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Fe’La Declares War on Arizona’s No. 1 Artist Murkemz With New Diss Record “Dear Murkemz”
Released exclusively on Scrybe Streaming, Fe’La’s confrontational new record questions Murkemz’s authenticity and turns a growing Arizona rivalry into a public battle for respect.
The questions surrounding Fe’La and Murkemz are officially over.
Whatever tension may have existed between the two Arizona artists is no longer limited to fan speculation, social-media comments or competitive energy from a distance. Fe’La has now addressed Murkemz directly with “Dear Murkemz,” a deeply personal diss record released exclusively on Scrybe Streaming.
The title makes its intended recipient unmistakable, but Fe’La does not structure the song like a traditional barrage of insults. Instead, “Dear Murkemz” plays like an open letter from one artist to another—part confrontation, part lyrical intervention and part public examination of the image Murkemz presents through his music.
“Dear Murkemz, I hope this letter reaches you in time,” Fe’La says as he begins. “I feel like I’m inclined to teach you.”
That opening establishes the perspective Fe’La maintains throughout the record. He is not simply attempting to prove that he can rap better than Murkemz. He assumes the role of a teacher addressing an artist whom he believes possesses genuine talent but has built his music around an identity that does not completely belong to him.
“I feel like rhyming ’bout a life you don’t live is beneath you,” Fe’La tells him. “You gotta tap into your mind, and I’m here to show you how.”
That may be the central argument behind the entire song.
Fe’La is not claiming that Murkemz lacks ability. In fact, he repeatedly acknowledges that Murkemz can rap. His criticism is that the skill is being used to maintain what Fe’La describes as a manufactured street image rather than reveal the person behind it.
“I know you can rap, but maybe in this story you act,” Fe’La says.
It is a calculated angle because it separates Murkemz’s technical talent from his credibility. Fe’La is essentially arguing that knowing how to deliver a story does not necessarily mean the artist lived it. In his telling, Murkemz may be a capable rapper, but the character listeners hear in the music is a performance.
Fe’La makes that accusation explicit when he says Murkemz raps as though he “lived around weapons and sold more drugs than your connections,” before concluding that “the dots ain’t connecting.”
The target of “Dear Murkemz” is therefore not Murkemz’s rhyme scheme, flow or commercial success. It is his character.
“Your character is what we addressing,” Fe’La declares. “All of this to be accepted, I can’t accept it.”
Fe’La then questions several pieces of Murkemz’s public persona, including his voice, background and connection to the lifestyle portrayed in his records. One of the song’s sharpest accusations arrives when Fe’La says, “Your accent ain’t even real, it’s an impression. It’s all deception.”
The criticism goes beyond claiming Murkemz exaggerates his past. Fe’La suggests that Murkemz has constructed an entire presentation designed to appear more dangerous, hardened or culturally connected than he really is.
“You be acting like Brooklyn in the house,” Fe’La says, “but we all know your life in the dust.”
Fe’La follows that line by claiming Murkemz has been in Arizona since childhood and grew up with a comparatively stable suburban upbringing: “You been here since a pup. You grew up in the suburbs, a house and a truck.”
Those statements are Fe’La’s allegations within the diss record—not independently established facts—but they form the foundation of his case. Fe’La believes Murkemz’s real life was already worthy of being expressed and that the decision to replace it with a more marketable street narrative has created the vulnerability he is now attacking.
One of the most interesting parts of the song is that Fe’La does not argue that an artist needs to come from extreme hardship to create meaningful rap music.
“You ain’t gotta have a struggle to rap,” he says before immediately reconsidering the thought. “Matter of fact, I take that back. The hell, we all gotta struggle. I just hate to see you struggle with facts.”
That reversal gives the record more depth than a simple argument over who is “more street.” Fe’La’s point is that struggle is universal, even if it takes different forms. According to him, Murkemz did not need to borrow someone else’s story because his actual experiences could have provided enough substance for honest music.
“I know the hood is appealing,” Fe’La continues. “I know the story sound better when the story is cap.”
