On February 27, 2025, Richmond's hip-hop community converged at RVA Boombox to honor the legendary J Dilla during Dilla Day VA. The event, which was also joined by Ma Dukes, Dilla's mother, transformed the venue into a sanctuary for beat enthusiasts, including a beat...
"If you notice how I'm the only person here, it's because my dad's locked up right now." This article was featured in RVAMag #25: Summer 2016. You can read all of issue #25 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now. He takes another puff off of his Black & Mild and exhales it into the smoke-filled room off Belmont Road. He...
Well known and ever-evolving RVA beatmaker DJ Harrison can always be counted on to release material that's unique to make us get out of our comfort zone. On Friday, the man behind Jellowstone Records will release Slyish, a nine-track cassette of fuzzy lo-fi sounds and vocals dedicated to the funk man himself, Sly Stone. With it's hazy, record-on...
Back before it got cold, I drove over to the Jellowstone Records house to interview Marcus Tenney and producer DJ Harrison of Tennison, who had recently released Crack Music on their bandcamp and a cd which RVA Magazine deemed as “essential listening” in the Winter 2015 issue. I caught their act at The Broadberry (opening for Detroit’s own Slum...
“You wouldn’t know it, but there’s a park back there. It’s beautiful. Linco used to swim in there as a kid,” says Cyrax of Divine Council, pointing to a nondescript patch of trees. On the surface, it doesn’t look like much—just a string of woods a lot like the spots you made the best of near your childhood home. I ask if that was the spot where...
Rising RVA hip hop artist Isaiah Jeremiah just released a new single for the people that love their city, an anthem for hip hop lovers and th Rising RVA hip hop artist Isaiah Jeremiah just released a new single for the people that love their city, an anthem for hip hop lovers and those alike that love tribute songs to their hometowns. And if I...
This year, RVA Magazine will be celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary--and in honor of our first decade of publication, we'll be taking a look back and some of our favorite articles we've run over the past 10 years. Today, we revisit our interview with Pharrell Williams, the cover story from our Summer 2010 issue. It is around 3:30PM and we're in...
That new Pharrell single, "Happy," sure is a lot of fun, right? So much fun, apparently, that all of RVA had to get into the act in this new video from local production company JI Live. Featuring everybody from Mayor Dwight C. Jones to legendary muralist Ed Trask, plus the NBC 12 news crew, the VCU Rams mascot, and a whole lot of other people...
We lost one of the nicest guys in the Richmond music scene this weekend. Rapper Joe Threat passed away late Saturday night of unknown causes. In a scene with competition and beef around every corner, Joe was everyone's friend. We've heard from a lot of people around town who are shattered to learn that he's gone. A lot of us here at RVA Mag knew...
Here’s a challenge for any person reading this, a challenge that I struggled with for nearly a week while getting ready to write this piece: name another hip-hop group that can rival the one-two punch of bubblegum harmony and filthy lyrics Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony have been providing for nearly two decades. Go ahead, I’ll wait. You’ve got nothing,...
