These Days
Chicago Artists to Watch
Fall / Winter 2021
Our (now biannual) Artist to Watch feature isn’t your typical “who’s hot right now” list. As a publication founded over a collective drive to document the formative years of Chicago’s up-and-coming artists, ATW encourages us to see beyond quantitative metrics and look within. What local artists are we actually connecting with? Who can we envision playing in front of large crowds? Who truly excites us and who do we want to hear more of? The artists you’ll watch and read about below are acts that come to mind when answering those questions. Billboard charts and plaques are not a factor. Yet. However, spanning across the city and its outer edges, the 2021 Fall/Winter class is overflowing with the type of talent we seek to witness develop and champion in real-time.
Every iteration of this list is special for its own reasons, but this new cohort is particularly exciting because it feels like the These Days team, alongside the city’s music scenes, is regaining the momentum left behind in 2020. For most of the featured artists and our contributors, this is the first time being a part of an event of this scale: full days of interviews, photoshoots, and video production. Being able to share these experiences with artists who’ve already impacted our lives in profound ways with their music is an immense honor. In return, we strive to continue advocating for them within this feature and in the future. As a reader, if you find a new favorite artist, we invite you to share the list with friends and continue the spirit of the music discovery community alive. - Pedro Gonzalez
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Ausar
Hailing from the South Side of Chicago, Ausar Bradley is a simple man. He has a lifelong appreciation for hip-hop, R&B & soul music, making memes —and believes that a hot dog is a sandwich. As modest as his pleasures are, listen to him rap and you’ll be introduced to an emcee with a complex lyrical dexterity that’ll have you running his songs back to catch every bar of wordplay he spits. His 2020 Flight of The Honeybee EP perfectly captures Ausar’s technical and creative abilities —poetically illustrating the plight of Black Americans through the lens of a honey bee producing honey for profit despite not being able to reap the fruits of their labor.
After balancing school, work, and music for the better part of the last five years, Ausar spent a month in LA this past summer where he finally reached the pivotal moment in every young creative’s life: leaving their day job in order to fully invest themselves into their craft.
“LA was kinda an impromptu trip [...] the job I was working shut down because of COVID and I was let go permanently,” Ausar said. “I kinda took the leap of faith and was like, ‘I think this is my cue to do music full time now. It was really eye-opening because it showed me what the next level looks like.” As Ausar continues to ascend to new levels, we’ll be sure to keep an eye on him. - Alejandro Hernandez
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Don’t Be Kendall
Considering the vast range of sound and storytelling currently forming this new generation of Chicago artists, it comes as no surprise that Don’t Be Kendall finds influence across all sides of the city. Though hailing from the South Side, Kendall also credits the people he met during his trips up north for helping shape his current boundary-pushing sound. “I got introduced to the scene so randomly,” Kendall said. “I met somebody on the street, we clicked, and then we became friends. We just got cool. They introduced me to a bunch of other people that made music up north, ‘cause it’s just different from where I am. When I got up there, it introduced me to a bunch of people just making music, and just cool people that didn’t judge or anything.”
From his attraction to soul samples and vocal chops to his use of more layered, bass-heavy beats, Don’t Be Kendall effortlessly blends these influences to form a unique sound while still paying respect to Chicago hip-hop. With witty bars, infectious confidence, and a little bit of shameless flexing, there’s no hesitancy in saying that Don’t Be Kendall is a name to keep tabs on. - Ellie Naughton
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Listen to Don’t Be Kendall on Spotify & Apple Music
Follow Don’t Be Kendall on Twitter & Instagram
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KayCee Shakur
One of KayCee Shakur’s earliest memories is of incessantly watching a VHS tape of The Temptations and being obsessed with learning everything that involved making the life-altering production. This fixation led to what is now a blossoming musical career. Raised in the city’s East Side neighborhood of South Shore, KayCee is the present and future sound of a community heralded for its soulful cultural legacy. “KayCee Shakur isn’t KayCee Shakur without being born over East,” she tells us. An amalgamation of neo-soul, R&B, and hip-hop, rooted in Chicago with worldwide sensibilities, the singer’s range is outstanding: her voice can jolt with excitement or invite intimacy in a single turn of phrase. Her lyrical repertoire is full of savvy, sass, humor, and longing emotions delivered in dulcet lines.
Alongside her manager, Valerie (aka ValidByNature), the nimble team of two has worked tirelessly to conceive fully developed projects with limited resources —focusing on having the music and presentation fulfill KayCee’s vision. That dedication to quality has been paying off. Nu MOON, the 13-track album KayCee released earlier this year, is a breezy and delightful listening experience. It’s also one of the best records of the year. If you’re just getting in tune, there’s no better place to start. Just be ready to have the songs and melodies stuck in your head for months to come. - Pedro Gonzalez
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Mariah Colon
Growing up, Mariah Colon’s house felt like it was always inundated with music. Her grandad was in a Tejano group and her dad was part of a 90s rap group named Crooked County. This diversity of musical palettes encouraged Mariah to explore other genres, from pop to indie to soul, and fostered her own artistic expression. Now, the 23-year-old Cicero native is experimenting with all those sounds to find her voice and share her stories.
