HIP HOP & RAP

Sound Check! Deau Eyes! Destructo Disk! Grocer! & More!

by Griffin Smalley | AMERICANA & BLUES, DOWNTOWN RVA, ELECTRONIC & EXPERIMENTAL, HIP HOP & RAP, METAL, PUNK, THRASH & HARDCORE, MUSIC, NIGHTLIFE, QUEER RVA, RHYTHM & SOUL, ROCK & INDIE

Maybe it is a facade but the weather is nice and life is returning to the streets of Richmond. The parks are full, the lines for ice cream are long, and hopefully the venues are packed. Check out one of these shows, enjoy the weather, and pretend you are in a movie.If...

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Photos | Dave Matthews Band Draws Record Crowd in Richmond

Dave Matthews Band played to a capacity crowd at Richmond’s new Allianz Amphitheater on Tuesday night, delivering the venue’s biggest show since it opened earlier this year. Roads around the Riverfront were closed off as thousands of fans packed into the area,...

Play Music I Love, With People I Love, For People I Love

When Jeff Gorman of Illiterate Light steps on stage, it’s not hype you feel, it’s heat. Not the kind that grabs at you immediately, but the kind that builds steady, loud, and unflinching. Just two guys onstage with a sound that hits like a full band. Offstage is where...

When the Music Ends, The Bukit Hedz Begin

I came across them one night, sitting in the grass at Kanawha Plaza. Two men, buckets stacked like makeshift toms, a lone snare resting in one lap, framed by the warm glow skyline of downtown Richmond. Beside them, a sign made the economics clear: VENMO DRUMKEEM....

Because None of This is Important, All of It Is.

Amid feedback loops, flickering lights, and fleeting connections at Get Tight Lounge, a local sound tech finds clarity in the chaos and meaning in the impermanence. by Eric Kalata I had to go across town first, to a different venue, to grab the microphones and...

200 People, One Backyard, and a Whole Lot of Heart

Local Brandon Crowe has quietly built something special in Richmond’s underground scene, a Fourth of July tradition called Crowefest. No corporate sponsors, maybe a few local ones. No massive gates or fences, just the usual short backyard one. What you get is a...

Sound Check | Box Factory, Drunk Mother, Riffs and Recovery Birthday Show & More!

New energy, new life, more shows, more sounds. Don’t give up, give ‘em hell! That being said, got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWaDWxd9TEo Box Factory, Crush, The...

Photos | Carnifex at The Canal Club With Suffocation and Distant

Carnifex headlined and crushed. Suffocation brought the weight. Distant opened and set the tone. Photographer Vinny Candela was in the pit. Here’s what it looked like when Richmond got wrecked. For those that don’t know… Carnifex is a veteran metal band from Southern...

Lamb of God Answers the Call at Black Sabbath’s Final Stand

When Richmond's Lamb of God touched down in Birmingham, England for Back To The Beginning, the final show from Ozzy Osbourne and the original Black Sabbath lineup, front-man Randy Blythe was stepping into sacred ground. The bill was stacked, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses,...

RVA NO.2 | The Pharrell Williams Interview

By RVA Staff

It is around 3:30PM and we're in South Beach Studios in Miami Beach, Florida, shooting a music video with Pharrell Williams. Alex Germanotta, the DP of the video and I began talks with VA natives Clipse a little while ago. We wanted to shoot a video off of their album Till the Casket Drops, which features Pharrell, and fellow Virginia native...

Snoop Dogg: The State of the Rap Show Experience