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Skillz for a New Generation: Q & A with Richmond Rap Royalty Mad Skillz

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In the midst of big changes in the local landscape, RVA Mag caught up with Richmond hip hop legend (Mad) Skillz to talk monuments, music, and making real change in the Commonwealth.

Skillz has the wisdom of experience, having worked with everyone from The Roots and Nas to Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. A veteran of the game, Skillz has not only presaged current events, but laid the foundation for generations of artists to come. During this time of protest, unrest, and political upheaval, who better to help navigate the many complex realities of life in the commonwealth?

RVA Mag caught up with Skillz and Richmond rapper Michael Millions one rainy day last week at the (soon to be removed) statue of Robert E. Lee to chat about the movement, Richmond, and how rap and hip hop has accelerated our consciousness.

RVA Mag: You’re a Richmond hero, rap legend, you have national prominence: With all of your experience, what’s this movement mean to you right now, where we at? 

Skillz: I’m proud to see the city take a stand. Some of these objects have been here for as long as I can remember [points to the statue of Robert E. Lee]. For people to take a stand against systematic oppression and racism, I knew it was a bubble that was going to burst at some point — I’m just glad that I’m here to see it. 

Michael Millions [to Skillz]: Prior to the civil unrest, have you ever been this close to this monument?

Skillz: No, not this close. 

Michael Millions: Driving through the city or utilizing this roundabout, have you ever even intentionally looked up at this statue? 

Skillz: I’ve been in Richmond since 1987 and I have never looked to the top of this monument. During the VCU days when I was living a block away, I never looked up going around this corner. 

Michael Millions: And you’ve never steeped foot on this soil in this city? 

Skillz: I have never stepped on this soil. 

RVA Mag: When you guys saw this statue in its current form, what was the first thing that popped into your mind?

Michael Millions: When I think of structures going up, I look at structure and shapes, everything they laid down, the foundations — there is a lot of intention to raise this, this high. And on top of all this, there is this statue on top. 

Everything returns to the earth. Even if they left it up in this form, the people have reclaimed the land. We like this now — it is definitely an art piece. 

Skillz: I have talked to plenty of people from out of town who had to come down here and take photos, and let their children see it before they take it down. 

RVA Mag: Skillz, coming up in the 90s, what’s it like to see this transitional moment, not just in Richmond but also in the US. Is Richmond playing a deeper role than most people think? 

Skillz: The difference between the 90s and now is about moving around the city — we chose to ignore these [Confederate statues], because they were never speaking to us. We never saw ourselves. They have way more of these than we had any representation. Now, for this to be a space that the oppressed feels to have taken over and reclaimed, it feels good. I believe this generation can be the generation to push forward for real change, because it is different now. A lot of things that used to fly can’t fly anymore; not without question, revolt, or repercussions. 

RVA Mag: Did you ever expect to see this in your lifetime? 

Skillz: In Virginia, in the Commonwealth? No, never. Whatever this is going to be, it needs to represent all people, not just some people. 

RVA Mag: What does this movement look like to you as a man of conscience, a creator? You have also been the artist-in-residence at University of Richmond. You sit at the nexus of all these things. 

Skillz: You might feel as if there is no change you can make, but what I want to say is that you can make that change. People at my age, not all, but some, have become complacent. I’m proud of all the young people stepping forward to make change. Now, when these cops stand in front of the protest groups and they see these people standing in front of them, it’s not just black people; it’s also gay people, Latino people, trans people. The army of “you’re not going to oppress us” is way bigger than just Black people. 

Sooner or later they’re going to have to realize that this is a whole new thing. 

RVA Mag: As someone who has articulated the Black experience in the 90s through their music, does this movement feel different?

Skillz: Yes. This is at my front door. I came back from LA to buildings burning and buses burning on Broad St. I’ve never seen that shit in my life. To see that, I can’t even imagine these people living here and seeing this thinking, “this shit is really happening outside my window.” And that’s how change happens. You almost don’t believe it is right at your front door, but it is. It is uncomfortable and uneasy, but that is what change is. 

RVA Mag: It seems like the boundaries of American culture have shifted quite rapidly in the past two weeks. The NFL, NASCAR, major corporations — even if its disingenuous, it’s still happening. What role has rap and hip hop culture played in pushing this national consciousness over the past 20 to 30 years?

Skillz: It has shown that it can’t be ignored. From day one people always thought it was a fad and it would fade away. No one saw this coming — that it would be a major global trillion-dollar business. Black culture is culture; this shit ain’t cool until we do it. And then when everyone else starts doing it, we stop and start doing something else. It is a transition, a cycle. These voices will be heard one way or another. This is the most popular music in the world — it is so prevalent in today’s society that you almost overlook it, because it is in everything. 

RVA Mag: From a certain perspective, it is America’s number one cultural export. 

