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Norfolk’s Night Treez Drops New Track, “Daily Bread”

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Norfolk artist NightTreez made his debut on the music scene in 2016 with his track, “Drug$.” Since then, the musician has released a number of killer tracks that speak to a newer generation of hip-hop and R&B fans. His latest track, “Daily Bread,” brings a fresh sound based on how he connects to the world around him.

“His latest release, “Daily Bread,” is a testament to the growth he’s now experiencing, both in and out of the booth, and a fresh beginning to the new heights he is looking to portray with his upcoming music. “Daily Bread” is somewhat of a Thanksgiving to the place NightTreez began, and the optimism that lives in his future,” said NightTreez’ publicist in a statement to RVA Mag.

Check out the stream below:

 

Cardi B, Migos, Miguel & More to Headline DC’s Broccoli City Fest This Weekend

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Back for their sixth year, Washington D.C.’s  Broccoli City Festival this weekend, brings a stacked musical lineup, a two-conference, and a slew of programs that highlight its original purpose of building thriving urban communities and engaging millennials to get involved in their communities through social impact campaigns and events. 

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Started out in 2013 to draw attention to Earth Day, it has blossomed into a three-day festival of a variety of events from city runs, to community action events, to an all-night art escape, culminating with the all-day music fest to highlight environmental justice, economic sustainability, and education in underserved communities.

“You know, it’s crazy thinking about how our first show was in 2010 in LA and then seeing where we’ve gotten to now, it’s great,” said co-founder Brandon McEachern.

The lineup for this year’s Broccoli City Festival is spectacular, with headlining rap sensation Cardi B, along with Georgia rap group Migos, R&B crooner Miguel, along with Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Nipsey Hussle, and Rich The Kid rounding out the bill.

“Even in the past we were smacking people in the face with the lineups, we’ve always been having artists before they blew up,” he said. Like in 2010, we had Kendrick Lamar and SZA before they even blew up. That’s where we came from, having the huge artists before they blow up, yet now, we have the hottest names out right now.”

Hip hop trio Migos has been dropping tracks all year, gaining traction from their most recent album, Culture II. The group’s two biggest hits “Bad and Boujee” and their other track, “Stir Fry” have been soaring up the charts since coming out. Collaborating with big names like Lil Uzi Vert, Gucci Mane, Travis Scott, and Nicki Manaj, Migos is quickly becoming one of the biggest names in hip hop right now. 

Fellow headliner Cardi B, a former reality television star turned rapper, burst onto the scene last year making a huge impact with her hit “Bodak Yellow”, making her the second female rapper to get a top spot on the Billboard Top 100 with a solo album. With her stage presence and antics, she will surely put on one hell of a show.

Canadian, Grammy-nominated soul singer/songwriter Daniel Caesar launched his musical career in 2015 with Pilgrim’s Paradise and captivated fans with his hugely successful single “Get You” featuring Kali Uchis. Since then, he’s dropped Freudian that earned him nominations for Best R&B album and Best R&B Performance. His melodic vocals and smooth voice will be sure to win over the Broccoli Festival crowd.

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H.E.R, a mysterious R&B singer that first came onto the scene in 2016 with her debut album, H.E.R Vol 1, saw swift success, thus launching her into the mainstream market. This album landed at #28 on the Billboard top 100 R&B album chart. After her second album, H.E.R Vol 2, which dropped in June 2017, the RCA Records signee finally revealed herself to be singer/songwriter, Gabi Wilson. 

Besides the great lineup, the Broccoli City Festival will host a two-day interactive conference, Broccoli Con, co-hosted by GOOGLE DC, which leads up to the festival on Saturday. 

“There will be many organizations there to answer questions and network and build connections,” said McEachern.Featuring professionals Jasmine Crowe, the founder of Goodr, Jerri Evans, the CEO of Turning National, Gilbert Campbell, the founder of Volt-Energy, the conference will include over 20 speakers holding sessions on topics ranging from environmental gentrification to startup funding along with hands-on workshops and more. See the entire programming schedule here. Tickets for this conference are being sold online for $35, and the conference takes place April 26th-27th from 12 pm to 7 pm.

In addition to music and the conference, the festival will also have a 5k run.

