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Once a month The Message goes all local on @TheCurrent. We play local music every week but @CutieBootyCEO & I agreed it's good to to do a big blast to start every month. This week we are celebrating a lot of great music from 2020.
All the instrumental beds tonight will be provided by some of the great musicians from town - @EL2theAY correctly titled tune "OooWee" some "Jollof Rice" courtesy of @RichGarvey & All At Once from @mediumzach
I've still been stuck on how amazing this recent Truth Maze track "I Love" is. Strong Roy Ayers vibes from the music and Truth's amazing poetry about loving his Twin Cities over the top.
Lovesick Animal Online from @bloodsmokebody is one of the finest releases of the year and I might not have realized that "Black Velvet" is at the heart of the release if it wasn't for their manager @Liban4Mayor. This tune has been in heavy rotation since the release.
. @iamsolostar provides a much needed feel to Twin Cities music so it's no surprise Sanni and I had to play #issamood again tonight. If you haven't checked out her music, it's time.
We'll be debuting an artist that Sanni came across named @DungeonDBaptist and his tune Donuts. I get a very Pharcyde, rhodes keyboard, sleepy in the best way possible vibe off of this one.
Though we are mainly celebrating music released in 2020, we are also going to play an amazing tune featuring Lexi Alijai who passed away on 1/1/21. The world lost an incredible talent when Alijai passed and we wanted to shine a light on her work. The tune is "Whatever You Need"
Sanni picked a new release from an R&B artist named Mike De'Cole. I believe this is the premier of Mike's music on The Current and we are honored to share his new track "Coming Home Soon".
We still need to get @Tekhiphop & @BiGWiZ into a ZOOM room for a 2020 style interview but their collaborative album "The Chairmen" is still a highlight of the year (especially if you need an album where you can pretend like life is normal). We're playing the title track.
Sanni is a tireless supporter of @Mac_Irv & she and I are both marveling at his flow on "The Breakthrough". Mac also holds the landspeed record for radio edit request to inbox delivery. The previous record was 17 weeks, Mac is getting things to us in under 5 mins.
You aren't celebrating hip-hop in the Twin Cities in 2020 without celebrating @mujamessiah's run. We'll probably go with Ron O'Neal but at some point I'm gonna have to edit a couple of those #MessiahMonday pieces.
You also have to celebrate @McLongshot who I'm thinking had his most prolific year of output, and the content went in every direction. "I'm Sayin" was haunting and powerful, "Feels Good" was the lift I was looking for this summer. PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Doench
One of my favorite releases of the year came from a St. Paul artist, @PoetryIsReality. Plus, for an added bonus Destiny Roberts make a cameo on my favorite track from the release, "Friend in Me". But check out the man's new video as well:
Seems like it was 15 years ago but @ashleydubose dropped the song of the summer when I didn't think we were even gonna have a song of the summer. Love Tingz is clinically guaranteed to raise your temperature by 2 degrees but in a totally good way.
And we've been very inspired by Niles and the work he's been doing with the youth in Ramsey and Dakota county (if you have an aspiring artist 14-24 check it out) and loving his tune "Reassure My Soul"
This has been a garbage year for the world, but there has been incredible rebirth and music coming out of Minnesota. I am personally honored to get to spend part of my week sharing this music with you alongside my co-host Sanni. I hope you'll join us tonight.
