This past weekend, Innervisions, a house music record label, threw an event in Pershing Square in Downtown Los Angeles. The show started with Eagles & Butterflies, an up and coming DJ who just joined the record company. He started his set at 4pm and no one was really at the event yet.

By the time Trikk came on, a bigger DJ with the label, a few more people had arrived. I really enjoyed this set as it incorporated tribal and deep tech house. Some of my favorite stuff. Trikk is a really great DJ and he is well respected within the Innervisions community. It was really great to see him as he represents DJs of minority since he is from India. Loved his stuff.

Finally, what everyone came for, to see Dixon and Ame’s four hour back to back set. All of my friends had arrived at this point and it was really great to have everyone together. The crowd was super packed now as it became more difficult to move around. Their set was amazing. BEst set I have ever seen live. But this was no surprise to me. Dixon and Ame are some of the most respected and talented DJs in the house industry. And for them to be playing back to back for 4 whole hours was amazing. Their entire set was s build up, just as each song has a build up. It was like going on a journey. At some point, it also started to drizzle and rain for a while which would sound like a burden, but really, it made the show better. It felt magical and it completely removed me from the real world.

Going to this show was something amazing and I was waiting for it for months. I’m really sad that it is over now, but I will for sure be following Dixon and Ame around the world for the next year. Something I really enjoy about these shows is not only the music, but the people I meet. House shows are always filled with the most interesting people and this one was no different. I met a bunch of different people from places all over the world and I was in my element. I hope to go to another show soon. Really loved it.

If you have the opportunity to see any of the Innervision DJs, especially Dixon or Ame, I highly recommend it and recommend finding tickets early. It’s totally worth it.  

Anjunabeats is a British record label that was started by one of the members of the trance duo Above & Beyond. This Saturday, I attended an event at Sound Nightclub with one of the Anjunabeats DJs Spencer Brown as headliner. The event consisted of opener DJ Joey Zander and soon after, a set by Spencer Brown. The show lasted from 10pm to 3:30am.

Anjunabeats is a up and coming record label in the house community so it is still really low key and does not have a large fan base. Because of this fact, the fanbase for Anjunabeats is really small community and everyone knows each other. While at the event, I met one of these members of their fanbase so he was telling me more about how they all are so close and supportive of Anjunabeats events and DJs.

The night flew by as Spencer Brown mixed through the night. He was playing deep tech house music and I recognized a lot of songs that I know and love. Recognizing a song at a house show is a big deal because DJs usually spin super obscure or unheard original songs. Having never heard Spencer Brown before, I was super impressed. He is such a new, young DJ and the intricacy and genius of his ability to control the crows were surprising. I did not expect him to be as good as he was since he is part of such a small record label.

Not only did he spin a great set for hours, he knew exactly what to play and when to play it based on the crowd’s reception to his music. Also, he “ended” his show three times, but hearing chants for more from the crowd, Brown would start up again and kept the party going. Having been to many, many house shows, this is rare as it is very expensive for DJs to stay past their scheduled time because the venues will fine them. But Brown didn’t care and the crowd ate that right up – we were partying it up and wanted to keep partying.

As for the venue itself, I like Sound Nightclub. It is located in Hollywood, close to downtown Los Angeles, and usually has fun crowds. The cover charge at Sound is always pretty high (it was $40 that night), but luckily a friend of mine knew the low tier DJ opening for Spencer Brown so I was able to get in for free with him. Overall, I give the night a solid 8/10.

Kaykay’s playlist of the week:

Ariana Grande has managed to climb her way up the pop-culture ladder all the way to the top within a matter of months! How? She may have sold her soul to the devil – and by devil, I mean Republic Records.

Dropping her latest album, “thank u, next,” Grande is at the top of the charts. Of the Billboard Top 10 songs, 9 of them are from this new album of hers. I personally love her and love this new album, but her success is questionable. It seems as though she is taking advantage of the rumors and stories of her personal life to gain popularity. With her surprising engagement to boyfriend Pete Davidson, the release of her album “Sweetener,” to her ex Mac Miller passing away, to her then rapid breakup with fiancé Davidon, to the release of the song “thank u, next,” and finally to the release of the full album “thank u, next.” It seems as though her biggest successes in her music career are surrounded by the biggest events in her personal life.

Artists are known to take advantage of their popularity. I have a theory that Grande realized that she was the main star in the news lately so why not release an album? With more than at least one between the release dates of all her other albums, the release of the album “thank u, next” so soon after the release of “Sweetener” cannot be a coincidence.

