rubyhornet

Closed Sessions Vol. 2 Recorded in Chicago, IL from 2010-2012 featuring Vic Mensa, Blu, CyHi The Prynce, Raekwon, Freddie Gibbs, Action Bronson and more. Available for the 1st time on vinyl. Limited to 500 copies.

Acid Rap turns 10 in a few days. Unbelievable. A quick story of meeting @chancetherapper courtesy of @timlarew . That blog era was a wonderful thing. #tbt

This is the first song Action Bronson ever performed in Chicago, IL at his first ever Chicago show. For the 150 people crammed into Beauty Bar that night, it was a rare look at a future star. The small intimate party experience has been part of our DNA since the beginning. In fact, I think it’s fair to say that these parties were the beginning of Closed Sessions. Closed Sessions, at the time, was a new way to utilize the internet in order to release music. I was able to combine the blog work at rubyhornet with my DJ career that provided me with venues to showcase new talent, and my experience crafting mixtapes - both for myself and for other artists (Naledge, GLC, Rhymefest, Rockie Fresh, BBU…). Once we got the Digital Freshness/Closed Sessions template moving, it was all about finding new talent and plugging them into our little Chicago Hip Hop 2-day bootcamp. My friend @alexanderrichter put me onto numerous artists coming out of New York and had my ultimate trust. When he sent me Action Bronson’s video for “Brunch”, I hit play immediately and maybe half way through the video was hitting Mike with, “this is the next dude for the party.” It didn’t take long before Mike hit back with “make it happen.” Making it happen, as always, is a fun game. That time period between your idea and getting participants to say yes. It’s thrilling, exciting, deflating, and usually extremely rewarding, making something out of nothing. In this case, it put me on the phone with industry OG’s, on a hunt for copious amounts of 💨💨💨, and in 5-star restaurants… but that’s for another time. The energy for this one was extremely high. You can see that energy in the video. @beautybarchicago was electric. We had an all-star lineup of DJ’s, an under card featuring Suli, and Bronson didn’t disappoint. This weekend we also recorded “Blackbird” and “Dear Heather”, ate at Manny’s and Lou Malnatti’s and became homies with one of rap’s most enigmatic and magnetic personalities. Bronson was definitely on the come up & it’s been up ever since. - @djrtc #tbt

Power to the People ✊✊🏾✊🏼✊🏻✊🏿

BoatHouse Tales Vol. 2 featuring “Crowd Go Loose”. Go read that right now at rubyhornet.com.

New Music Friday is here. We help you sort thru the rubble with 5 LP’s You Should Check For. Link in the bio.

#tbt 6.24.08. We ran into Alchemist outside the Double Door before the Dilated Peoples concert. He was chilling with Rude One. We had just started this Freestyle In The Park series and were hungry for props and to get on nahright. ALC took part, Eskay posted this and the series took off. Enjoy.

“In These Moments of Uncertainty, Jack Larsen’s Mildew Feels More Enlightened Than Ever.” Alec Stern revisits Jack Larsen’s debut LP, Mildew, in the middle of a global pandemic.

“I’m a fucking writer. I write raps as opposed to writing op-ed columns or writing books. I write raps.” – Open Mike Eagle. New interview up on the site. Go read that.

BoatHouse Tales is a new series updating every Tuesday. Check the first edition “Coming Into Focus”.

We linked up with HappyBirthdayCalvin and talked music, Chicago and the future!

With @pitchforkfest starting tomorrow we have put together our guide to the festival. There’s a ton of killer local and national talent on the bill, who are you looking forward to seeing the most?