DC rapper SmCity continues to ride the wave from his fiercely independent full length album Empire Falls from December 2014. His most recent EP The Preamble features selected cuts from the album, and now we have this slick music video for “MIA” featuring Maimouna Youssef on vocals and production from Atlanta’s DJ Toomp. Just makes me excited for what Sm’s gonna drop on us next!
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Category Archives: video
Cecily – Real Love
Sweet chanteuse Cecily recently released her first music video for “Real Love”, a single from her 2015 self-titled EP. Describing the concept of the video, Cecily writes “I believe that real love, with no ego, is a revolutionary act. In today’s world, wealth and possessions are glorified and almost made holy by mainstream media. In this video, I wanted to show two people realizing that grandeur and material desires are inconsequential compared to their love of each other.” See Cecily open for touring pop soul act Lawrence at SongByrd tonight in Adams Morgan.
Goldlink – Palm Trees / Late Night
Smooth R&B styled rapper Goldlink just dropped new visuals for a pair of songs, “Palm Trees / Late Night”, from last year’s epic album And After That, We Didn’t Talk. Featuring LA’s Maségo and obviously shot there, the video immediately reveals the fate of the main character in the first few frames, then takes us through a slo-mo, dreamy ride of the preceeding events. The narrative is compelling but resolution is elusive. Of course Goldlink is playing at this year’s Trillectro on Saturday August 27th, so you’d best not miss it.
Chain & The Gang – Experimental Music
Sardonic provocateur Ian Svenonious’s band Chain & The Gang is back with their first new music video in two years, in advance of their summer tour with Black Lips. “Experimental Music” sees the wizened sage of rock and roll proclaiming his love of the titular and inaccessible genre, even though its musical style is straight out of 60s pop staples. The video depicts a cloaked and hooded figure drowning in power and audio cords as he fiddles with knobs and affixes duct tape to an old keyboard. I think the message is pretty clear, don’t you? The tour skips DC, but you know they’ll play here soon.
Head-Roc – Write My Life feat. Noyeek
The most important thing for rappers is to “keep it real”, but often that involves keeping up macho fictions about the toughness of street life that appeal to fans. Head-Roc, appointed Mayor of DC Hip-Hop through his long tenure of seniority, gets down to the real truth on his new single “Write My Life” featuring fellow DMV rapper Noyeek the Grizzy Bear. Roc often performs live with his funk ensemble Godisheus, but you get a full unfiltered dose of truth on his brand new solo album The Black Leon Project, featuring sly production from DC’s own Black Ink. Catch Head-Roc’s thunderous live set this Sunday afternoon at the (Up)Rising Festival on Rhode Island Avenue NE.
Lightshow – Racks in my Safe
DMV rapper Lightshow‘s new video “Racks in my Safe” sounds at first listen like a light & smooth summertime jam, but the lyrics reveal dark turns through his street-level life. The song comes from the sixth installment of Lightshow’s mixtape series Yellow Tape and White Chalk, which dropped on Spinrilla this past April.
The Jonny Cohen Love Machine – Let’s Pretend
Newcomers to DC might not know our city’s long association with Unrest frontman Mark Robinson’s quirky independent label Teenbeat Records. While Dischord supported the aggressive, angular music in the 90s and 00s, Teenbeat’s indie rock bands always had an air of whimsy and awkward coolness. Though Robinson left DC for Boston back in 2000, some DC area bands still call Teenbeat home, including the supremely offbeat Jonny Cohen Love Machine. Absent from recording for a full 20 years, Cohen reassembled his full band for a new album called A Quiet Reminder which came out earlier this year. Cohen’s musical delivery is unlike any other, and his storytelling has a folksy frankness that utterly captures your heart. Robinson himself directed Teenbeat Release #557, the music video for the melancholy ballad “Let’s Pretend”. Your next chance to experience The Love Machine is Friday June 17th opening for The Taildraggers at vintage Rockville dive bar Hank Dietle’s Tavern.
Shy Glizzy – Rounds
DMV rapper Shy Glizzy has cranked out mixtapes on the regular since 2011. Growing up with a rough background, Glizzy brings authenticity and a cool smoothness to his street-level gangsta style of rapping. His 2014 mixtape Young Jefe brought huge attention behind the hit song “Awwsome”, so anticipation runs high for its soon to be released follow-up, Young Jefe 2. Watch his Fader-premiered brand new music video for “Rounds”, featuring plenty of weed, flash, sexy women and a simple two-note hook you’ll be singing along with by the video’s end.
Reesa Renee – Hello Mama
The current theme in DC music is the ascendancy and ubiquity of women throughout every genre. We try to feature diversity with every episode of our podcast, so it’s not wall-to-wall straight white dudes, but for the last episode we put together, our first cut of songs featured women leading every one. 5 of our last 6 song and video posts are either solo female or female-fronted bands. Where ya at, bros? These ladies are showing you up, and R&B singer Reesa Renee puts a cherry on that trend with her new single “Hello Mama”. Producer Reggie Volume pumps the slow jam uptempo with a funky guitar riff and staccato brass section that makes it easy to fall for Renee’s sweet smile and floppy afro. The video by Minista Millz of Minista Cinema puts just the right animated touch to a tale of sweet summertime love connection. Grab her EP Lovers Rock now.
Party Like It’s – Clockwork Lover
Making the leap from cover band to performing original music, Party Like It’s brings their love of the blasting horns and singalong choruses of late 90s pop-ska bands like Reel Big Fish and No Doubt to the modern day. Their YouTube channel includes undeniably fun covers of “Shake It Off”, “All About That Bass” and “The Boys of Summer”, and now their debut original single “Clockwork Lover” gets the full music video treatment courtesy of DC Brau and The Coupe. We dug this song so much that we kicked off yesterday’s podcast with it, but the music video is even more fun. Vienna’s Jammin’ Java hosts a Back to the 90s party this Saturday night featuring Party Like It’s and other bands paying tribute to Sublime, Blink-182, Smashing Pumpkins and No Doubt.
Hometown Sounds 