Skillz: Without a doubt. I’ve been to places where they don’t even speak English and they know the words to 50 Cent, “In The Club” — some people have learned English through hip hop. 

RVA Mag: Do you feel Virginia ever really took ownership of its rap and hip hop scene? Given the sheer number of national and international acts that have come out of Virginia, it has always seemed strange to not represent that the way New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and other places would have. Do you think Virginia has come full circle in terms of national rap and hip hop culture? 

Skillz: No I don’t think we have. It takes perseverance, more soldiers, more cracks in the armor. When you look at some things that you never thought would happen, they have happened. So you can’t say that the history has to be absorbed and respected, because amazing things have happened here, and there are more amazing things to come. 

RVA Mag: Michael, let me ask you something. Based on what Skillz said, what is the next step for Richmond rap and hip hop? 

Michael Millions: More perseverance. Richmond is such a special place, our awareness in music is what makes artists from Richmond so special. If we could get in front of the curve, in terms of bringing that craftsmanship back to music. Look at where we live, there is not an artist here that is not impacted by this city. Where we live makes our writing and thoughts very special. I don’t think anything is going to stop us coming out of this area. 

RVA Mag: Skillz, as the artist-in-residence at University of Richmond — given that the students which go to that school are quite privileged and it’s one of the most expensive schools in the US — what was your main takeaway from there?

Skillz: In the midst of being there and seeing the diverse students, our class was one of the most popular on campus — it was definitely something that took me to a place where I could acknowledge that this music [rap and hip hop] was the voice of America. I worked at VCU too, so I can’t say that I want to be exclusive to [University of] Richmond. I think it would be dope to teach all across the city. I would teach this class at all schools if I could, because I feel like everyone can absorb something from that. When they take my class on the first day, I ask, “Why did you take this class?” A lot of them come and think it is going to be an easy A, but it’s not; they have to do the work. 

The big takeaway is that you never stop learning. You’re always going to be a student. 

RVA Mag:

Great seeing you guys. Thanks for the lessons.

Inside Flexico: The Mind, The Rise

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RVA Mag #38 is on the streets now! Here’s another article from the issue, in which we learn how Richmond’s Young Flexico has wound through a career of video production, rapping, and recording by sticking true to himself in his work.

“I try to have fun with it. The point of this is to do this stuff, and we don’t want to work normal jobs and have to be serious all the time.”

That’s Young Flexico, a Richmond rapper, visual artist, and marketing guru. “Not everything needs to be super serious. That’s not the mood I’m in, really,” he said. “I’m not going to say I’m in a goofy mood all the time, but I’m not in a serious mood all the time.”

For Flexico, it’s more about authenticity when it comes to subject matter in music.

“I couldn’t imagine making music that was just serious all the time. I mean, I can hit that pocket — but I’ve got to be already there [mentally]. But I don’t really be living like that,” he said. “Like, you don’t go in the studio and just be serious, you know? It was hard for me to rap about things I don’t care about as much. I feel like some artists try to touch on topics because they’re relevant, but some stuff isn’t really relevant to them. I think it [doesn’t] connect with the listener because they can feel it’s not real.”

Flexico has made quite a splash since arriving on the scene in Richmond a couple of years ago. Originally from the Hampton Roads area, he moved to the River City as a teenager and has been a part of the hip-hop wave in the city for a while. He brought his talent for video art to The Life Company (now Green and Gold Label) under the alias “G” as their director. Then he transitioned from behind the camera to performing, taking on his current moniker. I was fortunate enough to catch up with him (after months of missed connections) at his house, where we talked about promotion, the microwave minds of today’s society, and his plans for dropping new music. 

“I don’t know. I was talking to a friend and he was telling me that I should just push this for a while, but I’m always working on music, you know what I’m saying? Nothing will probably come out before the end of the year except for one or two random songs. But I’m working on another project. I’mma name my next project Tenacious — that’s what the title is right now, but it could change.” 

Before the surge of Flexico’s career, he started at the beginning as “G,” the video director. Reminiscing on his early days, he talked about how that first life began. 

“My older brother rapped. I was doing videos for him and shit like that. That’s when I first got my feet wet,” he said. “And then me and Segga (Spiccoli) became really good friends, and he rapped and all that. I ain’t have nothing to do ‘cause I wasn’t rapping. I didn’t really want to rap. I just started directing videos from there. I just looked at a lot of YouTube videos and kept practicing at it, and then I just kept sharpening my blade.” 

Seeing those early Segga Spiccoli videos and other visual work for The Life Company, I assumed he went to school for this. But he chimed in quickly to set the record straight. 

“I didn’t go to school for nothing I do,” he said. “I went to school. I got a degree in business administration, a bachelor’s degree. I started shooting videos. Like shooting good videos with Segga. The first person I shot for AGM [Association of Great Minds] was Nickelus F, but that was like some recap shit. And I reached out to [Michael Millions] after he dropped Ghost of $20 Bills, and asked him to shoot a video off the joint. We never shot a video, [until] he was recording the Beautiful album. And then we just shot the whole film because that’s when I really started learning how to do shit. 