Fe’La presents authenticity—not criminal history—as the real measure of credibility. His argument is that an artist does not need guns, drug sales or a traumatic upbringing to earn respect. What matters is whether the artist believes and has experienced the story being delivered.
That distinction also allows Fe’La to contrast Murkemz’s alleged approach with his own writing process.
“I don’t regret none of my life,” he says, “probably why I write everything in pen and not pencil.”
It is one of the record’s cleaner metaphors. Writing in pen represents permanence, accountability and an unwillingness to erase the past. Fe’La portrays himself as someone prepared to stand behind what he writes because it comes from his actual experiences.
He extends that idea with another layered line: “I don’t gotta tell you I got magazines if you want an issue to diss you.”
The bar uses “magazines” and “issue” as a double meaning without relying on a direct claim of violence. Fe’La immediately reinforces that distinction by saying, “The real shit is what I like to stick to.”
As the song progresses, its tone becomes less instructional and more damaging. Fe’La warns Murkemz that an image can only survive for so long if the audience begins questioning its foundation.
“Eventually you gotta switch it up, ’cause the lies getting old,” he raps. “I provide what I know; when I don’t, make it up.”
Fe’La also argues that the alleged persona could eventually limit Murkemz’s career. His line, “They ordering Murkemz and you ain’t even on the menu,” suggests that listeners may be asking for a version of Murkemz that the real person cannot consistently provide.
In other words, Fe’La believes the character is becoming bigger than the artist playing it.
The most aggressive section arrives near the end, when Fe’La strips the imagery down to its central accusation: “No guns, just an image.”
He follows it with one of the song’s most direct sequences:
“You’ll never be the shooter. You will always be the witness. You will always be the [person] that be wishing that he did it.”
By this point, Fe’La is no longer merely encouraging Murkemz to become more honest. He is openly attempting to dismantle the reputation surrounding one of Arizona’s most recognizable rappers.
Still, Fe’La repeatedly insists that the record is intended as something other than a conventional attack.
“Don’t get it wrong, this is not an attack,” he says. “This is more like a lesson, redirection of this perception that you protecting. If I’m wrong, you can offer a correction.”
That final invitation is significant.
Fe’La has made his allegations publicly, but he also leaves Murkemz an opening to dispute them. By saying, “If I’m wrong, you can offer a correction,” Fe’La is effectively challenging Murkemz to answer—whether through another record, a public explanation or evidence that contradicts the picture painted in “Dear Murkemz.”
The question now is whether Murkemz will respond.
Murkemz is frequently described by supporters as the number-one artist in Arizona. Whether every listener agrees with that ranking is almost beside the point. The title carries weight because it has become part of the public conversation surrounding him. By challenging Murkemz directly, Fe’La is not only confronting another rapper; he is confronting the hierarchy that has formed around him.
There are strategic reasons for Murkemz to ignore the song. Artists with established audiences do not always benefit from answering every challenger, especially when a response could introduce that opponent to thousands of new listeners.
But silence carries risks in hip-hop, particularly when the accusation concerns authenticity.
If “Dear Murkemz” continues generating conversation, Murkemz may find himself responding not only to Fe’La but also to listeners who want to know whether the claims have any truth behind them. The more the record spreads, the more difficult it may become to dismiss it as an attempt to gain attention.
Fe’La closes by repeating the demand at the heart of the song: “I just want you to admit it.”
That ending makes “Dear Murkemz” feel less like a random shot and more like a public demand for honesty. Fe’La is not asking Murkemz to stop rapping. He is arguing that Murkemz would become a stronger artist by abandoning the character Fe’La believes he created and telling the truth about the life he actually lived.
Whether listeners accept Fe’La’s argument remains to be seen. Whether Murkemz will allow that argument to stand unanswered may be the more immediate question.
For now, Fe’La has delivered the first official record and placed the entire Arizona hip-hop scene on notice.
“Dear Murkemz” is available exclusively on Scrybe Streaming.
The letter has been delivered.
