At VSOP Studios in West Town, Naomi Graham sits on a black couch humming a song she’s working on called “Tainted Subs.” She has on a black hoodie and leggings and cheetah-print Crocs. She wears her hair in a black bob with a silver stripe across the front. She’s recording material for her debut rap […]
Tag: John Walt Foundation
Posted inMusic
Emerging rapper the Third angles for a place in Chicago’s hip-hop pantheon with The Director’s Cut
The past decade of Chicago hip-hop would be entirely different without Young Chicago Authors and the Harold Washington Library’s YouMedia lab. Both have served as creative hubs for local teens, and their storied weekly open mikes—YouMedia’s Lyricist Loft and YCA’s WordPlay—have given many beloved Chicago rappers their starts. In the 2020s, a new generation of […]
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Chicago’s independent musicians stepped up their activism in 2020
With concerts and tours on hold for most of the year, Chicago’s music scene doubled down on mutual aid and fundraising for community groups.
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Femdot pauses his rap career to help feed Chicago
Femdot’s nonprofit, Delacreme Scholars, has run the Scholars Slide By to deliver groceries to hundreds of people in need this summer.
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Folk project DPCD celebrates a graceful, uncluttered new album
Folk project DPCD celebrates a graceful, uncluttered new album, the John Walt Foundation holds its annual Dinner With John fund-raiser, and more.
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Chicago rap crew Pivot Gang honor a fallen comrade
Pivot Gang cofounder John Walt is memorialized in Saba’s Care for Me—and by an arts nonprofit that bears his name, which holds its flagship concert fund-raiser this weekend.
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The classic Smoking Popes lineup releases its first full-length in nearly two decades
The classic Smoking Popes lineup releases its first full-length in nearly two decades, not-quite-retired Chicago rapper E.C. Illa reissues two old Kanye collabs, and more.
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Charlie Coffeen of Sidewalk Chalk gives Dilla’s Donuts the big-band treatment
Charlie Coffeen of Sidewalk Chalk gives Dilla’s Donuts the big-band treatment, John Walt’s arts mentorship foundation hosts a fund-raising dinner on the anniversary of the rapper’s death, and more.