Grande, realizing her success, is taking advantage of being on top. Why not release a new album when she’s all anyone can talk about? Of course the album is at the top of the charts and highly successful – everyone is obsessed with her at the moment! And she took advantage of that moment. Now it will be interesting to see how long this success can be elongated.

t is no secret that her manager Scooter Braun and record label Republic Records is the push behind this rush to release so much material right now. Listening to “thank u, next,” it is obvious that the album was rushed. Don’t get me wrong, the beats and music is great, but it doesn’t seem very personal or well thought out. The song ordering in the album is weird to me. For example, the second song in the album is called “needy” and discusses Grande’s tendency to be needy and require constant attention and love. Then instantly, the next song called “NASA” is all about how she needs some space. It just doesn’t make any sense!

I have also noticed how arrogant and full of herself Grande has become. Known for being such a sweetheart and darling to all her fans, Grande takes a different turn with this album that includes many songs about how great she is and how much money she has. That is a bit out of character for her and it was very surprising to me as I have been a fan of hers for years now. It’s a bit disappointing to see her take this turn that most celebrities tend to take – and it makes me really sad.

This is why I am asking the question of did Ariana sell her soul? This is a term used in popular culture a lot and it references celebrities changing as their popularity increases. The Weeknd is good example of this – if you listen to his first mixtape (which he recorded himself with his own equipment – no record label involved), it sounds very different from the music that he makes now. It seems as though artists see money and popularity, thus turning them into zombies that work for record labels. They become hypnotized by the fame and the record labels take advantage of this forcing these celebrities to release more music of lower quality. And the music sells amazingly so it works. But still, these celebs have sold their souls and it sucks!

“thank u, next” full album here:

Kaykay’s playlist of the week:

A$AP Rocky absolutely KILLED it at his Injured Generation tour at the Forum last Thursday, January 31st. A$AP was on tour for his newest album “Testing” yet, the final 7 songs of his set were from old albums. The album “Testing” itself is quite a different sound for A$AP and I would consider it to be more of an experimental album. I think it is great though.

The tickets for his show were only $45 for General Admission (in the pit) so my wallet did not suffer too much. This is a fairly cheap price compared to most other rappers on tour right now. Because it was so cheap, it goes to show that Rocky’s purpose of going on this tour is not for sales – it is for his fans to have this experience.

For this tour, Rocky entered wearing a crash dummy costume, making a reference to deeper meanings such as the importance of wearing a seatbelt since we are an “injured generation.” Being dressed as the crash dummy himself, Rocky is making the point that he is the “guinea pig” of this experiment our generation is going through. His point is to promote risk-taking (such as when he was suspended from over the stage during “Gunz N Butter”) but in a safe, fun way.

A$AP also threw in some surprises in his show. One of these surprises was none other than Drake himself. Bringing the famous rapper in towards the end of the show, A$AP rehyped up the crowd for the finale and encore. I just remember hearing “Let’s continue this test” and then the song “Nonstop” begins playing. There was also appearances by Tyga and Ski Mask the Slump God.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show. The crowd seemed to be full of his fans making it fun to sing along to his songs. People moshed and danced and it was a fun time. I was also with a bunch of my friends so that made it extra fun for me. I have been to rap artist’s tours before and most of the time, they do not meet my expectations (because the albums are usually so big and popular that the artist singing it live seems to butcher it) but A$AP Rocky did not disappoint.

Kaykay’s playlist of the week:

One of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime: which music streaming service to use! Spotify and Apple Music are the two biggest music streaming services used by listeners today. Of course there are many other services such as Soundcloud, Tidal, Deezer, Google Play Music, Amazon Music, etc. but the biggest debate I usually hear about is whether to use Spotify vs Apple Music.

I am personally a Spotify user but I subscribed to Apple Music over the past two weeks to compare the two and see if I enjoy Apple Music more than my Spotify. Having always used Spotify, switching to Apple Music has been a bit weird, but I am enjoying it a lot.

Prices and Subscriptions:

Apple Music costs $10 a month. There are $5 student plans and $15 family plans as well. Spotify is exactly the same, if you choose to purchase the premium version. And that is what I like a lot about Spotify; it has a free, ad-supported tier which means you can still listen to music through Spotify without having to subscribe. However, the albums and playlists you listen to do not allow you to choose the song immediately but they instead play randomly on shuffle mode with a limit of 6 skips per hour. But because you can make your own playlists, you can just fill up your playlists with your best songs and it being on a random shuffle won’t matter!

Apple Music does not have any sort of free usages. The only thing free is streaming the Beats1 Radio or listening to songs from your iTunes library which have been previously purchased and downloaded onto your phone.

Spotify takes the win on this one.

Stream Quality:

The actual streaming quality when considering kilobits per second is exactly the same for both platforms. Both stream extremely well with WiFi and both have options for downloading the songs in the app for later listens without WiFi availability. This feature is great for long airplane rides or international traveling when WiFi is not readily available.

It’s a draw on this one!

