East Side Art Lot's 2021 Call to Artists | Press Interview w/ Larissa Gladding of The East Side BID

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Apply to create a public art piece!

Deadline Thursday, May 6th at 11:59 PM.

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The East Side Business Improvement District is looking for artists to participate in its second year of The East Side Art Lot. This seasonal outdoor space is offering new pieces of public art and seating to those that use and enjoy the space.

Their current call to artists is to request applicants 18 and older to submit a proposal to create their designs on one of the provided bench seating. Each commissioned artist will receive $500 and materials. 

With a high prioritization of BIPOC/ LGBTQ+/Women artists in the selection process we wanted to insure that all members of our creative community heard about this great opportunity. Larissa Gladding, Special Projects Manager from The East Side Business Improvement District virtually sat down with /CW Editor-in-Chief, Lexi S. Brunson to give us the 411 on the project details, advice on applying, and other insight that may make this public art programing worth your while.

View the East Side Art Lot's 2021 Call to Artists HERE.

Deadline Thursday, May 6th at 11:59 PM.

Taiyamo Denku & Urban Legend - Not From New York prod by Bo Faat video by CTMFILMs

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Hip Hop is now global and so is the impact from its places of origin. Including NYC. around here we have our own method of doing things but one must be in tune with other spaces to survive the ride.

This video from Taiyamo Denku & Urban Legend, “Not From New York”, plays up on that logic. Classic hip hop flows, production and street vibes. 

Your welcome!

/CW

The lead single and visual from CyphaDen Music's own Taiyamo Denku & Urban Legend is "Not From New York ". They do however talk that New York shit in their b...

2Hi - Keys to the Nexus [Executively Prod. By No B]

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See this one is clever. Even if we can't fully follow the vibes there are always some gems in there. 

2Hi, is pressing some of those futuristic rap elements with his project Keys to Nexus. It’s man-ish but that’s not surprising. The key is who is pressing on the follow through with the imagery? Check some of the the track titles:

  • FOLLOW ME

  • PROGRAMMED 

  • CRUISE CONTROL

It’s robotic. It's strategic. It's the digital programming of the young mind and the over saturated digital world. Are we reading in too far? Tuh! Y’all not thinking deep enough.

Tap in and tell us where you see the lie!

/CW

Listen to Keys To The Nexus on Spotify. 2hi · Single · 2021 · 5 songs.

Joe Quinto - Blue Genes

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What is this truth we seek and reality we live in?

Joe Quinto has dropped a new project called Blue Genes that has us questioning just that. From the mix of hip hop and folk music, the subtle grasping for a second wind in life's fight is present in a firm pollination of locality [it’s Wisconsin baby] and imagery. 

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“For many, it’s been a tough year to pinpoint exactly how we feel about our chaotic world right now. Joe Quinto is no exception. He’s had a difficult time expressing his inner turmoil of anxiety, uncertainty, and frustration. Even the simple tasks get exhausting. Blue Genes is about acknowledging those tribulations on one hand and working through them with the other.” 

Our favorite track is definitely “Just Breathe”  featuring Klassik, with its calming melody and reflection.

Is this one a knockout? We will let you decide this round. 

/CW

Listen to Blue Genes on Spotify. Joe Quinto · Album · 2021 · 9 songs.

Kaleidoscopes & Tightropes | Poem by Brit Nicole @poeticallybrit

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Kaleidoscopes & Tightropes


I let you go.

Slipping through my fingers

Like water on the run

You were never mine to catch

Knew it from the moment we met

We smiled and I saw the future

Friends forever? maybe

Lovers? Not yet

I'm way too awkward to have swag

Just brought along my pen and pad

Thought to make use of my offering

In an attempt amuse you

Muse you, include you

Until I started writing dope lines that infused you

For when I couldn't muster up a simple "hello"

Started sending silly little love notes

That allowed you access to my psyche

Not sure how far I wanted this to go

The lies we tell ourselves

If anything, the heart always knows

We commenced, the writing was on the wall

An enigma became us

Curiosity led me to fall

Kaleidoscopes and tightropes

My nerves went through it all

Late nights, early mornings

Still, I knew something was wrong

I would scribble your name in my melody

Until you became my song

Set the track on repeat

So you could always put me on

Closed my eyes for just a moment

It was no surprise, you were gone

I must be that sucker for love

Who longs for the many signs

Like the ribbon in the sky

Chasing the clouds

Begging for their blessing

To let your heart find mine

Playing devil's advocate to my own lies

As the truth played back

While I laid back in my own mind

"He's not the one"

So I ask myself, what am I doing

Why even try

To love without relent

If in the end you say goodbye

Encountering a mental deficit

From poor emotional investment

Growing weary from my giving

But in my giving, I'm strengthened within

In the name of love or something like it

I'd do it all over again

Though it's getting harder to breathe

Do not be deceived

If chance should acquaint me once more, I will not hesitate

This is me saying yes to love again before I suffocate.


