Thank you so much to everyone who came out to last week’s Block Party featuring Raury and the O’Mys. It was definitely a show for the books.

Keep reading for exclusive photos of Raury and the O’Mys, as well as a small review of the show written by our friend, Kenny!

It was 5:50. The show was about to begin, 6pm on the dot. Everyone was in their places and my Walkie-Talkie was buzzing with Dan’s voice trying to coordinate everyone to their places. We were only missing one thing: the audience. There were a couple of fans camped out right in front of the barriers, eagerly awaiting The O’My’s to come on, but besides that and a few others scattered in the lawn, the space was relatively empty. Dan gave the word. The show was to be pushed back to 6:15. Everyone sprang into action pulling people from all around campus trying to spread the word that one of the best concerts at Northeastern University was about to take place. I hopped up to the soundstage and started playing music trying to draw people in as much as sirens lure sailors. We offered a great time however, while they offered a watery grave. It was working. The space was actually filling up, as more and more groups of marauding students wandered over with a curious gleam in their eye, wondering what was about to take place. Finally as the clock showed a quarter past six, the O’My’s began.

And what a way to begin. As soon as lead vocalist Maceo Haymes opened his mouth and filled the air with his deep, soulful melodies, the whole air completely shifted. At first no one moved, filled with complete awe at the sound that filled all of Centennial. It was in the grass. It was in the trees. Reverberating off of the buildings then joining back together in a smooth harmonious honey, dripping from every pore in the crowd. This is when things really started to fill up. My siren’s song of top 100 hip hop was nothing compared to the open bleeding wound of raw emotion and feeling that was being poured from the stage. After getting over their initial shock, each member of the crowd enjoyed the performance in their own way. Many people started grooving along, moving their hips to the soulful tunes. Other simply marinated in the aforementioned honey, laying back and taking it all in. Everywhere you looked, however, people were clearly enjoying the performance. Raury and his friends chose to watch the action from atop Ryder, getting one of the best seats in the house (until NUPD decided otherwise). The O’My’s are Chicago royalty after all, having previously collaborated with the likes of Chance the Rapper, Nico Segal, and other various artists of a world caliber. They didn’t simply “open” for Raury. They weren’t just placeholders, taking up time before the main event. They were setting the stage and laying the groundwork for the rest of the night. A night that was soon to be filled with even more dancing and emotion. The O’My’s ended their performance as nonchalantly as they began. Humbly thanking the crowd then retiring to their green room to finish their Thai food.

After a quick set-change (thanks to the help of all of our wonderful volunteers), the WRBB Executive Board took the stage for a quick rousing speech by Dan and a bow from the E-Board. Once the snapchats were all taken and the crowd was finally ready to receive him, Raury took the stage. If the O’My’s filled the air with honey, Raury filled it with electricity. He wasn’t going to take anything but raw energy from the crowd and made everyone stand up and pack into the front. Starting off the show immediately with a bang, he had the entire crowd moving, jumping up and down and swaying to his unique blend of hip-hop and soul. After a four piece band, you’d think that just a single man backed by his drummer would make the stage feel barren, but Raury had the fire of 15 performers all bottled up into one explosive package. He was all over the stage jumping and dancing and even did a backflip or two. He interacted with the crowd, jumping down, much to the ire of security to touch them and really connect. There were moments of tenderness too among all of the bustle. At one moment, Raury stopped the show and asked everyone in the crowd to turn to the person next to them and embrace them in a show of shared humanity. Part of the reason why the performance was so poignant was Raury’s honesty and authenticity. After all he was no older than many of the crowd in attendance. He even lamented at one point that he missed out on having a college experience due to his commercial success with music, and urged us all to really appreciate what we have. College is an immensely special time after all, and this entire show really showcased that.

WRBB’s 37th ANNUAL BLOCK PARTY (Photos + Review)

In an exclusive WRBB interview, Raury reminds kids to read a book and why “hope is dope” while Chicago’s O’My’s hint at their upcoming project.

Both interviews were conducted by Media Team Rep, Kenneth DuMez.

You were in XXL freshmen last year, on the cover, pretty big deal. What was that experience like?

Like when you first approached it, how was that?

: That was one of the very little things, that I also always dreamed of, like when I was young and coming up like yo, I really wanna be up there, so yo I was extremely grateful, I couldn’t believe it, you know, especially being the artist that I am, the person that I am, you know, like I don’t really know where I fit and I’m fine with that. So, with that being said, it was an honor, it was an honor to be up there with Los Ave, Maco, Fetty, Dej.

Cause you’re a much different artist than those names that you said, cause you don’t fit into the typical Atlanta trap/rap scene. So how is that different for you when trying to establish a fanbase with your different style?

