0dfqB6taadqbkclumZIvuT?si=lWPEWED3Qt-JtFzxDf7JSg

AF: That theme definitely shines through the song “MMM.” Do you guys each have a favorite song off the record?

A: “Free Your Body Your Mind” because I get to push more buttons.

T: My favorites are probably “Amorphous” because of Gabi and “32 Love” because I like bars.

AF: Toph, when did you learn how to play the cello?

T: I’ve been classically trained and I’ve been playing classical music for most of my life. About two years ago I was going to shows while I was in music school and seeing these really experimental acts and one day I saw somebody make loops and somebody else rap over it and my mind was blown. I was like, ‘I want to do that!’ So I got an electric cello and a looper pedal and I started making beats.

Credit: Patterns of Chaos

AF: Very cool. Where did the idea for the monologue at the end of “Let’s Talk Freedom” come from?

T: It’s kind of our thing to have a little break where Alex can talk because I get to talk, Jay gets to talk, so it gives him the floor. And he used to do spoken word.

A: Yeah, back in Sacramento I was part of a youth [poetry] slam team, Brave New Voices. When I came out here I started making beats and stuff like that; they’re trying to get me back into it.

AF: You should! It adds a unique texture. Who are some of your musical influences?

J: Kanye, but also Das Racist is my favorite group ever. Rage Against the Machine. Utada Hikaru, she’s a Japanese singer. I like her music, it’s healing.

A: J Dilla, John Coltrane, soundtracks like Kill BillStylistics, Al Green, all of Motown, Sarah Vaughan.

T: [Johannes] Brahms, MF DOOM, Gentle Giant.

AF: Who are some artists you’d love to collaborate with?

T: “Weird Al” Yankovic [laughs]. We’ve been trying to collab with every Cincinnati artist.

Credit: Patterns of Chaos

AF: You guys have a single in the works. What else is coming up?

T: We have a bunch of unreleased music in the works.

AF: Are you looking at releasing a full project in 2019?

T: Yeah, we’re looking at a full project and we’ve got some music videos coming out.

A: And we’re doing a few shows in California in January in San Francisco, L.A. and Sacramento.

AF: Cool! So what can fans expect from you guys next year in terms of shows out here?

T: Costumes!

J: We’re gonna make the shows a bit more showman-like.

AF: Matching costumes? Maybe capes?

T: I don’t see why we couldn’t do capes.

J: Picture The Incredibles on stage.

A: No capes!

T: It’s two against one, so we’re gonna come out with capes [laughing].

J: We’re gonna up the showmanship while maintaining the rawness of the music. Just a little sugar to go with the medicine, without decreasing the potency of what we are trying to say.

Credit: Patterns of Chaos

ONLY NOISE: Let Them Eat CupcakKe

You don’t have to be intimately familiar with Chicago rapper CupcakKe to glean that her work might be sexual in nature – if titles like “Deepthroat” and Cum Cake don’t tip you off, I’m not sure what will – but on Tuesday, YouTube saw fit to censor her video channel, pulling clips for the aforementioned 2016 track and “Duck Duck Goose,” which appears on the artist’s latest LP Ephorize. The video platform replaced them with a message that read: “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s policy on nudity or sexual content,” failing to realize that CupcakKe is a lot more than just a raunchy female rapper. She’s a one-woman revolution.

Born Elizabeth Harris, the MC discovered her love for performing in church, where she read original poetry “strictly about God.” But by age 18, CupcakKe was ready to pursue less pure material. She unleashed her single “Vagina” in 2015, and its corresponding music video went viral, racking up over two million views on YouTube. The homemade short features a half-naked CupcakKe getting hot and heavy with sexy foods like cucumbers and a pinwheel lollipop. Like many of CupcakKe’s music videos, “Vagina” is a frill-free production, positioning the artist amongst un-styled couches and kitchen tables. CupcakKe is in a familiar space; she is unburdened by the presence of men, and most importantly, she is in complete control of her situation. The combination of these factors produces something very interesting: subversion and perhaps mockery of the male gaze. CupcakKe may be deepthroating a squash and rapping about her “young twat,” but she makes it explicitly clear that her pleasure is the number one priority here.