/Brit Nicole @poeticallybrit

Eddie Jame$ - Lottery (video submission)

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Let me get a PICK 3.

Showing up with his video “Lottery”, Eddie Jame$ is showing us discreetly about that life. 

Shiny coat and all [its a look], the visuals move natural to a track that has a nice little sway to it. A few punchlines, some ego, and some wit, it's catchy. 

Eddie Jame$ is a wild card in the current MKE music scene. And you know what you do with a wild card right?

Keep it ready. You might even win the “Lottery”. 

/CW

Eddie Jame$ Debuts A New Single Titled "Lottery", Paired Up With Hot Upcoming Videographer @Shot_By_DH, The Two Have Flawless Chemistry, On This Dynamic New ...

Shun Millions - More To Say (EP submission)

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It’s Shun time! The moment, the movement, the method. . . We are betting on Mr. Millions.

No longer can we call this one a youngin’. With growth and experience laying down the bars, Shun Millions is still smooth rolling with those Northside MKE to Cali vibes. The clean production and atmospheric rap riffs create a moment. Is it freeze frame high vibes? Hazy elevation? Raindrops rolling down the window panes? Whatever the intention the execution is we cant turn it off. 

Fav Track: “Time Up” [it's just the right one]

We have had the privilege of seeing Shun bloom as an artist and this project shows that our early predictions about his sound were right.

If you haven't been listening before, it's not too late. Clearly he has “More To Say”.

Lexi for /CW

Listen to More To Say on Spotify. Shun Millions · Single · 2021 · 6 songs.

#SoWasYouReallySleepingAtYourBrothersHouse| Poem by Diana Mora @natureallydye

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I asked for someone to pour into me

As much as I poured into

myself

I know 

I’ve been selfish 

Still you renamed me 

Dye

I’ll let you leave with the credit of that

A star in your dark sky

You claimed light

Just a star in 

your galaxy 

holds many

Poems I wrote on your birthday 

Where I named 

“As warm as RAH”

Would’ve been dead enough 

Should’ve been enough 

I thought that the shared pain of people leaving us on the 7th day of the 3rd month

Was enough 

Pain exchanged 

Feel your hurt 

So I could heal you ?

Ever felt mine ?

Thinking the Gods did that for us

That’s what you Mumbled 

As

Your

Tears were heard through phones

Protect me

Protect me 

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Protect me

Yet the protection that came with the contract you disclosed had me sign

Then VOID !

Never having a chance to call this our own

Never having the chance to call my insides your home

It don’t even hurt the same

Poems don’t even flow the same

Because 

Fuck Niggas

Think Their

Godly Niggas

But

Fuck Niggas 

And Fuck Niggas

Is ironically spelled the same way 

Yet means totally different things

Fuck Niggas ain’t shit

I hate Fuck Niggas

Totally different content 

Yet 

You seem to have fallen under both catalogs 

“What you beg me for fuck nigga ?”

“Why’d he ask me to change”

“FUCK NIGGAS”

I said to myself as I looked in the mirror

Fuck Niggas 

As I grabbed 

My chest 

Pain 

Silent promises 

We made

Turned into

 Loud 

Truthful lies

In front of everybody 

Yet

Again

“DYE DON’T YOU FUCKIN CRY”

I weeped on that floor

I believed in you  

“That was it for you”

I repeated in my pulse

I almost gave myself to you

I almost gave myself to you 

Explain to me why 

I felt bad for loving him too

Explain to me why that night I laid with him as the sky changed from dark blue to light blue

 I called you 

I felt bad for betraying you

I felt bad for telling him I love you

I felt bad for telling YOU I loved him too

Now look at you ?

I was going to teach how to move your earth..??

IT HURTS !!!!

I think you know me enough to know

My poems don’t ever have to Rhyme


That 

My love 

My being 

Had never made sense till the day 

I saw my reflection in your eyes 

Ask me again why I can’t look in your eyes ?

I see bad parts of

Me when

 I look at you

So

I stopped writing poems

I told you everything 

Even when it was hard

Even when it hurt

Even when it was ugly

You beat at my spirit 

As I allowed you

You lied to my face

You lie to yourself

You deny me

You deny your soul

You hurt me

You hurt 

Yourself 

I poured into you

You

Drained 

My well

You change the spelling in my name from Die /D/i/e to Dye D/y/e

Now allow me to reintroduced 

My name is Dye

And she told me to remind you 

That

every so often 

Poems I wrote you 

Would end with

Who are you ?

And where did you come from..

You are nothing to me

And it no longer matters where you come from

Because 

I hold the power to send you to 

Hell..

I’ll spare you 

In hopes 

that you realize that

One day

You 

Need

You


As much as them hoes needs you

#SoWasYouReallySleepingAtYourBrothersHouse..


/Diana Mora @naturallydye