R N G L D R | Life & Style Magazine

[LATEST]

Kojey Radical | 1 Year of Cashmere Tears

A blendaline genius of seamless transitioning between spoken word and modern rap; between neo-soul and R&B; between jazz, funk, and timeless instrumentation, all the while speaking his truths on a swath of thematic discourse ranging from love and lust to depression, struggle, and how art cures all, Cashmere Tears is a blueprint for what the future – and the present – of indefinably stylistic music sounds like.

Your Truly Jai | Monarch

The six-track EP – her debut project – feels pulled from so many different keystone moments in R&B’s storied past that it becomes clear that Jai is a conglomerate student of her craft’s history – one that bleeds first with emotional evocation, second with crystalline vocals, and third with keystrokes dancing light-footedly hand-in-hand with funky basslines. And yet, even as the entirety of the 15-minute collection pulls its listeners into a state of reminiscence on classic Southern Soul, on 90’s R&B, and on an early 00’s marriage to rap features (see: Chuck Indigo on One Day), Monarch ultimately earns its wings in its ability to transcend not only era and epoch, but the idea of stylistic delineation as it stood by standards gone by.

Jyou | Emotional Summer

As the peak Summer heat (hopefully) starts coming to a close, it’s hard not to look back at one of the more trying – emotional – seasons in memory with a heavy heart. So much has felt so wrong, but from the pain and struggle, so much beauty and art has emerged in response. And from more than anywhere, Nashville, Tennessee has been a go-to glimpse into where music and culture are headed in 2020 and beyond, churning out classic project after anthemic hit from the wide-ranging mosaic of its hip-hop centric underground.

An Interview with Prolific Nashville Director, SECK

Capturing the visual stories of a creative Renaissance is no small feat. But for SECK - an emerging authority in bringing to screens the visual identity of Nashville’s explosive hip-hop scene - it’s a fluid, constant process. Young, sure, but incredibly ahead of his years and of the artistic scene at large, SECK is an adept filmmaker whose creativity is as wide-ranging as the successful risks he takes. Stomping through 2019 and 2020 with an unparalleled schedule of prolificity, he has made videos for a multitude of artists involved in Nashville’s continuous run up the scale of hip-hop culture. And doing so - in a scene as stylistically wide-ranging as rappers and vocalists come - he’s never misstepped in coalescing the entirety of his canon with the tether of his city, and the artistic variance of his collaborators.

Trinidad James | Black Filter

It’s been eight years since Trinidad James dropped debut smash hit, All Gold Everything. And though his name has emerged time and again in reprises of its original cut, in features across singles and projects big and small, in further releases of his own, and in his role hosting Complex Magazine’s Full Size Run, it’s Trinidad’s current run – one that began with the release of 2019 single, Playli$t and culminates with the release of Black Filter – that has once and for all pulled his limelight status away from the fate emblazoned upon him by his initial golden stardom.

Aminé | Limbo

Limbo is usually described as a negative space. A place in which one gets stuck; an inescapable middle ground; neither here nor there. But for Aminé, it feels bigger than that and a chosen – or at least accepted – space for him to end up. And he does so with grace. The album isn’t some forced attempt to meet the expectations of his wide-ranging audience. It’s a natural progression for a rapper, vocalist, and experimentalist that has long earned through his wide-ranging talent listeners from across music’s myriad grey areas.

Moise | Postcards I Forgot to Send

Moise’s growth is obvious, his emotion is relatable, and the range of Postcards I Forgot to Send is a prophetic glimpse into the things that have always defined Moise not only musically, but personally. In Moise, those two lanes are remarkably intertwined in a way that few artists have ever been able to successfully convey. Everything one feels through his music is so legitimately rooted that its nothing if not a reflection of Moise’s own emotional lines. And by that understanding – by the ideology that humans are complicated ranges of emotional transgressions – Postcards I Forgot to Send is a remarkable exploration of the myriad.

[SERIES]

[NEW & NOW]

MUSIC

25 Projects & Albums of 2020 (so far...)

Halfway through the year, we think it's important to take a look back at the most influential, inventive, and important projects of any length - EP's or albums - that have come to define 2020 at large. Musically, socially, and dynamically, these 25 projects have led the way for other artists with other projects to ensure that 2020 - even given its immense challenges - is soundtracked by incredible music. No hierarchy, just ordered by date of release.

[Full Story]

Clairmont the Second | It's Not How it Sounds

[Review]

Musically & Socially, Spillage Village are a Necessary Force of Enlightenment

[Review]

Nashville | A Playlist Dedicated to our Era's Best Underground Scene

[Listen]

Fresh Veggies Comes Full Circle with Anticipated Followup

[Review]

[More Music]

[DAILY FOCUS]

[More New Music]

Today

Listen

Agreeable

Cautious Clay

Yesterday

Listen

Dance On Me

Dave B.

Day Before

Listen

Kiss

Devin Morrison

STYLE

An Interview with 20-Year-Old Philanthropic Stylist, Chi Ilochi

Age is only a number, and for 20-year-old Nigerian-American fashion stylist, Chi Ilochi, other number mean much more. The number of opportunities she makes for herself to teach people self-expression through fashion; the number of individuals with disabilities that she has styled; the number of underrepresented communities that she aims to lift up through fashion. Chi truly is the fusion of fashion and philanthropy.

'I like for my work to be timeless, and also cater to my client’s personal interests and personality.'

[Interview]

10 Reasons why the Dreamville Soulstress is a Style Queen

[Style Points]

Vitaly Design | a story of Futurist Fashion Fluidity

[SS/20]

How the Italian Frame Collective is Spurring an Age of Self-Expression

[Review]

10 Ways why the UK-Ghanain Fashion Lord Can Keep You Safe in a Protest

[Style Points]

[More Style]

ART & DESIGN

The Street Art of Vancouver | Walking from one place to another yields a remarkable amount of storytelling.

It feels as though Vancouver is home to its own color palette. Born of its natural surroundings and reaffirmed in its environmentally centric design, the city and its art breathe of pale blues, deep greens, and flashes of vibrant yellows, reds, blacks, and whites. In any other surroundings, its general feeling would exude a dream-state, evoke sleepiness. But in a city as perfectly designed; in a natural setting as awe-inspiring and inspirational as they come, the melancholy of Vancouver and British Columbia at large is a happy sort of glum one didn’t know was possible.

[Full Story]

The Street Art of Havana

[Editorial]

How a Swedish Raincoat Company is Changing Design

[Editorial]

The street Art of Nashville

[Editorial]

An Interview with Oliver Asadi

[Interview]

[More Art & Design]

PHOTOGRAPHY

A Thousand Words | Mathieu Ajan

So often, the people doing the most for the world of art and culture – for photography and cinematography – are those who have the courage to capture the exceptionalism of the everyday. Don’t get it twisted, the high-fidelity and extravagant serve their purpose, too. But more often than not, the most brash, brave statements come at the hands of the most honest art. For a while now, that search for truth has led a lot of modern photographers and videographers to the timelessness of film methodology. Like the return to vinyl, its texture and innate imperfection grant it a strange, deeper connection to the tethers of reality as we know them – or at least as we knew them through the innocent omnipotence of childhood.

[Full Story]