Tag: Memphis hip hop

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Music Music Blog

Lawrence Matthews Comes Out Swinging

Lawrence Matthews at The Green Room at Crosstown Arts (Credit: Gabrielle Duffie)

If you thought Don Lifted concerts used to be rare, Lawrence Matthews shows are even more so, leaving all who attended last Saturday’s sold out performance at the Green Room feeling lucky. Of course, the two artists are one in the same, Don Lifted being Matthews’ stage name for many years even as he built a name and a reputation in visual art under his given name. Then, back in September of 2022, Don Lifted took his final bow during one last show at the Overton Park Shell. A few minutes later, out came Lawrence Matthews, rapper, spitting tougher rhymes than ever, flanked by Idi x Teco.

That announced a new direction in Matthews’ music, but it also turned out to be a hiatus of sorts. The one sign of action was Matthews’ release, last May, of the single “Green Grove (Our Loss),” the first cut from what is still the unreleased album Between Mortal Reach and Posthumous Grip. And while that track sported some very Don Lifted-esque atmospherics until its harder-hitting beat kicked in, it then featured Matthews’ new voice, full of grim determination yet mixed with a new playfulness that made it even scarier as he sang of “This blood, this soil, infused, this river …”

Last Saturday, after the pre-show playlist of classic soul wound down, that same tune was the first thing audience members heard as Matthews stepped into the center of the chairs in-the-round, mic in hand. In stark contrast to the often elaborate sets and multiple screens of Don Lifted shows, this show was stripped bare, the music’s auteur wearing the utilitarian garb of a mechanic or delivery driver in a single beam of light.

Meanwhile, some of the sounds were downright lush, as other prolonged samples of soul, gospel, and blues (most taken from the Fat Possum-owned Hi Records catalogue) often shaped the intros, sometimes drenched in effects like echoes from the past, before giving way to harder, more militant beats and Matthews’ angrier raps, almost reminiscent of classic KRS-One, delivered solo as he prowled the floor for most of the night (except for a brief, powerful cameo by Idi x Teco).

Lawrence Matthews in The Green Room (Credit: Gabrielle Duffie)

At one point, that lush soul threated to engulf the night, as Matthews turned one track’s prolonged intro of “(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow” by Tony! Toni! Toné! into a singalong of sorts. Ultimately, it always came back down to hard slamming raps and beats (often co-created on the upcoming album with Unapologetic producer C Major, who was low-key in attendance Saturday night).

“It’s been a year and four months since I performed,” Matthews noted. “All through 2023, I was just tucked away, not really recording music, not really practicing anything.” Indeed, the album he promises to release later this year was essentially finished in 2022. “And while I was away, it just seemed like shit kept getting worse and worse in the world. And in this city, too.” He noted how he began hearing people’s “weight, frustration, and tightness, until it turned into desperation.”

All of that came out in his performance, and even in one moment in which Matthews, like his audience, simply listened and grooved along. That was when Matthews the performer was set aside and the artist implored us to simply listen to a track, “An Acquired Taste,” from his upcoming album. He too became a fan as it played on, featuring a powerful cameo by the singer Uni’Q.

Then it was back to business, as the pounding beats and atmospheric samples ground on, ultimately providing background to one of Matthews’ latest tracks, a meditation on the murder of Breonna Taylor by police officers titled “Breonna’s Curse.” In that final moment, however, the militant, simmering rage of most of the night’s beats and raps faded away somewhat, and Matthews ended the concert with something unexpected: a profound sense of mourning.

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Music Music Blog

“It’s Heartbreaking”: DJ Squeeky on the Death of Young Dolph

DJ Squeeky and Young Dolph (Photo courtesy DJ Squeeky)

“That’s the day my life and his life changed forever,” says DJ Squeeky on looking at the photo above. It was taken when “100 Shots,” the track he produced for fellow Memphian Young Dolph, went gold. “It took everybody to new heights. It showed everybody that you can do it as an independent. People didn’t believe that you could do that.”

DJ Squeeky is speaking with me about the murder of Young Dolph, aka Adolph Robert Thornton Jr., age 36, last Wednesday while he was visiting Makeda’s Cookies. Like Drake, Megan Thee Stallion, Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, Quavo, and others, the city of Memphis is still trying to process the sudden loss of a hometown hero.

“It’s heartbreaking,” says DJ Squeeky, aka Hayward Ivy. “It shouldn’t be like that. I promise you, it shouldn’t be like that. As humans, we’ve gotta fight back against the devil, cause the devil’s got his hands in everything right now. He’s passing out these guns to all the young folks. He’s got their minds different.”

Like so many Memphians, the producer relies on his faith when confronting such loss. He still has deep roots in the church he grew up attending, First Baptist on Beale. Indeed, that’s where he learned to play drums. “My mama still goes there every Sunday,” he says. “I still go there from time to time. And I know Dolph’s family was affiliated with a church.”

It may sound incongruous in the context of the harsh world evoked by trap music. But DJ Squeeky knew Dolph the man, not just the icon, and he’s quick to point out the principles behind Dolph’s artistry. “Look at it this way: Dolph didn’t even have guns and violence in his music. He didn’t pay any attention to that. He wasn’t talking about killing anyone in his songs. That’s the thing nobody paid any attention to. He didn’t kill anybody in his songs.”

Indeed, Doph’s attitude conveyed nothing so much as the triumph of the wit. As Harold Bingo, writing in Complex, puts it, “The Memphis rapper’s braggadocio was underscored by a gift for introspection and a willingness to make sure that everyone went along for the ride with him. Fans who heard his booming bravado and hilarious deadpan punchlines got to feel like they were riding shotgun through South Memphis in his fleet of luxury cars.”