“I didn’t have the proper tools. Like a D3100, which is like a really beginner-DSLR. And I had this fucked up ass laptop and Adobe Premiere Elements — I did all that on Adobe Premiere Elements and then chopped it together, probably going too deep in detail,” he said. “So basically I was with Mike probably for a year working on that, and just creating content for him. That was a good moment in my life. And around that time, that’s when I got my first MacBook. My girl had got it for me for Christmas, then I upgraded the camera, too. And then I just started on the first video I did with that. [It] was the ‘Laced Weed’ video [for Nickelus F], and that’s the video that people were really liking a lot.” 

In his early career, Flexico’s self-taught director skills made his transition to hip-hop almost effortless. Funding all of his own work, he’s grown from his humble beginnings with a never-wavering drive to believe in himself — and the people around him as well. Segga Spiccoli didn’t have a place to record at the early days, and Flexico bought his own recording equipment. 

“I believe in his talents so much that I bought all of the recording stuff, and then he wasn’t really using it,” Flex laughed. “I don’t know why, but Mike taught me how to use it, equipment and everything. So one day I just was like damn, I don’t want this shit to go to waste. I had spent a lot of money on that shit. He ain’t even use it, I’m just going to use it myself. 

“And that’s how I started dabbling in music, because I didn’t want to waste my money. It’s not like you can return it,” he said. “It’s right there. I got the whole set up that Mike had, I could record Segga’s vocals and then go to Mike’s House and he could fix everything — same program, same interface, same mic, same everything. I bought all the same shit that Mike has.” 

The first day he recorded, he recorded five songs back to back. He made it into his first mixtape, which he titled The Adventures of Flexico. 

“I had sent out fake mixtapes to like five people, and they was like, that joint kinda crank a little bit. But it was some goofy shit,” he said. “I was like, alright, cool. Then I came back and I was like, ‘Damn, I’m gonna really put out a mixtape.’ I think that what happened with that joint is like… if I’m going to do something, I tried to do it 110%, like go all the way in. I don’t want to have no regrets. 

“I was like damn, I’m about to start rapping. So I can’t make myself look stupid, because I already had a kind of respect for just doing videos. That’s why I ended up buying beats, trying to get cool producers on my shit.” 

Learning that he had a business degree, I had to ask Flex if he took many marketing classes. Some of his promotional moves as an artist have already earned legendary status in the community.  

“I think that goes back to how I was raised. It’s like your moms saying don’t go out of the house looking a certain way, it’s the same thing. Don’t step into whatever you’re doing without looking a certain way or creating a certain experience for people. It’s entertainment. So we have to entertain listeners. I’m calling myself Young Flexico, that mean I gotta flex, you know what I’m saying? I didn’t give myself the name, Mike gave me the name. But at the end of the day, I got to flex.” 

When it came to living up to his newfound rap alias, Flexico decided to flex that persona where nobody would miss it.  

“So it was like, what can I do that would wow people? Because honestly, if I wouldn’t have done the billboard, then nobody really would’ve noticed what I was doing,” he said. “It was like the only way I could get people’s attention was to do something that was never done before. 

“And I was just like, might as well just go for it… Then I motherfucking bought the billboard, ‘cause I was trying to make a big ass splash. And I feel like honestly all those were good steps in the right direction. The billboard was wild. That was one of the coolest things I did in my life… I feel like nobody ever did that shit before. And I came out of nowhere completely, so it was just a cool process. That’s when I really started falling in love with doing music. That shit was a cool moment in my life. 

“So I didn’t take no class [in] marketing. I just tried to think of cool ideas or excite people, because I feel like a lot of artists in general — not even just in Richmond — just don’t think outside the box. They just confine [themselves] to a certain space. And that’s why I try not confining myself, so people don’t put me in a box.”

While discussing his marketing moves, Flexico touches on some of the missteps he sees artists take, recalling the beginning of our conversation about letting his album cook for awhile. 

“The rollout part of it. I feel like artists don’t really… Alright, so you’re used to taking all your time on this stuff. Hours after hours of recording music, mixing music, all that. You do all that. You put all that time into it. Right? To put it out and just promote it slightly,” he said. “So it’s like, if I’m doing something and I’m putting a lot of my time into it, I’m taking away from spending time with my girl, spending time with my son, hanging out with just family, doing other shit. Then I might as well put that same amount of energy into the process of letting people see. 

“I feel like people might get a little bit discouraged when [they] drop something and they don’t see returns. So they don’t keep going. You know what I’m saying? Like my last video I put out didn’t do as good as the previous video. It could be a situation where I should just get on to the next thing, but I got other good songs on the album that people might like,” he said. 

“It’s like if you don’t keep pushing what you worked your ass off on, cause you gotta think like other people don’t, people will stop believing in you.”

