Macklemore & Ryan Lewis With Big K.R.I.T. and Talib Kweli American Airlines Arena, Miami Sunday, November 24, 2013 Better Than: We could have ever expected. A great man once said, “If you want to be an active participant in hip-hop culture, you have to get off the couch, go to…
It’s Thanksgiving week! That means endless buffets of turkey (or lechón) and pumpkin pie, never-ending family gatherings with cousins you never knew you had, and Southern Comfort hangovers. And if you’re in need of an escape from hearing your Abuela Marta constantly ask you when you’re finally gonna get hitched,…
Janelle Monáe With Roman GianArthur Fillmore Miami Beach Saturday, November 23, 2013 Better Than: James Brown reincarnated as a woman. Janelle Monáe’s set began with four roadies dressed in matching white pants, lab coats, bowties, and glasses clustered in front of the stage, seeming to be in the middle of…
“Radically different from what’s happening on the beach.” That’s the ballsy tagline for the inaugural, newly announced Look Alive Fest. And we here at Crossfade can only respond, “Whoa! Yeah! No shit!” Curatorially slammed together by Miami’s Spilt Milk Projects, Brooklyn’s Ad Hoc, and Wynwood’s Gramps, these “two nights of…
They say James Brown was the “hardest working man in show business,” but German house producer Thomas Gold can probably relate. He’s been on the road pretty much constantly throughout 2013. Whenever he’s not rocking parties from here to the Grecian islands, Asia, or Tomorrowland, he’s snuggled up with his…
Art Basel Miami Beach week isn’t just about paint on a canvas, graffiti on a wall, or a sculpture in the park. It’s also about the drop of the boom-bap beat from the most significant art form of the last half-century, hip-hop. Starting in the late 1980s and early 90s,…
Disclaimer: No questions about Kendrick Lamar, Top Dawg Entertainment, the new Source magazine cover big-upping Black Hippy as “Rap’s Illest Crew,” or anything along those lines in this interview. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s been a year and a half since TDE’s human dictionary, Ab-Soul,…
Bass is the explosive power of a trillion pent up neutrons elbow dropping through the moshpit of your skull. We discovered it on three shining drops of strong Miami acid and you can too. So power your speakers to the red line, drop the needle on that new Caligula, “Sublimation,”…
The world got its first taste of Fergenstein on Live. Love. A$AP., the purple-tinged, codeine-soaked 2011 debut mixtape from New York newcomer A$AP Rocky. The tape ushered in Rocky as a breath of fresh air in the hip-hop game and introduced A$AP as not just a young collective of adventurous…
What pairs well with bananas? If your answer is anything but champagne, raucous electro-rage bangers, and two wild and crazy guys from Sweden, then you definitely don’t know about that Dada Life. The duo brings a certain rock’n’roll-meets-Dali atmosphere to their live performances, and by that, we mean the energy…
Like a Sid Vicious or Johnny Rotten, the spirit of rebellion is alive in Joey Badass, the 18-year-old rapper who fronts up-and-coming Brooklyn collective Pro Era. The crew came together in 2009 at Edward R. Murrow High School, the same place that spawned renowned creatives like graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat…
Music and art enthusiasts! Get out those calendars, those red and black pens, and put them to work for you. The upcoming Art Basel 2013 schedule of events is thickening, and even now, we’ve got some serious news you want to hear. We’re more than stoked to say Kendrick Lamar…
When Macklemore and Ryan Lewis began recording their collaborative debut, they didn’t set out to make a record that would change their lives, shock the industry, or shape the future of hip-hop. They were just two independent musicians doing what they loved with people they cared about. “That’s what made…
With mindless drivers who must’ve bribed the DMV to get a Class E license, con artists who make a living by stealing children’s Social Security numbers, and comedians who run for public office, Miami is far, far, far from utopia. But the music’s pretty good. And in many ways, the…
A non-Rastafarian reggae musician who grew up a practicing Muslim, Tiken Jah Fakoly is a native of Africa’s Ivory Coast who draws most of his material and inspiration from his home continent. His concern for the well being of his people has gotten him in trouble and even exiled for…
Got Soulfrito? It’s been years since the last edition of this Urban Latin Music Festival. But finally, the 305 is getting another shot of the fest’s Spanglish street party vibe. “We’re pleased to announce,” the Soulfrito folks proclaimed today via Facebook, “Nas and Don Omar as our first two headliners…
It’s true that a famous surname draws a lot of attention. Now imagine being the son or daughter of not one, but two famous parents. Double the benefits? Perhaps. But double the pressure? Most assuredly. No one knows that better than Michele Coltrane. The only daughter of jazz giants John…
Stephen Marley is a man of few words. When asked what it’s like to follow in the footsteps of his famous father, Bob Marley, a man who comes as close to deification as our popular culture will allow, Stephen replies with only a sentence fragment: “Rastaman vibration positive.” See also:…
Who’s down for some jazzin’, slow jammin’, bumpin’ ‘n’ grindin’ in the Gardens? From March 14 to 16, the parking lot at Sun Life Stadium will be swarmed by 60,000 mature ‘n’ sexy folks for two whole nights of R&B, pop-dance, soul, and other kinds of suave, seductive stuff. That’s…
On Saturday, Mother Nature was no friend to the inaugural Friends of Nature Music & Arts Festival as an almost Biblical downpour forced the cancelation of all acts — including headliner Matisyahu — scheduled to go on stage after 7 p.m., by order of the fire department. On Sunday, though,…
The first five days of the work week are the hardest. Good thing we have music from Bonobo’s downtempo beats to Alejandro Fernández’s Latin hits to some good ‘ol jazz to help us get through the misery. Just check out the five best concerts going down in Miami this week…
In 1966, brothers Sérgio Dias Baptista and Arnaldo Baptista formed Os Mutantes, a Brazilian rock band that played the role of confident court jester within the folk-rock Tropicália movement. While the group’s forerunners and mentors, like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, preferred sentimentality and left-leaning ideals, the Mutants zeroed in…
