Zach Russell

After a last-minute name change and controversial album cover, rapper Pusha T released his long awaited third studio album, Daytona, on Friday. The album, originally slated to be titled King Push, clocks in at a brief seven tracks and 22 minutes, with only two guest verses, Rick Ross and Kanye West. The day before the release of Daytona, the cover art for the album was revealed as a tabloid photo of Whitney Houston's hotel bathroom cluttered with drugs, according to XXL Mag, fitting with Pusha's lyrical content of drug dealing and excess. This was reportedly Kanye West's choice, paying $85,000 to license the photograph. Many online questioned weather or not the artwork was in bad taste. The content of Daytona is par for the course for Pusha T. Since beginning his rap career in the early 2000's with his brother Malice, the duo Clipse have always detailed the life of selling drugs; the dark side, as well as the luxury and status it brings. While the content remains the

On Wednesday night, saxophonist Kamasi Washington and his band The Next Step performed to a packed Magic Stick venue downtown as part of the Harmony of Difference Tour. After an opening DJ warmed up the crowd with electronic and hip-hop instrumentals, the band, which consisted of seven members, played an hour and a half of their signature jazz sound. Including two drummers and two keyboardists, The Next Step provided a rich musical backdrop for Washington’s saxophone to lead the way.             Washington has been active in recent years, gaining notoriety for his work with electronic artist Flying Lotus, funk bassist Thundercat, as well as his contributions to rapper Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly.” Washington and his band’s latest EP, “Harmony of Difference” is a follow up to 2015’s critically acclaimed three-hour long album, aptly titled “The Epic.” Prior to it’s release, Washington described the EP to wetransfer.com as “a six-song suite – the

Bruiser Thanksgiving #4             On November 22, the fourth-annual Bruiser Thanksgiving concert was held at Club Fantasy in Detroit. The event, hosted by rapper and Detroit native Danny Brown, showcased several artists between 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., most notably famed internet rapper Lil B “The Based God.”             Located on Fort Street near Mexican Town, Club Fantasy, a large warehouse, was packed by the time the headlining acts were set to preform. Black lights, lasers, and fog machines set the atmosphere and accompanied the music. The opening acts for the show included, but were not limited to, rapper and DJ duo Detroit Lines, DJ Venus X, and electronic artist Jlin.             Since his first release in 2007, the thirty-six-year-old Brown, whose real name is Daniel Sewell, has received critical acclaim for his unorthodox style of rapping, along with his gritty content. In a review of his most recent album, 2016’s “Atrocity Exhibition,” Rolling Stone wrote that B

On Saturday night, local jazz group Lu Fuki and Divine Providence performed at The Bottom Line coffee house, located on Third Street in Detroit, just off of the Wayne State campus. According to the event’s Facebook page, Lu Fuki and Divine Providence are “a collective of jazz musicians formed by bandleader Lu Fuki, who felt the need to connect hearts through sound in order to promote solidarity, freedom, and social action.”             The group features seven members: a drummer, keyboardist, bassist, saxophonist, two electric guitarists, and a percussionist who also plays the violin. People gathered and drank coffee and tea in the venue while the band played about five songs from 9:30 to 10:45 P.M. When describing the group’s music, percussionist & violinist Aaron McCoy Jacobs said “We do a combination of classical, Indian, and jazz, and then I throw in some Middle Eastern and African, so we have four continents of music all coming together.”         The concept