A&E

Made in America

June 9, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Caroline Pitone

Staff Writer

Made in America is a famous music festival that happens every year in Philadelphia. The area in which it happens is near the parkway. In Made In America there are 3 stages that people perform on. There is usually a performance happening every second of Made in America. There are tons of food trucks with many different foods you would never think of trying. There is access to rides and games to pass the time. This is a 2 day festival that provides over 20 performances with tons of different genres like rap, r&b, alternative, etc.

The tickets go on presale, before the lineup is announced for around $150. After the pre sale the tickets can skyrocket to hundreds of dollars. Now looking at the price tag you might think that these are ridiculous prices, but when you see how many performers you get for this price it is well worth it. Now, the lineup is the most important thing. The lineup could go either way, amazing or horrible, you never really know.

“The lineup is disappointing” says Autumn Jerman who goes to Wissahickon High School.

I asked a current student what they thought about Made in America last year.“I liked the lineup last year, I didn’t think I would like lil ui but it was good!” I then asked her what she thought about the lineup for Made in America of 2017:“I think the lineup this year is bad…the previous years were so good, now its kinda wack.”

Made in America gives opportunities to learn and hear new music that you wouldn’t usually listen to.

Song Review: Strip That Down

June 9, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

MeyMey Seng

Staff Writer

On May 18, 2017, Liam James Payne released a new song called Strip That Down. Many people know him as a member of the biggest boyband, One Direction. After five years of producing songs and going on tours, the band decided to take hiatus, lasting one year.

With this hiatus, all of the boys have chose the same path which is creating their own individual music. Coincidentally, each member chose a different genre to base their album off on. One Direction usually produces pop songs, and the other boys have explored R&B, electronics, acoustics, and rock. Hip-hop was what Liam decided to choose which shocked many people.

Before releasing his song, Liam has posted many teaser clips of how the song may sound. Honestly, most recently I have favored Liam and love his voice. Also, pop is my favorite genre of music but recently, I have been getting interest in hip-hop which gave me a silly thought: he knows what kind of music I want to hear!

When my phone notified me that the lyric video was posted, I immediately slammed my thumb down to click it. My first reaction was that the beat was good but then I did not enjoy the lyrics. The lyrics “But your love, it hit me hard, girl. Yeah, you’re bad for my health. I love the cards, that I’ve been dealt” felt very out of place and almost as if it was all smushed together. I felt like it sounded generic and it didn’t make me jump as much as I had anticipated. Also, the record company’s design of the lyric video was not my favorite, although I appreciated the purple, gold, and grey theme of the it.

Of course, even though the lyrics did not have the meaningful lyrics that I hoped for, Liam’s voice was still pleasant. A quarter way until the end of the lyric video, there was a verse that was sung by Quavo that I enjoyed more, mostly because the lyrics flowed a bit more smoothly. The thing that surprised me was that Ed Sheeran, an artist that I enjoy a lot, helped write the song. Knowing that two amazing people worked with one another in writing this song, it should be a lot better.

The music video came out on June 2, which I liked a lot more. The choreography was done well, especially knowing that the band was not focused on dancing. Something that I loved that they including clips of him laughing at the camera. It struck that fangirl part of me and after listening to the song a bunch of times, it got onto me. So apart of me finds myself going back and listening to this song because I have to give it one thing, that it was very catchy.

For the rest of the songs in his album, I definitely hope that things spiral upwards and has a more unique sense into it. According to Liam Payne, hip-hop was always a genre that he has wanted to go into. Although, with all of the different music tastes that the other boys have, not all their ideas would be able to be produced. Also, after producing his song, he admittedly said that it does feel nice having all of the control of the song.

Chance The Rapper

June 6, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Ella Petersen

Staff Writer

When I was invited to drive to D.C. with my best friend to go see one our favorite artists on Sunday, I couldn’t say no even though I knew I had a pre-calc test waiting for me the next morning, committed to babysitting Monday night, and had a benchmark due Tuesday. But it was so worth it.

The past couple years have been really big for Chance The Rapper. Last summer he released his newest album “Coloring Book” and this year he made real history at the Grammy’s, being the first person to win that doesn’t sell physical copies of their music. He’s unsigned to a label and he always releases his music online for free, he combines gospel and rap to form a new genre of music.

After three hours in the car we were finally there. Jiffy Lube Live, a venue right outside of DC, was packed to the brim with 23,000 people.

