For those of you who don’t know, Vic Mensa has continued to build buzz in the Chicago rap scene ever since the release of his mixtape INNANETAPE. Vic recently went in and spit some bars over Disclosure’s “When A Fire Starts To Burn”. It’s a little bit different than what we’re used to in the underground rap scene but it makes sense since the Chicago MC is currently on tour with the electronic duo, Disclosure. Anyways, check out Vic’s freestyle below!
Don’t forget that Vic Mensa will be performing at the Number Fest this year in Athens, OH! Get your tickets here!
Streaming link (embed code):
Don’t forget that Vic Mensa will be performing at the Number Fest this year in Athens, OH! Get your tickets here!
We’re happy to announce the lineup for #Fest: 12Fest Edition AKA #12Fest featuring Wiz Khalifa, Carnage, GRiZ, and much more! #12Fest, which takes place on April 12, 2014, right outside of Ohio University’s campus in Athens, Ohio, has become known around the US as The Nation’s Largest College Music Festival. It solidified this title with over 16,000 people in attendance at #11Fest in 2013, which featured Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki as headliners.
Pittsburgh-native Wiz Khalifa has become a staple in today’s hip-hop scene. Wiz started an underground artist, releasing multiple mixtapes, until breaking through with the mixtape “Kush & OJ”. He followed that up with the chart-topping hit “Black and Yellow”, which has become an anthem around the country. His debut studio album, “Rolling Papers” dropped in 2011 and has been followed up with “O.N.I.F.C.”
DJ and producer Carnage had a huge year in 2013, performing at nearly every major music festival all around the country. He rose to the ranks of the top-tier DJs as he became known for really getting the party going, and will blend right in with the wild atmosphere at #12Fest.
GRiZ has become a regular in the EDM scene. Opening for Pretty Lights, Bassnectar, and Big Gigantic, he quickly started headlining his own shows. Combining his DJing with his live saxophone playing, 23-year-old GRiZ brings heart and soul into the dance floor and will have #12Fest hyped up in no time, performing EDM with a groovy hip hop-like feel.
Other performing artists include the fast-rising Vic Mensa, Ohio rapper and Maybach Music Group member Stalley, hip-hop producers The Runners (Everyday I’m Hustlin’? That was them), Cleveland indie-pop band Captain Kidd, live EDM trio yacht club., Dayton up-and-comer Jola The Trunk Boi, Ohio University students Entel and DJ LoCo, and more to be announced. Read more about all of the artists at our Artists Page.
#Fest: 12th Edition will once again take place at The Venue and will keep its famous BYOB format.
The Number Fest is hyped to announce #HALFTIME, coming to Athens, Ohio on October 5th. #HALFTIME will hit Ohio University territory exactly halfway through the year from when 11Fest killed it in April, to when the Number Fest will return with #12Fest in April 2014. The standout lineup will be headlined by hip-hop sensation Hoodie Allen, and will be backed by big names such as rapper Riff Raff, EDM sensation The Chainsmokers, and up-and-coming acts Mike Stud, D-Why, E-Trayn and Yizzo. As always, the Number Fest will be 21 to drink and 18 to party, so BYOB of-agers. $20 presale tickets for #HALFTIME will go on sale August 22nd at 10 a.m.; presale tickets will sell out fast, so get them while you can! Regular price tickets are $30; all tickets are available at ticketfly.com. #HALFTIME will officially kick off at 4 p.m. on W. Union Street in Athens, Ohio.
Breaking his finger in seventh grade effectively ended Jerreau’s trumpet playing career, but began his career rapping.
Well, it may not have exactly began his rapping career, but it did give it a jump start.
“I played trumpet in the seventh grade, and then I started rapping,” said Jerreau. Each of the members, whether formal or not, have a long history with music, and they have each made it their career with rapping for Fly.Union.
“I didn’t study (music) past high school. I played instruments in high school, but I always created music and made beats throughout my life, same as Iye,” Jay Swifaa said.
Iyeball agreed. “All of our families have backgrounds in music,” he said.
With that those heavy roots in music, the members of Fly.Union are not without experience both on stage and off. The trio is known for meshing styles with rap, including a large influence from their home town and state: Columbus, Ohio.
“To be able to do shows in Columbus, Cleveland, Akron, and Cincinnati, it’s a great when you have the support from your own state,” Jerreau said.
Fly.Union may have beginnings in Columbus, but the members have been finding audiences around the nation who are amazed with their music. The group is fresh out of SXSW in Austin, in addition to having opened for Kendrick Lamar, performed at Jay-Z’s Made in America festival, and their music is heard in the shows Buckwild and Black Ink.
The difference between Fly.Union and other groups: they value their fans. A lot.
“Recently we have been introdcuting this thing at our shows of what our crowd wants to hear and work it into the set,” Iyeball said. “You don’t go on stage and hit play…it lets us take the energy from the fans, convert it, and give it back.”
The group’s style meshes layers into it’s beats and music, along with its innate influence from Ohio and the Midwest.
“We’ve got a lot of influences. Our style is whatever we feel at the moment,” Iye said. “We try to immerse ourselves in the culture and give something back to it.”
Their plans for 11fest? “Other than killing shit? Naw,” Jerreau said.
Atlanta. It’s a pretty far place for those who have taken up residence in the seemingly constant winter of Ohio (be it in Columbus or Athens), but that is just where WatchTheDuck comes from.
But Atlanta pushes a lot of influences into the group’s music—even if it wasn’t at the top of WatchTheDuck’s list at first.
Members Jesse, Jonathan, and Eddie made the move to a new city, to expand their music.
“We actually originally were going to move to LA,” Eddie said. Los Angeles may have seemed like the best place at the time, but after taking a look around, the group saw a different route for its music.
“Then we took a trip to Atlanta,” Eddie said. “We didn’t know if what were doing now musically, if that would be the place for us.”
Atlanta has long been considered a huge musical hub for music in the south, and WatchTheDuck saw it as just that. “Atlanta was a big place for us growing up as far as influencing us musically,” he said.
While in Atlanta, they also met Dragon House, the dancing stars in the video for “Poppin’ Off”. While WatchTheDuck is focused on the audio aspect of music, Dragon House is focused on the visual.
“They look like our music. It was the first time that we really saw something… that looked like something we did,” Eddie said. “They were making what we were doing into dance moves.”
So the two groups meshed together for house parties and WatchTheDuck’s music video. Dragon House wasn’t the only unlikely meeting for the group. The duck that has become part of the group came to them, rather than WatchTheDuck finding it.
“He just showed up to one of the parties,” Jonathan said.
Thus, the duck became part of the group.
“Watch the duck came from the scenario like everybody is like a duck on water. They’re smooth on top but everyone is kicking hard to stay afloat, to stay relevant in whatever field,” Jonathan said.
The name not only pertains to that scenario, but also the group’s mentality as a whole.
“Just that title helps us loosen up and not take ourselves so seriously and have fun,” Eddie said.
Jesse agreed. “We definitely don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he said. “When we get on stage it is all about the party and all about fun.”
The dancing, the duck, the relaxed stage presence is all part of who WatchTheDuck is. The sound they take on is eclectic with a lot of different layers.
“We don’t really call it anything. We call it evolution. The guys who are making it are constantly evolving,” Jesse said. “We are going to evolve further and right now trap, dub step, it’s the hottest part of EDM music and we incorporate some of those elements to our music.”
The most important part: the fun.
“We just like it. It’s just really fun,” Jesse said.