: It’s not that, the things that we see as different are only different because it doesn’t get the same coverage. Cause people shouldn’t be thrown up by a kid like me coming out of Atlanta, cause there are so many kids like me there. Like Atlanta, it has a trap scene and it has like five other scenes that are just as popular. You know with the way the world works, people like the trap. You just gotta not worry about it, you just gotta fucking be you and not worry about anything else going on around you. I was born with the name Raury, you know what I’m saying, not Marcus, not Keith or Ed or something, which I wish I had. I’m used to just being a puzzle piece that doesn’t fit anywhere. And, fuck it, who the fuck said we’re supposed to fit anywhere or into any kind of genre, that’s so limiting, anybody that wants to do anything. You’re doing computer science, so well how are you going to fit into the website making, I mean that’s not, (laughs) but you can do all kinds of shit. A person who speaks to language of technology, like what the fuck, you can do what you want, so sometimes that hard look at it whenever I’m asked how do I fit into hip hop, like no, I just speak the language of art and music you know what I’m saying?

So tell me a little a bit about LVRN (Love Renaissance) and Weekend, that fest you had?

: Well what I’d like to do is bring in my good old tour manager, Junior, in the conversation and have a word, cause he’s a back bone of Love Renaissance. Like Love Renaissance was pretty much the whole collective that I was was picked up by when I was like 15, but he was 19, my manager was 19, and they were all just kids in college, like you, imagine you right have a 15 year old artist. That’s what happened and now here we are.

: 24, so, we’ve been here for a minute. But the weekend, it’s kind of like a series of events, that basically the whole idea is to give back to Atlanta in a way. There’s actually a growing scene of creative kids, much like Raury, much like myself, that are either great at music, or art, or they’re connecting with people. They’re inspired by meditation, by all types of things that are kind of like, not what you would expect from Atlanta, so that’s the whole idea of Weekend, to give those people a voice, and kind of a pool to swim in. So the Weekend consists of Raurfest, which is an actual festival, that Raury has headlined for the past three years, that’s the music portion. Last year we had Post Malone, Big K.R.I.T, Trinidad James, SZA, shit it was going on. Marie Mariba, Tunai, who was there along with Kilo Kish, and Joey Bada$$, so yeah it’s going, but that’s pretty much the weekend.

Cool, so it started two years ago? Three years ago?

: The first show was just me and nobody else and I didn’t even, I never had enough money to go to a festival, let alone know what a festival was. It just sounded like a cool name so I named it Raurfest and then I go and I tour and do festivals and like hm, I have show called Raurfest next year, how are we going to do this now? So damn, it’s a festival now. So that’s crazy about how stuff just plays out when you just say it before you even know it’s realistic, you know what I’m saying? Because if I knew what a festival was, when I did my first show, I would not have called it Raurfest and I would not have had a festival, I would have been like ‘oh what the fuck’, but like I didn’t even know so I just called it Raurfest and bam look at that so you know what i’m saying, be in over your head.

Yeah that’s good advice honestly, cause a lot of people are afraid to take that jump.

: And also remember, because even I forget the same shit I’m telling you right now, you know what I mean. I mean I’d be telling you read a book and you’d like really, really get some good things from it, and you just forget weeks later. I just got this book called 

, on taboo against knowing who you are about Allan Wise, I got it from my drummer, Chris Arsenal, just to shout him out, but I’ve been checking this one out and I’m trying to digest it and get it real good so, read books.

That’s important advice, one more question, so in some of your music you have some…

: Booty butt cheeks (Laughs) There a few of those.

Some booty butt cheeks and some religious influences?

Did you, growing up, were you in a religious household or how does that sort of play into your music?

: Um, me and my sister cried every morning before going to church because we really did not want to go. We cried. and I don’t even know, I didn’t even know why I didn’t like going there, it just hot and I did not want to be dressed up and…I didn’t like wearing clothes as is so like to be dressed up in a suit was just something I really didn’t want to do and all that perfume and cologne and stuff. That’s why I didn’t really like it but, I was raised in a Christian household. My mom wasn’t too gung-ho about making us go to church or reading scripture and things like that. I was just raised by only my mother so, she wasn’t around enough to enforce much anyway, I mean I kind of got away with a lot of bad shit. But I did find myself being like a very hopeful person, you know what I’m saying like, if all the atheists and out there, and all the zealots out there..first off, I believe that a lot of religions are pointing in the same direction, and doing the same things at times, and if you’re an atheist, one thing I advise you to do is have hope you know? Not hope for a God existing or anything like that, but just hope; belief if it’s in yourself or whatever cause you know, when you have no hope, all the magic is gone, all the spirit is gone and you’re just walking through, like thinking you’re just a mess of flesh. Nothing wrong with atheism at all, I just think hope is really dope. Hope is dope.”

So how did you all meet and come together as a team?

 Um…damn thats crazy. Me and the keyboard player who’s not here, Nick Hennessy, started the band like right when we got out of high school or…it wasn’t a band when we started out of high school, it was just me and him. I got some studio time and realized I didn’t have any music together or a band and he had a little bit of music and I had a little bit of music and we put it together, and then since then it’s been in and out a lot of different members, a lot of different generations, a lot of different sounds.

Because i know that you guys had a lot of brass instruments before.

 Yeah we had brass for a long time, up until last year, yeah Donnie Trumpet, JP from Kids These Days, and a whole bunch of other folks played in the band so yeah, this generation has been together for probably the last two years, with the exception of Eddie, this is his first show.

So this is your first show, wow, so how did you get involved?

