#also I think the Kevin short puts all this into perspective a lil more

[nostalgic-soda]

Sorry I need to yap more, I know people have pointed out this scene as a “Kevin secretly cares for the kids” moment but like.

Gregor says he’s guiding them so they can behave better. Kevin, who has actually been physically injured and held at gunpoint because of their antics, should realistically benefit from that. If he genuinely hated them or was traumatized by them, you’d think he’d be grateful that an adult is trying to help them be less chaotic and destructive.

BUT INSTEAD HE IMMEDIATELY ACCUSES GREGOR OF BEING A CREEP.

While Radford is having a film nerd moment, Kevin looks EXTREMELY skeptical and disinterested in Gregor’s whole “guiding the children to be better” talk, staring with his arms crossed and then bluntly questioning Gregor to his face. And the sarcastic “MHM” shows that he doesn’t believe Gregor at all.

Like I refuse to believe Kevin is actually that affected by Skid and Pump specifically if he’s willing to accuse Gregor of something like THAT right off the bat with no context of the situation.

[shhoatuva]

CHECK THE RHIME - An Interview with J-Willz, Keese, & Sondai

Our annual local hip-hop showcase, Check the Rhime, is coming up this Tuesday at the Southern. We spoke with the artists, Sondai, Keese, and J-Willz, to see what they’re currently working on, their influences, and how Virginia ties all into it. If you’re not familiar, we also mixed some of our favorite tracks together on our Soundcloud. Check it out:

On current projects

Sondai: I've just been focusing on the follow-up project to my last album, Wallflower. I might make into a mixtape or a short EP. I'm going for a different sound this time around. So far I have about 40 songs laid down which is the easy part, now I just have to decide which ones to put on the tape. It's gonna be pretty dope once it's put together.

Keese: I'm currently working on another EP, no official release yet. But I do have some new videos out and will be releasing a new single soon.

J-Willz: I'm just recording a bunch of music. Me and Trauma Tone are working on a bunch of stuff, I think a Lee Willz 3 will drop soon, more covers for Youtube. Just expect a lot of music, back to back.  

A post shared by @shhoatuva on Oct 16, 2017 at 7:26pm PDT

On favorite artists

Keese: My favorite artist now would have to be J. Cole. His music really inspired me to go harder with this music. My favorite all time is Nas.

Sondai: My favorite artist has always been Jay-Z for many reasons. The fact that he was able to walk the line between mainstream appeal while still maintaining his musical integrity is crazy to me especially in his early days. I'm always gonna choose older era rappers over new school rappers though there are exceptions. It's all determined by the mood I'm in honestly. I can go from listening to Wu-Tang then find myself throwing on some Uzi, it all depends how I'm feeling.

J-Willz: I feel like my favorite artist right now is PnB rock, he just got that vibe-to music that I F wit.  As far as from different eras, I was listening to Big Pun today...  Lil Wayne of course, G-Unit, Ludacris, Jagged Edge, Lupe Fiasco, Bow Wow, Jay-Z... the list goes on.  I listened to all the greats coming up.

On Virginia’s sound

J-Willz: I guess it has influenced me to be original,  and speak about what I see going on. I think our location pulls from the North as far as lyricism and pulls from the South as far as production. I just took what I heard and made it my own.  

Sondai: Well being originally from New York and having my musical roots based there for so long, Virginia added a new perspective for me which in turn influenced the type of music I make, from the beats to the content. It just added another color to the canvas for me.

Keese: It's not a big music scene but it's definitely growing and I'm happy to be apart of it. If we keep going in the direction we're going, eventually something big is gonna happen!

A post shared by @shhoatuva on Oct 16, 2017 at 7:27pm PDT

On influences outside of music

Keese: Michael Jordan is definitely an influence. People only see his accomplishments, but they don't know about his struggle coming up and how he was cut from his high school basketball team. He overcame a lot and now he's considered the greatest player ever, that's definitely inspiring.

J-Willz: I’m influenced by icons, like Steve Harvey, Kevin Hart, Gary Vee… Anybody that’s going hard with their craft, or at least trying and succeeding probably influences me.  

Sondai: There's a lot of people outside of music that I would cite as influences. Random people who I have conversations with, friends, people who do what they love to do, who have a passion. Everybody influences everybody in some way.

On what life would be like without music

J-Willz: I would probably be trying to be a dope engineer, recording other artists, mixing and mastering Wayne’s Carter 5 and shit. Or I would be in concert production, making the graphics for big artist screens while they're performing.

Sondai: Regardless if I make a million dollars or if I don’t, I would still do music. Maybe not in the same context, I might switch back over to the poetry side of it, but without any of that I would be a different person. Writing music is like always having somebody to talk to. It's like the paper always listens, there's no judgement.

Keese: I really can't answer that. I couldn't imagine life without making music.

A post shared by @shhoatuva on Oct 16, 2017 at 7:31pm PDT

Check out our playlist on Spotify, featuring sounds from J-Willz, Sondai, and Keese.