Israel “Reefa” Hernandez’s life was abruptly ended when Miami Beach police officers tased him to death. But you can’t kill art, and on walls across South Florida, Reefa lives forever. That was especially true last night at the “#Justice4Reefa” art exhibit at LMNT on the beautiful Little Haiti side of…
Timmy Thomas is in a Hialeah warehouse slapping palms with a Cuban Santero named Oba Frank Lords. In the back room, there’s an altar with a straw-hatted guajiro sculpture set down beside a sacrificial blade. Up front, in a 12-foot-by-12-foot production studio equipped with little more than a computer, keyboard,…
Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde is one of the greatest classic hip-hop albums of all time. Ever since that slab dropped in 1992 on Delicious Vinyl Records, it has resonated with fans across the globe. And hits like “Runnin’,” “Ya Mama,” and “Who Is the Nigga in Charge” are so…
Hundreds of live-music fans packed Churchill’s Pub on Saturday night for hours of non-stop entertainment from Die Trying, Low Visibility, The Ruins, Hardware Youth, SSK, Bottom Shelf Warriors, and FWA. The bar ran through liquor like a freight train. The circle pit was a hurricane of flying limbs. And between…
Two months ago, Miami Beach cops tasered a kid to death over graffiti. And today, Miami and his family are still seeking Justice for Reefa. From October 3 to 5 at LMNT, local skaters, dancers, artists, and DJs will come together to celebrate Israel Hernandez’s life, raise money for his…
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 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…
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…
Tha Alkaholiks just want you to get drunk and have a good time. Maybe smoke some weed and let the music hit you. Then scream, yell, and throw your hands in the air. It’s what they’ve been promoting since the early ’90s, when their good-time, house-party hip-hop took over all…
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…
King Tee is on the beach in California backed by a 12-foot wall of sound. His DJ, a squad of bikini girls, and some homies rally up for the music video to his song “Bass,” an early Compton gangsta boogie track from 1987. Later, the Notorious B.I.G. would tell friends…
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…
Mad Skrews is a Miami Beach producer with more metal in his face than Kanye West, hence the name. And in the four years since Crossfade last caught up with him, he has continued landing placements on albums from the likes of Funkmaster Flex, Trina, and Ky-Mani Marley. Now the…
Bob Marley’s Legend was released in 1984 and went on to become the number one selling reggae album of all time. Lesson learned? Revolution is big business. But like Miami artist Trek6 says, “Bob Marley is the one real major pop star who delivered a gritty, anti-establishment message and never…
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…
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…
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…
Wale’s third full-length release, The Gifted, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 when it dropped in July. But the DC rapper still hasn’t scored a platinum single, and he’s cool with that fact. Because in an era dominated by quick hits, he’s into making albums. And eventually, he…
Carol City, Miami, Florida, is the home of freestyle music. And a group called Freestyle originated the name, the sound, and was the first musical act from the area to make national and international hit records. You may not recognize the name Garfield Baker, but he’s the pen behind such…
Sound = a change in air pressure traveling on waves that tickle the hairs inside your ears. Music = a series of sounds delivered rhythmically to make a song; and World music = sounds that defy American radio format classification. Clear channel sucks, music rules, and the Miami World Music…
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…
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…