The two videos that YouTube erased on Tuesday are extensions of CupcakKe’s empowered, sex-positive ethos. Both are shot in modest home settings and feature a lone CupcakKe interacting with both banal and sexual objects. “Duck Duck Goose” feels particularly impactful, and could stand alone as a treatise to reclaim the female body from a musical genre that has exploited it for decades. In the opening moments, CupcakKe crawls into bed with a few of her favorite dildos, licking and sucking and propping them up against a miniature Statue of Liberty to demonstrate height. But unlike the sultry, “come hither” gaze we are so accustomed to seeing in music videos, pornography, film, and fashion ads, CupcakKe is smiling ear to ear. She nibbles and strokes her multicolored dicks, but she also places them on chairs and pats them on the head, as if they were little dolls attending her tea party. It quickly becomes apparent that CupcakKe is commanding her own desires, and she is doing so with a high dose of humor and self-awareness. She is carving out her own piece of female identity, one that doesn’t fit squarely in the “angel” or “whore” packaging society likes to wrap women in. But women who burst out of these boxes are rarely welcomed by the people who boxed them in to begin with.

On Sunday, before CupcakKe’s videos were pulled, music journalist Margaret Farrell saw the rapper live when she made a guest appearance at Charli XCX’s Elsewhere gig. When CupcakKe performed, Farrell overheard “two dudes” standing behind her who seemed to completely miss the point of CupcakKe’s work. “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][They were] discussing how they loved Cupcakke because she rapped about weird, gross things, but since she’s a woman it’s cool,” says Farrell. The dudes went on to say that it’s problematic when a guy “raps about ‘fucking in the ass and fucking in the mouth’ but when [CupcakKe] does it it’s like ‘fuck me in the ass, fuck me here,’ and that’s just cooler for her to say,” Farrell continues. “Yes, it is amazing that she is asserting her sexual agency and creating a new narrative around sex, but the way they phrased it was like she is their sexual object – it was extremely gazey… It was just a shallow assessment of what she’s doing.”

My assessment of these dudes’ assessment boils down to perceived ownership; that many men cannot understand art in which a woman is not the object of a man’s desire. These dudes clearly couldn’t hear what CupcakKe was really rapping. She’s not draped across a convertible waiting to be fucked; she’s doing the fucking, and it’s not about you. Nearly every musical genre has difficulties with this concept. Rock has a long history of objectifying women and reducing us to greased up RealDolls, and hip-hop has a similar relationship with women. Whether its 2 Chainz throwing cash at butts in “I Luv Dem Strippers,” or the lady bodies used like stage props in 50 Cent’s “Disco Inferno,” it’s not hard to find examples of sexism in the genre. Rick Ross can rap about date rape, Bizarre can rap about getting his sister gangbanged for her birthday, XXXTentacion can land on a Vulture “Best New Songs of the Week” list after gruesome domestic abuse charges. But when CupcakKe raps about enjoying blowjobs? God forbid.

It feels crucial to support an artist like CupcakKe, who is not only wildly talented as a poet and MC, but who is reclaiming her body and right to pleasure, as well as inverting and subverting traditional modes of objectification. The disembodied dicks in “Duck Duck Goose” and the banana in “Deepthroat” signify farce as much as they do arousal; CupcakKe may be swallowing them in one frame, but she’s patting them on the head and pulverizing them with her teeth in the next. She’s reducing one of the most over-analyzed symbols in the post-Freud era – the phallus – to a couple of candy-colored, silicone toys. It’s a righteous reduction, as women have been rendered like plastic playthings for far too long. But even when CupcakKe is trying to extinguish a long enforced double standard of the music industry, she’s not afraid to champion her sexual enthusiasm. One lyric from “Self Interview” sums this up perfectly. “Females have sex on the first night, they get called a ho for that one night stand,” she raps. “Men have sex on the first night, congratulations!” “Most wouldn’t comprehend/Double standards need to end.”

