A few months back, 5280 Magazine published the list of the best bars in Denver and included The Meadowlark in their top spots for music. That wasn’t enough though, they published a picture of DJ Dozen from The Solution Showcase #1 along with the article to make it that much sweeter. I agree with them, the Meadowlark has been one of the best venues I’ve worked with! Catch The Solution Showcase once a month and Goodness on the 1st & 3rd Saturdays all Summer long at this fine, award-winning establishment. See you there!
Saturday, 6/2 from 3-9pm -> Family Affair Summertime Fashion Show w/DJ Low Key + special guests DJ Amen & KDJ Above at Goodness on the Meadowlark’s Patio…
SATURDAY, 6/2 from 3-9PM -> Goodness gets started with a Family Affair Summertime fashion show and pop-up store plus me, DJ Amen & KDJ Above spinning all sorts of great music on the Meadowlark’s beautiful patio. We’ll also have food on the grill and a refreshing lineup of cold drinks for Summer, check it:
Red Bull & Svedka “Bomber Pops”
Agua Frescas Especial aka Aguas Especial (con Svedka o Rum)
1ST & 3RD SATURDAYS from 3-9PM -> It’s been a long time coming and after anxiously waiting through a tease of a mild Winter, things are finally consistently warm and it’s time to announce a new daytime party on the Meadowlark’s incredibly dope patio, it goes by the name of Goodness. Me and the Meadowlark crafted this party piece by piece and made sure every little details of the party was packed with goodness, from the drinks to music to the special events. Twice a month throughout the Summer, I’ll be joined by special guest DJs and other friends of mine from food trucks to clothing stores/companies to all other sorts of performers.
All Summer long, me and some of the best DJs in Denver (starting with DJ Amen & KDJ Above on 6/2) will be playing everything we think is good under the sun. The music is just the tip of the iceberg though, we’ve got food (by grill and/or food truck) plus a perfect lineup of drinks for summer:
Red Bull & Svedka “Bomber Pops”
Agua Frescas Especial aka Aguas Especial (con Svedka o Rum)
The party gets started on Saturday, 6/2 with a fashion show and pop-up store featuring everything you need for Summer, courtesy of our good friends Family Affair. Two of my favorite DJs in town, DJ Amen & KDJ Above will be joining me on the turntables for some random musical goodness. 6/12, 6/16, 7/7, 7/21, 8/4, 8/18 & so on /// 3-9PM /// 21+ /// No Cover.
Above: Add-2 “Luxury”, as featured on MTV, VH1 & MTVU’s Top 5 Freshmen /// Below: Add-2 feat. Deejay Juice (produced by 9th Wonder) “Going, Going Gone”
Chicago’s Add-2 caught our attention a few years back with the song “Luxury” from his Okayplayer and 2Dopeboyz-backed mixtape, Tale of Two’s City Vol. 3: The Rise & Fall with a very dope, classic Chi-town inspired flow a la Lupe on “Go Go Gadget Flow” or Twista/Do Or Die/Crucial Conflict aka some great rapping with a rare flow. That was just the tip of the iceberg though, we listened more and found out Add’s got a variety of top notch styles and great songs, racking up co-signs from a lot more than just us, with everyone from Common to Kendrick Lamar to the Roots to 9th Wonder (check out their collabs, “Going, Going Gone” and “Super-Genius”) praising his music.
Above: Common calls Add-2 & Lupe his favorite new Chicago MCs + Add-2 “Ghetto Dreams Freestyle” /// Below:Add-2 rocks with the Roots at Highline Ballroom, NYC
Since then, Add-2’s released three more standout projects, Tale Of Two’s City Vol. 4: Better Days w/Okayplayer & 2Dopeboyz, Save Our Souls w/LRG and One Missed Call, establishing himself as one of the best new rappers in a city known for exceptional rappers. With songs ranging from the controversial “Modern Day Coons” to straight up jams like “One Of Dem Girls” to potent lyrical exercises like “Bring Em Out”, his latest project, Save Our Souls, is one of our favorites to drop this year, and we think you’ll dig it as well.