Photos by Bandolero and Klasheee

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Illa Styles: The Hero Richmond Hip Hop Didn’t Know It Needed

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The latest album by Richmond’s Illa Styles is a tale of love, personal growth, and navigating the ever-changing dynamics of life in America in 2019.

A Quarter Til A Mil by Richmond-based rapper Illa Styles is the latest in the River City scene. Pressing play on the album, listeners are greeted by the voice of the late Nipsey Hussle, and it becomes clear that this isn’t your average rap record.

With a gritty sound and life instruction manual-style lyrics, A Quarter Til A Mil finds Illa Styles rapping over high-energy jazz and carefully-crafted production from Michael Millions, with skits and features as versatile and well-made as the album itself.

Styles isn’t new to the game. Much like a carpenter goes to trade school to learn their craft, he graduated from the school of hard knocks in order to create this new record. It’s a refreshing guide to navigating street life while maintaining personal growth, and even when it comes to the dirty details, Styles doesn’t shy away. If anything, it is through his transparency that he finds his power.

“I am not glorifying this,” Styles said. “I am just documenting things that went down during the course of my time here.”

Styles has lived in Richmond for many years, yet it’s obvious he refers to more than just this area on the album. 

“I’ve lived through many dark fringes of society. I used to manage strippers… and some other things I’d rather not talk about. I was still a slime ball, bouncing from house to house every season depending on who I was dating at the time,” Styles said. “I wasn’t paying bills. Once I had my daughter, I fell back for a year.” 

Under pressure to provide for his newborn and her mother, Styles strove to live for her rather than continuing the life he had known before.

“She put the humanity in my music. She listens to it. I have to be a little more cautious about certain things I put in there, while still giving authentic highlights and certain pitfalls in life to avoid.”

In its sound, A Quarter Til A Mil is well-suited for the present. However, it’s clear that Styles found inspiration for his lyrical “fashion tips” from many different places and experiences unique to no decade.

“Everything in life inspires me,” Styles said. “I can ride down the street and see the clouds cascading over the sun in a certain way, and that inspires me. I try to take inspiration from everything in life. Never let it be wasted — what you consume is what should drive your inspiration.” 

Styles refuses to be limited. He notes that artists should continue to be versatile in all walks of life, acknowledging that there are many different ways to express yourself in the music industry. 

“Why limit it?” he said. “Why pigeon-hole yourself, put yourself in a box… Good music is just good music. It’s not even about a genre anymore. As long as it feels good to you, then it’s music.” 

Photo by Branden Wilson

Pulling from many different genres, Styles has found inspiration from artists over the years with various styles and sounds. He cites Snoop Dogg as the first rapper he found a real connection with. Doggystyle, released in 1993, was the first album Styles ever bought. Although he was always a fan of hip-hop, he was reluctant to dive straight into the culture.

“I didn’t always feel like I could do it, because there wasn’t a whole lot of new life being breathed into the music,” Styles said. “It just wasn’t my kind of vibe. When Snoop came in, even though he’s from California, it was something familiar — the stories he was telling, the music.” 

Across the continent in Philadelphia, Styles found a sense of familiarity in Snoop’s music. Growing up on opposite ends of the nation, the two artists lived different lives with similar battles while Styles navigated his days in West Philly. 

“Philly is a rough place,” Styles said. “I’ve seen a man get killed with a bat right in front of my house when I was just seven years old. That’s one of the reasons I got the tattoo ‘Life Is Priceless.’ You never know; you’ve got to treat your life with the utmost sincerity and respect… You’ve really got to put the time in to make sure you’re living life to the fullest.” 

Styles left Philadelphia to move to Richmond in his junior year of high school. It’s no surprise to hear that classic artists like Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, Donnie Hathaway, and Marvin Gaye were the songs playing in the background of his household growing up.

Today, Styles listens to a broad array of music, from hip hop and blues to Linkin Park and Creed. Noting John Mayer as a major inspiration of his artistic life, he is far more complicated than his laid-back exterior comes across. His blunt but confident inflection shows that Styles only raps about what he knows; and he’s waited years to finally load all of his experience and prowess into one album.

Styles worked through 60 original songs in the process of creating A Quarter Til A Mil‘s current track list of 16 hip-hop gems. Each track displays a different mood in hip-hop, but can all be tied together by jazz. Having lived in Richmond for most of his life, he felt it would be wrong not to pay homage to the city’s rich history of jazz talent.

“Richmond is all about live instrumentation,” Styles said. “A lot of stuff here has that soul, that grit… When you think of Richmond, it’s live jazz.”

But more than just jazz went into informing the live-instrument sound of A Quarter Til A Mil — and a lot of the inspiration for the album has a local basis.

“The rock scene is crazy here,” Styles said. “D’angelo — those sounds are akin to Richmond. They are married to Richmond. A lot of people try to chase that digital synth sound, but that’s not a Richmond sound.”

