By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Night Beats at the Empty Bottle on Saturday night.
Posted on March 26, 2012
The Week in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. High Contrast at The Mid on Wednesday night.
Posted on March 23, 2012
South Side 16-Year-Old Gets Shot, Blows Up
Meet Chief Keef, Possibly Rap’s Next Big Thing
“Before he was arrested last December, Chief Keef, a 16-year-old hip-hop star, was almost completely unknown outside of Chicago’s South Side,” local freelancer David Drake writes in a long, fascinating piece for Gawker. “He had a song called ‘Bang,’ which had more than 400,000 views on YouTube, and he had a mixtape, and a dedicated following amongst Chicago high school students. But he was not a rapper who was known outside of the local high schools. His Facebook profile indicated that he worked as a sales rep for ‘Selling Dope.’ He lived with his grandmother.
“But last year, on Dec. 4, Chief Keef’s rap career changed. That afternoon, gunshots were fired from a Blue Pontiac Grand Prix in the Washington Park neighborhood of Chicago, just South of Hyde Park, and when police arrived at the scene, a suspect allegedly pointed a gun at them. The officers fired a shot back. Two young men, including Chief Keef, were apprehended; a third escaped. Rumors swirled that Keef had been killed in a shootout with police; in fact, he’d been arrested and charged with aggravated UUW, or unlawful use of a weapon. He was released sometime around New Year’s Day to live at his grandmother’s apartment for 30 days under house arrest, followed by another 30 days of home confinement.
“When his house arrest ended, on Jan. 2, WorldStarHipHop – a website that hosts hip-hop-related videos for an estimated two million unique viewers per day – posted a video of a young child in a hysterical fit of excitement. Keef had just been released, and the young boy was celebrating. He bounded around the room, rapping along to ‘Aimed At You,’ one of Chief Keef’s biggest songs. The earliest comments from the site’s largely hip-hop-oriented readership were marked by confusion: ‘Chief who?’ ‘Who the fuck is cheif Keef?’
“Keef was an entirely unknown outside of certain corners of Chicago’s South Side, but he had been thrust suddenly onto the national stage.”
Posted on March 20, 2012
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Nokies! at the Double Door on Sunday night.
Posted on March 19, 2012
The Week in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Bob Forrest at Harper College on Wednesday night.
Posted on March 16, 2012
Politics, Gangs & House: The History Of Hip Hop In Chicago
By Mr. Davey D
“This is a great interview we did with Jitu the Jaggernaut, a pioneering emcee who was down with the group Ten Tray. He clears up the myths about the Chi being late to the Hip Hop game. He says things were popping off in the 70s. He talks in great detail about how the influence House Music, Gangs, Black migration and the political turmoil in the Windy City helped shaped Chicago Hip Hop.”
Posted on March 14, 2012
The Traveling Kings of Chicago
Most Are Now Home With The Lord
“The Traveling Kings of Chicago was one of the first gospel quartet groups to tour the country in a black Cadillac limousine,” their Facebook page says. “They were part of African-American history from 1951 to 1961.”
The Traveling Kings of Chicago joined YouTube this week and got right down to posting audio from what they describe as the Gospel Golden Age. Let’s take a listen.
1. I Know A Man Named Jesus.
Posted on March 13, 2012
The Weekend in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
You shoulda been there.
1. Black Tusk at Ultra Lounge on Friday night.
Posted on March 12, 2012
The Week in Chicago Rock
By The Beachwood Rock Local Affairs Desk
It was a really thin week so we’re gonna clean up March so far with some shows that weren’t uploaded in time to make our usual features and therefore got bypassed.
1. S. Joel Norman and The Illness on Saturday night at the Abbey.
Posted on March 9, 2012