 Um, I grew up looking up to these guys, and my dad taught Donnie Trumpet so when Nico was playing, his name is Nico Segal, when he was playing with them in high school my dad was teaching him at my house, so, he showed me them and I just got really into them. I’m friends with the original bassist Karlaine, and skipping a lot of stuff, I just like had a really long summer just playing a lot of music. I play a lot of music with Boyang in my group Burns Twins, which is a production duo with my twin, then I wanted to take a gap year to play with them cause they offered and I said hell yeah I’ll play with you guys, been looking up to you guys since I was like 10. You’re Chicago legends. (group laughs) Play a bunch, play a bunch in the city we love. I remember your show last winter at the Metro, that was insane.

Sold out! So growing up in the Chicago scene, and there is a big community there, cause like you said, you’re talking about some other great bands, a lot of talented people, Kids These Days, Nico, so how does that shape your sound? Growing up with all these different influences, how you guys did evolve?

: So I mean, when we first started playing in the city, there wasn’t the community that there is today. Um and that’s I think a testament to the folks that started writing and creating and making music together. Like soon after we started a couple years after and a couple years younger generally. In the past five years it’s been a dramatic change, a lot of really talented and intelligent artists that all work together, all know each other, all people that you know I grew up with or know through someone I grew up with. That has, I think, really helped shape the vibe and the sound in Chicago, mostly because of how many talented people are working. You know any day that I don’t feel inspired I go and hang out with my friends making music and go, ‘oh shit i need to get back to the lab’ and um, so, that is a lot of support. Generally in a lot of music communities you don’t have as much support like, people aren’t hating on each other or shitting on each other, people are genuinely interested in as much good music and art coming out of the city as possible and it looks like that, it sounds like it so.

Yeah most definitely, so what now, as The O’My’s in this current generation, what are your plans now?

: Yeah yeah, we’re in the process of working on a new project. We actually haven’t been playing many shows at all for the past year, just working on this project so once that’s done ideally, I think it’s dropping sometime in February or, sometime like that, and so once that’s dropping we’re gonna hit the road with our new material.

So an O’My’s tour coming up, in the works?

: Yes in the works, so yeah that’s kind of the plan, finish the new material, which is a lot of different sounds, a little bit, or definitely different than previous records, but still, you know, our music, but just a lot more experimentation in the studio.

Very cool. So do you think you’ll stay in the states or you going abroad?

: Ideally get the fuck out of here (group laughs)

: Before Trump becomes president (group laughs again).

: Right, right. Just trying to please as many people as possible.

RAURY + THE O’MY’s EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Lollapalooza is an annual music festival in Chicago that has always been a very diverse musical environment, hosting bands like Pinegrove and the Front Bottoms on the same bill as Ellie Goulding and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is also a place for a different kind of division. The police presence at Lolla is always fairly heavy, but this year in particular with recent current events (and Malia Obama being in attendance), the CPD was out in full force. Roaming around the festival grounds there were uniformed cops on almost every corner, along with SWAT teams patrolling in golf carts armed with assault rifles, donned in full camouflage fatigues. This was along with other CPD bomb squad units and the normal third party private festival security.

The place the police force was felt most heavily, however, wasn’t near all of the artists busses or in the backstage areas, but rather at the Vic Mensa set. This isn’t to say that extra troops were placed at the set, but that Mensa highlighted their presence. One of the very first songs Mensa played was “16 Shots”, lamenting the shooting of Laquan McDonald by CPD and calling for more law enforcement and city government accountability.

[For those that don’t know, the Laquan McDonald shooting was not only heinous for the incident itself, but also because it took more than a year for the details and footage of the event to be released. This was more than just a localized coverup within the station. The mayor Rahm Emmanuel himself has been implicated along with the State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez and police Superintendent Gary McCarthy. Out of these three, McCarthy was actually fired for his role.]

Mensa was born and raised here in Chicago, and thus this event was very personal to him, making the song much more powerful. The song opened with flashing red and blue lights filling the stage as police sirens blared. Then dozens of actors dressed in all black riot gear engulfed Mensa on stage. Throughout the song, they stood behind him in a solid line. On occasion, they would aggressively push forward to halt his movement. The performance culminated in all of them lunging forward attacking him with billy clubs, then finally miming gunshots at him with their hands. As he lay on the ground, the outro of the song played, an actual narration of the Laquan McDonald dash-cam footage lasting well over a minute and a half.

In a festival environment such as Lollapalooza, with a majority of attendees concerned only in having as much fun as possible (and trying to make it to the end of the night without passing out), political statements of this caliber were few and far between. Needless to say it was a very powerful performance, and not all in the crowd were happy about it. I actually happened to be standing next to the son of the Deputy Chief of CPD at the time. Throughout the duration of the “16 Shots” performance, he stood rigid with his lips pressed tightly into a scowl confronted with the at-times sinister nature of the organization that so many hold dear; an organization that would rather protect its own members instead of protecting the principles it was created to uphold. He left after another two songs.

Vic Mensa opened his set by saying that he wished the festival was free and not so far north, so that kids in the Southside could come see him perform. The Deputy Chief received 4 free passes to the festival.