His reason behind wanting to use real instruments for the album was a practical one: he wants you to listen.

“For most people, just hearing [analog instruments] brings about an experience much larger than any sound waves moving around the air aimlessly,” Styles said. “Those sounds are emotional triggers that plant themselves in your head, like seeds tossed into reality; when they sprout, they combine the past and present, making what you’re listening to become attached to a specific feeling, smell, or idea.”

Photo by Branden Wilson

Although he possesses a very classic aura about him, Styles’ views of the world are modern. The more you hear his music, the more he shares his world and his perspective. One can’t help but resonate with him.

Styles is the new “classic man.” The man we need now — especially during this time of social change and battle for a mass enlightenment within America. As time goes on, the role of manhood encompasses more than its traditional roles, and brings in a new, nurturing scope of the world.

“I feel like the universe is a feminine energy,” Styles said. “The energy of creation, of motherhood. They hammer into our heads ‘The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost,’ but where’s the woman that’s present in that situation? Anything that comes to you after you start leading with love, that’s the universe bringing it to you.”

In his song “Long As The Villain Win,” Styles raps lyrics like “love leads and the universe follows.” His words are heroic coming from a man who claims to be the villain of his story, but perhaps Styles is onto something — perhaps the world is changing so much that our definition of a “hero” needs to accompany the new face of justice; one that is more representative of the people as a whole.

Styles is challenging old world perspectives with A Quarter Til A Mil, displaying the courageous message of a new generation of American men. His latest album is a jazzy self-reflection as much as it is a guide to self-actualization in the modern world. Underground voices often speak truth in a society of oppression, and Styles uses his words to express his thoughts during this era of American life. 

Top Photo by Branden Wilson

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 20 – November 26

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 22 & Saturday November 23
Raw Mom Weekend, Night 1: Alfred, Trapcry, Archangel, F.R.E.E.
Night 2: Gumming, True Body, VV, Lance Bangs, Sofia Lakis
@ Gallery 5 – single night: $8 in advance/$10 at the door. Weekend pass: $15 in advance (order tickets HERE)
Hope everyone’s getting their wallets limbered up, their psyches strengthened, and their cars fit for traveling, because it’s that time again! Yes indeed, folks, the holidays are coming sooner than you think — Thanksgiving is a mere eight days away, and Christmas, Hannukah, and Kwanzaa are only a month past that. It’s coming time to see the fam, with all the happiness and terror that entails. But before the holiday season officially kicks in, let’s celebrate our river city fam with the first ever Raw Mom Weekend at Gallery 5.

My old pal Rivanna Youngpool has really outdone herself with this one, bringing two nights of incredible local talent together on the Gallery 5 stage to celebrate the ever-renewing wellspring of talent that is the Richmond music scene. Night one is the night on which we will all dance, featuring hip hop, ambient electro, and psychedelic dance grooves from several different politically-informed artists of color. Rapper Alfred will headline and bring his lysergic beats and tongue-twisting rhymes to keep your ears burning and your feet moving. Trapcry, meanwhile, brings powerful electric funk with a strong social conscience, as Archangel explores spaced-out anime-inspired breakbeats.

That’s Friday night, and on Saturday, night two brings us a whole different approach that’s sure to be equally invigorating. The noisy, quirky, brilliant, powerful punk rock of Gumming tops the bill and promises to trip you out and rip your head off all at the same time. Things will get more gothic at points with sets from True Body and VV, while Lance Bangs will bring you an always-pleasing dose of slack indie rockin’. Sofia Lakis will kick things off with some beats to ensure that there’s plenty of dancing on this night as well. What better way do we have to celebrate the last weekend before the holidays spread their ambivalent malaise across the next six weeks? I can’t think of one.

Wednesday, November 20, 9 PM
Ant The Symbol, GIANT, Johnny Ciggs, Reppa Ton, Rah Scrilla, Jarv, C Shreve @ The Richmonder – Free!
Over here at RVA Mag, we’ve been following the work of Ant The Symbol for a solid decade now, since back when he was still Just Plain Ant of the Just Plain Sounds crew. He’s been growing and maturing as a producer and musician ever since, and over the past few years, his massive collaborative albums have become event listening for the entire RVA hip hop scene whenever he releases one. THE WHAT?! is the latest in a string of Ant The Symbol releases on his post-JPS home of Gritty City Records, and it shows that as time goes on, the man just gets better at making incredible music for the city’s best to spit rhymes over.

