Charles Hamilton's cancellation at the upcoming Pitchfork Festival has fans disgruntled and calling foul on the now almost nonexistent hip-hop offerings. Even Lollapalooza, a festival that just last year toted the likes of Lupe and Kanye feels sparse on the hip-hop booking this summer. Last weekend, for the fourth consecutive year, Rock The Bells took over First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park. For those willing to make the trek, a day full of both up-and-coming talent and The Greats delivered. more ›

For anyone who still hadn’t seen it, the line that can be drawn as the shortest distance between the two points of gospel and soul music was sketched quite neatly in a sequence from the film Ray. As Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles is wooing his soon-to-be wife he steps into a version of “I Got A Woman” that’s even more tinged with the rhythm and movements of gospel than the version eventually laid down on... more ›

On the days when Chicagoist indulges the little ten-year old boy inside of our collective self (we call him Renaldo), we like to pretend that we have a secret identity that allows us to roam the city at night and fight crime. We put on a cool mask and cape to hide our alter ego and run around our apartment yelling “Have no fear, citizens! The Blogger-er is here!” until our significant other gets home and tells us to cut it out or there will be a revocation of carnal privileges. more ›