On Tuesday, in response to YouTube scrubbing her videos from its site, CupcakKe wrote on Twitter: “I kn the fuck y’all didn’t deleted deepthroat video off YouTube at 23 million views @YouTube PUT IT BACK UP NOW” When she noticed another video had been pulled, she lamented, “And they just deleted duck duck goose one more and my entire channel is gone.” After only a few hours, and an outpouring of support from fans, the video platform ceded and returned the music videos to the channel. A representative from YouTube spoke to Pitchfork on the matter, stating: “With the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it. We also offer uploaders the ability to appeal removals and we will re-review the content.” All CupcakKe had to say was, “They back up thanks y’all.”

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PLAYING COLUMBUS: Rapper/Activist Vada Azeem to Release Poignant Children’s Story

Vada Azeem is irrevocably tied to Columbus. After growing up on the Northeast side of the city, Azeem studied at the Columbus College of Art & Design for a year, and then mentored youth at the Central Community House in Old Towne East (which you can support at no personal cost by signing up for Kroger Community Rewards) for longer. Azeem started rapping at 12, co-founded a hip hop collective at 23, dropped his first solo mixtape three years later, and now, he’s breaking into children’s books.

The Boy Who Tried to Touch the Sun is inspired by Akeem’s experiences working with youth, the children’s books which comforted him as a child, and his own son, Peyton. It’s dedicated to Ty’re King, a 13-year-old boy who was shot and killed by Columbus police in September 2016. In it, Anu, a young black boy, is pushed into impossible tasks by a community of white people who are scared of his presence. In many ways, it’s a direct extension of Azeem’s work as an educator and mentor–the book doesn’t shy away from difficult conversation, but greets it with empathy. Black children reading the book are greeted with a story of a child like them thriving despite the apparent impossibility of his situation. Along with writing the story, Azeem illustrated and colored each page with loose, deft strokes and brilliant color.

 

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illustration by Vada Azeem

The Boy Who Tried to Touch the Sun was first unveiled at the Columbus Museum of Art last October, but this week it will be available for general purchase when Azeem reads at The Poet’s Lounge on Thursday, January 4th. Along with Azeem, this week The Poet’s Lounge will have desserts by The Happy Baker: a reminder that creative events are so often able to connect community members and businesses that otherwise might seem disparate. The event starts at 7:30–but make sure to arrive early if you’d like to sign up for the open mic.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

PLAYING DETROIT: Critics Loathe Eminem’s “Revival”

If you haven’t noticed, the past couple of months have seen Eminem emerge from his private life – one I imagine as a healthy balance of dysfunctional family time and sitting in dark corners thinking of puns – to voice his contempt for our country’s governing body via a trail of singles, ending with his first studio album in four years, Revival. Despite the 45-year-old rapper’s most well-meaning(?) attempts at woke-ness and personal reflection, it’s pretty much a general consensus that the album is an over-commercialized political piece at best and a bloated shitshow at worst. However, as a (metro) Detroit-native who grew up on Slim Shady, it’s pretty much a requirement for me to hold an allegiance to him, even in his darkest hour. Which is why, instead of sharing my personal thoughts on the album, I decided to highlight some of the sickest burns from music journalists across the internet, aimed at the diss-master himself.  