That doesn’t mean he’s getting predictable — even his latest crew of collaborators can acknowledge that. The first thing Kels says on his THE WHAT?! track, “My Way,” is, “I love you, Ant, but this beat’s weird.” Speaking personally, that’s why I look forward to each new Ant The Symbol project — where others get predictable, he gets creative. He’s put out so many records I’ve honestly lost count, and he still hasn’t come anywhere near repeating himself. That’s why you should make a point to show up tonight at Gritty City’s longtime live home, which is called The Richmonder instead of Emilio’s now but is still the same dope spot. Ant The Symbol’s gonna join with his Gritty City crew and a whole bunch of other talented rappers from Richmond and beyond to bring you the freshest new sounds this city has to offer, in the form of his new album. Don’t be left asking, “the what?” Show up tonight so you know the answer.

Thursday, November 21, 7 PM
Wild Pink, Addy, Recluse Raccoon, Beeline @ Poor Boys – $5
If you’ve been seeing the phrase “Prsmcat Presents” on a bunch of good shows lately, you’re not the only one — this new booking project from members of Majjin Boo has brought a cornucopia of excellent live music to the city over the past couple months, and established themselves as a name to look out for. This visit from Brooklyn’s own Wild Pink is just the latest positive result of Prsmcat’s efforts around town, many of which have involved the return of rad live sounds to the backroom stage at Poor Boys, the venue formerly known as Flora and, before that, Balliceaux. I can’t imagine anyone having any complaints about that.

Wild Pink are definitely worth spending a Thursday night in the aforementioned back room. On last year’s Yolk In The Fur, it’s clear why this trio dedicated their latest album to the memory of Tom Petty — that recently-departed heartland rocker is an obvious influence for Wild Pink, one they feed through a 21st century sensibility that evokes the best work by The War On Drugs. It’s smooth, comfortable, and ever-so-slightly melancholy, in a manner sure to evoke a sad smile of recognition. Wild Pink will be joined on this weekend-preview night at Poor Boys by some excellent local indie groups as well, foremost among them Recluse Raccoon. The results are sure to charm you.

Friday, November 22, 7:30 PM
Bonsai Trees, Dropping Ugly, Linden Row @ Garden Grove Brewing – Free!
Damn, y’all, I love it when this happens — when I’m poking through a list of bands, all of which I’m unfamiliar with, trying to find the makings of a killer show. I always find something good — this is Richmond, after all; we do live music RIGHT. But it’s rare that I am totally blown away by a band whose name I’ve never even heard before. However, Connecticut’s Bonsai Trees are that rare band.

This talented quartet’s recently-released Learn To Grow LP came out of nowhere to blindside me with its incredible collection of melodic, emotional alt-rock tunes. The more I listen to it, the more stoked I get. At this rate, I’ll be bouncing all over the room by the time they even take the Garden Grove stage Friday night. And whether you’ve heard them before or not, I pretty much guarantee that once they start playing, you’ll be just as over the moon as I am. The fact that their show is free and also features talented RVA combos Dropping Ugly and Linden Row merely sweetens the already-delicious pot. Is that how that particular cliche works? Oh, who cares. All I care about is you going to see Bonsai Trees Friday night. Seriously, do it.

Saturday, November 23, 8 PM
David Shultz, Nick Woods, Jonathan Vassar, Trey Burnart Hall @ Capital Ale House Music Hall – $8 (order tickets HERE)
By now, you’re probably used to seeing “singer-songwriter night” tagged onto certain performances that take place around this city, and you’ve come to expect certain things — talented solo performers who are for the most part just getting started with their musical careers, playing a selection of tunes you probably won’t have heard before but you just might love. This Saturday night show at Capital Ale House’s Richmond Music Hall could accurately be termed a singer-songwriter night as well, but if it were, it’d be a particularly stacked one, featuring as it does multiple Richmond musicians who’ve built decade-plus careers here in the river city.

Take David Shultz, for example. From his days fronting alt-country combo The Skyline to more recent solo acoustic outings and now some brand new tunes created with the assistance of multiple Spacebomb-affiliated creators (perhaps a harbinger of positive things to come?), Shultz has quite the track record going for him — and he’s clearly far from done as a creative musical force. His old pal Nick Woods is similar — once the Richmond-based frontman of indie-folk group Orioles, these days he’s making country-style acoustic music down in Nashville. And of course, Jonathan Vassar’s heartfelt folk-Americana sounds have been a constant here in Richmond for over 15 years now. Trey Burnart Hall is a relative newcomer by comparison, but he’s an incredibly talented one. If it’s a showcase for some of the most talented singer-songwriters this city’s ever produced that you crave, you’re in for a major treat at Capital Ale House this Saturday night.

Sunday, November 24, 6 PM
RVA Rap Elite Season Finale, feat. Team Radio (Radio B, Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, Cane, Intalek) vs Team Petey (Nickelus F, Big Sty, Easalio, Illa Styles, Fan Ran), Bravo vs. Chance Fischer, Big Sty, BlackLiq @ The Dark Room – $10
Battle rap is a strong tradition that dates back to the very dawn of hip hop, but it’s had its ups and downs over the decades. Freestyle battles between talented rappers are definitely on the upswing here in Richmond, though, and have been for the past few years, from the work of the Southpaw Battle Coalition to the star-studded presentations by RVA Rap Elite. This particular event constitutes the 2019 Season Finale for these events, which have relocated with the closing of Champion RVA to The Hofheimer Building’s Dark Room.