“This year, we’ve also partnered with Nike to do a 5k Run, where you can either walk or run. We took over Anacostia Park where there will be music and games to participate in as well,” added McEachern. “Really, it’s all about the city and giving back. That’s why the show is where it’s at in D.C. We were looking to really get involved with the community this year. The show is really going up, it’s going to be great.”

This year’s Broccoli City Festival is definitely a show you will not want to miss. The conference is underway, and the official festival kicks off thsi Sat., April 28 It’s Saturday, April 28 at the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds Lot 8 located at 2400 E. Capitol St.  Tickets start at $198 and can be purchased here. 

Photos By: Broccoli City

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

VSU Collective Troubled Empire Drop New Video, ‘Notice’

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An up and coming hip hop/ R&B collective at Virginia State University has recently come across our radar, but the group of singers, rappers, and other creatives have been making waves in Petersburg, and in the area for quite a while.

Troubled Empire, was founded by Troubled Mal, and features fellow VSU students and artists Blue Bynum, Don Juan, DJ Wake, Lorenzo Cheatham, Brenten Layne, and Derrick Wilson. The collective has been getting their name out with performances at VSU’s homecoming alongside Playboi Carter and 21 Savage, along with the Square Festival in New York and the Manchester Gallery, and most recently, the group dropped a video for their song called, “Notice”. And from the lyrics, to the beat, to the message,  its one that grabs your attention for sure.

“Basically we’re trying to wake people up, take off their blindfolds per say. We’re trying to wake them up to all the propaganda they’re fed daily,” said fellow member Blue Bynum, whose real name is Devin Bynum. “Not just focus on politics, this is based on music that people hear, from television to the radio. All that stuff, all the propaganda that people are fed, we’re here to help them ‘notice,’ pun intended, that they need to wake up and we’re going to be the ones to do that.”  

Mal, whose real name is Malcolm Pinckney, added they also want to use the song as a way to introduce new audiences to their group.

“We also want people to wake up to Troubled Empire as well, it’s our time now. I’m saying it’s our time, not only from the perspective of Troubled Empire but as people as well,” he said.

“Notice,” hooks you in from the beginning with four young people with red blindfolds on nodding their heads while they watch the news, to a lecture hall where a professor is talking with a slide that reads “Trump is the Next Martin Luther King” behind him. The beat and Bynum’s swift rhymes pull you in from there with him trying to wake his fellow classmates up to what’s going on around them.

The video was directed by Ryan Dickerson and produced and edited by Shamir Tyner. Be on the lookout for more from this group as we can continue to follow them. 

 

Erin & The Wildfire on new sound, new album, & unrequited love before show at The Camel tonight

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It’s been two years since RVA Mag caught up with Erin & The Wildfire, the Charlottesville folky/funk group led by sultry powerhouse vocalist Erin Lunsford. The group has been busy touring, performing at festivals, and in the studio recording their first full-length album, Thirst, set to drop tonight at The Camel.

In 2015, the then four-piece had just a self-titled EP under their belts, but the group is back with two new members and has switched up their sound to a funkier, soulful, R&B vibe for their latest 12-track album.

Covers like “Stayin Alive” and “Signed, Sealed, Delivered”, paired with Lunsford’s vocals, and the band’s backing funky grooves helped them carve out their place in the Richmond music scene, but the vocalist said for this record they wanted to go with a different vibe.

“The first EP was more Americana and folk blues, and even then, we were talking about wanting a more R&B and funk feel, that’s the kind of stuff we were covering,” Lunsford said.

More recently, the band put out songs like “Here I Go” “Got Dem” and “Blame the Rain” that were a little closer to the sound the group wanted, but didn’t quite have enough soul for them just yet.

“It was still a little too folk, too Americana for what we wanted,” she said. “And they were still just singles, not complete pictures.”

After that point, Lunsford said the songs the band started writing, and the feeling they were going for just came together in an organic way and they were able to pinpoint that sound that they desired and what they thought represented them as a band.

A busy summer schedule playing at festivals like Rooster Walk, Red Wing Roots, Front Porch Fest and Steppin’ Out kept the band preoccupied up until early 2017 when they decided to take a couple months off to get into the studio to record the new material they had been hard at work on.

