The Bay Area music scene has always been one of the best. From the slang to the 808s, it is by far one of the livest, most unique around.
This week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Caleborate, doesn’t have the typical Bay Area sound but adds to the scene with a more conscious but still exhilarating, witty style that represents the new Bay sound very well.
“I just wanna bring my style forward and bring originality because I feel that’s gonna push the whole scene forward,” he said. “So, the way I do it is to tell my story the best way possible.”
Caleborate’s parents divorced during his teenage years, so he would frequently travel on the Amtrak back and forth to visit them both. On the train he did a lot of thinking and reflecting as well as writing.
“I think that I became an artist just through that,” he said. “I listened to a lot of music, read a lot of books through that traveling and became in touch with myself.”
His intellect comes across in his music with a very pure flow that speaks for itself. On all his songs he talks about experiences he’s been through or ambitions and things he plans on accomplishing.
Growing up listening to Lil Wayne in his prime years, Caleborate found the motivation from Wayne’s ’08 flow to fuel his newest song “08 [Carter Flow]” produced by fellow Bay Areaens, Kuya Beats and P-Lo.
“Everybody remembers 2008 when Wayne had the game on fire and the way he was just going and pushing himself to another level,” he exclaimed. “So, this record is like me pushing myself to the next level and really trying to harness that.”
Listen to the “08 [Carter Flow]” below:
The production on that track fittingly reminds me of Wayne’s “Let The Beat Build.” “08 [Carter Flow]” will be on his upcoming project 1993 dropping in July.
Aside from Weezy, one person Caleborate would like to collaborate with is J. Cole and is really appreciative of his artistry.
“If I ever got the chance to work with him I might shed a tear —a thug tear for sure,” he jokingly said. “He’s just really historic, his vibe and content have really helped me as a person and an artist.”
Caleborate is still growing as an artist and heavily expressed his emotions of feeling blessed to have the people he has around him to help him grow. Some major influencers in his life are his manager Coach Nick, G-Eazy, Kuya Beats and P-Lo.
Keep an ear out for this bald head guy wearing skinny jeans, he’s gonna blow up! Don’t forget who put you on!
This week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Correy C, has the kind of sound you will hear at a cracking party. The bass-heavy beats coupled with his bouncy flow make for a good combo.
You couldn’t tell Correy is from Los Angeles by the sound of his music. Although he reps LA heavy you can hear the southern influence in his sound.
His most recent song “Foreign Girl,”features Dreamville artist, Cozz and is produced by Meez, MikeAlmighty and T-Lew.
“Foreign Girl” shouts out all the sexy ladies from across the world that love to have fun. Listen below:
Correy will be dropping his next project this summer titled, “Salutations,” which will have “Foreign Girl” on it. Be on the look out.
Follow Correy C on the socials @CorreyCtheG. Don’t forget who put you on.
Balancing careers can be a struggle for some people, but not this week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Kendre’, who aside from acting is also pursing a career in music simultaneously.
Kendre’ began his acting career at 12-years-old after moving to Los Angeles from his hometown of Flint, Michigan.
He got his start in acting on Nickelodeon’s ‘All That’ and went on to make appearances on the shows ‘Girlfriends’ as Jabari and ‘Ned’s Declassified’ as Backpack Boy.
By 14 he setup a full-fledged studio in his room with money he had saved up from acting.
“The acting allowed me to have money as a kid to the point of putting money to the sideto buy equipment for my own studio,” he said. “That kinda kept me out of trouble when I wasn’t on set, I wasn’t out on the streets.”
During his later teenage years he gradually began making music out of his room, beginning with producing and making beats followed by adding raps to the sounds he developed.
“By about 17, 18 I started getting really serious with it and started making mixtapes, messing with autotune and people really liked the way my voice sounded,” he explained in detail.
At 21-years-old his sound had evolved and he put out a song with Quincy that was very successful.
The song “Stay Awhile” made it to the Top 10 countdown on BET’s 106 and Park. Watch the video below:
Creativeness has always been one of Kendre’s strongest skills. Being in the entertainment industry has only kept that creativeness flowing.