Now Arizona waits to see whether Murkemz writes back.
26G: A Brooklyn-Born Artist Creating Music Across Genres, Cultures and Continents
The artist’s work can move between the energy of contemporary hip-hop and the rhythmic influences of Afrobeats, while also exploring the melodic qualities of R&B, pop and electronic music. This willingness to experiment gives 26G considerable creative flexibility and allows him to continually discover new directions.His interests also extend into gaming, adding another dimension to his identity as a modern digital-era creator. The combination of music, gaming and online culture provides 26G with multiple ways to engage with audiences and develop his creative presence.As his catalog continues to grow, 26G remains focused on creating and sharing music rather than allowing traditional genre definitions to dictate his direction. His extensive body of recorded work represents years of experimentation, songwriting and production, while his continued activity points toward an artist who still has plenty more to explore.Listeners can discover 26G’s music on Spotify, while his wider creative presence can be found through his social media channels and online store. His digital platforms provide additional ways for fans to follow his journey and discover his work.For 26G, the journey is ultimately about creative freedom and connection. Whether working within hip-hop, R&B, Afrobeats, pop or EDM, he continues to build a musical world shaped by versatility and experimentation.With more than 10,000 songs already recorded and an artistic vision that stretches from Brooklyn to audiences around the globe, 26G is not simply following a musical path. He is creating his own.Store Website: https://26gstore.com/
Spotify: 26G – https://open.spotify.com/artist/6n4DRj7SOXnSOnFaFES2F7Tiktok:
26G HipHop Rapper – https://www.tiktok.com/@26ggaming
26Gstore.com – https://www.tiktok.com/@26galldayFanpage
IG – 26gviralfanpage – https://www.instagram.com/26gviralfanpage/
Tiktok – 26gviralfanpage – https://www.tiktok.com/tiktokstudio/contentCeno’s $420,750 Mystery Reveals a Bigger Shift in Who Gets to Fund Music
The mystery is irresistible.
An album hasn’t been released.
Yet more than $420,000 is already surrounding it.
So where did the money come from?
The Hype Magazine recently posed essentially that question about Ceno’s upcoming The Album:
“Who Gave Ceno $420,750 Before His Album Was Released?”
Read the original article:
https://www.thehypemagazine.com/2026/08/31/who-gave-ceno-420750-before-his-album-was-released
But after looking at how the project works, another question becomes much more interesting:
Who gets to decide which creative projects deserve funding?
The Old Answer Was Simple
For most of modern entertainment history, the answer was institutions.
Record labels.
Film studios.
Publishers.
Financiers.
Distributors.
These organizations had something artists desperately needed:
Capital.
Making professional creative work requires money before the work can produce money.
That created an unavoidable imbalance.
Creators had ideas.
Companies had resources.
So companies became gatekeepers.
Technology Changed Almost Everything Else
Then the internet arrived.
Recording became cheaper.
Distribution became accessible.
Artists could communicate directly with audiences.
Social media allowed unknown creators to reach millions without traditional media.
Streaming created global distribution almost instantly.
Yet one major obstacle remained stubbornly difficult:
financing.
Professional careers still require resources.
That’s why Ceno’s experiment is interesting.
Imblem Attacks the Financing Bottleneck
The Hype Magazine reports that Ceno’s The Album is being presented through Imblem, with Creative Units listed at $30.
More than $420,000 had already been generated around the project before release.
The architecture attempts to distribute the funding decision.
Instead of:
“Does one company believe in this artist?”
the question becomes:
“Do enough people believe in this artist?”
That’s a major philosophical change.
Many Small Decisions Can Become Serious Resources
One supporter decides to participate.
Another reaches the same conclusion.
Then another.
Individually, those decisions may appear small.
Collectively, they can become substantial.
That’s what makes the $420,750 figure significant.
It represents more than money.
It demonstrates what can happen when technology connects individual decisions around one creative project.
Fans May Have Another Reason to Participate
The model also changes what supporters potentially receive from the relationship.