And though tracks like “100 Shots” evoked a world of violence, and his survival against all odds, Dolph’s actions in life belied a generous, compassionate soul who was committed to staying true to his roots. “He ought to be remembered as a person who looked out for his family, who was kindhearted, who was a giving person,” says DJ Squeeky.

And he would know, having worked with Dolph arguably longer than any other producer. “I’ve been knowing him since the beginning. Since 2008 or 2009,” he says. “All the time I was with him, I didn’t know him to do anything — I never saw him do wrong. Or even heard about him doing wrong.”

Instead, the rapper was committed to doing right. Reflecting on Dolph’s famous acts of charity, such as donating to his former high school, or handing out Thanksgiving turkeys, DJ Squeeky notes, “You know, if you’ve been broke all your life, that’s what you want to do. You know how it feels to have nothing. Literally nothing. So you want to give back. That’s what I do. You just want to help people. And he walked the walk, he talked the talk. That’s why I believed in him, man. I believed in everything he did. Nobody told him to do it. He did it out of the kindness of his heart.”

With tragic irony, Dolph was scheduled to hand out this year’s batch of turkeys, typically running in the hundreds, on the very day he was killed. “He had a good, kind heart,” says DJ Squeeky. “People don’t like that. They don’t like it if you’ve got a good kind heart. They want the devil to win. They want everybody to be evil. It’s just crazy. Someone just didn’t like the man. I’m just hoping they bring in whoever did it. They’ll go on and get them on in there and let the process begin. Everybody needs that. It ain’t gonna be right until then. That ain’t gonna bring him back, but you can’t let it be senseless.”

Like many Memphians, DJ Squeeky is leaning on his faith heavily now, and reflecting on the family values that Dolph himself embodied in the way he lived. “Your mom’s teaching is the key,” he explains. “Moms and dads have already faced it. They’ve already lived their lives, they already know how it’s supposed to go. They can’t do anything but tell their children to be safe out here. Stay away from certain people that don’t mean you no good. Sometimes your parents can peep out the people that’s good and bad in your life, even though you accept them for who they are. ‘Your friend ain’t right.’”

Beyond that, DJ Squeeky blames the prevalence of guns as the core problem. “One thing’s for sure: We didn’t bring those guns over here. We had no access to all the new kinds of guns on the streets right now. You’ve got to think about it: 10, 15 years ago, there was no such thing as these guns that are on the street right now. It’s a whole new thing going on right now. Everything’s different. That’s what people have got to look at, more than anything: How did we gain access to them? We never had these guns before. So that tells you one thing: It’s about the money.

“They’re trying to turn us into something like what they’ve got going on overseas. America’s got to be strong, and not be dumb like that. They’re trying to force us into a situation. But not everybody wants to live like Rambo. Killing people at the age of 13, 14 years old.”

In contrast, DJ Squeeky sees Dolph as presenting an alternative way of life, breaking free of such social trends. As Squeeky sees it, it all grew out of Dolph’s faith in his own vision. “He was definitely one of a kind. There ain’t gonna be no more like him. Dolph was something different. He was the definition of independence. When they need an example of independence, just put his face right there. That’s what it looks like when you do your own thing.”

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Music Music Blog

Music to Light Up Juneteenth Celebration at Orange Mound Tower

IMAKEMADBEATS (Credit: Justin Fox Burks)

Memphis Flyer readers couldn’t miss this week’s top entry in the Steppin’ Out pages, featuring the old United Equipment building standing tall in a blue sky, announcing tomorrow’s Juneteenth Family Reunion at the newly rechristened Orange Mound Tower. It will be the inaugural event for the tower and surrounding land, now slated for mixed-use development by a new partnership between Unapologetic, the music, media and fashion collective, and Tone, the Black arts and community-empowering nonprofit formerly known as the CLCTV.

Given the building’s iconic profile over Orange Mound, it’s literally a monumental moment for the neighborhood and the city of Memphis. And such a moment calls for some sonic sanctification. Accordingly, music will echo from the environs surrounding Orange Mound Tower with a tidal force, as the alliance settles in to its new home.

If you love music, click this 2019 track from AWFM, Hannya Cha0$, and PreauXX (produced by Kid Maestro) — which might well be the ultimate anthem for the remade Memphis that’s emerging this weekend — and read on.

Naturally, PreauXX, AWFM and Kid Maestro will all be on hand with beats, rhymes, and sweet musical soundscapes, along with fellow Unapologetic artists Eillo and C Major. IMAKEMADBEATS, the collective’s founder, will also perform.

But this moment is not only Unapologetic’s, and other artists will be there as well, including 91′ Co., BlueBoys and Matt Lucas. Mixed in with the live performances will be DJ sets from notable platter-spinners such as DJ Chandler Blingg, Qemist, DJ Manté and DJ Texas Warehouse.

It will be an unforgettable day to be sure, and, as noted in the Unapologetic press release, “Expect fireworks.” Whether literal or figurative, you know this crew will not fail to light up the night.

Juneteenth Family Reunion, Orange Mound Tower, 2205 Lamar, Saturday, June 19, 5-11 p.m., free.

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Music Music Features

R.U.D.Y: Gritty, Philosophical Rap from the Quarantine Age

CREDIT: Lee Mars

“T o infinity and beyonnnnnnnd!” screams the chorus, over a dead-stop Memphis beat that evokes wide, empty streets in the night. It’s not quite trap, but sonically, it paints a similar landscape. The singer’s voice tacks disarmingly between rap swagger and a questioning catch in the throat. And while the lyrics are tough-minded snapshots of a life steeped in poverty and casual crime, they just as often pull back to infinity, to reflect on the complexities. “I have no fear, even if I’m feeling fear, even if I feel afraid, I must still move in a maze.”

