Ya Boi KT hosted a local hip-hop show featuring Zateb, Bowdizz, Gora Ireke, Jack Bentley, Polo Smallzz, Leroy Curriculum, and Se’Anna. On Da Mic, with DJ Cali Rascal. The show took place at Part Wolf MPLS, which is off of Cedar Avenue on West Bank in Minneapolis. When I walked in DJ Cali Rascal was spinning some smooth R&B classics, mixing in dubstep, and new hip-hop. Leroy Curriculum was the first artist to perform. Leroy was born in Chicago, raised in Memphis, and now lives in the Twin Cities. Leroy is a very lyrical rapper, who is constantly switching up his smooth flow, which made him a very entertaining rapper. It sounded like Leroy just rapped about his own life, which was refreshing to hear honestly. Leroy has two singles for his new album coming out, one of them, Vicious Vernacular I enjoyed live. The next artist to perform was Gora. I have seen Gora numerous amount of times at an open mic event during the summer. Gora produces, mixes, raps, and sings, and he is from St. Paul. I think Gora is very fun and entertaining from his social media, to making any song somehow sound good, and to his energy at shows. Gora would scream and act goofy in between songs which was hilarious, and I could clearly see he was comfortable with being on stage. Gora sang a song in Spanish, which I was a really big fan of, and he sang a lot with autotune, but he was really using his voice. Gora performed a couple of songs with Bentley and they have a project together dropping on Valentine’s Day next year. I also saw Bentley a lot at the open mic event during the summer and I am a fan of his flow and some of his songs. Bentley grew up in Roseville and now lives in St. Paul. Bentley raps about things having to do with trapping in the hood. He is very lyrical and has a specific flow and delivery. My favorite song he performed was Critics which is one of Bentley’s classics that features Quin NFN. Bentley is very consistent and you could tell he has been performing for a while, and it was good to see him again. He has a song dropping on New Years called Run which I am really hyped for. Zateb was the next artist to perform. Zateb had a cool vibe to him that made you want to rock back and forth with the rhythm of the beat and the smoothness of his voice. The beats he picked sounded like they were inspired by the current Nigerian hip hop wave but mixed with his voice it sounded really cool and it was really vibey. Zateb has a new album called Commitment that you all should check out. The last highlight of the show was Se’Anna. Se’Anna is from Minneapolis. She had an awesome flow that reminded me of the kings of rap in New York during the 90s. She also clearly paid her respects to classic R&B music and New York rap. Se’Anna told me she has been recording a lot of music and is expecting on making a project in the future. All of the artists I named are very talented and they were very entertaining to see live. I had the chance to talk to some of the artists and they were all very nice and humble and I hope I can run into them at future local hip-hop shows in Minneapolis.

-Kai Loiseaux-Purcell