melt exclusive:
Quadry
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot as far as what hip-hop is: the art form, the culture. For me, and people like me, it's more like a family heirloom. So it's like “When did you get into the vase that's in your grandma's house?” It's always been there.”
Read Above: An exclusive interview This week I sat down for an exclusive interview with QUADRY, the Baton Rouge native and luminary rap artist, whose recent project, Ask a Magnolia, represents a culmination of years of developing and perfecting his craft.
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Featured Artist Profile
After taking seven years off from hip-hop production, an encounter with Billy Woods on tour revitalized Child Actor's energy for the genre. Now, having produced for the likes of Armand Hammer, Fly Anakin, AKAI SOLO, and Elucid, he is forging new paths through his organic approach to beatmaking.
Child actor
“On the clock”- The Making of 3rd shift documentary
2024, Directed by Ryan Heinz
In compliment to their recent album, “3rd Shift”, veteran rappers Squadda B and JUS have released a documentary compiling footage of their months of writing and recording. Made in summertime Detroit, the album is, in part, based on the grind mentality of the Motor City. With beats by Squadda and flows by JUS, Fat Ray, and more, it has been one of the must-listens of 2024.
Normally based in Oakland, Squadda says that traveling repeatedly to Detroit in order to make the album was “Definitely needed. You’ve got to kind of get out of your comfort zone a little bit, and I'm very comfortable in Detroit. But still… you're not at home. You're not near your bed.”
Watch the documentary now to see how the two artists push each other out of their comfort zones in order to create a gem of a project.
Listen to 3rd Shift now on:
Artists to watch in 2025: Davey Legend
Pop-infused songwriter and producer Davey Legend has taken L.A by storm since he relocated there last year, collaborating with the likes of Meyta and OZ Goliath and injecting his unique brand of experimentation into the veins of one of the greatest music scenes in the world.
Born in Redding, California, Davey began as a classically trained musician at the inquest of his parents, but he naturally gravitated toward the freedom that guitar provided him, learning to write and perform largely in the isolation of his small town.
Now, in the amassed company of his peers, Davey awaits the release of his newest project, which he feels is “leaps and bounds ahead of everything else [he’s] done”.
Artist profiles
Fielded, the dynamic vocalist from New Jersey, has ridden their idiosyncratic voice and flawless harmonies across the shimmering waves of various genres, collaborators, and sonic motifs.
fielded
Gus englehorn
Gus Englehorn, a Homer, Alaska-born indie artist, fuses a unique blend of post-rock, singer-songwriter, and acoustic skeletons into a Frankenstein’s monster of narrative bliss.
Million Dollar Weekend, the infectious pop rock duo of Joe Mason and Flynn Hase Spence, formed through pure circumstance. However, as their collaboration has come into fuller form, their creative affinities have aligned in a way that few, if any, can ever achieve.
Million Dollar Weekend
Nic.
Nic., the artistic alias of Wisconsin-based rapper Nicholas Harper, delivers smooth and lyrically potent tracks, etching out carefully-penned verses from the turmoils of his spirit.
Tyler Jackson, the rapper and producer from Atlanta, Georgia, has pushed the boundaries of both his own sound and hip-hop as a genre with each successive project he has released. His most recent full-length project, April Palindrome, represents a return to the creative mindset in which Tyler feels most motivated and productively uncomfortable.