The track is “Infinity Stones,” by the up-and-coming R.U.D.Y (no period after the Y), who really began upping his releases in 2020, the downtime of the quarantine age. R.U.D.Y, aka Rudolph Swansey Jr., carved out a niche for himself in the netherworld between the graphic grit of trap and something closer to knowledge rap, a rare combination.

Lee Mars

R.U.D.Y

Memphis Flyer: You did a whole series of two- or three-track EPs last year called Rudy Tuesday’s, volumes 1-7. How did they come about?

R.U.D.Y: Rudy Tuesday’s was just something that I felt was a good way for me to feed my fan base with records that weren’t really a project. Like one-offs, loose records. There were some good songs in that series. I’m thinking of starting it up again. The reason I stopped was that I began to work on my project that I put out toward the end of the year, Till We Open. ‘Indestructible’ was the single. It was produced by my homie Lee Mars, who’s a very important figure in helping me discover my sound and who I am as an artist and a person. We grew real close over the last two years. I met him at work. He was listening to a Jay Z record on a forklift, and I started rapping along with it. It turned out we were both anime fanatics. That was really the glue for us, the fact that we loved anime so much. I’ve been into it since I was 9 or 10, and I’m 27 now. It’s a part of who I am.

The track you released with “Infinity Stones” was “Netero’s Focus.”

“Netero’s Focus.” That’s from an anime called Hunter x Hunter. Netero is one of the strongest characters in it. He got so strong, he couldn’t be defeated anymore. And to thank God for that, he vowed to throw 10,000 punches in one fight. That took a lot of focus, and that’s the kind of focus you’ve gotta have to maintain and grow in life.

Most of your releases thus far have been produced by members of your collective, Black Light Entertainment. What is that focused on?

What is black light? And what does it do? It illuminates what we can’t see with our naked eye. You need ultraviolet light in order to illuminate certain things. That’s why crime scene investigations, they can discover the truth of what really happened. The stuff we hide, the stuff we don’t want people to see? That’s what the black light illuminates. It shows us truth. And I wanted my music to do that.

I hear you name dropping Socrates in one rap.

Oh yeah. ‘I’m trying to learn philosophies that Africans taught Socrates.’ I was a history major at the University of Memphis. I graduated last year. My studies were mainly focused on African-American history and African-American Studies. I learned that Socrates and Plato and a lot of those guys in Greece got their knowledge from going to Africa to study at the oldest colleges in the world.

I notice that you have more of a tendency to sing than a lot of rappers. And also that you use a lot of jazz chords and samples. What’s your musical background?

I was singing in the choir for as long as I can remember. I grew up in the church. My mother is what they call a Prayer Warrior; she has a theology certificate and is a deacon. My dad is an amazing singer, he has a beautiful voice, and he also sings in the choir. Singing in the choir was a part of my DNA from when I was a kid til maybe I turned 16? I went to the Memphis Academy of Science and Engineering, and graduated in 2012. Around 10th grade I also started getting into rapping really heavy. Growing up, there was no secular music played in my house, unless it was what my parents called “Blue Lights in the Basement Music.” You know, Teddy Pendergrass, Isley Brothers, soul music. So the only experience I had with music outside of that was when I went to a friend’s house.

There’s also a political edge to your lyrics. Confronting poverty and how it affects people on the level of the soul.

Yeah, man. I grew up poor. I was born in Atlanta, but my dad is from the South Side of Chicago. My mom is from Gary, Indiana. And we moved there right after I was born. Then, when I was 12, we moved to Glenwood Park in South Memphis. Rough as Memphis is, compared to Gary, it’s still … well, I’m grateful to be here. I’m grateful to have come from Gary because it taught me how to survive. I’ve had to do homework by candlelight, if my mom couldn’t pay the light bill. The homework’s still gotta be done. And when you walk out the house, you don’t dress like your situation. You walk with dignity.”

R.U.D.Y’s latest release is Till We Open. Watch for more singles to drop around Valentine’s Day, and an EP produced with IMAKEMADBEATS later in the year.

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Music Music Blog

Producer Teddy Walton Featured in Forbes Magazine

Teddy Walton

Over two years ago, the Memphis Flyer turned a spotlight on “Memphis’ Hip Hop Renaissance,” and, by way of mentioning this town’s unrecognized talent, we noted the success of young producer Teddy Walton.

By then, he’d already gained considerable traction, beginning with his work for ASAP Rocky in 2015. In 2017, he produced “Love” for Kendrick Lamar, and more tracks for the Pulitzer-Prize-winner on Black Panther: The Album in 2018.

He’s gone from success to success, working with artists such as Drake, Travis Scott, Post Malone, Nipsey Hussle, Future, Bryson Tiller and Chris Brown. Even 2020, the cursed year, has been kind to him, with “No Love,” created with Young Dolph, being released in July. The track is the first single from Walton’s upcoming album, Mental Health.

Producer Teddy Walton Featured in Forbes Magazine

So, it makes sense that his ascension has attracted the attention of the national media. This week, Forbes published one of the most in-depth features on the producer to date. “How Teddy Walton Became One Of Hip-Hop’s Most Savvy Independent Producers,” by Ogden Payne, focuses on Walton’s Memphis roots and how well the producer has managed his success thus far.