Instead of simply making a donation or purchasing merchandise, participants may potentially receive qualifying royalty distributions generated by the creative work under the project’s applicable terms.
Fans interested in Ceno can examine the opportunity here:
Explore Ceno’s royalty opportunity: https://30yr-royalty-investment.com/
Royalty payments aren’t guaranteed.
Commercial performance still matters.
But the existence of the opportunity changes the fan’s role.
What Happens If This Becomes a Blueprint?
Now imagine the structure expanding.
An independent singer has an album.
A filmmaker has a script.
An author has a book.
A game developer has a concept.
A producer has a project.
Instead of waiting exclusively for one gatekeeper to approve the idea, creators present opportunities directly to communities.
Those communities collectively decide which projects deserve participation.
Not every project succeeds.
Not every idea gets funded.
But access changes.
And when access changes, industries often change with it.
Gatekeepers Become Options Instead of Requirements
That’s perhaps the most important distinction.
Traditional entertainment companies don’t have to disappear for this model to matter.
They simply stop being the only door.
Creators could potentially build community resources first and then decide whether a traditional partnership makes sense.
That changes the negotiation.
An artist who needs money enters from one position.
An artist who already has substantial resources and community support enters from another.
The Power Is in Having Another Choice
That’s what alternative infrastructure creates.
Choice.
Maybe Ceno ultimately partners with traditional companies.
Maybe he doesn’t.
The revolutionary element isn’t the answer.
It’s having the ability to choose.
For generations, artists fought over ownership, control, recoupment and royalties partly because access to capital came with enormous leverage.
If creators gain another credible source of resources, that leverage can begin shifting.
The $420,750 Mystery Has a Bigger Answer
So who gave Ceno the money?
The Hype Magazine’s reporting suggests that may be the wrong question.
The more important question is:
What happens when creative financing no longer requires one institution to make the entire decision?
One person says yes.
Another says yes.
Then another.
Eventually thousands of individual decisions can become significant resources.
Ceno’s $420,750 may therefore matter for a reason far larger than one album.
It suggests another answer may be emerging to one of entertainment’s oldest questions:
Who gets to decide what gets funded?
Maybe the answer is beginning to include the audience.
Read The Hype Magazine’s original article: https://www.thehypemagazine.com/2026/08/31/who-gave-ceno-420750-before-his-album-was-released
Explore Ceno’s royalty participation opportunity: https://30yr-royalty-investment.com/
Potential royalty distributions are not guaranteed and depend on qualifying revenue generated by the underlying creative work and applicable terms.
Jasper Boyz Drop New Hit Single “New Chick” ft. LaniLove & NovaStarr
Fresh off earning this year’s TikTok’s “Content Creator of the Year Award,” the Jasper Boyz bring their global audience and more than 2.5 billion collective streams to “New Chick,” a high-energy collaboration uniting three of the music world’s fastest rising creator talents. “New Chick” channels the bounce and attitude of early-2000s R&B and pop-rap, blending a catchy groove, punchy 808s, crisp handclaps, and sharp vocal production. Jasper Boyz deliver smooth, bouncy verses and an infectious hook, paired with Lani Love’s breezy R&B and Nova Starr’s punchy, staccato rap style. Together, their contrasting voices create a playful back-and-forth on fresh romance that results in a confident, flirty, feel-good summer anthem.
Jeremiah, Jairus, and Malachi of the Jasper Boyz are actively shifting the paradigm of youth culture by proving clean, high-energy content can drive massive global engagement. Their multi-hyphenate approach across acting, dance, and recording sets a new benchmark for Gen Alpha artists.
Jasper Boyz is one of the fastest-rising youth entertainment brands in the world, consisting of three talented brothers – Jeremiah, Jairus, and Malachi – who have captured the attention of millions through music, acting, dance, comedy, and digital storytelling.
What began as a passion for entertaining has evolved into a global movement that connects with Gen Alpha audiences through positive, engaging, and family-friendly content. With a unique ability to blend music, viral content, original series, and live performance, Jasper Boyz has established themselves as a powerhouse within the youth entertainment space.
