Looking Ahead • Classick Studios 'Classick Fam' Showcase 10/19
Chicago's Classick Studios is home to a handful of creatives that have been making serious waves within the Windy City and beyond throughout 2015. For this upcoming Monday, the “Classick Fam” will be embarking on a showcase of sorts to display their talents in person rather than simply through YouTube and SoundCloud. Find them at Emporium in Wicker Park (for free) beginning at 8:00 PM. The These Days staff will certainly be in attendance for this spectacle. We hear there might even be free PBR.
The lineup for the evening is stacked, with rapper Smino and producer Monte Booker headlining the event. The vocalist/producer duo recently released the short and sweet S!CK S!CK S!CK EP and you can expect to hear some of those songs as well as various loose singles they have dropped throughout the year.
Following Booker and Smino is Home Team featured artist Ravyn Lenae, who is also fresh off of releasing her debut EP, Moon Shoes. Monte Booker provided a large chunk of the production on that EP, so hopefully we will see him on stage or behind the boards during her set. “I'm super excited about the show,” Lenae told me. “Nothing like performing with your family.”
The night doesn't end there. Rapper Jay2 will perform a set, also full of Monte Booker production, and avant-garde gang Death By Icon will be hyping the crowd early in the night with cuts from both of their albums, 2014's Trybecca as well as 2015's Hassah. “It's rare when we get to do a show with a bunch of our friends involved,” said member Anthony of DBI, “so we're hella geeked about it.”
Top add icing to the Classick cake, a special guest will also be making an appearance with a DJ set. I can't name names, but he frequents Classick Studios and may or may not have performed at North Coast Music Festival.
The whole Classick Fam will be in attendance at this one on Monday. Find head honcho Chris Classick getting his ass whooped in NFL Blitz while photographer Transmental will surely be snapping photos all the while masked mystery man Appleby will be lurking in the shadows.
When I talked with Classick, who organized the event and who will be handing out tokens to the first 50 guests, he said, “I'm blessed to be around a lot of talented artists, producers, and DJs and I'm even more grateful to call a majority of them my friends. With the amount of love that Classick Fam has been getting, it only felt right to create a show that presented the talent that comes out of Classick Studios. At the end of the day, I really just want y'all to experience what I see almost on a day to day basis. Trust me, this Classick Fam show is only the beginning. See y'all Monday and I'm handing out Ls by the NBA JAM game, too."