Walton promoted the article on his Twitter account, @teddywalton, posting a screenshot of the following passage with the words, “This is my favorite. Read close.”

Betting on himself has served him well thus far. According to his team, Walton owns 100 percent of his publishing rights and once turned down a $2 million deal to retain ownership of his compositions. The late Nipsey Hussle, who was heralded for his independent stance during his career, was also impressed with Walton’s approach to music.

“‘You can’t stand out trying to fit in,’” Hussle told Walton.

He created his debut album, Mental Health, with the same independent mindset. With just the support of producer Aaron Bow, Walton shouldered the burden of architecting his album top to bottom. He didn’t rely on labels or A&Rs to help him secure features; instead he trusted in the tight relationships he’s built directly with artists to this point.

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Music Record Reviews

Twenty From The Teens: Top Albums Of The Decade, 2010-2019

Aquarian Blood

“One thing I’m doing more of during shelter-in-place is listening to great local records that I hadn’t had a chance to catch up on.” So said songwriter Mark Edgar Stuart in a recent interview for our 2020 music issue. It’s something we’re all doing more of, and, given that this year marks not only a new decade, but a new way of living (optimistically speaking), we’re seizing the moment of this special issue to reflect on what’s come before. Here are the Memphis Flyer’s top 20 albums of the past decade.

Granted, such lists will always be subjective, and this one’s no exception. But I can personally attest to the fact that these albums, once played through my stereo, were then played again and again. And they continue to be played, as we look to an uncertain future, doing double takes at the recent past and muttering, “What just happened?”

But I’m not alone in my feeling that each of these is a masterpiece of innovation and expression. This is the cream of a very impressive crop, each album like the tip of an iceberg suggesting greater depths below. Look under the hood of Aquarian Blood’s 2019 release, and you’ll find an entire gritty noise-rock backstory; follow the sounds of The Barbaras and you’ll find yourself picnicking with the Magic Kids; and prepare to be astounded once you hear the individual releases by the artists of the Unapologetic collective who delivered the one-two punch of Stuntarious IV.

Part of this depth can be excavated by following each title’s link, which will take you to the original articles by me, Jesse Davis, J.D. Reager, Andria Lisle, Chris McCoy, Chris Herrington, and Chris Shaw, quoted sporadically below. And of course, part of the depth comes from the list’s breadth. For Memphis not only produced some of the past decade’s finest music, it spanned nearly every genre and generation while doing so, from acoustic punk to surreal hip hop to seasoned works by sorely-missed lifers like Sid Selvidge and John Kilzer. For your listening pleasure, we present music of the ages, in alphabetical order.

The Top 20 Albums of the Decade, 2010-2019
Aquarian Blood – A Love That Leads to War (Goner, 2019)
“Dark observations and wry commentary are surrounded with unassuming acoustic ostinatos, (mostly) subtle keyboard textures, and inventive bass counterpoints.”

Julien Baker – Turn Out the Lights (Matador, 2017)
“Meditations on love, rejection, God, rage, and redemption … piano- and cello-tinged ensemble pieces captured on tape at Ardent.”

The Barbaras

The Barbaras – 2006-2008 (Goner, 2012)
“Able to turn on a dime, unafraid to be goofy, and gifted with a breezy sense of irony that simultaneously celebrates and mocks the Nuggets psychedelia that infuses their sound.”

The Sensational Barnes Brothers – Nobody’s Fault But My Own (Bible & Tire, 2019) 
“All the songs on the new Barnes Brothers record were songs that artists on the Designer Records catalog had done. Basically, they came in, I used my studio musicians, and we made that record.” And Lord, do those studio musicians rock.

Harlan T. Bobo – A History of Violence (Goner, 2018)
“The band [is] now rocking harder, with a more sinister edge … his singing now addressing a world swirling around him more than the romantic entanglements of his earlier work.”

Don Bryant

Don Bryant – Don’t Give Up On Love (Fat Possum, 2017)
A return to form by one of the city’s great songwriters from the golden age of soul, backed unerringly by those specialists in vintage vibes, the Bo-Keys.

The City Champs – The Set-Up (Electraphonic, 2010)
“The instrumental soul-jazz trio absolutely floored me … The Set-Up is one of those records that just keeps getting better with repeated listening, so now I can’t put it down.”

DJ Paul – Power, Pleasure, & Painful Things (Scale-A-Ton, 2019)
“Interspersed with spoken segments in which the artist recalls pivotal moments in his Memphis youth, the tracks make use of a wide-ranging musicality and inventive, turn-on-a-dime production to create what may be Paul’s best work yet.”

Hash Redactor – Drecksound (Goner, 2019)
“The songs come in fast and hard, propelled by booming bass and tight drums. Watson and Lones share an easy comfort playing together … McIntyre sneers the vocals, an antihero decrying humanity’s self-destructive tendencies … The guitars alone are worth the price of admission.”

John Kilzer – Scars (Archer, 2019)
“I wrote on different instruments. I wrote a couple on a mandolin, a couple on ukulele, and several on the piano. I would have never, ever considered doing that earlier in my career. So that kind of creative tension manifests in the songs.”

Lucero – Women & Work (ATO, 2012)
“I think Women & Work is the band’s best album yet … it captures the live sound of a band that has always excelled on stage and how fully they commit to a soulful, opulent Southern rock style.” 

Magic Kids – Memphis (True Panther Sounds, 2010)
“[A] genial, ramshackle deployment of myriad traditional, pre-punk influences. The album’s earnest romances play out against a Memphis presented as a relaxed, sunny playpen.”