“I just like to be creative and use that to entertain people,” he exclaimed. “Whether it’s playing a role on a movie or on a show or making a song, I want to make sure that the audience is entertained at all times.”
On his most recent single “Right Here”he shows his appreciation for one of his girl’s “nana”. Listen to it below:
Kendre’ is currently working on his next EP ‘Checkmate’ scheduled to drop this summer and will soon be releasing a video for “Right Here.”
This week’s Indie Pick of the Week, J Romero aspired to be a professional soccer player before he ever orchestrated a hook on a track or laid down any kind of vocals.
He was born in Antioch, California before he relocated to Arizona with his mom, brother and sister. Growing up in a latino household he was into soccer “big time” and began playing when he was 7-years-old.
At 17-years-old his soccer dreams were crushed when he tore his ACL playing football. After coping with the draining emotions of having to give up on something he worked so hard on, he redirected his attention to music.
“I’m just a young Latino that never even thought about making music, all I wanted to do is play soccer but like my team and I say…”God Is The Best Chest Player,” he said. “My journey has had a lot of ups and downs”
Things seem to be more on the ups than the downs these days for J and his musical career. His most recent project ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ display his brilliant vocals and melodies that never seem to miss a beat.
He describes his thought process as simple, all he needs is great energy and vibes the rest takes care of itself. Usually he just goes in the booth and freestyles words till he finds the right one that aligns with the production.
“It all comes to me once I vibe to the melody,” he said. “All the music I write or put out is the way I was feeling in that exact moment of my life. “
The heat of the moment is everything for J when coming up with ideas for new music.
“I do my songwriting in the moment whether it be in the shower, car, or studio. As soon as I get an idea I voice memo it if I’m not in the studio to record it ASAP,” he said.
His musical inspirations are widely ranged in different genres with the likes of: Usher, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Daddy Yankee, Marc Anthony, J. Lo, Enrique Iglesias and Chris Brown. People have even gone as far as calling him the “Mexican Chris Brown,” although he doesn’t compare himself to anyone.
“I couldn’t compare myself to anyone because everyone has a different way they make music or work in their life but I have always had ppl tell me I’m going be the Mexican Chris Brown or the next Enrique,” he said.
One thing he does take pride in is repping Arizona, and feels that it is the next city to be booming not only musically, but as a whole in the entertainment industry.
“People over look Arizona very much so and Arizona has a lot of talent whether it be music, modeling, acting, ect.,” he said. “Arizona is definitely going to be the next big state to blow up for sure. Eventually the industry will start paying more attention to the over flowing of talent here.”
He and fellow Arizona artist, Vee The Rula will soon be dropping their forthcoming single titled “Be The One,” so look out for that.
“I’m working on many other tracks, just always expect great music from me in the future,” he exclaimed.
Toronto’s urban music scene has been a hotbed for talent the past couple years. Boasting with a hearty lineup consisting of Drake, The Weeknd, Tory Lanez, Belly, and others have made the “6ix Side” a force to be reckoned with.
This week’s indie pick, Nav, hails from Toronto and is looking to follow in the footsteps of his fellow Canadian contributors. Repping “The Rex” section of the 6ix, Nav is making strides by not only repping for the city, but also putting out quality music, while handling both the production and writing.
Nav couples 808 drums that blast on the weakest speaker system and provides revealing lyrics that lucidly take you on a ride with the producer/rapper/singer. Nav has also shown he has profound vocals and thunder through a track. It’s easy to see why Nav is next out of the talent-filled pool Toronto has become.
On the recently-released “On My Own” single, Nav melodically talks about his trust issues, shutting down record labels, Xanax trips, and doing “this on my own” and not “needing no help.” Listen to the full track below:
Nav has made his dreamy symphony and thumping production his trademark. The instrumentals coupled with his style of flowing, represent his artistry well.
His delivery has drawn comparisons to Texas rapper Post Malone. Aficionados have @’d Post showing love for the Nav’s “Myself” and “TTD (Ten Toes Down)” singles.
Listen to “Myself” below and tell me what you think in the comments section.
