$7 at the door

9:30pm doors/10pm showtime

21+

Hosted by P.Murda & MicaMayGrimm  

Live Jam Session, featuring: Su Na + MMYYKK + Greg Grease + DJ Just Nine + RP Hooks + J.Hard + Dro + Yabil + Blamsiss + DJ Frank Castle spinning in between sets.

SU-NA:

su na is the alias of Alec Ness, a 25 yr old artist/producer living in Minneapolis. After attending university for music composition, he moved to San Francisco in 2013 and became an Ableton certified trainer. Ness began experimenting with his own brand of shadowy R&B - releasing EP projects as su na on record labels Flow-Fi and Syzygy as well as official remixes for Gallant, GoldLink and JOY. As an independent artist, su na has been featured on BBC Radio 1, Apple Beats 1, The FADER, Hypetrak and tastemaker collective Majestic Casual.

su na’s sound has been described as clean, lush and synth-heavy; emphasizing groove and melody while blending Hip Hop and R&B effortlessly. su na’s live shows are anthemic as he’s shared the stage with GoldLink, Rustie, Mr. Carmack, Sango, Esta, and StarRo of Soulection. su na is now ready to share his next EP project titled Surface out June 3, 2016. A collection of 6 songs featuring Christine Hoberg (Flight Facilities), vocalists Ravyn Lenae, Dizzy Fae and UK rapper/lyricist Lord Apex.

MMYYKK:

Multi-Instrumentalist singer/songwriter and synth wizard. 1/6th of ZuluZuluu.
Habitual cloud watcher. Urban shaman.

Give love, spread love.

GREG GREASE:

“We lurk late,” reads a line from Gwendolyn Brooks’ iconic poem “We Real Cool,” describing a group of young Black men shooting pool on the south side of Chicago. The last line reads “we die soon.” Death, preceded by the carefreeness of youth is a juxtaposition all too familiar to Black Americans. To lurk is to be your own boss. To defy America’s social order. To lurk is to survive, and as a Black American, survival is work in itself. Good thing Greg Grease is a working man.

On his new album Born To Lurk, Forced To Work, Grease trades the south side of Chicago in 1959 for present day south Minneapolis. Pool sticks are exchanged for spray paint, a drum machine and a mic. The constant of racism remains -- most topically in Minneapolis’ infamous Lurking Ordinance -- as does the effortless cool in the face of it. He lurks late, but knows he still has to show up for his job in the morning.

A Blue-Collar Afro-centricity is present throughout all of Grease’s music, but takes front and center on BTLFTW. The literal grind of “working seven to four and feeling mis-er-able,” and like his latest release -- 2013‘s Black King Cole EP -- the constant existential grind of a Black man finding his place in America, even with knowledge of self. Building on the theme of his 2012 debut album Cornbread, Pearl & G, Grease paints a picture of the inner city with a tactful brush. Jobs aren’t worth much as corporatism rules everything around him. Children are raised defenseless and forced to shed their innocence, making moves by night at a pace they can’t keep up. Trigger happy cops are watching just around the corner, locking them up pair by pair just as they did their fathers.

Stints in Atlanta and North Carolina during his formative years gives Grease’s music a certain southern funk and rattle that many of his Northern peers lack. But a permanent home in south Minneapolis, with the The Usual Suspects -- a collective comprised of members of Somali, Nigerian, Japanese, Latino and Indigenous heritage -- provides an amalgam of influences that are both familiar yet hard to pin down. There’s soul music from his mother, a golden-age sensibility from his father and the creative freedom of his own countercultural leanings.

A former funk and punk rock drummer, Grease raps with an internal rhythm that compliment the density of his verses and invites similarly minded emcees like P.O.S, Fresh Daily, Akrite and Tall Paul to lend a hand. There is a craftsman’s attention to each syllable within his myriad of flows, and a desire to explore the range of his voice-as-instrument, singing several of the album’s hooks. The album’s production, partly provided by Grease and aided by Medium Zach, Proper T, Ackryte and Starro of Soulection, sheds predictability. Uplifting piano riffs give way to somber violins, chirping bird choruses, moody synths, elegant flutes and spanish guitars. It’s a relentlessly textured sound that reflects the spirit of a crate-digger and the ambition of an orchestra, er, “Lurkestra” leader. A nod to Jay Dee and a wink to Sun-Ra.