Collectively generating more than 1.5 billion streams and views across platforms, Jasper Boyz reaches over 200 million viewers each month and has built a loyal community of more than 2.3 million followers worldwide. Their influence extends far beyond social media, impacting youth culture through music releases, viral trends, storytelling, and live experiences that resonate with audiences across multiple countries.
The group’s accomplishments include earning the prestigious title of TikTok “Content Creator of the Year,” being recognized as “Best International Group,” and winning two International Awards. Their continued growth has led to opportunities in commercials, brand partnerships, school tours, community events, television opportunities, and major live performances.
Beyond the numbers, Jasper Boyz represents a new generation of creators proving that young people can inspire, entertain, and lead on a global scale. Their content promotes confidence, creativity, positivity, teamwork, and self-expression while maintaining a strong commitment to family-friendly values.
Today, Jasper Boyz stands at the intersection of music, content, culture, and influence, building a scalable entertainment brand designed for the next generation. This next chapter is spearheaded by their recent single “Drip Too Lit,” an infectious, feel-good anthem that celebrates streetwear, sneaker culture, and the swagger of young creators leveling up together. Expanding that momentum, “New Chick” pairs the group with breakout talents Lani Love and Nova Starr, delivering a bouncy, 2000s-inspired R&B and hip-hop collaboration packed with effortless charisma, sharp back-and-forth vocals and radio-ready energy.
More Than Creators. More Than Artists. Jasper Boyz is a global youth entertainment brand with proven influence, powerful engagement, and over 1.5 billion streams and views. Music. Content. Culture. Influence. One Brand. One Movement. Jasper Boyz.
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José Quervo Returns With New Album “Aqua Man”
José Quervo is a Puerto Rican-born, New Orleans-raised R&B singer-songwriter whose new album Aqua Man finds beauty on the other side of mortality. Shaped by his survival of Stage 4 cancer, what could have been a final statement became an album about getting another chance, learning how to receive it, and loving without reservation. Produced by 3X Grammy-winning producer Deezle, the 13-track project lives somewhere between R&B sensuality and atmospheric immersion, with 808s rumbling beneath hypnotic basslines and electric guitars flickering through the arrangements like light through water. Every song moves with the fluid physicality of a man who trained as a dancer, and water runs through this record as both theme and texture, making Aqua Man an unforgettable musical catharsis.
In collaboration with Nov Did It and super producer Deezle, Quervo delivers a raw, intoxicating soundscape inspired by icons like Michael Jackson, The Weeknd, and Bad Bunny. Blending trap, R&B, hip-hop, and Latin influences, his music moves seamlessly between night-drive trance beats, street-honed grit, and uninhibited R&B vulnerability.
Aquaman Tracklist:
N.O. NIGHTS BO$$ BIH (feat. A1 LA’SALSA) BAD IT’S ON ME SUVs SEX ON THE CEILING UBER EATS ONLY-FANS (feat. LA LOVE THE BOSS) DEEP TYPE SHIT YOU DESERVE IT LA LOVE AQUA MAN
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New Orleans, José Quervo has lived through enough to earn everything he’s making now. Dance came first for him, before music did. He grew up moving, and singing in his church choir, long before he ever stepped into a studio. He was signed twice early in his career, and then a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis stopped everything, forcing him to face his own mortality while his career was still taking shape.
He thought he was making his last album. He put everything into it: his fear, his faith, whatever he had left. That project didn’t end up being a farewell. It turned into a resurrection.
Producer Nov Did It (N-O-V-M-B-R) was there through all of it, helping José turn what he was going through into music, recording without knowing how any of it would end. Those sessions are still the foundation of his story.
Now, healthy and back at work, José is starting a new chapter with three-time Grammy-winning producer Deezle of The Box Bangers. Together they’re building something that moves between Trap, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Latin sounds, a mix that comes out sounding like nobody but José.
