Round Up • New Releases From Monte Booker, Murph Watkins, Ran$ah & More

Photo by Rene Marban

Each week the These Days staff comes across great music from Chicago artists that we could not provide individual features for. In an effort to keep our readers up to date with more of our recent favorites, the Round Up segment provides quick summaries and additional noteworthy content. Check out our latest picks below and feel free to submit a comment if you feel we missed something. 


Monte Booker • "cereal"

Monte Booker has been making a wave for himself this past year. Whether it be alongside St. Louis native Smino, or pushing out a plethora of solo instrumentals, Monte’s appeal comes from downright unorthodox beats which effortlessly push boundaries in the rap world. "Cereal" is no exception from Monte’s usual off beat style, this time assisted with vocal samples from Alicia Keys and Kanye West.


Murph Watkins • "Rollin"

Murph Watkins and Christian Lou rendezvous once again for the "Rollin’". Watkins takes advantage of his singing voice while rapping takes a backseat on this en devour. A slight change of pace, but Murph Watkins adapts extremely fast to the falsetto notes he holds with a little help from our good friend auto-tune.


Ran$ah • "Rumors"

There are producers and rappers with complete synergy that we wonder why they don’t complete a project together. Ran$a and Plu2o Nash are perfect candidates and "Rumors" is a prime example. The Fight Club inspired music video shot by Elevator takes a darker approach to Ran$ah’s music we are accustomed to. Calling his track “little bars”, apparently Ran$ah has some “hotter shit” waiting for the tape and we cant wait.


RIO (Ft. Angelenah) • "James Cam's House"

You might remember RIO from Hurt Everybody’s final project 2K47, “white owl full of pacquiao” ring a bell? Well RIO is given his proper re-introduction with a music video for "James Cam’s House", a Martin $ky produced banger. This is the latest single from RIO's newest EP Xan King Kole, which is slated to drop sometime next week.


The Hood Internet & Wolkoff • "Me and Mine"

The Hood Internet, is arguably one of the leading electro pop remix artists in Chicago, and has been for some time. Flipping bangers like "Panda", "Hotline Bling", and more homegrown anthems like Chance the Rapper’s "Angels", The Hood Internet changes pace and spices things way up their original production, "Me and Mine". Featuring the rising Brooklyn artist, Wolkoff, "Me and Mine" is synthy masterpiece you must hear.