It should come as no surprise that the most scathingly brutal, yet not untrue, review came from Pitchfork. The cool kids who crown themselves “the most trusted voices in music” really know how to hit a guy where it hurts – and make everyone agree with them. Rap contributor Matthew Ismael Ruiz gave the record a stinging 5.0, unimpressed by what he deems “overwhelmingly bland hooks” and “cringe-worthy humor.” Ouch, Matthew! What hurts even more is… he’s not wrong. The clever wordplay that Mathers is known for crosses into really distasteful dad-joke territory with lines like, “I’m swimming in that Egyptian river, ’cause I’m in denial” on “Need Me.” Why, Marshall? Why?  

Ruiz closes with a dig at the record’s recurring theme of self-doubt: “Though it’s easy to empathize with his creeping self-doubt, it’s tougher to swallow in the context of an album that ultimately proves that those doubts are correct.” So much for not listening to the voices inside your head.

The New York Times, who I would normally expect to be a bit more subtle with its abhorrence of a subject, was not shy about loathing Revival. The second writer to describe Mathers’ try at a heart-wrenching patriotic ballad “Like Home” as “toothless,” Jon Carmanica also unleashes his wrath on Eminem’s dry puns. “What has long felt like extreme facility with language is beginning to feel like an uncontrolled fire hose,” writes Carmanica, who continues to elaborate on Mathers’ degenerating lyricism with the song “Framed.” “The song is both excellent and reprehensible, a reminder of how sui generis Eminem felt at the beginning of his career, and how poorly he has aged.” Not everyone can be a fine wine.

While Ruiz and Carmanica slay Shady with intellectual insight and polished rhetoric, I really have to give the creativity crown to Brian Josephs of Spin. The common thread that binds the three writers is a shared disapproval for Mathers’ tired pun-game. Josephs asserts that “nearly every punchline winds up feeling as forced as a stranger sparking a conversation at a urinal.” I could say that, as a woman, I don’t know what that feels like, but I’d be lying. Anyway, Josephs further solidifies his descriptive genius by coining “Need Me” a “vomitous sonic Crayola mess,” thereby raising the bar of shit-talking as I know it.

However, probably the cringiest display of public slander is Eminem’s own description of his songwriting process, given to NPR’s Michael Martin.

“When I’m writing, sometimes an idea or a line will pop in my head, and I’ll be like, ‘Yo, that thought is messed up.’ And I either laugh to myself or I say, ‘You know what? That might be just going too far.’  So, have I ever took it too far? I probably have, who knows?”

What we do know is that despite all of these merciless reviews, Eminem remains the best-selling hip-hop artist of all time (and Billboard reported yesterday that Revival is likely to follow suit), so he probably “Just Don’t Give A F*ck” what we think.

PLAYING COLUMBUS: Devin Xo Comes of Age on New EP

“Living like a man that was born without a soul / on paper I’m young / yet I feel so old” raps Columbus artist Philippe Laroque – who goes by Devin Xo onstage – at the beginning of his latest EP, Coming of Age. He continues: “If you don’t understand what you’re going through / then I made this song for you for you.”

As the title suggests, Laroque grapples with growing up on Coming of Age, working through changes that have rippled through his support structure, psyche, and music writing process. And though Coming of Age was only released on October 18th, Laroque has been working on the EP’s material for more than two years. That commitment and attention to detail shows. The project is thoughtful and balanced, considering both loss and love through a self-critical lens, but it is also deeply humorous. Laroque is a funny and deft writer, and on Coming of Age, with its glossy, soul-inspired production, that sense of humor shines through, cutting through the EPs emotional weight. The result is a lighter, more buoyant product than either of Laroque’s previous EPs, Fake Smiles (2015) and Journey to Paradise (2016).

Along with his prolific music output, Laroque is the founder of Give Love, a Columbus-based artist collective. Through it all, Laroque seems to maintain a vigilantly uplifting attitude. On his Facebook page, Laroque says his mission is to “inspire.” And on a recent post promoting his EP release, the rapper hashtagged: #positivevibesonly. Those much needed positive vibes are front and center on Coming of Age – perhaps bringing inspiration not only to Laroque, but to the Columbus music scene as well.