Richmond gets it. More than any other city in Virginia. So here’s Weekend Frequency, a weekly, reader-curated playlist built for the city, by the city. Weekend Frequency is part revival and part continuation of our RVA Mag Weekend Playlists which we curated...
You’ve heard "Bad and Boujee," the number one song in the country, but you truly haven’t heard it until you’ve heard it live. Initially, I was skeptical about a major rap act in the Altria Theatre. I had seen Travis Scott perform there some months prior and the weight of his audience in the pit caused the floor to become unstable, putting the...
The rapping, beatboxing, reggae star, Matisyahu, came into fame in the mid 2000s with his chart topping sophomore album, Youth, as the “Chassidic Rapper.” Six years after posting a beardless picture on Twitter captioned “Sorry folks, all you get is me...no alias,” Matisyahu has been just that - beyond novelty; a complex, creatively variable, and...
Fresh off his "Us or Else Tour" in Canada, Atlanta rapper T.I. just announced plans for his "Hustle Gang Tour" which will bring him to Richmond this spring. The 36-city tour will kick off at the end of April in Mobile, Alabama and wrap up on June 11 in Jacksonville, Florida with T.I. making a stop at The National May 5. The rapper will also play...
Queens hip hop icon Roxanne Shanté will visit VCU tomorrow as part of the university's celebration of Women's History Month. Shanté rose to fame during the 1980s for her song "Roxanne's Revenge", an answer to hip hop group UTFO's song, "Roxanne, Roxanne." This then spurred over 100 answer records and hip hop rivalries which became known as the...
Big beats and bars are pushing an emcee from the background to the limelight; SwellzTheGod, a wordsmith from Newport News is making waves online with his tape Channeling Swellz. The project sits at 12 diverse tracks that give a deeper understanding of Devaughn Gaskins a.k.a SwellzTheGod as a writer and solo artist. “Channeling Swellz is getting...
Virginia rapper Doug Finesse and producer Jack TP channeled hip hop OGs Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg for the formula to success with their latest project. The two artists released Only Option on January 29 online and according to Finesse, a hip hop musician from Prince George County, the eight-track album was inspired by authentic musicianship. “It was...
The only thing that local independent artist and producer Jaavon obsesses over more than death, is love. “My name is Jaavon and [my musical moniker] is Jaavondies (pronounced Jaavon-dies and not Jaavon-dees),” said Jaavon. “I came up with my name because death fascinates me, the concept that when you die… it’s over and it’s the end of your life....
“Did not expect moustachioed guy with hipster hat,” read a comment on the YouTube video for Jawnii-Abhi’s August 2016 single “Flip Phone.” Despite the hipster aesthetic, the Richmond-native is not the sort of musician to pluck a guitar and croon. Instead, he raps. Jawnii-Abhi is the stage name for John Evans. He recently left the east coast and...
When I first heard McChicken I was more than a bit confused. The simple post we threw up a little over two years ago ended up blowing up. The video, featuring McChicken and friends rapping and partying at the river, was infinitely relatable to those who have brought a mixed beverage to Richmond’s favorite water-side party spot. Love it or...