Local radio is spotlighting more hometown hip-hop artists than ever, but do any of them have what it takes to go national?
Author Archives: Ytasha L. Womack
Posted inMusic
Hype Machine in Overdrive
When it comes to hip-hop, Chicago gets no respect. The speedy run-on vocal style that Cleveland’s Bone Thugs-n-Harmony rode to platinum in 1994 was invented at least three years earlier by Twista and Do or Die, Chicago acts who hover below the mainstream radar even today. Despite his underground rep, Common’s career didn’t blossom until […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Keep the Customers Satisfied
As other indie record stores bite the dust, Mizz Nellie’s Soundtrack survives on wits, innovation, and banana pudding.
Posted inArts & Culture
In Performance: a poet in motion
Arms flailing and legs kicking, poet Khari B. can leap from stages and flip from chairs without skipping a beat. “It took a long time for me to realize I did that,” says Khari, who claims he’s often so immersed in his verse that he completely zones out. One night, performing at the now defunct […]
Posted inNews & Politics
More Popular Than Jesus
Power 92 drops its gospel heritage to challenge WGCI for hip hop supremacy.