// POOLSIDE CONVO //
Thousand Island Dressing
Balcony hangs, backyard cookouts, front porch politicking, listening to Duckwrth and disco.
Summer is here, bb.
We’ll be at the Music Ally Sandbox Summit in NYC this Thursday — if you’re around, holla!
// Elixr News: Zack Fox on The Cave w/ Kenny Beats //
Tough to quantify, but this is probably the funniest thing on the internet this month.
Quotables abound — not for the faint of heart. Peep Vince Staples on a recent edition of the show for more laughs at Kenny’s expense.
// Tik Tok’s Party Don’t Stop //
Guess what? This app you’ve maybe heard about as a passing fad was the third most downloaded app in the world in Q1, beating out Instagram and Facebook. Listen to the kids, bro.
Since Soulja Boy first cranked that, the viral internet dance video has been in vogue, shape-shifting from Myspace to Youtube to Vine to Instagram to Musical.ly. But today, Tik Tok is making waves.
We can talk about its domestic marketing potential in spades, but frankly, it’s stuff you can pretty much predict — tapped-in marketing departments of (mostly) majors are paying influencers to dance to their artists’ tracks, leading to virality and spikes in streams. Woop woop. It’s effective, no doubt, but it’s just another spin on something we’ve seen across popular social media platforms for years. You can do cool, creative stuff, but, you know, it is what it is.
A much more interesting takeaway (h/t to Music Ally’s newsletter — boy, are they sweet and making me/Poolside Convo feel small) was that of the app’s 190 M downloads in Q1, only about 30M came on iOS. Huh?
Ah, of course. Looking at the app’s origins, the Asian penetration dwarfs American usage. Tik Tok, known as Douyin in China, is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance. Though they did buy Musical.ly in 2017 and transferred the existing userbase in the states and Europe, the vast majority of their users come from out east — and I’m not talking New York.
In the India, where its 91% of its 1.4 billion people use Android compared to Apple’s paltry 2.75% penetration (73-25 in China), Tik Tok is a smash [also briefly banned last month, but it’s back, bb (without nudes)]. It accounts for 40% of the app’s 500 million users.
Famous grandmas are landing Bollywood roles because of viral Tik Tok vids, popular channels are charging wild prices for workshops, turning “commoners [into] big stars overnight” — India Today’s words, not mine.. In those big Q1 numbers, 88M new Indian users downloaded the app — compared to just 13.2M in the US. It’s levels to this shit.
In the wake of Spotify’s controversial entrance into India and the recent outburst of takedown notices on copywritten material on Twitter, tracking this App’s integration into the mainstream music industry will be a wild ride. Buckle up.
GUEST PLAYLIST CURATOR
Luuk Hof, Trumpet Player for Blackwave & Chef’s Special
Luuk is a big Dutch guy who slams the trumpet for a few of the BeNeLux’s biggest acts: Blackwave and Chef’s Special. We met last month in Antwerp when he featured on a (to-be-released) live session of some new Caleborate, and he impeccably Spotify DJ’d our nightcap. You can peep some of his features on Blackwave’s ‘Caravan Sessions’ here — he’s the curly haired horn blower on the roof.
“When I was 14 years old we had a group of friends who were totally obsessed by 90’s hiphop and searching for the original tracks,” says Luuk. “In that time we didn’t have WhoSampled, so we were amazed when we heard an original. I put “Dolphin Dance” from the Ahmad Jamal Trio album, The Awakening, which is the source for several samples for Nas, Common, Dj Premier, Peter Rock & CL Smooth.
“I also have some songs in the playlist that give me strength in times I need it, like Childish Gambino’s “Stand Tall”. A line of this song always helped me to get through:
Keep all your dreams, keep standing tall / If you are strong you cannot fall / There is a voice inside us all / So smile when you can, when you can.
“‘Forward Jah’ from the Abyssinians is also in this playlist; Spiritual Reggae always gotten me through difficult times and given me hope. Miles Davis’ “It Never Entered My Mind” is a timeless recording, a masterpiece.
“Music for me is finding hope, relief and bringing people together. I take my profession a trumpet player serious and it feels like I’m on a mission. It’s a reason to be.”
Link here, or stream below. Find Luuk on Instagram.
4 Tracks To Listen To
Follow the taste triangulation. Or trust us.
"Backyard" - Kota The Friend
IF YOU LIKE: summer stoops in NYC x caleborate x michael christmas
"WJIT" - Curtis Roach
IF YOU LIKE: sango x amine x kendrick
"Alone in Palm Springs" - Jeshi
IF YOU LIKE: uk rap x vibes x hisses & clicks
"Ye" - Burna Boy
IF YOU LIKE: nigerian rap x bass voice x slow afrobeat jams
Full playlist of every track featured on here or here 👇
recent euro tour announcements
loyle carner // may - july, winter
members only (robb bank$, kid trunks, craig xen) // may & june
phony ppl // june & july
bhad bhabie // june & july
$UICIDEBOY$ // june & july
joyner lucas // june & july
jay electronica // october & november
jamila woods // october & november
yung gravy // november
dave east // december