His influences go back to Michael Jackson, who he watched growing up and modeled a lot of his performance instincts after. From there he found Jodeci, Ginuwine, Chris Brown, The Weeknd, Bryson Tiller, and Lucky Daye, singers who weren’t afraid to sound soft. On the rap side, he’s drawn to the melodic style Future, Drake, Young Thug, and Lil Wayne brought into hip-hop, rappers who basically started singing, and he pulls the confidence in his music from artists like Rick Ross. Being Puerto Rican shapes a lot of what he makes too. He grew up on Bad Bunny and Anuel, has family in the game (his cousin A1 La Salsa, and Luar La L), and likes to slip Spanish into his records as a way of staying connected to that side of him.
Music wasn’t the obvious path for him. He grew up around gang culture and street life, and for a long time he was told R&B wasn’t something a guy like him did. Artists like R. Kelly changed that, made it feel possible for a street dude to make love songs and still be taken seriously. That’s part of what makes his music his: nobody else has lived his life, so nobody else can write it. His sound tends to live at night, chasing a kind of trance, something that’s supposed to move your body and your head the way a drug might, minus the drug.
His new project, Aqua Man, is built around that survival and rebirth. But underneath it, José is really trying to bring lovemaking back into R&B. He talks about wanting to bring back that moment in the club when the DJ would finally slow it down after a night of hard partying, and you’d get your one shot to go talk to the person you’d been watching all night. He thinks love has turned into something closer to a business deal between people, and he wants his music to be the thing that gets men to be vulnerable again, to actually talk to the person they love instead of playing it cool.
José writes, sings, performs, and puts on a show, and all of it comes from the same place: things he actually lived through. What separates him is that none of it feels performed. He survived first. Everything else came after.
Special Thanks
To my beautiful wife, LA Love The Boss, thank you for standing beside me through the hardest chapter of my life. Your love, prayers, strength, and unwavering belief carried me when I couldn’t carry myself. This victory belongs to us both.
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5 Fires is continuing to expand
Canadian recording artist 5 Fires is continuing to expand his presence beyond his home country, combining rock and hip-hop while building a career that increasingly connects Canada and the U.S.
Before music became his primary focus, 5 Fires spent nearly two decades as an entrepreneur, developing businesses and working in marketing. Eventually, he redirected that same drive and work ethic toward building himself as an independent recording artist.
One of the biggest early milestones came when 5 Fires began working with multi-platinum artist and producer Kevin Rudolf, best known for the global hit “Let It Rock.” Their collaboration resulted in 5 Fires’ debut single, “Threw My Life Away,” and brought him to Miami to continue developing his music and relationships within the industry.
Since then, 5 Fires has continued recording, collaborating and performing, including work with artists such as Young Breed and Cash Money recording artist Onsight Deeda, while performing extensively throughout Western Canada.
Now, much of that momentum is centered around his latest release, “The Darkness.”
Dark, melodic and heavy, “The Darkness” brings together the rock and hip-hop elements that have been at the foundation of 5 Fires’ music from the beginning. The record explores the internal battles people carry and the strange relationship we can sometimes develop with the darker parts of ourselves.
Built around the haunting line, “the darkness is stealing my soul, but I like it, I like it,” the song came together almost instinctively.
5 Fires describes the initial hook as something that felt more like it was being channeled than deliberately written. Once the words and melody appeared, the rest of the record began taking shape around that feeling.
“There are times when you sit down and try to write something, and then there are times when the song almost finds you,” says 5 Fires. “‘The Darkness’ was one of those records.”
The release comes during an increasingly active period for the Canadian artist. After a busy run of live performances across British Columbia, 5 Fires is preparing to return to Miami.
On September 4, 2026, he is scheduled to perform at The Rap Arena in Miami, hosted by Rick Ross and Matty Ice. The appearance marks another step forward in a connection with Miami that has developed through repeated trips for recording, collaborations and music industry events.
Outside of his own releases, 5 Fires is also building Fire Muzik Group, his independent label and platform for developing new music and artists.
And “The Darkness” isn’t the end of the current run.
