King Louie tops the list with "Val Venis"

Chicago-based hip hop site Fake Shore Drive have listed their picks for the 100 best Chicago rap songs of 2012. King Louie tops the list with his track "Val Venis," and Lil Durk, Chief Keef, Lil Reese, Chance the Rapper, Giftz, Kanye West, and L.E.P. Bogus Boys are all in the top 10.

There are a few very interesting things about this top 10. Young Chop produced four of the 10 tracks, two of which are Chief Keef's "I Don't Like" and "Love Sosa." Lil Reese is featured on Keef's "I Don't Like" and also makes the list with his own "Us," which was produced by none other than Young Chop. Tree co-produced Chance the Rapper's "Hey Ma," and handled full production and was featured on Giftz' "Nino. Lil Durk is featured on King Louie's "Want It All," which is the fourth track on the list that Young Chop produced, and also made the cut with his own "L's Anthem." (It's a lot to take in at once, huh?)

Check out Fake Shore Drive's entire 100-song list HERE.

King Louie

MTV2's Sucker Free, Fake Shore Drive, and others are throwing a huge Chicago hip hop show at Adrianna's in Markham, IL on Sunday, May 20. The lineup, featuring over 20-local rappers and DJs, includes King Louie, the L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Treated Crew, Chief Keef, Katie Got Bandz, Fredo Santana, Lil Reese, Sasha Go Hard, and many more. Scope the full lineup at the bottom of this post via a show flyer. Tickets will ONLY be available at the door.

This show is a pretty rare collection of some of Chicago's rising hip hop. For instance, Treated Crew (to our knowledge) haven't exactly performed live... ever. 16-year old rapper Chief Keef, who is still on house arrest, is slated to make his first live appearance since his controversial set at Spring Fest 2K12. Katie Got Bandz' surprise hits "I Need A Hitta" and "Ridin' Around & We Drillin'" (recently remixed by King Louie; listen below) haven't particularly faced a proper crowd yet either.

Some videos and a show flyer below...

Continue reading "King Louie, L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Treated Crew, Chief Keef & others are playing a BIG show this month in Markham"

A$AP stopping for a quick photo opp. before the show

Despite what was said to be a Chicago Police Department ban on the L.E.P. Bogus Boys' opening set at the House of Blues, headliner A$AP Rocky brought out the local duo for a surprise performance at tonight's show.

After the Bogus Boys ran through a few songs, Chief Keef's GBE crew (minus Keef) joined them and the A$AP Mob for a performance of "I Don't Like." The amount of people on stage (30+ at that point) apparently came close to breaking it, so the venue quickly cut the track/shut down the show.

Video footage of both happenings can be found below via Fake Shore Drive...

Continue reading "A$AP Rocky brought out the L.E.P. Bogus Boys @ HoB (video)"

L.E.P. Bogus Boys

As you may have heard, the Chicago Police Department allegedly banned the L.E.P. Bogus Boys from performing at the House of Blues on May 3, alongside headliner A$AP Rocky. Well, Fake Shore Drive reports that the CPD issued this statement to Marina City Online:

"We don't monitor musical acts," said Lieutenant Maureen Biggane, Commanding Officer of CPD's news affairs department. "In the event that we are made aware of a popular performer or act coming to town, we may adjust manpower to ensure the public safety of the community surrounding the venue."

Earlier today, the House of Blues admitted to the fact that THEY were behind the ban:

"The House Of Blues made an autonomous decision, one not influenced by the Chicago Police Department, to remove LEP Bogus Boys from the May 3 A$AP Rocky concert," a House of Blues spokesman told the Tribune on Monday. "Unfortunately the decision was initially communicated to the artists' representation via an e-mail that inaccurately cited the reasons and source of the cancellation. We apologize for any misunderstanding surrounding this decision."

L.E.P. Bogus Boys

HipHopDX reports:

The L.E.P. Bogus Boys were dealt some bad news yesterday when they were informed that the Chicago Police Department had barred them from performing at an upcoming A$AP Rocky show on May 3. Now, the Windy City duo take to the radio to explain why police have banned them from performing.

In a recent interview with Tony Sculfield and The Morning Riot and Fake Shore Drive's Drew Barber, the L.E.P. Bogus Boys explained that police felt that some of the group's lyrics contain violent imagery that it would be dangerous for them to perform at Chicago's House of Blues. They added that while they understand that crime is a major problem in Chi-Town, it is poverty that causes it, not music.

"We received an email from Don C, [West's] manager [who] was promoting the show at the House of Blues, saying that Chicago Police are shutting L.E.P. down," they explained. "[The] circumstances are not known, 'cus we've performed already three times at the House of Blues, no violence, not trouble...they said that due to the violence that's happening around [and] the type of music that we make [we can't perform]."

They added, "The situation that's going on in Chicago is not about music. If you're going to target music, you might as well target television. It's poverty; there's no jobs, there's no eating. You have to contribute that to the violence. It has nothing to do with the music or what have you...right now, I guess we're going to have to protest and actually go into the city of Chicago and explain to people...we're doing music, we're not promoting violence."

Continue reading "L.E.P. Bogus Boys not allowed to open for A$AP Rocky (say the police & House of Blues)"

As you can gather from this poster, RSVP Gallery are presenting NYC rapper A$AP Rocky's Chicago debut at the House of Blues on May 3. Local duo the L.E.P Bogus Boys and G.O.O.D. Music's BEEN TRILL DJ crew will act as main support. There's no word on if the entire A$AP Mob will be performing, but they seem to play most shows with A$AP. Tickets go on sale this Friday (April, 13), at 10AM CST.

A$AP will also hit Chicago in July to perform on Friday (July 13) of Pitchfork Fest 2012.

Some videos below..

Continue reading "A$AP Rocky is making his Chicago debut @ the House of Blues"

Rockie Fresh

Chicago rapper Rockie Fresh, who recently dropped his new mixtape Driving 88, has just announced a short West Coast run featuring Casey Veggies and The Dean's List.

The tour kicks off this weekend right here in Chicago, with a Reebok presented showcase at Reggie's on Sunday, February 26th. Rockie will headline the event with support from L.E.P. Bogus Boys (who were recently featured on Raekwon's new tape), AILite Ent, Lungz, Scheme, and Astonish with DJ Scend. Advance tickets are on sale and you will also be able to purchase them at the door.

The tour will bring Rockie down to SXSW for Thursday and Friday (3/15+16) of the fest.

All 2012 dates and some videos, below..

Continue reading "Rockie Fresh kicking off tour w/ Casey Veggies & The Dean's List this weekend @ Reggie's"

Raekwon is set to release a new mixtape titled Unexpected Victory on January 1st via DattPiff. You can stream its lead single "This Shit Hard" via a widget below, which features Chicago's L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Dion Primo, and production from The Olympicks. Raekwon's fifth studio album Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang came out this past March.

Though Raekwon didn't show up to the recent Wu-Tang Clan show at NYC's Best Buy Theater, he is billed to do so at the Congress Theater on January 8th. Tickets are still available.

Raekwon's new song stream, and all Wu-Tang dates, below..

Continue reading "Raekwon is releasing a mixtape; tix still available for Wu-Tang @ the Congress Theater"