At the beginning of the pandemic, I became mildly obsessed with a video of Limp Bizkit playing a Moscow venue in February 2020. I wasn’t drawn to the performance so much as to the sight of front man Fred Durst, who’d been an emblem of white male millennials’ bottomless teenage angst at the turn of […]
Tag: Lil Wayne
Posted inMusic
COVID-19 can close venues, but it can’t stop Chicago’s music community
Concerts are all canceled, but you can still support artists by buying their albums.
Posted inMusic
Lil Wayne tries to revisit his era of greatness with mixed results on Funeral
Remember the Lil Wayne of 2008 and 2009? He constantly boasted that he was the “greatest rapper alive,” and you know what? He actually was. The 2008 album Tha Carter III, released about ten years into his career, was a full-blown landmark. It gave the world a string of smash singles, including “Lollipop” and “Got […]
Posted inMusic
Who is Lollapalooza for?
Lollapalooza brought the big names on its 2019 lineup, but could it do more to engage the Chicago fans and artists who make this such a great city for music?
Posted inMusic
Lollapalooza announces its 2019 lineup
This year’s headliners include Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, and Twenty One Pilots—but to get tickets, you have to pay a company owned by Live Nation, which remains an undefined part of the Lincoln Yards development.
Posted inBlogs
Mayor Rahm Emanuel feeling good about Chicago Public Schools as the 2017-’18 school year begins, and other news
Also, the Obama Foundation wants to change the nation’s stereotypes about the south side.
Posted inMusic
How Blink-182 gave hip-hop a refreshing Enema
Blink-182 helped connect the mainstream pop-punk of the late 90s to the Soundcloud rap of today.
Posted inBlogs
Chicago rap hero Bump J passes the torch to Ty Money
Ty Money’s new Cinco de Money 3 features the first appearance by Bump J since his release from prison last month.
Posted inBlogs
Cowboy poetry, the decline of the critic, Lil Wayne’s boring prison memoir, and more: the week in music writing
The Reader collects some of the best and brightest bits from the past week’s music writing.
Posted inBlogs
Magnificent Coloring Day showed the world Chance the Rapper’s beautiful vision of the south side
At Magnificent Coloring Day, not even the frenzy provoked by Kanye West’s surprise appearance could take the focus off Chance the Rapper’s message of love and blessing.
Posted inArts & Culture
Poetry in the age of hip-hop
The new anthology Breakbeat Poets showcases poetry by and for the hip-hop generation.
Posted inBlogs
Check out up-and-coming local MC KD Young Cocky
His version of Lil Wayne’s newish “Grindin'” is one of many reasons to do so.
Posted inMusic
DJ Mustard’s lean, mean ratchet party 10 Summers and 14 more record reviews
Ten Reader writers review 15 new records, including Pallbearer’s stately, mournful doom, Willis Earl Beal’s raw, mystical antipop, and Jack Ruby’s staggeringly savage no wave.
Posted inBlogs
Young Thug weirds his way onto the Hot 100
“Stoner” brings the young rapper’s idiosyncratic style to the mainstream.
Posted inMusic
In Rotation: Notes & Bolts founder Kriss Stress on Japan’s kaleidoscopic youth culture
Current musical obsessions of Notes & Bolts founder Kriss Stress, Lakshmi Ramgopal of Love and Radiation, and more