5 Fires is already preparing his next single, “Raise It Up” featuring Messenger Muzik, while continuing to record new material and develop future collaborations.
For 5 Fires, the focus is now on turning years of entrepreneurial experience, relentless live performance and an expanding catalogue into something built to last.
“The Darkness” is available now on all major streaming platforms.
Instagram: @5_firesofficial Official Website: 5-fires.com
Why Music Photography Still Matters and Why LMTLSS IMAGE Is Proof
In an age where everyone has a camera in their pocket and AI can generate a concert photo that never happened, the work of a photographer like LMTLSS IMAGE feels more important than ever.She’ll be the first to tell you the industry has changed. Smartphones getting sharper every year, people in the crowd thinking a good camera is unnecessary, AI tools replicating and remixing creative work without credit. It’s a real problem, and she’s watched it reshape the world she’s spent nearly a decade building inside. “AI is ruining the industry,” she says plainly. “It is taking real songs and ripping them from the original artist. It’s taking away from what makes all of this real.”What makes her work real is exactly that: it’s real. She’s in the pit. She’s listening to the set beforehand to understand the emotional arc of the music. She’s watching the crowd to figure out whether the story lives in the artist’s face or in five hundred people losing themselves at the same time. She shoots on burst during moments of raw emotion and keeps the slightly blurry ones if the feeling is louder than the focus. Because sometimes that’s the better photo.
JEEPER$ and LORD VZA Announce Collaborative EP GULLY SWAMP MUSIC, Out August 21
The collaborative project bridges Florida underground rap with LORD VZA’s experimental, alternative sound, led by the single “NELLY”
FLORIDA — August 2026 — Florida underground rapper JEEPER$ and Northern Ireland-based artist and producer LORD VZA will release their collaborative EP, GULLY SWAMP MUSIC, on August 21, 2026, across all major streaming platforms, Bandcamp and SoundCloud.
In development since 2025, GULLY SWAMP MUSIC grew out of a long-distance creative exchange between two artists with distinctly different approaches to rap music. LORD VZA would send JEEPER$ songs, beats and open verses from Europe, leaving space for the Bradenton rapper to interpret them from Florida.
Rather than trying to erase the distance between their styles, GULLY SWAMP MUSIC makes that contrast its defining characteristic.
LORD VZA brings an alternative and experimental sensibility to the project, filling the music with strange textures, unconventional vocal treatments and structures that frequently operate outside traditional rap expectations. JEEPER$, meanwhile, responds with a much more direct approach: dense verses, aggressive delivery, punchlines and an emphasis on rapping through whatever environment has been placed in front of him.
The result is less two artists meeting in the middle than two separate sensibilities colliding.
That relationship stretches across the EP’s seven songs: “PUWAP,” “SMOKEPURPP,” “NELLY,” “MM6,” “TOTALLY SPIES,” “HEAD SURGEON” and “SONAR/RADAR.” The songs move between abrasive, hypnotic, violent, funny and surreal while maintaining the sense that each began as part of an ongoing exchange between JEEPER$ and LORD VZA.
Leading the project is “NELLY,” the previously released single that first introduced the project’s central contrast. Built around an unconventional bounce and an effect-heavy, chant-like contribution from LORD VZA, the song places the collaborators’ differences directly beside one another: VZA establishes the warped atmosphere before JEEPER$ enters with a comparatively clean, rapid-fire vocal performance.
The otherwise insular collaboration makes room for only one outside voice. Bradenton rapper MunYon delivers the EP’s sole guest appearance through a prison phone call while incarcerated at Florida State Prison’s West Unit. Rather than disguising the circumstances of the recording, the appearance retains the texture and limitations of the phone call itself, bringing a voice from outside the JEEPER$–LORD VZA exchange into the project without breaking its raw character.
Although GULLY SWAMP MUSIC was created remotely, its Florida side was anchored at Flood Studios, operated by Daniel Pimentel (DannyP941), where JEEPER$ recorded his vocals and the project was ultimately mixed, mastered and completed.
