SVANAPAPER » SXSW

The Next Big Thing (No.16) : Joey Bada$$

Tami Sabran — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 06:07:14 +0000

The start of the 21^st century was not a good year for hiphop fanatics, as hiphop’s golden age has gradually faded since the early 2000s. With new music scenes, the emergence of autotunes and harsh world of money-making music, gangster rap and hiphop was on the brink of demise. But then, like every rut has its diamond, so does every dying king has its successor, in this case, Joey Bada$$ is here to save the day.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Jo-Vaughn Scott (18) had his foot set on the entertainment industry, started out acting classes at the Edward R. Murrow High School. Rapping inevitably became a passion of his, then started to acclaim himself as JayOhVee, and later Joey Bada$$, where he stated that “the name sounded cool at the time, fit my mood”. He also fashioned a collective of young talents known as Progressive Era (ProEra) with a few high school peers.

Entering the rap scene at a peculiarly young age, he started it all with Youtube videos and got the acknowledgment he deserved from Cinematic Music Group. Being signed collectively with Pro Era, Joey and Capital STEEZ (RIP) debuted a video for Survival Tactics, that quickly became the anthem of the underground music scene, and later got featured on segments of RapFix Live and SuckerFree.Hardknock. The second video, Hardknock, entered MTV2’s rotation list. Later on the same year, Joey released his very first solo mixtape, 1999, creating the big upsurge of his musical career, named to be the 38^th best album of 2012 and the best mixtape of the year by HipHopDX.com. Despite being fresh green in the music industry, Joey proved to be one of the independent artist on the spotlight, with the authenticity he brought to the music and how he turned today’s rap into street poetry of indefinite depths. The golden age nostalgia and the notable attempt of “resurrecting boombap from the tombs” continued to invade with yet another mixtape, Rejex.

Joey Bada$$ also have contributed with well-known rappers, he was featured in Mac Miller’s song America and A$AP Rocky’s infamous 1 Train, alongside with other notorieties. After the release of the first single ‘Unorthodox’, Joey continues to gain eminence, stated as FuseTV’s 30 must-see artists at SXSW and started working with DJ Premier for his debut album, B4.Da.$$, that will be released this fall. The future for Joey Bada$$ in the rap industry is clearly set in stone, with an outstanding reviews from his released mixtapes and the public’s notice that seems to get stronger by the day, it is inevitable for Bada$$ to become what he claims to be, the original motherfucking badass of the fucking era.

The Next Big Thing (No.7) : Haim

Alcander Alonzo — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:22:04 +0000

Americans must be obsessing over their pop culture, but this band, Haim (rhymes as “time”), lead into the music revolution in 2013. Haim consist of three sisters, Este, Danielle, and Alana Haim. If you see on their ages, you must be thinking that these girls have zero experience in the professional scene, just to make it clear the girls have gone through A to Z of how the scene goes. Danielle and Este were the members of all-girl group named the Valli Girls (the group did a soundtrack for The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. Danielle was aked by Julian Casablancas to play guitar and percussion on his solo tour. And she did some work with Cee-Lo as his backing band. Later then, the girls decided to pour theirselves deeper to make Haim more seriously. Haim were originally formed in 2006 but they started reaching their limelight in 2012. The band have supported well known bands like Mumford & Sons, Florence And the Machine, Edwards Sharped and the Magnetic Zeros, and even a pop star, Kesha.

The band have released two EPs, Forever and iTunes Festival : London 2012, and three singles, Forever, Dont Save Me, and Failing. Amazingly, Haim dont have the typical perspective as some of the stream figther bands do lately. The band put some hip/hop, RnB, pop, and even folk (it’s pretty much seen as the girls are a huge fan of the Strokes and Danielle is a fan of Usher). Eventhough the iconic singer, Mick Jagger, said “Haim? Never heard of them” the sisters will be pretty much known soon since they were one of the lineups for SXSW. So far, they have accomplished in being nominated fopr MTV’s Brand New For 2013 and topped the BBC Sound Of 2013 (which they defeated great bands like Savages).

Having a league of fans who have been very solid to them, Haim are totally on their track to steal the spot light. NME also put the band on the cover with the brits’ Palma Violets. Haim are the new thing who will bring the past to the future. Either they will be giving some revolution music movement or not, they are a band that you should be watching in 2013. As our weekly feature’s title says, “The Next Big Thing”.

Watch Vampire Weekend’s Music Video for Diane Young & Step

Dorothy T. — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:08:23 +0000

After performing two new songs “Diane Young” and “Ya Hey” from their new forthcoming album, Modern Vampires at SXSW, Vampire Weekend finally released their official “Diane Young” music video which apperently was only about burning car with a background of New York skyline and “Step” which basically a lyrics video with New York city daily life as the background. They must’ve been very proud of their Yankee roots, huh?

Well, anyway based on their official web, the album itself will be out May 7 in the U.S. and May 6 in the U.K. via XL Recordings. Through this song, we can clearly hear that they are trying to expand their range of music with more of jazz and soul vibe, but off course without deleting their own charachteristic. So what do you think about their new songs?