“I’m not used to performing in front of this many people,” Chance confessed to the crowd. “The fans that have been there forever know that I started out broke.”

He opened with “Blessings” definitely the most spiritual song on the album. “I’m gon’ praise Him, praise Him ‘til I’m gone.” He had the crowd repeat that hook for a good while and confetti poured over us. I knew that we were in for a great performance.

Chance is known for being a huge fan of Chicago, the city where he grew up. So it was no surprise that he had a huge Chicago skyline on the screen in the back of the stage while he performed “Angels” and “Summer Friends,” songs about his beloved city. He jumped around and danced while “CHICAGO” ran across the back screen. He explained that his favorite verse on the album was the second one on “Summer Friends” and had us help him sing it.

The mood changed when he performed “Juke Jam,” a song about going to the roller rink with a girl as a teenager and the whole stadium was lit up with phone lights. After that it was “Smoke Break,” a tale of two people who need some time to just stop and reevaluate what is going on between them.

He also threw some Kanye West songs in the mix. Chance helped produce Kanye’s most recent album, “The Life of Pablo”, so we were able to hear a few of his renditions that night. He performed “Waves” and “Father I Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” as well as his verse on “Ultra Light Beam” while pictures and videos of him and Kanye played in back of him.

“I’m gonna turn the lights off and when I turn them back on I want it to be a party,” he said. And then “All Night” came on, the most upbeat, party song on the album. The stage lit up with fireworks and smoke machines while colorful shapes played on all screens.

Finally, he played “Sunday Candy” and “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” two of his oldest songs on mixtapes he made before he was popular.

Overall, he really made me proud to be a Chance fan. The crowd was very happy and lighthearted; his really positive energy was extremely contagious. I am really excited to see where he goes next and so proud to see how far he has come.

2017 XXL Freshman Cover Prediction

June 5, 2017 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Avi Cantor

Staff Writer

Every year since 2007, XXL Magazine publishes an edition of their magazine that highlights the year’s most prominent emerging artists in Rap and Hip/Hop. XXL helps young artists expose their music to the broader public and celebrates their accomplishments that exceed their peers. The XXL cover has been widely regarded for the last ten years as a platform that artists can aspire to be a part of.

This article explains who I think will be the members of the XXL cover for 2017. Readers should know that this list has less to do with my opinion, and more to do with numbers.

I’ve divided this list into two sections. The first highlights the people in ten freshman spots, three of which I have dubbed ‘All-Stars’ for achieving more than their fellow candidates. One thing to note about this section is that I haven’t included the people who the artists have collaborated with who are XXL candidates. XXL makes it clear that high profile collaborators rank higher in their decision making process than collaborations with the artists’ peers. In the second, I have included a list of people I think barely didn’t make the cut for the cover and could make the cover in years to come.

Probables for the cover:

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (All-Star)

Notable Collaborators: Kodak Black, Lil Bibby, Kehlani, DJ Spinking (producer) and more.

Noteworthy Accomplishments:

5 songs above 30 million streams on Soundcloud
Record My Sh*t is RIAA gold certified
A-Boogie’s mixtape TBA peaked at number 63 on the US Billboard 200 chart and made an appearance on Rolling Stone magazine’s 40 Best Rap Albums of 2016 list

What makes A Boogie an All-Star: A Boogie has been pumping out hit after hit this past year, a feat that most of the artists on this list have not done. Sure, other artists have put out one, two, maybe three true hit songs, but A Boogie has put out at least seven hit songs that have gotten radio play on mainstream stations and have caught nationwide (and even worldwide) attention.

XXXTentacion (pronounced EX-EX-EX-TEN-TA-SYONE)

Notable Collaborations: Denzel Curry, Ronny J (Producer), Diplo (producer) and more.

Noteworthy Points:

Song ‘Look At Me’ peaked at No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Rap Chart
Songs ‘YuNg BrAtZ’, ‘R.I.P. ROAST “EAST SIDE SOUJA”’, and ‘ILOVEITWHENYOURUN’, have over 22 million streams on SoundCloud,
Song ‘I don’t wanna do this anymore’ has over 33 million streams on SoundCloud
Performed at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami

Kyle aka Super Duper Kyle

Notable Collaborators: Kehlani, G-Eazy, Chance the Rapper, Carnage (producer), Lil Yachty and more.