Nav was unfortunately unavailable for comment. Aside from his talents, there isn’t too many details to provide about Nav. One thing for certain is that he’s an explosive talent and WILL develop into a worldwide star.
Nav is next! Don’t sleep and don’t forget who put you on.
When you think of the Bahamas you think beautiful beaches, tranquillity, blue skies and azure water. One thing that may not cross your mind is hip-hop music.
This week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Duckie MrPoetry looks to change that and ultimately put his hometown of the Bahamas on the map, for more than a touristy vacation spot which it is primarily known for.
Duckie acknowledges the music that dominates on the islands is “Rake n’ Scrape” which he loves but doesn’t believe the genre will ever meet “international standards,” so he turned to rapping.
The tropical feel of the “Rake n’ Scrape” is what draws the islanders to the music with its cowbells, steel drums and goat skin drums giving that natural, soothing sound.
One of the struggles the pool of Bahamian artists that try to rap deal with, is the social judgement from the people that results in “civil confusion” because they feel these young artists are trying to bite the American culture and not staying true to their own.
“Telling a person born In the Bahamas that because his records [are] hip hop it isn’t traditional “hip hop” music that basically defines what goes on over here,” he said. “Its hard to be heard but then it’s so beautiful to live here sometimes I forget about all the messed up stuff happening around me and just put them experiences in my music to hopefully share to the world.”
Sharing his experiences is what his music is all about. You may not hear him rap about buying bottles at the club, riding foreign cars or gang activity because he doesn’t do that, he’s more about the social issues and experiences he deals with.
“I have to build up my Home Music culture so our artists can benefit from their work like artists anywhere else in the world,” he said. “I bet the only thing people know is “Baha Men” who let the dogs out, that watered down crap don’t represent a inch of what the Bahamas is.”
On his track “F.B.H.” off his week-old project, ‘The Two-Four Tape’ he airs out some of his frustrations he deals with spitting the words, “Niggaz playing bullshit pause, stop/but I spit hot nigga jaw drop/DJs playing bullshit, y’all stop/rappers need to stop talking what y’all not.”
Duckie knows his journey to make it big will take a little longer and be harder due to where he’s located and the minimal support his people put forward.
“The respect level for artists in the Bahamas is at an all-time low, nobody purchases music (AT ALL), Nobody supports their’s home,” he said. “But the very second a foreign act is booked everyone there, and even the artists over here who we claim we “love” aren’t shown any support.
Even with minimal support Duckie will be relentless in his attempts to make it on a global scale. He’s aware he’ll have to be innovative in his attempts to capture the following it takes to make it and nothing or no one will stop him.
“I performed all over my hometown had everyone singing words to my songs, but I never made that deep connection with the people,” he said. “Been a fighter and still fighting, I have “Believe Achieve” tattooed on my right forearm sleeve tattoo and i live and die by those words, I BELIEVE that I will get where i want to be one day, but it wont be easy.”
The industry has seen a rise in artists that are multi-talented with the abilities to both sing and rap. J Woods is exactly that prototype.
Repping Toledo, Ohio by way of Los Angeles, Woods moved to the West Coast to increase his value as an artist and to gain exposure.
“In Ohio we don’t got any outlets for music foreal everybody know us for Bone-Thugs & Harmony or MGK,” he said. “So I decided to move to LA cause everything was moving.”
In LA he caught the attention of rapper, Glasses Malone, whom he began to do hooks for and then he teamed up with Joe Moses who threw him on his debut album, ‘Brackin.’
The Joe Moses collaboration has done really well and put Woods on a platform he probably wouldn’t have got to if he would’ve stayed in Toledo. Listen to their single “Party Starter” here:
Aside from rapping and singing, the 23-year-old is a well-versed musician having played drums and the violin.
“When I was young I used to play in plays for school, church etc.,” he said. “Every chance I could get I’d be in something dealing with music.”
Music has been a lifelong interest for Woods beginning with singing at 3-years-old and rapping at the age of 8. He recalls recording his own music at 12-years-old on cassette tapes and eventually moving on to computer microphones and Pro Tools.
Through the years he has really evolved as an artist and hopes to one day be able to work with his top two inspirations, Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa.