If you’re in Denver or you’ve been paying attention to the national blog scene over the last few years, you’re probably already up on Yonas, King F.O.E. & Karma aka BLKHRTS. They’re one of the wildest hip hop groups I’ve ever seen, on some rock star rap shit, if that makes sense. If you’re not up on F.O.E., Karma & Yonas, check out this great piece on them from one of my favorite music writers, Jeff Weiss of the LA Times/Pitchfork/Passion of the Weiss, written right before BLKHRTS played the infamous LA party, Low End Theory last year:
Denver’s BLKHRTS describe themselves as M.O.P. meets Morrissey. A strong claim, but the union of the Mash Out Posse and Mr. Meat Is Murder does make for something noteworthy. Imagine the gladioluses that fans would drop at Morrissey’s feet, only now getting bashed by lead pipes of M.O.P. Picture a trio of vowel-averse velociraptors rapping as if the phrase “he who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain being a man” was tattoed on their foreheads.
Member King Foe described them as “a breath that you take the moment after the bungee cord is extended to its fullest extent jumping into the Grand Canyon.” The words and beats hit like shrapnel, with samples from “Eraserhead,” Matthew Dear and Joy Division’s first incarnation, Warsaw.
They merge the crowbar rap of Brownsville with a disjointed post-Def Jux aesthetic. Their voices sound as if they’ve been slit with scythes. Denver doesn’t have a subway, but somehow their songs rattle with the shuddering velocity of a train car going off the rails and killing dozens. It is rap as hard-core punk music that never forgets it’s hip-hop.
Topic include sex, drugs, money and death, nightmares, demons and hearts pumping like the fury of angry slaves. At a time when the rap world is monomaniacally fixated on the throne, BLKHRTS play like a poisonous agent assassinating the tired tropes of fancy watches, foreign cars and esoteric concerns. After all, their debut EP, this year’s “BLK S BTFL,” examines a subtext similar to that of Jay-Z and Kanye’s recent would-be opus: racial strife, temptation and gods and men. It’s rap by mad villains, rawer than the fish that richer rappers feast on. Underground not because of a willfully obtuse aesthetic, but for its sense of subversion.
History only gets made once. There’s only gonna be one time to check out Mass Prod & Mo Heat of the Foodchain debuting their new live production set under the name of Izaak Haze and it’s Saturday, 5/26 at The Solution Showcase #6. Saying they’re two of the best producers in Colorado is an understatement, these dudes are making tracks that are as good as pretty much anyone in hip hop at the moment. Anyways, check out the post below and the music can do the talking.
Mass Prod & Mo Heat are the musical masterminds behind most of Denver heavyweights, the Foodchain’s, exceptional brand of CO hip hop. Lately, they’ve been fine tuning a live production set and we’re lucky enough to have them debuting it at The Solution Showcase #6 on Saturday, 5/26! Based on everything we’ve seen and heard from them so far, y’all are in for one hell of a treat!!!
Mass Prod and Mo Heat are best known for their in-house work with the Foodchain on top notch projects like Corpsesand Brunch, but have also worked with the likes of former Little Brother MC, Big Pooh, producing three tracks between them on his Dirty Pretty Things album last fall (more info here), as well as producing recent tracks like the Catch Lungs, Danny Brown & Donny Goines collab, “Gotta Kill This” and shopping some beats to Raekwon, check the video below:
Take a quick look at the videos in the post to get a glimpse of their ridiculous musical talents and don’t miss Mass Prod & Mo Heat, along with Chicago’s own Add-2, BLKHRTS, DJ Low Key & more for The Solution Showcase #6 at the Meadowlark (2701 Larimer St) on Saturday, 5/26. Stay tuned to @DenverSolution for more info, a chance to win free tickets & more. 21+ /// $5 Pre-sales available at Family Affair downtown (plus get 15% your entire purchase when you buy a Solution Showcase ticket) /// $8 at the door.
Above: Mass Prod in a Brunch teaser clip. /// Below: 3 part video series of Mass Prod, Mo Heat & DJ Louiscide in the studio.
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