Music Content:

Apple music has over 45 million songs vs Spotify’s 35 million. Apple Music has much more options when it comes to music availability and they tend to release more albums at earlier times than Spotify. Apple Music also offers certain music videos that cannot be found anywhere else. Spotify does offer something that Apple Music doesn’t though: podcasts.

But I’d have to say Apple is the winner here.

Navigation and Interface:

Spotify is black and green. Apple Music is white and pink. Aesthetically, I like the Apple Music look a little better but since I am a usual Spotify user, I am more used to the green and black. Both apps are super easy to navigate and learn how to use with main tabs for different categories such as radio, library, search, browse, etc.

Spotify has some animations for certain songs and it also features the Genius Lyrics system which Apple Music does not have. This system allows you to view song lyrics as well as extra information about the song and artist as you listen to the song. However, Apple Music has a feature that Spotify doesn’t that I really appreciated. It allows you to type in lyrics from a song that you don’t know the name of and it’ll find the song for you.

It’s another draw on this one.

Discovering New Music

Music streaming services play a key role in helping one find new, likeable music for their specific taste. Personally, I think Spotify has nailed my taste to a tea whereas Apple Music hasn’t yet. But that is most likely due to the fact that I’ve only been using Apple Music for a couple of weeks.

Spotify creates personal playlists for each individual based on algorithms from previously played music. These playlists include Discover Weekly and Release Radar. Apple Music has the same concept with New Music Mix. Personally, I see a lot more recommended music on Spotify that I would actually click on and listen to than on Apple Music.

So the winner has to be Spotify.

Social Media Aspect:

Both Apple Music and Spotify allow you to follow artists and keep up with their music, latest releases, and personal playlists. Both services allow you to follow your friends as well. However, Spotify, unlike Apple Music, allow you to see what your friends are listening to live in real-time if you are using the desktop app. This is probably the only reason I use Spotify over Apple Music on the regular. Being able to see what your friends are listening to is so fun and such an easy way to find new music. Nothing beats seeing your friend listening to some High School Music and sending them a photo to make fun of them! And even though artists are more active on Apple Music, I personally enjoy seeing what my friends are up to than my favorite artists so…

Spotify wins this one too.

FINAL WINNER: SPOTIFY!!

This is obviously a personal preference and when deciding which streaming service to use, you should do your research. But after experiencing both services, I am personally a bigger fan of Spotify after looking at the pros and cons of both.

Kaykay’s playlist of the week (made on Spotify of course):

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Photo Credit: EPIC Records

Future is what some might say a trap God – now he’s a trap WIZARD! In his latest album titled “Future Hndrxx Presents: The Wizrd,” Future presents us with a 20 track project that seems to be self named. Future Hndrxx is a self given nickname and ‘The Wizrd’ is a nickname given to him by his late uncle. The album consists of a multitude of styles and for those throwing  a rager anytime soon, you could include many of “The Wizrd’s” songs on your playlist because it SLAPS. Listening to it before bed was not the best idea as it got me super hype and ready to party as I danced the night away. Future will probably go down in history as one of the best beat creators of this generation of rappers, and “The Wizrd” definitely adds to his genius with some of the best beats I’ve heard in awhile while incorporating new stylistic choices as well.

“The Wizrd” shows a different side of Future. This album brings out his hip hop side while still holding true to his ties with trap. Shifting away from the mumble rap flow in some songs, Future is now creating a name for himself in the hip-hop scene. Don’t get me wrong though, there’s still plenty of trap that keeps Future in his roots  in most of the album. Thus, is Future the trap God and the hip-hop ‘Wizrd?’ I think so.

Moving more towards the hip-hop genre with this album, Future is opening up many more doors for himself as a creator and businessman. As the founder of the record label Freebandz, Future and his brother have created an entire brand, selling both music and merchandise. I am personally a big fan of Freebandz as a brand because it looks cool yet it is affordable unlike the clothing brands of other rappers such as Kanye West’s Fear of God line which has ripped shirts selling for hundreds of dollars. Future himself is quite an influencer in fashion as he is constantly pushing his limits and making the most odd looks very fashionable. Here are more of Future’s looks: https://www.looklive.com/people/future/

“The Wizrd” is a step in the right direction for Future and I think this album will be very successful. Here are some notes I jotted down during my first listen to the album.

1. Never Stop (4:51)

Future kicks off his album with a more personal, hip-hop song. The song starts off with a big statement by Future. “I make Yeezy boost moves in Reeboks and ain’t gonna never stop.” This goes back to what I was saying earlier too about Freebandz being a more affordable look. The song is very reflective and it introduces the new hip-hop Future. https://shop.freebandz.com/

2. Jumpin on a Jet (2:17)

This is a pure Atlanta trap piece as Future kicks off the song with “Yeah, hoe.” He is basically bragging about his material wealth and is bragging about going from rags to riches. This song has a great beat and is definitely a banger.