“It was an incredible experience and we’re super proud of this full product,” she said. “Everything we’ve done in the past has been bits and pieces nothing has felt really wholesome and like it represented our sound.”

Looking to stay local this time around, the band sought out the talents of Adrian Olsen over at Montrose Recording in February to lay down the tracks for their new full-length album and wrapped it up in May.

Erin & The Wildfire dropped two singles ahead of Thirst’s release, “One Woman Show” in July, an upbeat anthem to empower all us women, and “Great Love”,  a bluesy, heartfelt ballad that really shines light on how the band has evolved.

“To me, it is the ultimate tune from this album,” she said referring to the second single.

Much of the album is very personal, specifically about unrequited love according to Lunsford.

“There’s one person in particular that several of the songs are about,” she said. “And a couple other random dudes that I dated sprinkled in. “’Great Love’ was the amalgamation of all of those experiences, it’s not actually a surrender, but its kind of close. Understanding what the realization of what I’m looking for and what I’m willing to give up and what I’m not willing to give up.”


As far as the name of the album, there’s a little story behind that as well. There’s a track on the album called “Thirsty For Your Love” and the group wanted a title that would sum up the theme.

“We wanted to go with ‘Thirsty’, but that’s kind of a double entendre these days,” she laughed. “We thought Thirst represents the songs, wanting for love, wanting for something more.”

Part of the reason for those soul and R&B influences on the tracks could be attributed to the two members recently added to the group. The band brought on Garen Dorsey to play horns and Austin Patterson on the trumpet rounding them out as a six-piece with Nick Quillen on the drums, Ryan Lipps on the guitar, and Matt Wood on bass.

“I think that it really enhances our sound, its make our music much more interesting and much more vast,” she said. “Funk and soul is not funk and soul without horns. They are just awesome musicians in their own right so they just are raising our music to the next level.”

If one element stood out for me on the old EP, it was the amount of soul and passion that came through when Lunsford opened her mouth to belt out a tune. And if these tracks are any indication to the rest of the album, I’m really going to dig the new vibe!

You can catch Erin & The Wildfire perform Thirst at their album release party tonight at The Camel along with Mckinley Dixon and Sid Kinglsey. Show starts at 9 pm. Tickets are $7 and you can get yours here. Thirst drops online on Fri., Sept. 29.

And if you’re lame and miss tonight’s show in Richmond, the crew is also doing cd releases in Blacksburg on Oct. 12, Charlottesville at The Southern on Oct. 13, and in DC Oct. 20. Check out the rest of their tour schedule here.

*Photo Credit: Tristan Williams Photography

Trey Songz hosts concert afterparty at Kabana Rooftop this Saturday

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Back in April RVA Mag gave you the lowdown on R&B heartthrob Trey Songz making a stop in Richmond this Saturday as part of his national tour (swoon).

Well, not only will the singer perform tomorrow night at the Dominion Arts Center, but he’s hosting an afterparty at Kabana Rooftop to celebrate. Doors Open at 9pm and Trey Songz will be in attendance after the concert is over.

Tickets for the afterparty are $40.82 each and look to be going fast so jump on it if you haven’t already!

Trey Songz takes the stage at Dominion Arts Center Saturday, May 20 at 8 pm. Tickets are $49.50-59.50 and can be found here.

R&B artist Trey Songz coming to the Dominion Arts Center May 20

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Ladies, please contain yourselves. Or don’t because I know I’m all giddy like a little teenage girl because Trey Songz is coming to Richmond to grace us with his lovely voice (and body) next month.

The R&B sensation first made his way into our hearts in 2005 with his debut album, I Gotta Make It and has been making us swoon with hits like “Love Faces”, “Can’t Help But Wait”, and “Last Time” ever since.

Originally from Petersburg, this will be a nice little homecoming of sorts for Trey Songz, who will make a stop at the Carpenter Theatre at the Dominion Arts Center as part of his “Tremaine the Tour”, which he announced last month.

The singer is promoting his seventh studio album, Tremaine the Album, which he released at the end of last month. Check out the video for “Playboy”, a single off the record released March 10 below.

Trey Songz takes the stage at Dominion Arts Center May 20 at 8 pm. Tickets are $49.50-59.50 and can be found here.