You’ll recognize a familiar face on the B-Side cover of this week’s Chicago Reader — that being rising Chicago emcee Taylor Bennett. Taylor’s appearance comes as part of a larger story on Chicago’s new crop of rappers titled: “Five honors students from Chicago rap’s freshman class.” The piece by Leor Galil covers the scope of the scene, but focuses on five artists in particular: Taylor Bennett, Spenzo, ZMoney, Alex Wiley and Saba.
The piece covers each artist and their achievements individually, and it’s year another great spotlight the local scene. Check it out in full right here, or pick it up on newsstands tomorrow.
Leor Galil writes:
Zoom in one more level, and you get an even higher-resolution picture—you can see dozens of talented locals releasing material that could catapult them onto a bigger stage. For this piece I talked to five of them: Alex Wiley, Saba, Spenzo, Taylor Bennett, and ZMoney. Some of them are friends, despite their divergent styles, and others never cross paths. Wiley belongs to the Village crew, which has expanded beyond Chicago’s borders. ZMoney seems to have come out of nowhere fully formed, his luxurious aesthetic already intact. You can find photos of Taylor Bennett with Spenzo on Instagram; Spenzo showed up to perform at Bennett’s sold-out headlining show at Reggie’s last month, and he appears on a track from Bennett’s new mixtape, Mainstream Music. Saba cut his teeth at Harold Washington’s YouMedia Center, where Bennett used to record. These are far from the only rappers in town whose mixtapes could hit it big outside Chicago—it’s all but impossible to keep up with everyone—but they’re the most promising.