Die Trying’s Mission: “Destroy as Much as We Can”

Churchill’s Pub has hosted live music seven nights a week since 1979. That’s over 20,000 live performances from some of the best bands in America. Die Trying is one of them, and no matter how far away from home the crew’s new self-titled vinyl release on Oi! The Boat Records…

Geto Boys at Blackbird Ordinary in Miami: A 27-Photo Recap

Geto Boys are like the 2 Live Crew of murder music. Probably why the crew’s on the soundtrack to the new Grand Theft Auto V. Last night, Scarface, Willie D, and Bushwick Bill, the multiplatinum artists from 5th Ward Houston’s Rap A Lot Records, gave Miami a killer performance. Their…

Miami’s Top Ten Hip-Hop DJs of All Time

DJ Heron grew up carrying milk crates full of records for his cousin Manny Love in NYC. In 1987, at age 15, his family moved from Brooklyn to North Miami Beach. Heron made friends with neighborhood kids Classik and Oski, formed a crew, and started rocking his own parties. He…

Die Trying on Miami Punk Rock: “There’s No Bullshit”

Churchill’s Pub. 1998. The U.S. Bombs are playing furious acid-drop skate punk. Lead singer Duane Peters’ head is covered in blood, possibly from smashing a microphone into his own face. The stage and the floor is slick with warm beer and sweat. A big guy in a plain blue t-shirt…

Miami Freestyle: 13 Best Acts of All Time

Freestyle music got its name from a Miami group called Freestyle Express. Someone left out half the name on the group’s most popular record, and when “Don’t Stop the Rock” became a national hit, the label just read “Freestyle” and that word came to define the sound. Miami Freestyle is…

Wale at the Knight Center September 10

Wale’s third full-length release, The Gifted, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 when it dropped in July. But the D.C. rapper still hasn’t scored a platinum single, and he’s cool with that. Because in an era dominated by quick hits, he’s into making albums. And eventually, he plans…

Willie Clarke on the Rise and Fall of TK Records

In the 1970’s TK Productions was 10 times more powerful than Cash Money Records is today. Company President Henry Stone had more artists, more hits, greater distribution, and more sales. But when 1980 hit it all came crashing down and the company went bankrupt. One of his first million selling…

Uncle Sam’s Music Moves to New South Beach Location

For 22 years, Uncle Sam’s Music has been one of the best record stores in South Florida, a place where you can buy a used CD, a new record, and a bag of incense, a pipe, and a t-shirt to go with it. After nearly a quarter century, though, shop…

Willie Clarke on the Rise of Deep City Records

In 1975, Willie Clarke won a Grammy for his work on Betty Wright’s “Where Is The Love”. It’s one of many hits he wrote in the ’70s for the biggest independent record company in the world, Henry Stone’s TK Productions, out of Hialeah. But Clarke’s recording career began in the…

Jiggle Juggle Jam

Most people don’t know that Jell-O wrestling was invented in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1927. A young wiseguy by the name of Sal Mavicci had just pulled off the biggest heist of his career, hijacking a trainyard shipping crate packed with illegal bathtub gin headed for Cleveland. Prohibition was in…