COMMUNITY




more in community

Municipal Waste | 25 Years of No Mercy

When you think of Richmond’s heavy music scene, four names immediately come to mind: Lamb of God, GWAR, Avail, and Municipal Waste. These are the bands that have bled into the city’s veins and shaped the sound of this place over the last several decades. And this past...

Richmond Clean Water: Now Too “Woke” for the Federal Government

Oh, clean water. The thing you’ve been drinking since birth, something you take for granted—unless, of course, you live in a city like Richmond, where even something as basic as that can be too much to ask for at times. The federal government just made even that a...

Virginia March for Life Rally and Progressive Language

On a slightly chilly morning earlier this month, the largest anti-abortion rally in Virginia was in preparation, the Virginia March for Life. Busses were unloading passengers from across the state. The Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus were outside...

Guerrilla Filmmaking as Art and Ethos

After a night spent on the coziest sofa in all of Appalachia, we headed up early to the top of a university parking deck, parked beneath a sign that read “No Parking / No Loitering,” and lined up the shot—my director and me, just the two of us that morning to grab a...

Photos | Chandler’s Going Away Show at The Broadberry

Few artists in Richmond’s hip-hop scene have made as much noise in recent years as Chandler Matkins. From viral moments to sold-out shows, his rise has been marked by constant evolution and increasing recognition. His recent Going Away Show at The Broadberry was a showcase of homegrown talent, featuring performances from Lunch $pecial, O-Z, TMA,...

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Prism Aura | Inside the Mind of Eli McMullen

7:00 PMWestlake Hills33°F and FrostyPlaylist: Gradients on Spotify Photo by Mike Avey of Penrose Projex "It's honestly a bit of my own therapy to just be by myself on my bike—no music or distractions. Really allowing everything around me to pass through my mind, but also going through cycles of thinking about my life and this reverberation...

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It’s Still Our City | Ep. 4 TRAPCRY 🏳️‍🌈

"A key figure in Richmond’s ongoing music renaissance, TRAPCRY is absolutely killing it. If you’re not already familiar, it’s time to change that. His music is captivating, fun, and truly unique. I first saw him perform while working security at one of his shows, and I was completely blindsided—at a loss for words because I couldn’t stop smiling....

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Virginia Combating Swastikas

Placing a swastika to intimidate churches has been a felony in Virginia for years. However, the seldom-used law has only ever been applied once since the rise of fascist movements in the last decade. The difficulty in charging neo-Nazi vandals lies in proving intent to intimidate. Simply placing a hateful symbol is not enough for the law to step...

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Charlottesville_Unite_the_Right-Rally_photo-by-Anthony-Crider_RVA-Magazine-2025

Richmond Music of Right Now 2025 Poll Results!

This marks the third year of our annual poll, and for the first time it really feels like a passing of the torch. Richmond’s next wave of musicians is taking center stage. That shift likely has something to do with who showed up to vote. The majority of this year’s voters were under 25, and they’re actively shaping the city’s music scene with new...

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Chandler x Shaq x TuffLuckKid Drop New Track

It’s the kind of connection that would’ve been unthinkable in hip-hop’s pre-internet days, when geography was everything and a Virginia MC had to drive to New York just to get in the right room. But in today’s digital-first landscape, persistence is currency—and Chandler Matkins has been spending it wisely. For years, he’s kept himself in the...

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Chandler_Shaq_by Tori Sprankle & Aspen DeRosa_RVA Magazine 2025