“At the end of the day I want my daughter and my family to make sure we all good and we can all just live,” he said. “It’s hard coming from where I’m from people never really make it out so I keep my city on my back everywhere I go and rep for Ohio every chance I get.”
Check out his song “On Da Real” off his latest project, ‘Westside Story.’
Before this week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Torrian Ball ever thought of pursuing a career in music as a rapper he had the support of one of Chicago’s OG rappers: Twista, who he met at the ‘Chicago Legends Tour’ in 2004.
Ball was 14-years-old at the time, not even old enough to get into a concert without the accompaniment of his mother.
At the concert there was a contest where anybody in the crowd could go up on stage and kick a freestyle. The winner was chosen by the crowd and given the opportunity to meet Twista backstage.
Considering he grew up emulating Twista’s chopper style of rapping, this was a big deal for Ball and his Illinois bloodline.
“I used to rap just like Twista, that’s where my major influence come from,” Ball said. “I grew up on the Twistas, Do Or Dies era—the whole fast rap era with the Common and the Kanye West, all of that is where I got my inspirations from because I got to see it all evolve.”
He recalls the night he met Twista, where he won the contest in a landslide and was given the opportunity to go backstage.
After the show backstage, Twista pulled Torrian’s mother aside to express his admiration for the young rapper and invite him to go on the rest of the tour with him. Ball’s mother was a huge supporter of her son and granted permission for him to hit the road.
On the tour, a young Torrian would hit the stage in each city they resided to cover one of Twista’s hits at the time. Throughout the tour Ball continued to build a solid bond with the established Chicago rapper.
He maintained the relationship with Twista after the tour and would occasionally hang at the studio to soak up game. At the studio he also learned how the whole music-making process went down and became “the little kid they would send into the store to go get pops and shit.”
“That’s really how I got my feet wet,” he said. “I was in the studio with him [Twista], when him and Kanye were working on “Overnight Celebrity,” “Slow Jamz,” I got to be behind the scenes when they were working on that, doing all the fine tweaks.”
Seeing Chicago heavyweights like Kanye and Twista work on their craft was enough for Ball to really take his rapping to the next level and pursue it as a career.
“I’m one of those artists that really, really takes pride in putting in that work,” he said in a stern tone. “I like to mix both my hustles from the old school to the new school.”
Mixing his hustles was something he had to do when he returned to high school for his junior year. On the first day of class he was involved in a disastrous car accident that left him paralyzed for 11 months.
“I had to teach myself how to walk again,” he said. “Just going through that time in my life I feel that one part of your body shuts down, the rest of them enhance. I really got in-tuned with my mind and expressing myself with words.”
The calamity further motivated him, serving in the interest of his hustle that didn’t stop even after his unfortunate accident.
Torrian’s grind has opened a lot of eyes and ears besides Twista’s. He has received support from fellow Chicago rapper GLC and Taylor Gang head-honcho, Wiz Khalifa, who he had the pleasure of meeting and making a song with.
Ball met Wiz through a promoter during a private summer pool party in Chicago which Khalifa performed at.
After Wiz was kicked out of a handful of hotels for smoking, the promoter called to ask Ball if they could bring Wiz to his house until Khalifa’s manager Will, was released from the police station for the smoking incident.
“I was like yeah, nigga. Of course you can bring this nigga to my crib,” he said giggling. “After they left my producer called me and was like, “yo Wiz wants to show love for letting him stay at your house, he said he has a hook for you.” I was like huh, for real?”
That hook was put on their single, “Wings”, which was released a year later and reached over 150,000 plays on Ball’s SoundCloud. Listen to it here:
Ball hasn’t gone idle or let the Wiz feature get to his head. Instead he’s continued to work hard on his next project, ‘The 4 God’ EP which he says represents him as well as the “Quad Cities” by way of East Moline, where he’s from.
“I wanna be heard, I’m hungry,” he said. “The title basically is saying I’m the nigga running the city, doing my thing while I’m putting on for the city.”
His first single off the EP, ‘4 God’ illustrates that vision with lyrics like : “Niggas watch me starve, now they wanna play, when I was down wouldn’t front an eighth, had to fall back get my money straight, now my money coming like andale.”
