#obongjayar

#obongjayar

Ayo Brame has dedicated countless hours to perfecting his craft, performing alongside his mentor, Kev Choce, and is currently a freshman studying jazz at The New School of Music in Manhattan.

Odeal's music sits loosely within R&B, also drawing on Afrobeats, neo-soul and contemporary pop. Across his catalogue, love is rarely conclusive. Instead, songs live in emotional grey areas.

Eshu's proverb tells both a story of reparation and of ancestrality by joyfully bending spacetime conventions and accessing subjects from the past with present actions.

Kanya King stated, 'Black music shapes what we listen to, how we speak, how we dress, how we tell our stories and I guess it's defined as Britain's cultural identity but structurally and institutionally is still often treated as m.'

K-Pop Demon Hunters fills the gap, unapologetically indulging every kids' movie cliché with little of the jaded postmodern 'lampshading' that many contemporary animated films love.

Jim Legxacy's new song 'IDK IDK' is accompanied by a mixed-media video directed by Rohan Dil, featuring him and friends in London.

The album showcases an audacious blend of trap, rock, pop, and experimental elements, all infused with a refreshing emotional honesty.

I started writing this album because I was seeing so much of the world and watching what was happening. I felt like I had something important to say. I was writing this almost for necessity because there were so many people not saying what needed to be said. I feel like I'm a student of Nina Simone, and she said, 'the purpose of an artist is to reflect the times they live in.'

R&B in the 21st century has been in a constant state of flux, tugged between safe traditionalism and blurry attempts at progression. For the last decade-plus that "progression" has seen R&B music become more indebted to trap records and the moody atmospherics of alternative bands like Radiohead, Coldplay, or My Bloody Valentine.

The photos, in Ollie's words, lean towards "quiet symmetry". The photo Man on Bike, a particuarly pleasing shot which shows a figure stationary, seemingly pausing to take a call, is often mistaken as staged. According to Ollie, it's "entirely serendipitous". He continues: "I was wandering through Ikoyi when I saw him stop, completely unaware of me, and everything just aligned - the colours, the posture, the stillness."

48 Hills is teaming up with some of SF's best music venues-Regency Ballroom, The Warfield, Great American Music Hall, Brick & Mortar, Monarch, the Midway, Public Works, and more-to get you to some shows throughout the season. This week: some EDM revival and metalcore legends. Stay tuned for more! We have one pair of tickets to each of the shows below to give away, but act fast!

Oumy is a leading figure in contemporary Senegalese music. Her style, which blends hip-hop, African R&B and global pop, makes her one of the most exciting artists on the country's urban scene. Beyond her music career, she has also been involved in social projects within her community, participating in cultural festivals and campaigns related to the environment and equality.

Natanya tears genres open and rebuilds them in her own image. Her drums swing loose and jazzy over heavy 808s; synths drift dreamily before snapping into gritty guitar riffs. Writing, producing and arranging all her own work, she weaves together neosoul silk, R&B groove, indie edge, and flashes of grunge, all carried by a buttery falsetto that nods to Aaliyah, Amy Winehouse, Janet Jackson and early Destiny's Child.

January is the month where music is moving underneath the surface, feeling out the venues, plotting and planning for those great days under the sun, at a festival. If you are a globe-trotting DJ or band, January is the month you're finishing up those FaceTime calls with managers and bookers, and plotting out which month you'll be on the road playing the Empty Bottle in Chicago, the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, or the Continental Club in Austin, TX.

Last month, LaRussell announced his signing of a "project deal" with San Francisco label EMPIRE, one of the music industry's largest and most powerful independent labels and distributors. In 2023, he announced a deal with Live Nation for select concert dates. Both deals, LaRussell indicated, allowed him to make decisions on his own terms. The Roc Nation announcement comes after images of a late January meeting between LaRussell and Jay-Z were shared online.

Sly Dunbar, who has died aged 73 after a long illness, was one of the most renowned Jamaican drummers, respected internationally for his precision timing and for the inventiveness with which he approached his instrument. Crafting non-standard reggae rhythms that drew on funk, soul and disco, Dunbar and his bass-playing partner, Robbie Shakespeare, backed nearly every reggae artist of note

A$AP Rocky has released a new song with Dominican artist Tokischa. Shared today (January 21), "Flackito Jodye" now appears on the track list to the Harlem rapper's new album Don't Be Dumb.