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It’s officially been 10 years since Chance the Rapper burst on the scene with his record-breaking, Billboard-charting mixtape Acid Rap. Over the next few months, Chance will honor the project through a series of can’t-miss live events, pop-ups, merch drops, and special music releases.
Chance will also headline an Acid Rap Ten Year Anniversary Show on August 19, produced by Live Nation Chicago’s United Center. Rapper and record producer Saba will be the show opener.
Tickets and VIP packages will be available starting with an Artist presale beginning today, Wednesday, April 26. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general onsale beginning Friday, April 28 at 10am local time at livenation.com.
Tickets for the show are selling fast.
In the first event to mark the occasion, Chance is returning his single, “Juice” to its original glory and format, available worldwide for the first time ever across streaming services this Sunday, April 30.
The Chicago native is also releasing new merch to celebrate the occasion available on his website starting this weekend.
When it dropped on April 30, 2013, Acid Rap was heralded as “Best New Music” by Pitchfork and Rolling Stone called it one of the “Best Mixtapes of 2013.” Across fourteen dynamic tracks, Chance’s lyrical prowess shines bright as he spits heavyweight bars over psychedelic, soulful, juke-filled beats, encapsulating the sound and feel of Chicago. Top Chicago-based and national artists including Vic Mensa, Childish Gambino, Twista, Action Bronson, BJ The Chicago Kid, Ab-Soul, and Noname lend their talents to the project. In 2019, Acid Rap hit DSPs and catapulted to #5 on the Billboard Hot 200, cementing Chance the Rapper’s role as a voice of a generation.
The anniversary is just part of an exciting year for Chance as he prepares to release his next body of work, Star Line Gallery. The project sees Chance intertwine the worlds of art, music, and cinematography through a series of interdisciplinary works in collaboration with fine artists from The Continent and The Diaspora. The resulting pieces redefine the notion of ‘album art’ and are compelling conversations and meditations on Black life.
Star Line Gallery works “Child of God” (collaboration with Gabonese artist and painter Naïla Opiangah), “A Bar About A Bar” (collaboration with Chicago-based painter Nikko Washington and filmmaker Troy Gueno), “The Highs & The Lows” feat. Joey Bada$$ (collaboration with Gabonese photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga), and “YAH Know” (collaboration with Chicago-based visual artist Mía Lee) have been showcased at art institutions around the world including Expo Chicago, Art Basel, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), The Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles’ Museum Of Contemporary Art (MOCA).
Fans are also loving him on Season 23 of NBC’s The Voice, where he is the first rapper to serve as a coach.
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Late-night host Bill Maher is under fire for his “boneheaded and wrong” recent comments on gun violence and race in Chicago in a segment on his show.
The Real Time with Bill Maher panel segment this past Friday (April 21st) featured Maher and University of Washington professor Daniel Bessner in a discussion on race, crime, and poverty. During that discussion, Maher asked Brown University professor & economist Glenn Loury about Chicago: “Like Chicago, most of the shootings are young Black men killing other young Black men. Is that not correct?” When Loury answered in the affirmative, Maher responded: “OK, much more than what the cops do. Why doesn’t anybody talk about that? Why aren’t there a hundred giant Black celebrities, who would have the respect of those people, saying, ‘What are you doing to yourselves? Why are you killing each other?’”
Bessner responded that other factors “’ more linked to social conditions, socioeconomic conditions, the disbelief that there is anywhere to go in terms of improving your lot in society,’” had to be considered, to which Maher dismissively replied, “You sound like the Mayor-Elect,” referring to Brandon Johnson, the recently elected mayor of Chicago and Chicago Teachers Union activist considered more progressive than the previous mayor, Lori Lightfoot. Maher and Loury would then say more “moral leadership” would help the situation. Bessner disagreed, saying the change would require that Johnson “attack it at the level of socioeconomics, not culture.” Right-wing outlets including Fox News amplified Maher’s Chicago comments – ironic as his opening monologue on the show skewered the network over its $787 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
Maher’s comments were criticized heavily by Ben Burgis of The Daily Beast, who pointed out how Maher’s rise as someone who was antiwar in the 2000s has given way to him devolving into more conservative positions. “But that doesn’t mean he’s ever been a leftist in any deeper sense. If you want to hear old jokes about Sarah Palin reheated and served up as jokes about Marjorie Taylor Greene, watch Bill Maher. If you want to hear well-thought-out analysis of what’s wrong with our society, then — at least on nights when Daniel Bessner isn’t on Bill’s panel — you’re better off changing the channel,” he concluded.
Maher has been no stranger to making racist comments, which include his statement that using the N-word “isn’t racist.”