Mellotron Variations – Mellotron Variations (Spaceflight, 2019)
“Local players Robby Grant and Jonathan Kirkscey were joined by Pat Sansone (Wilco) and John Medeski (Medeski Martin & Wood), presenting semi-improvised original pieces that showed off the evocative range of multiple Mellotrons being played at once.”

New Memphis Colorways – Old Forest Loop (Owl Jackson Jr., 2018)
“‘This is music I deliberately made for people to take summertime drives to — they can grill to it or swim to it.’ … Old Forest Loop has the citrus punch of an orange sherbet popsicle.”

Jack Oblivian & the Sheiks – Lone Ranger of Love (Mony, 2016)
“Well done, boys. I find it very hard to believe a local artist tops this record in 2016. Might as well flip this sucker over and start again.”

The Oblivians – Desperation (In the Red, 2013)
“The band doesn’t pretend that the past 15 years never happened, and most tracks are sonically closer to the musicians’ individual recording projects but goosed-up Oblivians-style.”

Marco Pavé – Welcome to Grc Lnd (Radio Rahim Music, 2017)
“Pavé is a charismatic frontman, equally at home flowing about the school-to-prison pipeline or barking his shins while getting out of bed…Overall, this is one of the most meticulously constructed, finely paced albums to come out of Memphis in recent memory.”

Sid Selvidge – I Should Be Blue (Archer, 2010)
“I Should Be Blue retains Selvidge’s usual folk setting but with a new musical texture that can stand up to his strikingly beautiful vocals.”

Various Artists – Take Me To the River – Soundtrack (Stax, 2014)
Soul and blues legends pair off with current rappers at Royal Studios. “It’s fun to be a fly on the wall in these recording sessions held in historic spaces, and the camaraderie and respect between the players is evident. The talent, discipline, and instincts on display are amazing.”

Various Artists – Stuntarious IV (Unapologetic, 2019)
“The Stuntarious series explode[s] with sonic and verbal ideas, and Stuntarious IV is no exception. This time around, the album has a cinematic feel … It sets the stage for the wide-ranging palette of sound design elements that percolate throughout the tracks that follow.”

They Also Served: A Baker’s Dozen More From a Decade Packed with Dynamite
Once you get started, it will be hard to stop listening to releases from one of the city’s most extraordinary musical decades. That’s saying a lot, of course, but the depth and breadth of these albums attest to what a simmering hotbed of creativity we have in Memphis. That’s not even mentioning some striking singles from the period (“Uptown Funk,” anyone?).

So for those with ravenous ears, here are 12 more to groove to, from the underappreciated Stereolab-meets-dank-Southern-humidity of Cloudland Canyon to a Memphis-centric offering from the young Young Dolph, before he grew to dominate the airwaves so thoroughly.

Cloudland Canyon – An Arabesque (Medical, 2016)
Dead Soldiers – The Great Emptiness (American Grapefruit Tapes, 2017)
Detective – No. 1 (2019)
Don Lifted – Contour (2018)
John Paul Keith – Memphis Circa 3 AM (Big Legal Mess, 2013)
Jonathan Kirkscey – Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Mondo, 2018)
Amy LaVere – Painting Blue (Nine Mile, 2019)
Memphis Dawls – Rooted in the Bone (Madjack, 2014)
Motel Mirrors – In the Meantime (Last Chance, 2018)
Joe Restivo – Where’s Joe? (Blue Barrel, 2019)
Spaceface – Sun Kids (Jet Pilot, 2017)
Mark Edgar Stuart – Blues for Lou (Madjack, 2013)
Young Dolph – King of Memphis (Paper Route Empire, 2016)

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Music Music Features

NLE Choppa: Young Memphis Rapper Tops Emerging Artist Charts

“The Percs killin’ me slowly,” howls bad boy local rapper NLE Choppa on his signature song, “Shotta Flow.” If Choppa, 17, is suffering under the yoke of addiction, you can’t tell from his music, which is spry, rambunctious, and geyser-like — in other words, the exact sort of club-rap on which this city has long staked its reputation. You could say Choppa lends a 2020 makeover to earlier configurations of Memphis hip-hop.

Choppa is protective of his hometown: “I don’t know,” he tells the Flyer. “So many good artists are in Memphis. It’s always been a lot of good artists, but we’re just kinda underappreciated.”

For Choppa, turning up comes as naturally as breathing; he’s a creature of Memphis’ strobe-lit skating rinks. Not only that, but his mother Angela seems to have passed down a rapturous and very Jamaican appetite for fun. Had it not been for her, Choppa’s sturdiest achievement so far — sprinkling patois in rap’s everyday vocabulary — might never have come to pass.

NLE Choppa

“‘Shottas’ is really just a Jamaican thing, a Jamaican term,” he says. “And my mom being from there, I was exposed to that culture.” Asked if he was reared on dancehall music, Choppa doesn’t miss a beat: “Oh, yeah.”

Choppa had a softer landing than many in hip-hop, where broken homes far outnumber stable ones. (His father, like his mother, is, by all accounts, present and supportive.) But this dude is self-made. As he puts it, “My success mostly comes from having that independence. I never asked for nothing.”

It was Choppa who, if not pioneered, then certainly perfected one of the greatest flows in current hip-hop, a galloping, joyously bumpy cascade of syllables. It was Choppa who built a thriving brand from scratch. And it was Choppa who proved a hard-nosed negotiator: Rare is the teenager who knows a skunk, or a lousy distribution deal, when he smells one. (Over the summer, Choppa launched his own imprint, the Warner-aligned No Love Entertainment, but not before clearing his share of hurdles.)