RVA Rap Elite majordomo Radio B is really pulling out all the stops for this last event of 2019, too — he and his AGM partner Nickelus F have each formed five-MC teams that will battle it out in a cypher sure to have faces melting and heads exploding all over the Hof. Between Radio B’s enlistment of heavy hitters Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, and more; and Nickelus F’s recruitment of Illa Styles, Fan Ran, and other world-class talents, it’s hard to predict who could prevail in this clash of the hip hop titans. Meanwhile, Bravo and Chance Fischer will strut their own stuff in a battle that’s guaranteed to showcase some devastating rhymes from these two top-level rhyme spitters. And of course, BlackLiq and Big Sty will each bring the fire with sets of their own. If you care at all about hip hop in RVA, you have got to make it out to this one — it really doesn’t get better.

Monday, November 25, 7 PM
Jimbo Mathus @ The Canal Club – $15 (order tickets HERE)
It’s entirely possible that right now, you’re thinking what I was thinking when I first saw this listing: “Jimbo Mathus… do I know who he is?” You almost certainly do, but chances are you know him better as the co-founder and leader of the Squirrel Nut Zippers than you do as a solo performer. Everyone remembers the Zippers from their late 90s hit, “Hell,” but that quick taste of success did them a disservice, as their old-time Dixieland jazz approach got them swept into the “swing revival” dustbin with the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and old VHS copies of Swingers when the turn of the millennium rolled around.

Meanwhile, Jimbo Mathus was and remains a world-class talent with a wide-ranging creative sensibility that finds him dipping into the worlds of folk, blues, and Southern soul, as he’s proven with his 2019 solo album Incinerator — his fourth under his own name. The album sees him collaborate with former Zippers bandmate Andrew Bird, as well as Lily Hiatt and members of the Drive-By Truckers. The result isn’t that much like your memories of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, but it’s sure to be a hit with anyone who loves heartfelt American music created by truly unique characters that haven’t been homogenized by our country’s creeping suburban wasteland. That’s what you’ll get from Jimbo Mathus, and you’re going to love it.

Tuesday, November 26, 8 PM
La Dispute, Touche Amore, Empath @ The Broadberry – $25 (order tickets HERE)
One of the first articles I wrote for RVA Mag, nearly a decade ago, was about Touche Amore and Pianos Become The Teeth coming to town to perform. While La Dispute wasn’t part of that gig, they were, along with those other two bands, part of the loosely-aligned group known as The Wave. This was a cadre of half a dozen or so bands who formed an affiliation based on their mutual status as groups attempting to thread the needle between emo and hardcore at the dawn of the 2010s. Those groups have gone in a variety of musical directions since then — Pianos Become The Teeth have dropped the screaming and found a deep well of melodic emotion to draw from, Touche Amore have remained closely musically aligned to hardcore even as their exploration of deeply fraught lyrical content has cut ever closer to the bone.

As for La Dispute, 2019 has seen them sign to Epitaph Records and release their first LP in five years, Panorama. On it, vocalist Jordan Dreyer — always the most literarily inclined of The Wave’s songwriters — has gone deeper than ever into his novelistic inclinations, exploring his own emotional responses to trauma and tragedy in the lives of those he cares about over the course of the album’s 10 songs, even as the rest of the band generates dynamic compositions that move from quiet introspection to overwhelming crescendos in a matter of minutes. The result is an incredible musical journey that will have a powerful impact on all who witness it — especially in the live environment La Dispute will create at The Broadberry this Tuesday night. Let it impact you. Be there.

Elsewhere Around The State:

Friday, November 22, 6 PM
Femme Funk, feat. Shagwuf, Ships In The Night, Harli & The House of Jupiter, Dropping Julia, Marti @ The Southern Cafe (Charlottesville) – $15 (order tickets HERE)
This Friday night in Charlottesville, The Southern Cafe will bring us the third annual celebration of C-ville’s showcase of femme musicians, Femme Funk. This year’s event is set to benefit Planned Parenthood of Charlottesville, and with the kind of peril reproductive rights and women’s health care face in Trump’s America, you’d be hard pressed to find a better cause than this one. Plus, you’ll get to hear a highly diverse set of sounds from Central Virginia performers of a feminine persuasion, and that’s always a joy.

It’s especially a joy when the evening is headlined by the unrestrained rock n’ roll passion of Shagwuf, whose blues-inflected alt-rock has been blowing minds around VA and beyond for quite a few years now. The evening will also feature as wide a variety of sounds as is possible to find in one room on one evening, from Harli & the House Of Jupiter’s powerful soul-punk fusion to Ships In The Night’s dark, ambient electronic sounds to the rootsy pop of Dropping Julia and the indie rocking of Marti. See how much femme artists have to offer the world of Virginia music and take a drive up 64 this Friday night for Femme Funk — you won’t be sorry.