Peep the entire song and fierce lyrics:
https://soundcloud.com/torrianball/4-god
Aside from the verbal abuse, the EP also demonstrates Ball’s skills on the board with the mixing and mastering which he is responsible for on the entire EP.
“I could never pay for enough time to vibe in the studio for them to mix and master my songs,” he said. “I was like fuck that, I’m gonna save my money and teach myself, I was blessed enough to know engineers that let me shadow them and come in after-hours.”
Torrian will be dropping ‘The 4 God,’ March 13th, the same week he is expected to perform at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.
His overall goal in music isn’t limited to getting signed but also to touch the heart of those who listen.
“Whether I make you wanna party, I make you wanna laugh, I wanna make you cry, everything I put out is gonna make you feel something,” he proclaimed.
Follow Torrian Ball on his socials @TorrianBall to keep up with all his moves and also the positivity he embraces through his movement.
“The movement is, ‘The Good Fly Young,’ do good, be fly, live young,” he said. “You go to my socials you see me encouraging my following on the daily basis to push that negativity out and let that positivity come in, because you can’t receive blessings in life until you push that negativity out.”
A true abrasive MC that spits vicious, blunt thoughts over progressive, psychedelic sounds isn’t easy to find in today’s hip-hop industry.
This week’s Indie Pick of the Week, Aaron Cohen, possesses that aggressive, dark format with vocals that exude his gut-wrenching visions and lyrics that would make the average man cringe.
Cohen, has been “seriously” making music for roughly four years. As a kid he listened to a lot of rap and hip-hop music and recalls the one day he began to write his own lyrics.
“I just kind of became obsessed with putting lyrics over music. Whether it’s rapping or singing or whatever, if I hear an instrumental that I like, I just automatically start making up a song to go with it,” he said in an email. “Before that I was rapping, but just for fun, messing around with my friends.”
Cohen was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, but moved to New York City after he graduated from high school. It was in NYC where he began to go “hard” with the rapping and started putting out projects with clothing line, Mishka and Mass Appeal.
The road to success hasn’t been an easy one for Cohen, whom has been dead broke, apartment-less and jobless. Through all the adversity he has continued to stay motivated and continued to work on his craft as an artist.
“I would never complain about any of that stuff because I made a choice to enter a difficult field. I get to do what I love everyday and it’s starting to progress into something bigger than most people thought it would,” he said.
Living in New York City has really opened his eye to different realms of motivation and inspired him to go even harder in the booth.
“There’s a lot of different cultures meshed together, a lot of influences to draw from,” he said. “I have to be walking or moving when I work. I’ve been like that since I was a kid, my brain doesn’t work when I’m sitting still.”
Staying on the move is definitely something he does. He recently returned to the states after doing a promo run in France for his forthcoming EP, “Off the Ground,” which is slated to be released in March.
“My next EP, entitled “Off The Ground” is the best music I’ve made by far,” he said. “I really took my time with this project and let the sound develop naturally. Kemal produced the whole thing, so it’s got a more cohesive feel than any of my previous work.”
He credits his producer, Kemal, for being patient with him, as he says he’s very picky when it comes to beats and likes one of every hundred beats he listens to.
“Kemal cooked up some serious fire for this project, trust me,” he exclaimed. “The songs are a mix of really aggressive production and melodic hooks. The project really represents where I am right now as a person, a blend of hunger and gratitude.”
Melodic is what makes his sound different from other rappers in his opinion. He feels that Kemal’s progressive production and his strong lyrics is a knockout combination that is rare these days.
His newest single, “Psychic,” was released this week via Mishka Clothing.
Listen to it here:
The single is about staying focused, specifically on the vision in his mind, while blocking out negativity from the outside world to fully visualize his destiny.
“I just heard the beat and to me it sounded like, “get out of my face, I’m in my zone contemplating shit,” he said.
When asked who he would work with, if he could work with anybody in the industry, he mentioned Kanye West, as a producer and a rapper.
“Very few things have had a bigger impact on me than music from artists I love,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what’s next in my life, but I know if my music keeps getting better, things are going to be good.”
