#Chicago artists

[misterveeare]

Just a peek. ☠ Tip ☠ Links ☠

[orjdan]

After discussing it a few years back, my friend reached out to commission a big piece for her office describing this Mookie Wilson quote:

It was hard, but a lot of fun! It really stretched my dormant illustration chops. I also didn’t want to use a 1-to-1 shot of him, so I tried to combine a few photos in his realistic portrait.

[urbanchicagoan]

A mural under the freight tracks in Brighton Park, Chicago (8/14/2024)

Un mural debajo de las vías de carga en Brighton Park, Chicago (14/8/2024)

[catherineandsarahsatrun]

The best weekend of the year is fast approaching! This is Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo's 15 year anniversary! If you're attending, please stop by and say hi to us in Artist Alley T-20. April 26-28 at McCormick Place

[thelensofyashunews]

Lupe Fiasco Sharpens His Pen on 'Samurai,' His 9th Studio Album Out Now via 1st & 15th

With over two decades of tenure in the rap game, Lupe Fiasco is a savvy veteran of hip-hop, but that doesn't mean he doesn't take the time to hone and perfect his craft at every turn. Today, the Chicago MC unveils his latest album Samurai, a smooth, yet cerebral, 8-track album brimming with ideas, that radiates Lupe’s pure love for the art of emceeing and committing himself as a servant of the rap game. “The word ‘samurai’ means to serve,” Lupe says on the album’s title. “My relationship to that word has always meant that you need to be at the service of other people, either in the overall community, or in this instance, the rap community at large that I’ve been a part of for years."

Samurai, Lupe's ninth studio album, is produced in full by Soundtrakk, making it their second full album collaboration following 2022's DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, and the first album that Lupe and Soundtrakk worked on with their longtime manager, and 1st & 15th co-CEO Charles "Chill" Patton, since 2007's The Cool. Patton also serves as executive producer on the album. It's home to recent singles such as the title track, "Samurai," praised by Rolling Stone, Complex, Billboard, HYPEBEAST, Clash, The Needle Drop, and more, plus the lyrical beatdown, "Cake," which shows off Lupe's supreme ability to attack the beat with poetic and energetic bars.

Lupe's ninth full-length to date opens with aforementioned title track, "Samurai" and is a loose and soulful record that gently lopes along with a prominent drumbeat and a lilting soprano sax lick, as Lupe dons his battle rap persona, attempting to draw a crowd with his poetic devices. While the chorus imitates a busker or carnival barker's call for attention, the verses dig deeper. The first verse analyzes the awkward relationship between hip-hop culture and high culture. The second verse tells the story of a struggling artist, contrasting her glamorous dreams with her gritty reality, but brimming with her unbroken spirit.

Lupe takes the listener on an introspective journey but also utilizes different eras of hip hop to tell the stories that lay within each individual track. From experimental melodies infused within hip hop beats that carry ‘90s twang like “Mumble Rap”, or paired down, sentimental percussions and keys as found in “Palaces,” and the orchestral, street freestyle-esque “No. 1 Headband,” Lupe weaves the many faces of hip hop, along with the many lives he has lived within the industry, into the narrative of his project.

On Samurai, Lupe retreats inward to deliver fans one of his most personal albums to date. “I sometimes get tagged by my fans as not doing personal records,” Lupe says, “but I always tell people there's me in there if you listen closely enough. This album is one of my more personal records to date. It's not a full biography, but my personal experiences are tied up in all of my music. A lot of the records are me. Some are from the POV of a character. and some are me. The album weaves things from my life as an artist, touching on things other artists go through.”

Samurai is Lupe's first new album since 2022's DRILL MUSIC IN ZION, which earned critical acclaim from NPR, Complex, The FADER, and many others, including Vinyl Me Please, who wrote "At their best, Lupe’s bars are as visually and phonetically pleasing as popped bubble wrap." The product of a burst of thoughtful spontaneity, Lupe created DRILL MUSIC IN ZION over a short period, diving into a folder of beats sent by Soundtrakk and emerging with a fully-realized album in just three days. In 2023, Lupe kept busy by releasing tracks like "Wild Child (Remix)," a new version of his 2017 track created in collaboration with Chicago house luminary Vince Lawrence, and "Out There," an archival track from the 1st & 15th vault. The iconic Chicago native also settled into his position as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he teaches "Rap Theory and Practice." Beyond music, Lupe continues to focus on the community organizations he founded, including We Are M.U.R.A.L, The Neighborhood Start-Up Fund, Society of Spoken Art, and his cross-cultural content venture, Studio SV.

