News RoundUp • Chance The Rapper Raises $100K For Homeless, Taylor Bennett Sells Out Lincoln Hall & More

Chance The Rapper Meets Fundraising Goal for Homeless

Whenever the subject comes up about who is truly helping Chicago, I am very quick to point to Chance who has done more organically for his hometown in the two years he's been famous than what Kanye has been able to do in a decade or R. Kelly in two that it is downright embarrassing. Adding to that legacy, Chano announced that he had raised the $100,000 he was pushing to make for the homeless and his Warmest Winter campaign.

The campaign will provide Chicago's homeless with jobs making all-in-one coats that turn into insulated sleeping bags for the city's tough cold months. The jackets are manufactured by and for the homeless and come at the perfect time. The weather, if you haven't noticed, seems to have forgotten about El Nino on the way to single-digit temps.

City of Chicago's Woes Continue (Again)

The City of Chicago ended 2015 on a bad note and appear to be bringing some of that negativity into the New Year as the issues continue to batter City Hall as calls for Rahm Emanuel to step down from office continue to rage. This week, it was announced that a scandal involving red light cameras in the city will finally go to trial. That case involved former Department of Transportation official John Bills who is charged with 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, bribery, extortion, income tax evasion, and conspiracy. The charges are related to allegations that Michael Madigan disciple accepted bribes of more than a hundred thousand dollars to allow Phoenix-based RedFlex to get the City contract.

Well if they're not shooting our citizens, it appears they're spying on us. A judge ruled against the CPD who asked to toss out a lawsuit "seeking records showing how police have used secret cellular tracking systems." The ruling comes in response to a Freedom of Information Act submitted last year requesting information about how the tracking systems were used in racking up over $300,000 between 2005-2010. According to the Sun-Times: "Cops can use the technology, originally developed for the military, to locate cellphones. Law-enforcement agencies in at least 15 states have cell-site simulators, and many of them have been fighting lawsuits that seek to learn how they are used.

Taylor Bennett Sells Out Lincoln Hall (Recap)

Chance The Rapper isn't the only Bennett making noise around town. In fact, I'm not sure there's a family of men being noticed for as much positivity as Chance, Ken and of course Taylor Bennett. The latter of those three continued to grow his own portfolio locally over the holidays with a sold out headlining show at Lincoln Hall on December 26 and last night we got a visual recap of the event from Brooklyn Wheeler, Mac Kozi, and Yakub Films.

I was in the house for the show and Taylor really came a long way from his performance there about a year or so prior. The growth has been palpable over the last few months as the younger Bennett has re-emerged on the scene as a force with his recently-released Broad Shoulders project that saw him moving into new creative spaces. At the show the day after Christmas, he seemed to reflect that in a lot of ways as well, slowing things down and stretching certain areas of the performance, proving capable of holding an audience throughout. A natural performer, the nerves seemed to be there to a degree as Taylor started and restarted at least three songs on the set, stopping each time to rewind with a sincere message: "I wanna give you all nothing less than perfect." It was a culmination of a chapter for Taylor and the guys were all there to catch it on tape. Check it out below.

Lil Durk Announces New Tour

The Def Jam signee and Chicago native will be hitting the road in 2016. If you're a hometown fan though, you might be a bit disappointed by the stops he'll be making. Beginning on February 28 in Champaign on the campus of the University of Illinois, Durk's latest stops are devoid of a Chicago show. While it's not totally out of the norm to skip over a hometown tour date, this one seems to have more poignancy since Durk's style of music has been iced from venues outside of Adriana's on the south side and with the recent shooting of King Louie, I can't imagine everyone else is feeling like hanging around the city right now. Durk announced the tour with a visual for his single "My Beyonce" with Dej Loaf. More on that coming soon.

02-18 Urbana, IL - The Canopy Club

02-19 St. Louis, MO - Fubar

02-20 New York, NY - Gramercy Theater

02-21 Cincinnati, OH - The Avenue Event Center

02-23 Buffalo, NY - Waiting Room

02-25 Syracuse, NY - Wescott Theatre

02-26 Rochester, NY - Water St. Club

02-27 Bridgeport, CT - Rampage

02-27 Danbury, CT - Eclipse Room

02-28 Boston, MA - Naga

03-01 Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Soundstage

03-05 Los Angeles, CA - Los Globos