In 2020, Mariah released her first EP mere days before the pandemic hit and shut everything down. She didn’t feel like the universe conspired against her, understanding the bigger social implications, but she did retreat for the rest of the year in search of inspiration to reinvent herself and start anew. It took a fateful cold email to Navarro, founder of local artist development imprint, Loop Theory, asking for production help for the spark to truly reignite her spark. The same night she reached out to Navarro, he replied, connecting her with the label’s in-house producer, Just Disrupt, who was eager to work right away. Like a freshman in college the night before an essay is due, Mariah used the adrenaline of receiving such a quick response to etch the demo that would become “Feel the Same,” a groovy single that invites you to dance your worries away. Fully reinvigorated, Mariah is working on an EP that will show what she’s been up to. - Pedro Gonzalez
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Nina Tech
Everyone claims individuality but Nina Tech embodies it. From their bubbling rap tracks to their enticing, out-of-this-world visuals, the South Side-raised artist unlocks new creativity levels in each song. “Music has always been a really big part of my life,” Nina says. “When I was young my mom and my dad would throw parties all the time and my mom would DJ them.” It was their mom’s extensive library as a DJ—which included Left Eye, Queen Latifah, Lil Kim, and more influential women in rap—that built the foundation that would allow Nina to pursue music. Playing instruments in grammar school and being a part of a marching band, also made it natural for things to unfold this way.
As someone who gets butterflies from good music (felt that), Nina wants people to feel something when listening to their music. Whether that’s feeling good about yourself or admiring Nina’s quick, imaginative lyrical capabilities, every track offers you a glimpse into the confidence they exude. Fresh off their first festival performance at Summer Smash this summer, Nina’s focused on elevating their sound and visuals. - Iman Music
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Piwa
Semiratruth is the voice for herself and her ancestors. An embodiment of her family tree, the 21-year-old rapper-producer from the city’s South Side uses her platform to represent the accumulated perspectives and stories of the ones who came before her. Like many of your favorite Chicago musicians, Semiratruth first discovered her passion for writing through poetry, later uniting these narrative skills with her love for hip-hop. Admired for her captivating opening lines, Semiratruth’s background in slam poetry can be heard throughout her wordplay. Her sound travels through time and space, further creating depth within her storytelling. Influenced by 60’s vocal groups, Semiratruth’s instrumentals rely heavily on chopped-up soul and jazz samples, and repurposing these older sounds with contemporary elements of electronic music ultimately contributes to the complexity and shape of her mixes. Bodying every song with pure confidence, Semiratruth is a bright soul to be heard throughout the city. - Ellie Naughton
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Silas Short
With a distinct look and voice to match, Silas Short has always taken a uniquely candid approach to his work. There is no one like the Milwaukee native because Silas Short has only existed at this moment. In Pilsen, where he currently resides, he continues to make his truth his prerogative, infusing authenticity into each of his tracks.
Following the death of a bandmate, Silas came to Chicago to find solace and start anew. After discovering the beauty and opportunity within the city, he enmeshed himself in a community of local artists, crossing paths with the likes of Sen Morimoto, Elton Aura, and the Burns Twins. This circle of creatives showed a firmness of purpose that inspired him to create space for his own musical ambitions, evolving into an artist that isn’t constrained by the limits of a single genre. In one of his most recent singles, “ROOMS,” the 24-year-old’s celestial voice is layered over delicate, bluesy piano riffs, hip-hop record scratches, and an alternative guitar melody, fusing together to form an ethereal serenade.
His time in the city has built off of the core foundation of Silas’ philosophy towards music. His father, an ambient music producer and active member of the church, exposed Silas to a wide selection of music starting at a young age. His advice was simple: find music with ‘soul power.’ Rooted in this doctrine, he has created a sound that radiates his gospel truth. By digging through his foundational library, Silas is able to pull apart different genres, recombining them into an entity that represents “the most honest version of [himself].” - Halle Mohr
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WASTEDJU
WASTEDJU is showing you the future before you can predict it. Every track he’s on, whether it’s a feature or a single, offers a new ensemble of influences resulting in something so unique you can’t tell how it makes you feel at first. But it almost always elicits a reaction. Then his eclectic production, angsty lyrics, and dynamic vision convince you of what could be.
WASTEDJU’s close relationship with music goes back to his childhood, but the confidence to create and fully pursue it didn’t arrive until his teenage years. “I dropped out of school and I was like I’m just doing this forreal, forreal.” With doubts in the rear-view mirror, it’s clear that he leaves no limits on what influences his sound: citing Kanye West, Kurt Cobain, and Prince as artists that have informed his work. His open mind allows for a limitless canvas and what results is something that ignites excitement guessing what else he can create. With a handful of anthemic, boundless, and bombastic singles under his belt, there’s no telling where WASTEDJU will go next. - Iman Music
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FURTHER LISTENING
CREDITS
Interviews by: Pedro Gonzalez, Alejandro Hernandez, Iman Music, Ellie Naughton & Halle Mohr
Produced by: Eric Montanez, Patrick Welby, Brent Butcher, Carlos Castillo & Pedro Gonzalez
Photography by: Michael Salisbury
Videography Directed & Shot by: Josh McCausland
Design by: Emily Burlew
Captured at South Facing Windows (Chicago)