Tuesday, November 26, 7:30 PM
Immortal Technique, GOOGZ @ Elevation27 (Virginia Beach) – $20-$25 (order tickets HERE)
If you’ve just been following the lists of new releases over the past eight years or so, you could be forgiven for thinking that Immortal Technique had retired from the hip hop game. We haven’t gotten any new music out of the most radical rapper in the game since his 2011 collection, The Martyr, and while he swears he’s still working on long-promised fifth album The Middle Passage, there’s no release date as yet. That’s all the more reason to head to Virginia Beach this Tuesday and see Immortal Technique murder the mic, live and in person.

While these days he’s probably better known for his radical left-wing politics due to multiple appearances on the shows of Joe Rogan and (uh) Alex Jones, Technique’s hip hop mixes those politics with some incredibly harsh lyrical content, leaving him somewhere between political rap and outright horrorcore — a dichotomy clearly visible in songs like “Point Of No Return” and “Dance With The Devil.” Regardless of whether you agree with everything Immortal Technique raps about (personally, I’ve never been a fan of his casual use of homophobic slurs), he’s an incredibly talented and provocative MC of the sort who doesn’t come around very often at all. So go see him, because there’s no telling when you’ll get the chance again.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers -– this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected]

Top Photo: Gumming, by Joey Wharton, via Twitter

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

The Real MVP: Weekend Playlist by Big B

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Every Friday night, RVA Mag brings you an excellent and essential playlist curated by Virginia’s most influential artists, musicians, and institutions.

This week’s playlist comes to us from up-and-coming Richmond rapper Big B, who just released his second album, My Life In Words, on all major streaming platforms earlier this month. He’ll be celebrating both the album’s release and his birthday at Gallery 5 on Saturday, August 31 (that’s tomorrow night!), in an extravaganza of hip hop music and comedy featuring performers like Ghxst, Muff-Man, $y G, Reggy Steel, and quite a few more!

In the meantime, he’s given us a playlist jam-packed with hip hop sounds perfect for blasting out of your stereo speakers this late summer weekend. From long-gone legends (2Pac, Notorious BIG) to today’s biggest stars (Kanye West, Pusha T) to a heaping helping of Richmond-based rap heavyweights (Michael Millions, Cole Hicks, Illa Styles, and more), this playlist is a great way to walk through Big B’s personal hall of fame.

Get that head-nod going, Virginia.

Open this playlist from mobile in your Spotify app HERE.

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

Kingship Has Its Privileges

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Michael Millions has spent years rising to the top of the river city’s hip hop scene. His next step up? Opening for Nas at The National.

Michael Millions already planned on going to the Nas show later this month, but now the Richmond rapper is going to perform for the legendary Queensbridge emcee as well.

Nas will be performing at The National in Richmond on Monday July 22nd, and as his opening act, Millions, one of Richmond’s best-known rappers, will play his largest show yet.

According to Millions, he had to take his Apple Watch off the day his performance was confirmed.

“The heart rate joint kept going up and alerting me,” he said. “I was just so excited.”

“This is the biggest opportunity I’ve ever had,” said Millions, “I never would’ve thought I’d get to open up for one of the greats.” 

Growing up, Millions took huge inspiration from Nas through his music, fashion, and lifestyle.

“Nas made rap look really cool to me,” he added.

Millions originally studied mass communications at Norfolk State University and briefly worked in an IT job before transitioning to making music full time. He’s been putting out music since 2011 and is finally achieving one of his biggest dreams by playing a show with a hip-hop icon. 

It was Nas’ smooth songwriting and storytelling abilities, most legendarily showcased on his classic 1994 debut, Illmatic, that first caught Millions’ attention, inspiring him to make music himself. 

Millions actually met Nas at his last performance in Richmond back in 2008. Now, eleven years later, Millions will perform a 25-30 minute set at a venue Richmond hip hop artists rarely play.

For Millions, he’s playing the show “for everybody — every artist in the city, and everyone who wants to do something creative with their life.” He wants to give hope to others like himself.

Millions says he’s still deciding on what songs he’ll perform, and whether he’ll break out anything special in honor of the occasion.

“I might do a new record or do a song or two that haven’t been performed live yet, but I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve still got a few weeks to think about it.”

Millions also said his social media blew up the day he announced the show. His fans have been showing immense support and sending long, kind messages after the announcement. Family members who don’t typically come to his smaller shows are coming out for this one. The announcement that Millions would open the show even caused ticket sales to jump. 

In the meantime, Millions will be travelling between Richmond and New York,  continuing to work on music, and rehearsing for the show. 

“I’m just excited to play for new people, fans,” said Millions. “And for Nas.”  

Top Photo by Hadley Chittum

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond