⬐ Amplify ⬎
📷 : Sarah Elizabeth Larson
Multi-tasking is a way of life for Brianna Tong, the former community organizer turned librarian is a member of three bands, belongs to several organizations, and dabbles in crafts and graphic design in her down time. As the charismatic vocalist for Cordoba, who released their debut full length Specter this month, after delaying the release due to covid, she was ready for the world to hear the record.
REad The Amplify Feature on Brianna Tong
Roy Kinsey
📷 : Tina Mead
When Chicagoan and rapbrarian Roy Kinsey came out of hiatus in 2018, after a five year absence from the hip-hop scene, he brought a record of his family to the forefront. Dedicated to his Grandmother, who traveled with his Mother to Chicago from Mississippi in 1965, Blackie: A Story By Roy Kinsey is a journey through the Black experience and musical history that announced the return of an important voice in the local hip-hop and queer communities.
Read The Amplify Feature on Roy Kinsey
DJ Ca$h Era
📷 : Dennis Elliott
It is difficult for CaSera Heining, known as DJ Ca$h Era, to be silent when confronting the seemingly automatic limitations her gender, queerness, and Blackness have had on her career. A constant effort was needed to get gigs at Chicago clubs, even in the seemingly accepting Boystown neighborhood, “You walk in and nine times out of ten it was a white guy. I never saw a girl DJ, unless I went to Hydrate for the drag shows.” Heining reported. A sad truth that is hopefully, especially with the current movement, going to start to change.
READ THE AMPLIFY FEATURE ON DJ CA$H ERA!
Malci
📷 : Alexis McLane
The first thing that strikes one when speaking with Malci Atkinson, the towering elder of the Why? Records family, is his easy going quick smile and positive perspective. A realist who is always siding on the vein of optimism, he makes it easy to imagine the lanky kid freestyling into a cheap mic over Neptunes beats in Indianapolis. Merely a jumping off point for a career that is producing some of the most engrossing hip-hop coming out of Chicago. Armed with a sampler and mic, Malci can take over a stage with ease, producing a beat cacophony to weave with his staccato rhymes.