Deadmau5 rants again. Two years ago, he denounced Ultra Music Festival over its ticket prices and exclusivity contracts. And last year, he slandered UMF as “the same fucking thing every year.” But then he coheadlined Ultra 2013. He’s also bitched about “EDM” just being an acronym for “Event-Driven Marketing,” not…
William Michael Smith (left, photo by Chris Knight) and David Thorpe The eleven alternative weeklies of Voice Media Group are responsible for a tremendous amount of music writing: This year, we produced thousands of pages of printed stories and tens of thousands of blog posts. We’re proud to present the…
Do you hear that ding-a-ling, Heat Nation? It’s wedding bells chiming for LeBron James’ mom, Gloria, and her 31-year-old rapping boytoy, Lambo! A few months ago, we here at Crossfade admitted, “Love is a powerful thang,” while noting that the King’s mama happened to be dating a dude about the…
Wynwood … It’s the kinda place where hip-hop power couples chow down on exotic pizza pie. We here at Crossfade can say so with confidence ’cause our pal, Broward-Palm Beach New Times music editor Liz Tracy, just caught Jay Z and Beyoncé coming out of Joey’s Italian Café and snapped…
R.I.P., PAX. After two and a half years, Crossfade’s favorite little club under I-95 (and the Miami New Times’ Best Latin Club of 2013) has closed. Over the weekend, the Performing Arts Exchange held a final show and said goodbye to the 305 scene. “THANK YOU MIAMI!!!” PAX tweeted just…
It’s been a crazy ride. But tonight, six years of hard work pays off in a big way. Miami’s paint party pioneers can’t wait to open the doors for the first-ever Life in Color Festival. The crew has worked all night to transform the Sun Life Stadium parking lot into…
Sounds like the 305. Just stumble down the street, slip into the club at 3 a.m., or tune into some pirate radio station while crossing the causeway from South Beach to the mainland. And almost as if by accident, a Magic City soundtrack will arise from the cacophony — a…
If it wasn’t for Miami, there wouldn’t be ska. This musical style was born in Jamaica during the 1950s from a mix of traditional Caribbean mento with American jazz and R&B. But when Miami radio first started playing independent black music in the 1940s, Jamaica and the rest of the…
Miami’s rap scene is on the come-up. There is no stopping or denying it. Over the past couple of years, numerous local talents have taken to the mic and released quality material that warrants outsiders’ ears. Our city’s rappers aren’t only about the keys picked up at the Port of…
We here at Crossfade almost lost our thick-framed glasses and striped shirts when we discovered that Wood Tavern owner Caesar Morales had leased the former Soho Lounge space. Fond (and somewhat hazy) memories flashed back, as if it were only yesterday that we were getting down to indie-dance tunes on…
In Life’s Little Instruction Book, H. Jackson Brown Jr. famously wrote: “An overnight success takes about 15 years.” If that’s the case, Life in Color is way ahead of schedule. Over the course of just seven years, this crew of Miami-based paint party professionals has fought, struggled, and lost a…
Holy Ship!!! Oh yeah, we’re experiencing a level of excitement that can only be expressed with three exclamation marks. That, and it’s the third year running for the world’s greatest electro-based music cruise. This year, the ship is bigger and better than ever. For 2013, HARD upgraded to the brand-new…
Yes, Britney Spears is considering retirement after the completion of her upcoming Las Vegas residency. The show begins in early 2014 and it’s slated for a two-year run, which means we may only have a couple of years left to get our “Britney Bitch” on. And you know what? That’s…
Look, we get it. You’ve been busy. You’ve had important things to do. You had to travel for Thanksgiving, and then you had to go shopping for holiday presents, and then there was that whole week of debauchery masquerading as culture that just ended. Hell, you’re probably still hungover. But…
You can’t tell Steven Braddy shit. He actually says so on one of his songs, multiple times. After devoting years of his life to football, Braddy knew his future and heart were no longer in the sport after high school. Instead, Braddy, known as SDotBraddy to Miami rap fans, headed…
Hey, Arcade Fire! So, uh, like, you guys wouldn’t lie to us, right? ‘Cause we really believed Win (perhaps naively and too eagerly) when he teased us with yet another Miami show during October’s special two-night stand as the Reflektors at downtown’s Mekka Nightclub and the Little Haiti Cultural Center…
If there’s one thing Miami doesn’t lack, it’s flashy, expensive parties. So Eyal Agai, AKA Pirate Stereo, and his Slap & Tickle crew are taking a cue from the gritty underground. “I used to go to a bodega in Boston that sold high-end sneakers out the back,” Agai says. “This…
Exactly 150 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln delivered an address unto the American people (although it’s historically accepted that Secretary of State William H. Seward wrote it) calling upon the citizens of the United States to take the last Thursday of every November as a day of reflection and gratitude…
Say it ain’t so, papo. A year and a half ago, DJ Laz, a Latin booty bass pioneer and 22-year radio vet, shocked fans and listeners by abruptly leaving his longtime home at Power 96, “Miami’s Party Station.” That was April 2012. But less than 30 days later, Laz announced…
Everyone wants to be a “god” or “lord” nowadays. But Carol City rapper Lil Champ FWAY gets straight to the point on his latest effort, the eight-track mixtape Real Nigga SHXT, calling out those posing as being “about that life.” Crossfade got a chance to chat with FWAY a little…
Beware Miami, there’s a hipster grinch out thieving in the clubs. On Friday night, professional photographer Teajay Smith Piersall was robbed of $1,500 worth of camera gear, stolen from a bag at her feet in Churchill’s Pub. UPDATE Thanks to DigUnderRock.com, the music community, Facebook, and Churchill’s security tapes, she’s…
Being a player takes determination, focus, a mean poker face, flawless planning, and a beard that rivals Grizzly Adams’. Fortunately, for Emanuel Alvarez, the latter is in full effect before and after No-Shave November. Better known to many as Glocky Davis, the 25-year-old rapper’s mellow persona can be partly attributed…