“My phone was blowing up; I had all these offers, but I didn’t get overwhelmed because this is what I wanted,” Choppa says. “This is what I had been praying for for so long.”

All of which is to say young people have good reason to idolize Choppa. And idolize him they do, ascribing a near-liturgical weight to his every public utterance. Part of it has to do with Choppa’s charisma, which is almost generational; it stopped millions of fans cold the first time they heard “Capo,” last year’s crunk-and-disorderly street anthem. Only Choppa could paper the airwaves with a tacit endorsement of the NFL’s most reviled QB (“I got good aim in the pocket like I’m Brady”) and not catch any grief for it.

On record, Choppa sounds like he’s nearing transition from man to Tasmanian devil. In conversation, he’s much different. He speaks in a serenely undaunted drawl. He seems content — a justifiable state of mind when you consider the year he’s had. For months now, he’s sat atop Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart. His songs have been streamed over one billion times. “Shotta Flow” is at 850 million streams and counting. He’s currently touring behind Cottonwood, his EP from late December. Cottonwood is awash in guns, gore, and splatter, but it’ll get your shoulders shimmying. It also includes a verse from the great Meek Mill, who, like Choppa, is telegenic but quarrelsome. “Meek is definitely an influence just in how true he stays to himself and how outspoken he is,” Choppa says.

If you stay apprised of his Twitter activity, you know Choppa gets asked this question more than any other: “When’s the album coming out?” Fans were hoping to ring in the new year with Choppa’s new full-length, Top Shotta; now, it looks like they’ll have to wait until spring. Meanwhile, Choppa himself is looking farther afield.

“I wanna be the biggest artist,” he says matter-of-factly. “And I don’t see why I shouldn’t be.”

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Music Music Blog

Don Lifted Takes His Vision Coast To Coast in ‘Sub-Urban Tour’

In American culture, “urban” has long been a weird code word for African-American, but Lawrence Matthews, aka Don Lifted, has never been complacent about the traditional signifiers of race in this country. Gleefully drawing samples and inspiration from eclectic sources for his compositions, he mixes and matches as he sees fit to convey a wholly personal experience.

Thus, it makes perfect sense that now, as he takes it to the next level by hitting the road, he’s dubbed the series of shows his “Sub-urban Tour.” And in his promotional materials, he makes a point of noting that “sub” is a prefix “indicating that the element is secondary in rank, falling short of, less than or imperfect.” This is all in keeping with the niche he’s comfortably occupied for some years now, that of the outsider individualist living in a netherworld somewhere between hip hop and shoe-gaze rock.

Last year’s Contour confirmed that vision, and this year he’s taking it on the road — not just as a record, but as a “visual album,” compiling the videos produced for every track on Contour. Today, that visual album will be revealed in a big way. “I’ve been holding it pretty close to my chest,” he notes. “Last year we did a screening at the Malco Studio on the Square for the Contour Visual Album, and I didn’t talk about it anymore after that. We released ‘Poplar Pike’ and ‘Muirfield’ and ‘Pull Up (Duratec V6)’ as music videos from the album. But we actually made music videos for every single song on the album. Put together, that’s the Contour Visual Album. So nobody’s seen that but maybe 50 people who came to the screening last year. The new DVD also comes with the album in CD form. That’s eight or nine videos that Nubia Yasin, Kevin Brooks, my brother Martin Matthews, and myself all put together in 2018.”

Taken as a whole, the visual album promises a good deal of variety. “We shot every single video using a different technique,” he notes. “Like, ‘let’s use a cell phone for this video.’ ‘Poplar Pike’ has VHS combined with analog lenses. We’d take a lens converter from a film camera and put it on a digital whatever. So there’s a lot of freestyle experimentation using different video, different editing techniques, and different styles, all woven together.”

The tour, which includes dates as far flung as Brooklyn, Baltimore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Jackson, Mississippi, and Memphis, will also mark the official release of the DVD over the coming weeks, as he brings physical copies to every performance. And it all starts here at home, with a unique performance in a private yard known as The Barton House (419 N. Willett Street) on Saturday, September 21 at 8:00 pm.  Fast on the heels of that will be his show for the River Series at the Harbor Town Amphitheater on October 6. And finally, he’ll play the Green Room at Crosstown Arts in November.

Lawrence Matthews, aka Don Lifted

Every one of the shows promises variety and not a few surprises. “I’ll use video like I’ve used in previous shows, with a whole bunch of footage of the neighborhoods where the stories take place,” he notes. “That footage will be playing in the background. Images of fields and trees and street signs and neighborhoods, layered and edited together. Every single show I do on the tour is gonna be different. I’ll constantly rearrange the set list and visual information. It’ll be like performance art, in a way, because everything will be site-specific. If a site has a giant wall to project on, we’ll use that. I want to make every single show different in some way.”

And listeners can expect a good deal more than just the latest album. “I’m doing songs from Contour, songs from Alero, some covers, and some records that were released as singles. At the first show Saturday, I’m doing ‘Wolf River,’ but when I do the Harbor Town Amphitheater, I’ll do ‘Dexter Road.’ Switching things around.”

The experimentation developed on the tour will culminate in his homecoming gig at Crosstown Arts. “A lot of the dates will just be me and a laptop, but I’m putting together some other things. And then I have a Green Room show coming on November 16. I’m going to have a lot of assistance for that. I wanna beef it up, like with string sections. I’ll just leave it at that. I’m excited for it. We’re really gonna do some things with that space.” 

