// POOLSIDE CONVO //
Charge Your E-Reader
Lots of Elixr firsts since we last touched based:
Our first client topping Twitter trends 📈
Our first rap project roll-out initiated 💿
Our first client in the Writer’s Guild of America 📝
Our first Elixr trip to South Africa booked 🇿🇦
What a rush. Charge your e-reader, we’ve got some news.
// Elixr News: Zack Fox breaks down lyrics, then breaks the internet //
Genius gave us pre-production note that basically said “only real rule is don’t wear yellow” so obviously Zack wore yellow down to the fingernails, and it was off to the races from there. This vid about lyrics for “Jesus Is The One (I Got Depression)” got Zack trending on Twitter last Friday, after which he promptly signal boosted projects and businesses from black and queer communities.
We’re sending this Poolside Convo with Zack riding the Spotify wave — the Genius Verified shot “JITO (IGD)” up the Viral Charts to #3, flipping into placements on Most Necessary and Anti Pop. The Ringer just called it a sneak Song of the Summer, and NPR tapped it as one of the best songs of the year so far while spelling his name wrong.
He has stand-up shows in Sacramento (7/31) and San Francisco (8/1), and will be playing at Bumbershoot in Seattle at the end of August.
// Elixr News: New New from Caleborate //
Caleborate’s roll-out is in full effect! The emerging Californian rapper dropped a new music video on the 28th, “Hear Me Out,” which is chugging towards 100k views. The video, directed and edited by Elixr’s very own Grant Lemons, features a ton of tour, show, and b-roll footage from his shows (including a handful of our own shows) over the last year and a half — give it a watch, see if you spot yourself. It got love from Hypebeast, Earmilk, HotNewHipHop, & mas.
You can stream the track here.
Last week, Caleb also dropped “Away From” featuring Jersey’s finest Mir Fontane, the former 300 signee who recently broke away and has been on a tear this year. The track is up on Apple Music’s Hip Hop Hot Tracks and their BARS playlist.
Stream it or check out the lyric video here.
For some inside baseball — it’s been cool seeing an unexpected international boost from the impact of his track “Caught Up” in the new Shaft film! The track is popping up on global charts, playlist, and Shazam lists, from cracking the iTunes Top 10 and the Deezer Top 50 in Singapore to hitting #15 on iTunes in Nigeria to being consistently Shazam’d in China — shout out to Chengdu — to cracking Gambian Apple Music Daily Top 100.
Follow the kid, and keep your eyes peeled for another drop next Friday!
// A Closer Look: Micropayments //
Pigeons and Planes recently expertly clickbaited (trojan horsed? finessed? the end result is a net positive for humankind, I think) the daylights out of their target audience by titling a piece “The Death of Clout” — well played.
It was written by a manager of the rapper Boogie named Clayton Blaha and is frankly a pretty good read, largely culminating in a discussion of micro-payments as the necessary future avenue for sustainable careers for artists in the nu music industry.
Blaha is a Blockchain-head, putting for that the tech can assure fewer middlemen to mitigate/nip the possibility of “label” style micro-payment distributors when this inevitably happens, and the idea is that this, in time and with pressure, will slowly shift the balance of power and money directly towards artists. the thought, then, is that virality and its associated “cloutness” won’t be as necessary — you can run with what you got. Boogie won’t have to make a BANGER to triple his Interscope advance — he can just rap, and with a lil tap, his fans can pay him directly.
Seems interesting?
I advise you to take a deeper dive with (who else?) Cherie Hu. In April, she painted a picture of the Micropayment landscape across media and entertainment — particularly interesting in reframing what’s actually being paid for in micropayments to artists and creators, from loyalty to process to curation, and the players across that landscape. It’s a fascinating world.
// GUEST PLAYLIST CURATOR //
Jess Sandoval, Director of Concerts @ Jazz & Grooves, C3 Presents & Manager, Hadji Gaviota
Jess’ reputation precedes her. The Chicago native headed up the concert booking team of Jazz and Grooves at UPenn, a trendsetting crew that, in the last two years alone, brought acts like Daniel Caesar, Tierra Whack, Omar Apollo, TOKiMONSTA, Kevin Abstract, Rich the Kid, EarthGang, Choker, and Riz La Vie. We’re impressed.
This summer, she’s interning down at C3 in Austin, helping curate line-ups at the iconic venues Stubb’s, while managing the NYC-based alt-pop/rap artist Hadji Gaviota. We’re big fans of her musical taste, her warm personality, and the admiration she engenders in the folks around her — rare qualities, for sure.
“Life's a wave no matter what waters you find yourself in,” says Jess. “There's ups and downs, you just gotta ride them out till you get back to shore.
“This playlist medleys tastes from my Chicago upbringing with accents from lives elsewhere, near and far, to reflect on what growing up is like today on this pale blue dot we share as one.
Stream the playlist here or below.
Find her on Instagram, and other playlists she makes here.
// 4 Tracks To Listen To //
Follow the taste triangulation. Or trust us.
"Rich" - Rexx Life Raj x Allblack
IF YOU LIKE: bay area x timbaland x almost afrobeat-y
"WESTWORLD" - EVAN GIIA
IF YOU LIKE: kygo x tropical house x being happy
"Sacrifices" - Dreamville x EARTHGANG x Smino x Saba
IF YOU LIKE: honestly it kinda speaks for itself
"Whole Thang" - Femdot
IF YOU LIKE: joey badass x eerie x schoolboy q
Full playlist of every track featured on here or here 👇
// recent euro tour announcements //
yk osiris // september
mgk // september
fetty wap // september
the underachievers // oct & nov
pnb rock // nov