Born To Lurk, Forced To Work, works by honing in on what Grease has always aimed for: music that’s multi-dimensional. Music that makes feel you good when shit goes bad, and hits you in the gut when you think shit is sweet. It’s a smile and a tear. Greg Grease is mourning and celebrating. That is, if the rent is paid.

DJ JUST NINE:

Being fortunate enough to have had an abundance of musical influences such as Jazz, Soul, R&B, Rock & Roll and many more, the art of mixing and blending vinyl almost came together naturally for DJ Just Nine. With the powerful influence of Hip Hop culture, perfecting the craft of DJing consumed his life from a young age. That same desire to perfect his craft has been noticed throughout the Twin Cities and beyond earning DJ Just Nine spots on two Atmosphere tours, taking part in Rock the Bells Hip Hop Festival, playing multiple Soundset Hip Hop Festival’s and acted as I Self Devine’s tour DJ for five years. During that time he has also been holding down the decks for TUSS Music members Greg Grease, I.B.E and Akrite as well as playing countless nights throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul. Partnered with Greg Grease, he has played countless events and festivals including 10,000 Sounds Festival, CMJ Music Festival, SxSW Music Festival, A3C Hip Hop Festival, SoundSet and more. Currently DJ for Greg Grease & ZULUZULLU.

RP HOOKS:

As a solo artist or as the front man of explosive MC/producer duo TTxBC, RP Hooks (formerly known as Truth Be Told) has played everywhere from Soundset to SXSW. He’s shared bills with DMX, Grieves & Budo, Action Bronson, Chiddy Bang, P.O.S, and Schoolboy Q, and has recorded songs with Planet Asia, Phil da Agony, Toki Wright, Abstract Rude, Smoke DZA and BJ the Chicago Kid. If that list of names isn’t impressive enough, just listen to the music: equal parts Twin Cities smirk and Chicago attitude, Hooks’ confident, unpredictable flow, uniquely twisted worldview, and ever-present sense of humor combine to create a style unlike anything in either scene. 

His most recent project, All Black Jesus, was released July 23, 2013. All Black Jesus is RP Hooks sharing a lot of his hopes, dreams, and aspirations as it is all layed out on the title track of the album when he states in a chopped-and-screwed fashion “If I die today, I’m gonna come back a rich mu’fucka” over a beat with reverberating 808 kicks and spaced out synths. On the soulful and sparse “88 & Beyond”, RP Hooks come unhinged, spewing in a smooth and comfortable fashion about the passing of his brother, and stating many a rumination on where he seeks to take his art. That mission statement is also echoed on the smooth synths and trap hi-hats of lead single “21 Grams” featuring P.O.S.

This album is full of experiments and chances. 2% Muck provides his signature soundscape on “Mike Tyson” while RP Hooks provides the equivalent of a modern day banger. On the Noam The Drummer-produced “Levels” (not to be confused with the A$AP Rocky tune of the same name) Hooks manages to talk about taking his art to new heights and hoping that all the while, we all join him for the ride. Elsewhere on this disc, you have “We Made It” and “Trapped” which contain well programmed synth melodies that seek to take us to space along with RP Hooks, and it all gets driven home on the song “UFO” which features Lizzo of The Chalice providing a smooth, syrupy vocal backdrop against some vibraphonic sounding bells, while RP Hooks waxes poetic to close the album, and perhaps it is most telling of his real life situation of where he’s at in life and hoping for a better life overall.

At the end of the day, All Black Jesus bares who RPHooks is; a hopeful, pragmatic and honest persona that is seeking to find better in the world he’s in. Maybe RP Hooks hasn’t found that in earth and his experiences, and all the while you would think that based on the soundscapes and the lyrics, RP Hooks hasn’t found what he’s looking for yet, but you can rest assure that after you hear All Black Jesus, he is getting closer to where he wants to be, as an artist and as a person who charts his own destiny.

J.Hard:

YABIL:

Prolific Minneapolis producer formerly known as 'The Sundance Kid'

Blamsiss:

23 year old music producer from Minneapolis.

FRANK CASTLE:

It's as if he came out the womb and put the needle on the record. Frank Castle is a well rounded and versatile DJ, who's been playing records since a little kid at the family gatherings. Known to rock a party or few. You never really know what he might drop on you next. To add to the resume, Mr. Castle has backed a number of Minnesota's finest rappers such as Haphduzn, Muja Messiah, Tufawon, Meta, Illab, Bars & Measures, Whit, just to name a few.