Tomorrow night, I’m coming to Denver. Yes, it’s a celebration. It’s been a year since I’ve been to the Mile High City, and tomorrow night I have the honor of being a judge/guest A&R of Test Kitchen: The Concert at Summit Music Hall. Your boy will be watching and critiquing the best and brightest talent in Denver, courtesy of the good people at Roux Black. I’m super excited to check out the budding talent in Denver — hopefully, we’ll even find the next big star. Here is the background on the event if you’re in the Denver area and wanna come through. Doors are at 7:30pm. Tickets are available here.
Test Kitchen is the award-winning bi-monthly hip-hop showcase that highlights new music from rising artists in the city of Denver. The winner of Westword’s “Best of 2017” Award for Best Chance to Spot Upcoming Hip-Hop in Denver, the ‘first listen’ performances are designed to give artists a creative outlet and hear industry feedback.
Each show is curated by Roux Black and features feedback from industry insiders as A&R’s. As a throw to the famed Motown legend Barry Gordy, audiences and A&R’s answer the age-old question “With your last dollar would you buy this record or a sandwich?”
Having worked with multiple hip-hop artists in the town, studied the craft and tides of influence, we at Roux Black have learned most artists want to perform at shows and they want to know what we think about their music. Test Kitchen is the answer.
Now that summer is underway, the Test Kitchen brand is getting a boost with a multiple stage concert at Summit Music Hall on July 27th. As a celebration of emerging talent, the show will feature themed stages (both the Moon Room stage and Main Stage will be open) and performances from artists like kenandryu, Kayla Rae, Black Buddha and more.
Test Kitchen; the Concert will highlight the best of the performers with a sprinkling of new folks in the mix. The guest A&R’s for this concert are Francois Baptiste (3 Deep Productions, Live Nation, AEG), Mic Coats (The 3hree Project, The Foodchain) and Andrew Barber (FakeShoreDrive.com), the influencer best known for breaking the music of Vic Mensa, Chance the Rapper, Chief Keef and more, documenting the ever-important rap culture in Chicago.
Some of the artists I’ll be checking out are Kayla Rae, Black Buddha and kenandryu. I’ve included some of their work below, so you can tell me who is your favorite ahead of time. I will be reserving judgement until then, though. Hey, fair is fair.
https://soundcloud.com/user-837636947/sets/ken-ryu
https://soundcloud.com/kaylarae/sets/my-side-of-our-story-ep