See also “Gunplay on His Swastika Tattoo, Escort Agency, and Rebranding Himself as Don Logan.” As recently as a year ago, Miami rapper Gunplay was better known for a clip of him snorting cocaine outside a restaurant in Medellín than he was for his music. In recent months, however, the…
You might not know the name Mr. Vegas. But if you’ve been within earshot of a dancehall DJ in the last 15 years, you’ve heard his music. Though little acknowledged in the broader music world, the singer is a Jamaican icon thanks to “Heads High,” “Hot Wuk,” “Bruk it Down,”…
Last week, Miami soul queen Betty Wright opened up about her recent collaborative album with the Roots, Betty Wright: The Movie; her unlikely friendship with Lil Wayne and Birdman; and the meaning of Mother’s Day, which she’ll honor this year with a co-headlining show at the James L. Knight Center…
Betty Wright’s Mother’s Day concert with Monica at the James L. Knight Center May 13
Miami Rapper J. Nics Releases SNAS: The Product
Betty Wright should need no introduction, especially in Miami. The lifelong 305 resident has been making records in South Florida since 1956 when she sang on an album from her family’s gospel band, Echoes of Joy, at age two. A veteran solo act by her late teens, Wright became one…
See Crossfade’s interview: “J. Nics on Miami Rap, The Tribute, and The Product: ‘Southern Niggas Ain’t Slow.'” It’s always great to see a hard-working local artist’s hustle blossom into much-deserved national attention, and that’s definitely what’s happening right now with rapper J. Nics. The Miami Gardens-raised MC adds another notch…
J. Nics has the kind of voice that always sounds cool. Gravelly and guttural, it’s as forceful and blunt as it is smooth and soothing. Fortunately, the rapper (appropriately nicknamed “Polar Bear Mack”) has something to say. The acronymic title of his latest mixtape, SNAS: The Product, stands for “Southern…
Flying Lotus at Ultra March 25
David Guetta at Ultra Music Festival March 25
Everyone plugged into Miami rap has known about Gunplay and his raw, unhinged lyrical style for years. The longtime Rick Ross running mate and Carol City Cartel member figured prominently on the Triple C’s 2009 album Custom Cars and Cycles, and scored a substantial regional hit with his Waka Flocka…
In one of the last week’s less predictable music developments, Lil Wayne announced that Cash Money Records had signed Fred Durst-led late ’90s relics Limp Bizkit. Does this mean we could be in store for a late ’90s nu-metal revival? The four year period right before the end of the…
Flying Lotus isn’t like most acts you’ll encounter at Ultra Music Festival. The Los Angeles native, born Steven Ellison and known as “FlyLo” to his fans, doesn’t make dance music — at least not in the traditional sense. The acclaimed knob fiddler (Pitchfork named his Cosmogramma the 14th best album…
A few years ago, David Guetta was just another house music DJ who was huge in Europe and not nearly as well known here in the United States. Then came 2009, the year that the Parisian (one of France’s top DJs since at least the late ’80s) released his fourth…
Third World and Inner Circle’s Reggae Jam at the Adrienne Arsht Center February 24
Miami R&B singer-songwriter Steven A. Clark on Stripes, his upcoming album, and being a hungry, semi-employed artist
Third World and Inner Circle share more than a few things in common: names of exactly equal length (two words, 11 letters); status as two of Jamaican reggae’s longest-running and best-known bands; Florida addresses. What’s more, at one time, they were essentially the same group. Third World founders Stephen “Cat”…
Last year, when Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra and The Weeknd’s House of Balloons dropped within weeks of each other, critics and music fans celebrated the arrival of a fresh movement in R&B. Though the moods of those recordings differed considerably, they were both remarkably self-assured and sophisticated for artists so…
Theophilus London With Steven A. Clark Grand Central Miami Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Better Than: The entertainment at Fashion Week parties. During the last New York City Fashion Week in September, Theophilus London was unavoidable. The dapper rapper/singer, who’d just released his full-length debut, Timez Are Weird These Days, for…
Miami’s best albums, EPs, and mixtapes of 2011
Whether you know it by name or not, if you’ve stepped outside in the past several months, you’ve heard Gyptian’s “Hold Yuh” flickering out of at least a few idling vehicles. The über-minimalist dancehall ditty’s piano loop has a way of cutting through the din of city streets. Gyptian, a…