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Music Music Blog

Get Hip to the Hop: Where to Hear Live Rap in Memphis

CREDIT: Travis Whiteside

Travis Whiteside

Moneybagg Yo at Minglewood Hall

For some world-class hip hop, keep your eyes on the festivals. This city boasts several, often featuring the superstars of rap as headliners. This year’s Beale Street Music Festival presented, among others, Tyler, the Creator, Ludacris, Al Kapone, renowned Three 6 Mafia producer/artist Juicy J, and Young Dolph, currently riding high in the charts. That’s a high ratio of local rappers.

This October’s Mempho Music Festival will bring Juicy J once again, as well as other Memphians from way back, like Project Pat and Frayser Boy (with the Hi Rhythm Section, no less). Brooklyn’s legendary Nas will headline the October 7th lineup, supporting his new album, Nasir. 

Juicy J

Memphis is also host to a good many single-artist hip hop concerts: grand affairs in roomier venues like Minglewood Hall, the New Daisy Theatre, or the Hi-Tone (where Cities Aviv plays June 29). And then there’s the FedEx Forum, in a class of its own. On June 28, the latter will feature one the country’s biggest hip hop extravaganzas, Yo Gotti & Friends Birthday Bash 6, which always includes top-tier guest artists in addition to Gotti. It must be satisfying for Gotti to survey the landscape of his youth and reflect on his triumphs from the Forum’s stage.

Yo Gotti

Beyond concert and festival appearances by the mega-stars, hip hop shows are experiencing a renaissance in Memphis—for the first time since the 1990s heyday of clubs like the Complex, Fantasia and Precious Cargo, which closed its doors in 2006.

These days, Brinson’s Downtown (340 Madison), Height Lounge (6135 Mt. Moriah Ext.) Midtown Crossing Grill (394 N. Watkins) and CANVAS of Memphis (1737 Madison Ave.) are all places you can catch live hip hop on a regular basis. For DJ battles, keep an eye on the calendar at Memphis Slim Collaboratory (1130 College Studio), where Kingpin Da’ Composer hosts Let’s Get LOUD, a semi-annual beat battle and producer showcase. When Slice of Soul Pizza Lounge (1299 Madison Ave.) opened for business in January, they celebrated with a performance by famed Bronx duo Camp Lo that felt like the days of Precious Cargo revisited. Slice of Soul is also the current home of The Word, Neosoulville’s monthly open mic night, which features MCs alongside jazz divas, soul singers, poets and comedians, all set to the backdrop of Chinese Connection Dub Embassy.

Get Hip to the Hop: Where to Hear Live Rap in Memphis (2)

The Word is probably the city’s longest-running hip hop salon, but it’s hardly the only one. Look out for Dope on Arrival, a quarterly rap showcase held at Height Lounge, Pressure World, a DJ showcase usually held at Growler’s, and the Kickback, an eclectic, funky DJ and live music mash-up hosted by Devin Steele at the Hi-Tone. And every third Sunday of the month, two of the city’s top creative, Brandon “Eso” Tolson and Siphne Sylve, curate a musical salon called Artistik Lounge at Minglewood Hall. Over the last six years, they’ve brought in a wealth of local and national talent, running the gamut from Three 6 Mafia’s Gangsta Blac to NPR darlings Tank and the Bangas. On July 15, Zephaniah headlines Artistik Lounge.

Get Hip to the Hop: Where to Hear Live Rap in Memphis (3)

My favorite spot to catch live hip hop is, hands down, House of Mtenzi Museum (1289 Madison Ave.). The low stage and DIY atmosphere reminds me of the hardcore scene that captivated me in high school. And when local MC Jason Da Hater is running the microphone, you can expect hijinks like four-bar mic battles where the losers are forced to do push-ups before they can regain their mic privileges.

Iron Mic Coalition

Social media is the best way to find out about underground hip hop shows. Be sure to join the Rhyme Writtaz & Rhyme Lovaz Discussion Forum on Facebook. Moderated by Roy Dickenz, aka Milk, one of the MCs in Iron Mic Coalition, the forum offers a plethora of information about the local scene. While you’re at it, download the UnApp, created by the team at Unapologetic, who are hosting their own don’t miss event, the Stuntarious Vol. III EP Release Show, at Railgarten on Saturday, June 30.

It’s a banner month for hip hop at Railgarten—this Saturday night, the venue is also hosting Memphis Massacre, a skateboarding, jookin’ and rap extravaganza put together by VHS storeowner Luke Sexton. The line-up includes instrumental garage rock band Impala, Billboard charting rap duo HippySoul, Unapologetic’s Weird Maestro, and headliner Tommy Wright III, a Memphis-born rap legend of the 1990s who has resurfaced as a skate culture hero.

Currently, it’s easier to catch Wright onstage at SXSW, or in New York or Los Angeles, than it is in his own hometown. Wright’s last local appearance was during Gonerfest 13:

Get Hip to the Hop: Where to Hear Live Rap in Memphis

Parse through his YouTube channel and you’ll see him performing at L.A.’s hipster sneaker store Undefeated, or at the Circle Bar in New Orleans, surrounded by young white kids who know every syllable of his 1994 underground hit “Meet Yo Maker.”

Sexton sees Memphis Massacre as an opportunity to take VHS beyond the brick-and-mortar storefront. “We’re promoting the culture of the Dirty South,” he says. “Tommy really brings out a raw essence that skateboarders love. What he raps about isn’t glamorous—it’s the raw and dirty side of things.” Admission for Memphis Massacre, which kicks off at approximately 6 p.m. with DJ Hush and a skateboarding demo, is $10.