Along with Samurai’s release, Lupe also dropped the accompanying video for “No. 1 Headband” where we see the Chicago native driving around his hometown reflecting on his surroundings, his early life and lyrically slicing through any one who dares to think they can match his ability. Lupe paints a soulful scene in an otherwise ordinary industrial suburban landscape. Shot in black and white, joined by beautiful back up singers, and featuring visual cuts of a saxophone player's hands tickling the instruments' keys when the jazz-heavy chorus of the track kicks in, the viewer has the opportunity to ride around the rapper's hometown and listen to him share his personal anecdotes. The video represents a return to home that pairs well with the themes found in the track's lyrics and the entire album as a whole.

Samurai is available to stream all platforms via 1st & 15th.

[oscarjoyo]

CHAOS w/care opening this Friday

I’ll be having a small works on paper solo at Very Serious Gallery this coming Friday. if you want a preview of the 6 pieces, message Very Serious Gallery on their website.

[galacticturnip-art]

Fellow Chicago artists!! This upcoming Memorial Day, Palette & Chisel will be hosting a model marathon. This is an incredible opportunity to draw and network all day, so please check it out!!

[blackyouthproject]

Afrofuturist Animations

by Bryson Scott Check out the amazing and imaginative art work of Bryson Scott.                        

[pellazg]

Eyes have a language of their own.

[misterveeare]

Live. Laugh. Loathe.

Sometimes it's okay to be grumpy

☠️ Links ☠️

[orjdan]

Shirley Blazen for Grotesque Burlesque 🤡🎉

[urbanchicagoan]

Mural portrait of Jean Baptiste Du Sable by Rahman "Statik" Barnes & his team under the Metra tracks along 47th Street (8/3/2023)

[tulliok]

✨ She’s gonna be a celebrity, that means somebody everyone knows!~🎶

[jane-alright]

Where are the Chicago artists on this website

I wanna follow you

[thelensofyashunews]

LUCKI shares "Heavy On My Heart" video from new 'GEMINI!' LP

After receiving heavyweight co-signs from both Drake and Lil Baby, Chicago underground legend LUCKI has just shared the video for "Heavy On My Heart" from his new album GEMINI!— out now. The project boasts features from A-listers Future, Lil Yachty, Veeze, Rylo Rodriguez, and 42 Dugg, as well as production from sonic tastemakers Tay Keith, Wheezy, Southside, and Bobby Raps. GEMINI! arrives on the heels of the announcement that LUCKI's first US headlining tour, The Gemini Tour, will kick off on July 18th in Raleigh, NC. Produced by Live Nation, the 27-date tour will make stops in Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Boston, Brooklyn, and more before wrapping up on September 7th in Atlanta, GA. The recently-released 2-pack of singles titled 2 Faced, Pt. 2 (the Coupe-produced "Heavy On My Heart" and the Brent Rambo-produced "Courtesy Of") offered the first glimpse into LUCKI's follow-up to 2023's s*x m*ney dr*gs, with the former serving as an upbeat outing buoyed by LUCKI's candid bars over a soulful instrumental while the latter is a hard-hitting victory lap draped in his distinct raspy flow. A longtime staple of Chicago’s underground scene, LUCKI’s hazy cloud rap confessionals saw the then-teenager grow a cult following in the Windy City and beyond before garnering mainstream recognition with his 2022 debut album FLAWLESS LIKE ME (which had appearances from Future and Babyface Ray) and hit track “New Drank”(200M+ Streams). GEMINI! marks LUCKI’s first full-length outing since the aforementioned s*x m*ney dr*gs and arrives on the heels of a high-profile appearance on “Broke phone” (7M+ Streams) from Veeze's 2023 album Ganger as well as a strong run of 2024 singles, including “PAIDNFULL”, “COLORFUL DRUGS”, and most recently “All Love”, where he linked with Lyrical Lemonade for a Cole Bennett-directed music video, as well as a guest outing on Southside’s latest track “Elegant”.

LUCKI’s fourth full-length album GEMINI! marks the entry point into what will be a busy summer for the Chicago artist. After performing at last weekend’s Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash, he's currently slated to make an appearance at Rolling Loud before embarking on his nationwide headlining Gemini Tour — with a fall European tour also on the horizon. An artist as multifaceted as his star sign, LUCKI has grown from an underground Chicago mainstay into a critically-acclaimed international icon, using hazy cloud rap confessionals to pave the way for the sound of modern Hip-Hop. With his GEMINI! era officially in motion, LUCKI is continuing to assert his legacy while proving just how far his movement has carried over the past decade.

[lostbluejayart]

Chicago Illinois

USA Miku 🏀