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The long-running Lollapalooza music festival announced this year’s lineup with Kendrick Lamar as a top headliner along with Billie Eilish.
The organizers for Lollapalooza announced the lineup for their 2023 festival on Tuesday (March 21st), which will be held in the historic Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois. The Grammy Award-winning artist behind the recent album Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers was named as a featured headliner. Other artists who will be headline performers are Billie Eilish (in which it is rumored this could be her only U.S. concert performance this summer), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Odesza, Lana Del Rey, Karol G, The 1975, and Tomorrow X Together. It’s another major festival for Lamar, who’s slated to be a headliner at this year’s Outside Lands Festival as well.
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Lollapalooza 2023 will have over 170 artists and bands across its nine stages. They include Pusha T, Fred again, Lil Yachty, Noah Kahan, A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, J.I.D., Maggie Rogers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Diplo, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Tems, the Rose, Rina Sawayama, Lil Yachty, Rema, Morgan Wade, Lainey Wilson, L’Impératrice, Ivan Cornejo, Sudan Archives among others.
The three-day festival will take place from August 3rd to August 6th. A pre-sale of festival tickets coordinated through SMS for fans will begin on Thursday (March 23rd) at 10 A.M. CST for those who sign up at the festival’s website. They’ll have access to the Tier 1 4-day passes priced at $365 along with general admission passes, VIP and Platinum passes. The public will get a chance to purchase the remaining tickets at a later date, along with one-day passes.
Lollapalooza 2023 will also see the continuation of its community initiatives, primarily through the Lollapalooza Arts Education Fund, which gives $2.2 million to bolster arts programs in the Chicago Public Schools system. “Brady”, an afternoon host and musical director with local radio station 103.5 Kiss FM, spoke about the glowing reaction the lineup has gotten. “My phone has not stopped. And let’s be honest, music fans can be a little cynical and opinionated. But the reaction I’ve seen all day has been nothing but positivity,” he said.
Sign-up for the presale and other information can be found on Lollapalooza’s website.
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Vic Mensa continues his track record of giving back to the city that made him, this time turning his attention to the unhoused individuals across the metropolis. Joining with activist Englewood Barbie, the Chicago rapper slept on his hometown streets in support of the homeless and a new fundraising effort to build a homeless shelter.
TMZ reports that Vic Mensa and Englewood Barbie gathered in a tent camp under a viaduct on Tuesday (Feb. 28) with temps going down into the 30s on the final night of February. The pair launched a new campaign that hopes to raise $1 million to go toward the building of a new homeless shelter for those currently housed in the camp.
“We outside tonight in Chicago sleeping under the viaduct, raising money to help my homegirl Englewood Barbie to build her own housing to provide shelter to the unhoused people of Chicago,” Mensa says in a clip from the fundraiser.
Check out videos of Vic Mensa and Englewood Barbie speaking at the event below.
The link to the fundraiser, which has raised over $126,000 thus far, can be found here.
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Lori Lightfoot, the 56th mayor of Chicago, made significant history after winning the spot office in 2019 via a run-off election. On Tuesday (Feb. 28), Mayor Lightfoot failed to win the Democratic Primary vote, and now the race heads for a run-off in April.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Lori Lightfoot, 60, came in third behind challengers in former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who won 33.77 percent of the vote, and Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson, who wound up with 20.29 percent. Lightfoot tallied 17.06 percent of the vote.
As noted in local outlet WBEZ’s report, Lightfoot fell out of favor with some of the voting public on issues such as crime, but her time in office did have some notable successes. However, some of Lightfoot’s maneuvers, in particular, the disturbing Anjanette Young case, further sunk her approval among activists and others in the city.
The success of Vallas seems centered on his pledge to bring crime down in Chicago, which has been ravaged by gang violence and the like during Lightfoot’s tenure as mayor. Johnson, who is Black, said in statements that his goal is to bring financial viability back to the city.
Vallas and Johnson will face off against one another on April 4.
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R. Kelly’s legal dilemmas are getting bigger by the week. A judge has added another year to his sentence regarding his Chicago case.
As spotted on Page Six the disgraced singer got some bittersweet news this week. On Thursday (Feb. 23), U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced R. Kelly to 20 years for three counts of producing child pornography and three counts of enticing a minor into criminal sexual activity.
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The terms are that the sentence will run concurrently with the 30 years he is serving now for his New York state charges. In essence, he will have to serve another year after his New York bid is up.
“No matter what I do, Mr. Kelly isn’t going out the door after today,” Leinenweber said. “He’s not going out the door in the next 10 years. He’s not going out the door in the next 20 years.” The Chicago Sun-Times reports Kelly sat there “stone face” as the magistrate read the sentencing. R. Kelly’s lawyer plans to appeal the decision.