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Music Music Features

MonoNeon Vision

Dywane Thomas, Jr., has written out his artistic philosophy. This is convenient for writers needing to sum up the enigmatic bass virtuoso using only tidy rows of type. It’s an absurd format to describe an artist that lights out for the sonic territories, tagged with threads and a name of radiant color that cuts through the night: MonoNeon. The best we can do is make every line of his creed our starting point.  Get ready for the MonoNeon Art Manifesto:

Write your own vision and read it daily. “That came from Dada, the manifesto stuff,” says Thomas. But ever since he got his first guitar at four and played it like a bass, Thomas has followed his own vision. From the start, this lefty has avoided left-handed guitars and basses, instead playing conventional right-handed instruments upside down. “When I was younger,” he remembers in typical low-key fashion, “people used to tell me, you know, flip it the other way. You’re playing it wrong. You would sound better playing it right handed or whatever. I just kept on doing it.” Nowadays his upside-down bass of choice is a five-string, or he’ll play his quarter tone bass, which allows him to play pitches between the notes of the conventional scale. His choice of material is visionary too, ranging from quirky, beat driven funk excursions to mimicking in bass tones the voices of people from random videos found online.

MonoNeon: WHERE'S THE CHOCOLATE MILK AT…? from Dywane MonoNeon Thomas Jr. on Vimeo.

MonoNeon Vision (3)

Have the Southern soul/blues & and funk at the bottom and the experimental/avant-garde at the top … (YOUR SOUND!). “My home base is always gonna be Johnny Taylor, Bobby Womack, Denise LaSalle, you know – funk, Bar Kays,” says Thomas. And you can hear this in most of his work: a payload of funk, heavy as a semi, taking wide left turns. “I want to sound like Mavis Staples and Stockhausen together, or something. Or at least the idea just helps me progress and create stuff.” He recalls teaching himself bass: “I practiced in my grandmother’s living room, to records, WDIA, all the old blues stuff. Eventually I started playing in church. That’s where I really got most of my skill from. Olivet Fellowship Baptist Church on Knight Arnold Road. I played with different types of gospel choirs, like Kevin Davidson and the Voices. Then after that I went to Berklee College of Music.”

Make your life audible daily with the mistakes … the flaws … er’thang. Thomas expresses his life story every time he picks up a bass. His father, Dywane Thomas, Sr., is a heavy bass player in his own right. “He still plays. He used to play with the Bar Kays, Rufus Thomas, Pops Staples. He was really like a studio ace in Memphis in the 90s.” But it wasn’t a simple case of the father teaching the son. “He moved to Europe when I was pretty young, ‘cos he was doing a lot of work over there. So I really taught myself how to play. I’d just listen to him on recordings.”

Understand and accept that some people are going to like what you do and some are going to dislike it. … When you understand and accept that dichotomy … Move on!  Not long ago, Thomas began posting his videos online, with little regard for audience or convention. They found a niche audience, and one fan was especially notable. In December, 2014, his presence was requested at Paisley Park. He jammed with Judith Hill’s band, who Prince was producing, but didn’t even meet His Purpleness at the time. Eventually, on return visits, Prince joined the sessions. “He could jam all night. His rhythm guitar playing is just otherworldly,” Thomas recalls. Prince ultimately recruited Thomas for his own band. “I’m thankful for recording with him, and he released a song under my name and stuff, ‘Ruff Enuff’ on NPG Records. I guess he really liked me to do that.”

MonoNeon Vision (2)

Recalling the time before Prince’s passing in April of 2016, Thomas is understandably wistful. “Paisley was just a different world to be in. The smell just crosses my nose sometimes. Lavender.”

MonoNeon with PRINCE (clips from PRINCESTAGRAM) from Dywane MonoNeon Thomas Jr. on Vimeo.

MonoNeon Vision

Embrace bizarre justapositions (sound, imagery, etc). And: Conceptual art. Minimalism. “I got into microtonal stuff when I got to Berklee. I met a guy named David Fiuczynski. Guitar player. He plays with Jack DeJohnette. Very heavy. I also started getting into John Cage when I got to Berklee. And other avant garde stuff like Iannis Xenakis, Easley Blackwood, Jr., Julián Carillo. Morton Feldman. Milton Babbit. Stockhausen. All that stuff, that I don’t understand, but I love it.”

Polychromatic color schemes. High-visibility clothing. “It was PolyNeon at first, then I changed it. I got bored. It all happened at my grandma’s house. I was reading something about solid color neon stuff. I really like neon light installations. All the avant garde stuff.”

DIY!  “I released two EP’s this year. I’m always just releasing stuff. I don’t necessarily consider it an official thing. It’s just therapeutic to me to just put stuff out. You know. I just try to hype it up as much as I can and then I try to just move on.” Thomas creates his music and videos on his laptop, though occasionally he’ll work with other locals. “There’s a cat named IMAKEMADBEATS. He’s the one that got me into making my own music videos. I bought a camera and everything. And a rapper from his label, A Weirdo from Memphis, he calls himself. He’s on my album too. He doesn’t know it though.” Thomas has been incredibly prolific – he’s self-releasing a new album, A Place Called Fantasy, this Thursday.

Then there are the artists who seek him out. “I’m with a band called Ghost Note. That’s like a side project of Snarky Puppy. With Nate Werth and Robert Searight. We just recorded an album, I think it’s supposed to be released this year in October.”

Childlike. And: Reject the worldly idea of becoming a great musician … JUST LIVE MUSIC! “I don’t even have goals, to be honest. I just like the journey. I don’t have a set plan. That’s really because of the support from my mom and my grandma. I’m thankful for that. I hope that doesn’t change. I’m just a kid. I’m 26 years old, but I’m still a kid.”