News RoundUp • Phife Dawg Memorialized, Alex Wiley Announcement & More
Chicago Graffiti Artist Pays Homage to Phife Dawg with Mural
Chicago knows how to pay tribute to it's heroes and once again a wall in Logan Square bears the image of a fallen hero. This week a mural emerged to pay respect to the A Tribe Called Quest rapper who passed away last Tuesday. The space is owned and operated by Artistic Bombing Crew graffiti artist FLASH ABC and the piece was created by locals Traz & Stef1 with Phife's face adorned in the iconic color scheme of classic projects like The Low End Theory & Midnight Marauders.
The site sits across the street from X-it European Clothing where a Frankie Knuckles tribute was prominently displayed last year on the roof, per the Chicago Reader's Leor Galil. Check out more Chicago street art in Eric Montanez's recent piece on Ali 6.
Chance The Rapper Performs "Ultralight Beam" Live
At a show this week Chance The Rapper and his Social Experiment backing band pulled a special trick from their bag. While performing in North Carolina Chano and squad took those in attendance to Sunday school with a rousing rendition of The Life of Pablo lead track, with Chance himself stirring the crowd into a frenzy leading into 'Ye's part.
It's been crazy to see Chance teaming up with arguably the world's biggest star, at this point it seems only a matter of time before it's one in the same. Check the video above for more.
Alex Wiley Announces 'Village Party' Imprint, End of The Village
Alex Wiley had a tumultuous 2015 to say the least. In what eventually proved to be a show of evolution for the yougn artist, he cut ties with record label Closed Sessions where he started his career in a somewhat messy breakup and began to embark on a sort of road less traveled. That decision came full circle this week as the Village Party rapper announced his own distribution imprint, fittingly titled Village Party.
The announcement came via Twitter where Wiley also made a startling announcement in declaring the end of The Village collective. One of the early-wave favorites of many locals, the group had counted Monster Mike, Kembe X and Jean Deaux in it's ranks over the years. Despite the dissolvement, each of those acts has had marked success on their own and shouldn't be hurt significantly by the loss. Looking back on that Kembe/Wiley tape from 2012 though? Kinda hurts. All wounds heal though and Wiley is proving that by making the proper moves in a new year.
ProbCause Coloring Books On Sale
Local rapper ProbCause is a man of many talents. When he's not ripping stages at shows and festival dates across the country with some of the biggest names in the industry, you can often find him generating hilarious animated sketches, drawing houses, or designing his own pair of Bucketfeet. Seriously though, dude has got the whole expressing himself thing down pat and he recently offered the rest of us plebes a way to keep up with the creativity with the release of a coloring book drawn completely by Prob himself.
Available on his website and in-store at Bucketfeet in Wicker Park, the coloring books pay homage to a series of characters and images that have become as synonymous with the Chciago-based rapper as his fiery bursts of lyrical prowess. Pick one up for yourself for $12 here.