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Photo: Cook County Department of Corrections
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Vic Mensa went deep in depth about solidifying his spirit, and the beef he had with DJ Akademiks in the past, via a new interview.
The Chicago native sat down for a lengthy profile with Paper, in which he spoke heavily about his creative and personal journey to this point. Going back to Ghana, where his father’s family still resides, has been vital. “I’ve been able to build some pretty phenomenal things using that privilege and treat it as an opportunity to play that role to be the bridge between Black America and Africa,” Mensa said.
While the There’s A Lot Going On artist has been striving towards bettering himself on all fronts, he did touch upon a recent moment where a clip where he publicly called out media personality DJ Akademiks for exploitation of the Chicago drill scene and violence re-emerged. Mensa said it came from a personal connection.
“Because a kid that I grew up with and went to karate with when we were five years old ended up being a street n***a, gang banging, et cetera. He was also a very talented rapper. When he got killed, there was music involved, there were big drill artists involved, and I heard about it on Akademiks’ parasitic platform. So that’s why I was upset,” he said.
Mensa prefaced that by speaking at length about the differences between the emerging drill scene in Ghana and what already exists in Chicago. “Their music largely reflects their realities, which are not the same as American drill realities. Ghana is a very peaceful place. People don’t get killed like that. There’s a lot of struggle though, so their music is rooted in struggle,” he remarked.
The former Ye collaborator also spoke about his commitment to sobriety, which helped him confront various moments in his past and recalibrate his relationships. He also talked about how he’s come to accept being labeled a conscious rapper: “I can never be mad at the idea of being a conscious rapper. The truth is just that I’m a multifaceted person.”
Vic Mensa also spoke about his foray into punk music, and how he and Chance The Rapper linked up along with Erykah Badu and other artists to organize and perform at the Black Star Line Festival that took place in January.
—Photo: Momodu Mansaray / Getty
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R. Kelly has received some favorable news regarding his ongoing legal matters. Illinois prosecutors have dropped sexual assault charges against him.
As per Raw Story, R. Kelly is sighing a breath of relief this week. On Monday (Jan. 30), Cook County Attorney Kim Foxx announced that the state will no longer be pursuing the indictments filed back in 2019. The charges include aggravated criminal sexual abuse and assault and allegedly involved four female victims; three are said to have been underage at the time of the crimes. At a news conference, Foxx explained the reasoning behind the statement in detail.
In essence, timing played a significant role in their decision as two other federal trials took priority. “Due to the extensive sentences these convictions hold, our offices have decided not to expend our limited resources and court time with the indictments” she explained. But with this decision, some of his accusers feel their voices have been silenced.
Lanita Carter, who claims she was assaulted by R. Kelly back in February of 2003, admits she was “extremely disappointed” when she heard the charges were dropped.
“I have spent nearly 20 years hoping that my abuser would be brought to justice for what he did to me. With today’s announcement, all hope of justice for my case is gone,” Carter said in a statement to AP News.
As expected R. Kelly’s legal team agrees with the decision. Steven Greenberg spoke with ABC 7 Chicago about the matter. “In my opinion, the charges should have never been brought in the first place,” Greenberg said.
You can see the press conference below.
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FBG Duck, a rapper and reported member of a Gangster Disciples faction, was shot and killed in a brazen afternoon shooting apparently in retaliation to gang-related threats. According to an alleged report from the FBI, slain rapper King Von was behind ordering the hit to the tune of $100,000.
From what we gathered from a previous Chicago Sun-Times report, FBG Duck, real name Carlton Weekly, was shot in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood while shopping back in the summer of 2020. Weekly, who was affiliated with the Fly Boy Gang and a member of the Gangster Disciples offshoot faction Tooka, reportedly taunted rivals from the Black Disciples gang. Much of this recent ongoing war between members of the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples can be traced as far back as 2011.
Content page Chicagoscene88 allegedly obtained documents from the FBI stating that King Von masterminded the hit by initially offering $50,000 ad later doubling the amount.
A witness in the report claims that King Von gave out chains to O Block gang members over FBG Duck’s killing and named the shooters involved, most notably Muwop. A scan of Chicagoscene88’s Instagram page showcases additional information from the report. There has not been an official announcement made as of yet from the FBI or investigators in the still-open case.
In October of 2021, five people were arrested in connection to Duck’s murder, Marcus “Muwop” Smart, Christopher “C Thang” Thomas, Tacarlos “Los” Offerd, Kenneth “Kenny” Roberson, and Charles “C-Murda” Liggins. The group will face a trial this coming October.
King Von was shot and killed in Atlanta in 2020 following an incident between his crew and members of fellow rapper Quando Rando’s entourage outside a lounge.
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