3. Rocket Ship (1:56)

Nice follow up to Jumpin on a Jet. It is a great beat but a bit slower and as Future continues his conversation about his climb to the top. This song also embodies drugs and the feeling of blasting off in a rocket ship after “cooking coco.”

4. Temptation (2:47)

This song is also more on the hip-hop side of Future’s sound and his personal reflection. He discusses his tough past and how most of his friends are in prison while he is out and rich.

5. Crushed Up (2:30)

This is one of the singles Future released about two weeks ago – great choice to release it as a single. This is the Future we are used to hearing and releasing it as a single got us excited for the release of the full album. The song is difficult to place in the album for me though as it sounds quite different from the rest of the songs – still love it though.

6. F&N (3:09)

One of my personal favorites of the album. This song is very catchy The song starts off pretty normal but it really picks up. The song has a shift (key change) at exactly 2:00 and this is possibly my favorite moment of the entire album. This song is the perfect introduction to the rest of the album and recaptured my undivided attention. “I took an AK to a dinner date” had me rotfl.

7. Call the Coroner (2:12)

The intro to this song has me shooketh. Future is really inspired by El Chapo himself! This is the perfect beat for Future and you can tell – he kills this song. “I wanna live like a drug lord, but I wanna be glorious // Sometimes I feel like a kingpin, I’m so victorious // I got a white and a black girl, they look like an Oreo // I come through poppin it off, call the coroner.” These lyrics are trap gold.

8. Talk Shit Like a Preacher (2:12)

Future continues the previous track with this flow. He is killing it at this point in the album and knows it too.

9. Promise U That (3:25)

This song really slows the beats back down. I wasn’t really a fan of that transition at that exact moment. This song is not bad at all but the previous songs were all very hype and had me jumping so this song felt like an interruption to the party.

10. Stick to the Models (3:16)

This song has Future going off. It’s also a lower beat but Future doesn’t really take a break in this song. He is rapping the whole time which is rare for any rap song.

11. Overdose (1:55)

The first line of this track, “Swag overdose,” really exemplifies Future’s interest in the fashion world and his confidence in his own style. The whole song is basically about how he is overdosing on life because he feels so good all the time due to his lavish lifestyle.

12. Krazy but True (3:05)

This is one of the more poetic tracks on the album. It has a slower beat as Future raps about the influence he has had on people. With the line “Damn, that’s crazy but it’s true” as the hook, we can see how humble Future feels about his successes in life – he literally can’t believe it!

13. Servin Kill Kam (3:07)

The beats on this track are insane. This song is about Future’s high class status but how he is still “street” at heart. He talks about how he has all of these expensive things but how he is still using them to do the same things as he did in his past. Great concept.

14. Baptize (3:38)

Future samples HIS OWN BEAT in this track! Now that’s what I like to call confident. And he does it amazingly. He samples the beat from the song “Slave Master” from his album “DS2” from 2015. This second half of this song is what really slaps – amazing!

15. Unicorn Purp (Feat. Young Thug & Gunna) (4:07):

Purp is a well known strain of weed that has little purple hairs on it. Unicorn purp thus wins best song title on this album. This track also has the first features of Young Thug and Gunna on the album. For Future not to bring in features until the fifteenth song on the album goes to show how personal Future wanted this album to be.

16. Goin Dummi (2:42)

This song is alright. We’re getting closer to the end of a really long album here. This song seemed more in the album for Future than for us – he is rapping about staying super focused in the very distracting world that comes with being in the music industry.

17. First Off (Feat. Travis Scott) (3:48)

Travis Scott has to be the most popular rapper right now so it’s no surprise Future has featured him. I am personally a huge fan of Travis Scott so I was very happy to see a feature from him in this album. This song is really good too.

18. Faceshot (2:56)

This song is about Future messing around with a bunch of girls, but still being humble when he needs to be. Basically, if he does find the right girl, he’ll settle.

19. Ain’t Coming Back (3:40)

This is another song about Future’s past of being in the streets. The point of this song though is that he is not sad about making it big and having the chance to leave those dark times. Future has rapped about loyalty a lot in the past and with the line “Couple real friends turn enemies,” speaks volumes to Future. He really values true friends and this song is about how when he came up, a lot of his “friends” became really jealous and hateful – as he says “I ain’t goin back.”

20. Tricks on Me (4:22)

The closer. Very melodic. Really wraps up the album well as Future takes the bpm down. He discusses some insecurities in this song and I really appreciate this track.

Overall, this album SLAPS HARD and I recommend giving it a listen.

Kaykay’s Playlist of the Week: