Basel Castle 2013 Grand Central Park, Miami Saturday, December 7, 2013 In the past, the setting for The Overthrow’s Basel Castle extravaganza had been a slightly cartoonish, sort of fragile-looking fortress in Wynwood. But that shit is dead, son. Last year, the overcrowding got outta hand. So for 2013, the…
NADA Art Fair’s Fade to Mind Takeover With Kingdom, Nguzunguzu, and Total Freedom Sandbar, Miami Beach Saturday, December 7, 2013 Art Basel Miami Beach, when art walk goes to SoBe and takes steroids, is rife with the kind of surrealism that’d only make sense if Riff Raff narrated it. Celeb…
Tegan & Sara VH1 and Scope’s Art + Music + Beach Party SCOPE Pavilion, Miami Beach Friday, December 6, 2013 At 8 p.m., the massive oceanfront tent that houses one of the largest auxiliary fairs during Art Basel Miami Beach week, Scope, closed its doors for the night. Nearby, a…
Ghostface Killah With secret guest Raekwon Plus Tha Lox’s Sheek Louch DJs Heron, Self Born, Klassik, and Exes The Stage Miami Friday, December 6, 2013 There were patdowns at the door. And a bouncer forewarned “tonight’s a different crowd.” On Thursday, De La Soul’s Maseo, Dave, and Pos did Art…
De La Soul With DJs Heron, Self Born, and Ynot Opening set by Problem Kids The Stage Miami Thursday, December 5, 2013 “We are De La Soul! And we been doin’ this a long fuckin’ time,” MC Dave, AKA Trugoy the Dove, hollered, smiling and bouncing around the stage at…
Black Lips Shore Club, Miami Beach Thursday, December 5, 2013 It’s fair to say that Art Basel Miami Beach has come under critical siege at times for its supposed devolution from world-class art festival to glorified party. However, while plenty of people critiquing Basel are, in fact, too cool for…
At 22 years old, Ben Wash is hoping to become a music mogul and electronic music heavyweight. He’s so committed to his craft, he moved from his native Greenville, South Carolina, to Miami in order to gain wider exposure. And with his label King Head Records, he’s well on his…
Photo by Morgan ColemanCheck out Crossfade’s full 30-photo slideshow of Kendrick Lamar at Mana Production Village. Last night, I tweeted at Kanye West for the first time ever. Did I think he’d read the tweet? No, duh. But I did want to document that my feet hurt a lot, and…
Colombian native and former South Florida resident Rafael Martinez has been involved with some of the most electrifying bands in metal since leaving Miami in the mid ’90s to pursue further training and education at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Few will remember his recorded local music ventures…
Alabama Shakes Fillmore Miami Beach Wednesday, December 4, 2013 Better Than: An abbreviated Kendrick Lamar set, a weird party not thrown by Lady Gaga on North Beach, drinking warm beer in Wynwood. As the rest of South Beach clamored about to secret parties, cramped galleries, and other Basel diversions, the…
Wolf Eyes is one of the most iconic bands from the early- to mid-2000s explosion of noise music that reverberated (deafeningly) across North America. While the genre is the cumulative product of often disparate scenes, this Michigan unit — consisting of Nate Young, longtime collaborator John Olson, and a shape-shifting…
What’s that boom-bap? Just the thump of golden-era rap legends De La Soul, Wu-Tang mic mangler Ghostface Killah, and fiddle-wielding hip-hop duo Black Violin rolling up to The Stage Miami for three straight days of real beats and even realer rhymes, all in honor of Art Basel Miami Beach week…
Back in 2011, we here at Crossfade included Terre Thaemlitz, AKA DJ Sprinkles, on our list of the World’s Least Douchey DJs. It was a nod to her longstanding work as an educator and activist promoting awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. Like many others, we’d first gotten…
Hip-hop and rap are seven years removed from Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push,” the song that might’ve truly introduced skateboarding to the genre’s mainstream, even though the effect probably wasn’t as sweeping as it was when Lil Wayne donned some Vans and skinny jeans. Today, there’s Black Dave, a 21-year-old Bronx…
Anyone who says they want to see Kanye West and not hear a rant is a straight-up liar. Rants are part of the package, and we ain’t about getting stiffed. That being said, Kanye’s words are always being taken out of context. And we want to make sure you get…
It is an interesting time for the Alabama Shakes. Riding high on the success of a nearly universally lauded debut full-length album, Boys & Girls, the group has undoubtedly earned a rep as one of the most exciting bands dwelling within the increasingly overrun world of roots and Americana music…
Once a year, art aficionados and music junkies alike swarm the streets of the Magic City for Art Basel Miami Beach week. You know, that enormous arty party when the entire city becomes a wonderland filled with work from some of the world’s most talented creatives? And sure, art may…
Yeezus Tour Kanye West With Kendrick Lamar American Airlines Arena, Miami Friday, November 29, 2013 Better Than: Church, and all that Catholic guilt. It’s been five years since Kanye West’s last solo headlining tour. But in that half-decade, he’s gone from simple hip-hop prophet to full-on god. Last night’s Yeezus…
“There’s this sense of very lonely sensuality. And of course, the obvious paradox of being so connected, but so alone,” says French DJ-producer Joakim of his latest, as-yet untitled full-length project, a follow-up to last June’s pair of downtempo electro-pop tracks, “Heartbeats” and “Another Light,” and his first LP since…
They say you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, and we think some people are underappreciating Kanye West. That’s right — it’s not a popular opinion, but we actually believe Yeezus has done more for hip-hop than any other living artist, and possibly even any rapper of all…
“USA, who’s coming to the Where We Are 2014 Stadium Tour?” That’s right, Directioners … Your Brit boy toys Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson have just revealed their North American tour dates. So far, there are only 21 scheduled One Direction shows, starting with…
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis With Big K.R.I.T. and Talib Kweli American Airlines Arena, Miami Sunday, November 24, 2013 Better Than: We could have ever expected. A great man once said, “If you want to be an active participant in hip-hop culture, you have to get off the couch, go to…
