How allegations of sexual abuse exposed cracks in the foundation of Young Chicago Authors, Free Write Arts & Literacy, and the city’s spoken word community
Tag: Kevin Coval
CaSera Heining, producer at WGN Radio and DJ Ca$h Era
“For a couple months, I was just DJing for tips. Luckily the community that I have around me, they were pouring into me as much as I give out to them.”
40+ Chicago Media Outlets Launch Joint Fundraiser
43 independent Chicago media outlets have joined forces to raise funds in a monthlong campaign in May. The for-profit and nonprofit organizations represent a wide cross-section of authentic community media in the city and nearby suburbs. Give at savechicagomedia.org.
Building on the pillars of Blue Groove Lounge
An oral history of DJ Jesse de la Peña’s foundational Blue Groove Lounge hip-hop night, on the occasion of its belated 25th birthday parties
Gentrification pains
Everything Must Go pays tribute to the displaced working-class of Wicker Park.
Jamila Woods builds on legacies that shook the world
On the new Legacy! Legacy!, Chicago singer and poet Jamila Woods lovingly details how art can learn from the past as it shapes the future.
Brittney Carter discovers Chicago hip-hop—and vice versa
Brittney Carter thought she was just writing poems. Her classmates at Young Chicago Authors heard a great rapper in the making—and the rest of the city’s scene is starting to agree.
Louder Than a Bomb returns for its 19th season of slam poetry competitions
Young poets describe its explosive effect on their lives.
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.
Jamila Woods and Kevin Coval collaborate with Vinyl for a Cause to benefit Young Chicago Authors
Woods contributed a song inspired by a Coval poem about the blues going electric, and Coval enlisted Tasha for a wintertime answer to Woods’s “LSD.”
The inchoate new MPAACT show Blood Mural misses what’s right in front of it
There’s plenty of drama in the story of Chicago’s street murals—but not here.
Mahogany L. Browne describes the making of The BreakBeat Poets Volume 2: Black Girl Magic
“Anything that doesn’t celebrate a black woman is only a distraction.”
Mick Jenkins commands his own future on the brand-new EP Or More; the Frustration
Chicago rapper Mick Jenkins is ending his deal with Brooklyn indie label Cinematic, and he’s self-released two EPs that demonstrate where he’s going next.
Joe Biden’s American Promise Tour, and more of the best things to do in Chicago this week
Andrew Bird at Fourth Presbyterian Church, and more goings-on about town the week of December 11-14.
Pop-Up Magazine, Pug Party, and more things to do in Chicago this weekend
A dog film festival, a comedic roast of Wonder Woman, and more events June 2-4