Imagine, if only for a moment, that you had access to a time machine. You could go anywhere, any place, at any point in time, and do whatever you please. I’m fairly confident there’s one place where most wouldn’t go: 2020.

As I’ve said before—in my coverage of Wyatt Waddell’s song “FIGHT!”—there is profound hope and gratitude for the Black artists that have taken this time to create something for their community, to truly serve them and feed them while reflecting upon the times we are all entrenched in. This August, the lead guitarist in Wyatt Waddell’s band and the Original Chicago Blues All-Stars has achieved as much. Michael Damani has reminded us that this fight is not over in a new record lush with swanky guitar riffs and a softened blend of reggae and blues.

For the last year or so, I have become so desensitized to its horror stories that I often forget to search for the incredible individuals who overcome the current prison structure. Manny 10x is one of those incredible individuals. He took a soul crushing place and turned it into a garden of creativity, one that blossoms with positivity.

“Something Special” is a fun pop song handling themes of love, friendship, and self expression. The lyrics paint a picture of a ‘we’ where the top priority is time spent together. Labate emphasizes those special attributes that are found in someone you care for.

There is nothing more delectable, and dangerous, than falling in love. Ifeanyi Elswith candidly captures this conundrum with her latest single “XO.” It’s a dreamy, pop-infused track full of poetics and wit.

Growing up with parents from Louisiana, I was encompassed by the rich jazz of Miles Davis, Wynton Marseilles, Stanley Clarke, and countless others. Because of this I now have such a love for this music that my chest swells when I hear it’s tune.

I have never felt as tired in my twenty years of life than in these past three months, these past two weeks especially. It is an exhaustion that is not foreign to me, but has been magnified by the images of black bodies beaten from blue, thrown unto the ground, poisoned in the face—assaulted in every thinkable way. I have struggled to find pockets of joy or even a semblance of peace within myself as I am traumatized every time I turn on my television or swipe up on my black phone screen.

This is what rebirth sounds like, a cinematic revelation into the beauty of self, the elegance of proprium, the sexy grace of peace in the mind and soul. While this may have been the journey of acquiescence, she is no longer a castaway object to be violated and used by the rough hands of life. Rather, she has let go of the notions that she must be changed to fit within a stranger’s standard for subsistence.

The body, while listening to music, has a multitude of reactions. Goosebumps, shivers, tears, smiles, happiness, and dancing--just to name a few. Turns out, when you really like a song, the music has a way of literally moving through you. A song enters your ears, moves through all four major brain lobes and triggers physical and emotional reactions through the entire body. This process explains why music has been so impactful throughout our lives. In fact, because these sensations are uniquely correlated to music, I argue that I may not be able to live without it.

A Binky recently released their debut single, Sunlight. We spoke with Dallas native about hip-hop, Dallas hip-hop scene, and Mac Miller. You can hear A Binky’s debut single here, along with some of our favorite songs.

Known for their reflective, nostalgic, yet contemporary sound and aesthetic, Little Distractions combines 1970's folk and new wave influences with original lyrics about love, loss, and the substances that bring them both. Last year we spoke with the duo about their partnership, long-distance, and their EP, Fault Lines. Majd Abousleiman & Ross Newhouse are the brilliant minds behind Little Distractions.

Noah Chris is a 21-year-old artist making moves for himself in Chicago. He brings about the vibrancy of love we need so much right now as he finds solace in Chicago as a home and music as a way to connect with people and learn from one another. A poetic soul who shapeshifted into the music scene, Chris implements the sounds of both R&B and hip-hop into his music with the fusion of acoustic undertones that make you wanna sit back and vibe for the entire duration of this pandemic.

In Solange’s Houston, daughters speak through the words of their mothers while Black cowboys gallop through downtown skyscrapers at high noon. DJ Screw hangs like summer heat; Scarface rises like fog. The voices of poets and activists climb in through the window. In Solange’s Houston, places become patterns, sounds spiral into themselves, and above all is her voice: repeating and repeating.

Music has been a consistent line of passion for Gray as a man finding a place in the world . As a child, Gray was heavily influenced by his father’s independence and love for the classic RnB of the ‘80s and ‘90s. At the age of eleven, Gray fell in love with music, specifically the sound emitted from the trumpet. As he grew, the music he created fell back in love with him—a voice that demanded others to listen.

D-Composed is revolutionary. Led by two Black women, the chamber music collective builds experiences that immerse audience members into a world of Black composers, Black musicians, and Black culture. In an industry where—once again, dead white guys dominate—D-Composed’s Founder and Experience Curator, Kori Coleman, and Artistic Director, Danielle Taylor, create space for Black voices to be heard.

The Chicago-based musician has spent much of her career drifting between the city’s various music scenes, floating through their cosmos and absorbing what she can before moving on. She describes herself as a wanderer. The effects of this wanderlust can be heard in her music: shapeless, genreless, somewhere in the gravity between jazz and post-punk and gospel and trip-hop. drea, though, uses simpler terms: “It’s like blue-purple. The sound Chicago usually makes is orangey-red, and I appreciate orangey-red, but that’s just not what I do.”