Production throughout GULLY SWAMP MUSIC comes from LORD VZA, Sickmojo, naim815, Lil Glock 420 and Quill, giving the record a changing series of environments for JEEPER$ and LORD VZA to inhabit while maintaining the larger aesthetic developed between them.
That aesthetic extends beyond the music.
The cover of GULLY SWAMP MUSIC depicts a derelict, forgotten version of Florida—a place that seems to exist and yet never entirely existed at all. Rather than presenting the state through beaches, palm-tree postcards or familiar Florida iconography, the artwork imagines something abandoned, overgrown and half-remembered.
The complete presentation of GULLY SWAMP MUSIC consists of seven tracks. Bandcamp and SoundCloud preserve that seven-track configuration, with “SMOKEPURPP” and “NELLY” appearing separately. On Spotify, Apple Music and other major DSPs, the two songs appear together as “SMOKEPURPP / NELLY,” resulting in a six-track configuration.
After more than a year of development across Florida and Europe, GULLY SWAMP MUSIC ultimately documents a creative exchange built around distance rather than proximity. LORD VZA sends something strange into the world; JEEPER$ responds to it from Bradenton; the material arrives at Flood Studios and is shaped into a finished record.
Neither artist has to become the other for it to work.
GULLY SWAMP MUSIC arrives August 21, 2026 on Spotify, Apple Music and all major digital streaming platforms, with its complete seven-track presentation available through Bandcamp and SoundCloud.
GULLY SWAMP MUSIC — Track List
- PUWAP
- SMOKEPURPP
- NELLY
- MM6
- TOTALLY SPIES
- HEAD SURGEON
- SONAR/RADAR
Artists: JEEPER$ & LORD VZA
Release Date: August 21, 2026
Format: Collaborative EP
Lead Single: “NELLY”
Featuring: MunYon
Production: LORD VZA, Sickmojo, naim815, Lil Glock 420 and Quill
JEEPER$ Vocals Recorded At: Flood Studios
Mixed, Mastered & Completed At: Flood Studios
Engineer: Daniel Pimentel (DannyP941)
Darren Herft on Why AI Could Open New Paths to Music Discovery
Introduction
Artificial intelligence is moving deeper into one of the most commercially important parts of music streaming: deciding what listeners hear next.
Spotify says Discover Weekly now generates more than 56 million new artist discoveries every week, with 77% involving emerging artists. The company’s AI-powered DJ, meanwhile, had been used by 94 million Premium listeners by May 2026. These are no longer experimental features sitting at the edge of streaming. AI-powered discovery is becoming part of how major platforms compete for attention.
Darren Herft, a global music executive whose work spans music, entertainment, technology, and business, sees the development as part of a broader change taking place across the music industry. His commentary on AI has emphasized its potential to give artists new capabilities and opportunities, while maintaining that technological innovation must continue to support the people creating the music.
Music discovery puts those two forces together. AI can make it easier for listeners to find artists they might otherwise never encounter. But as recommendation systems become more influential, streaming platforms also gain greater power over which artists receive attention and which disappear into catalogs containing millions of competing tracks.
AI Is Moving Beyond Traditional Recommendations
Algorithmic recommendations have been part of streaming for years. What’s changing is how much control listeners have over them.
Traditional recommendation systems largely work by observation. A listener plays one song, skips another, follows an artist or saves an album. The platform collects those signals and tries to predict what that person will want next.
Generative AI makes that relationship more direct.
Spotify’s Prompted Playlist, expanded to Premium listeners in the United States and Canada in early 2026, allows users to describe the music they want using ordinary language. The system combines those instructions with listening history and current information about music, including trends and charts, to generate a personalized playlist.
A listener can ask for unfamiliar artists, specify a mood or genre, request deeper cuts, or refine a playlist after seeing the initial results. Playlists can also be configured to refresh daily or weekly.
That is a meaningful change in how recommendation technology works. Instead of relying entirely on a platform to infer what someone wants from past behavior, listeners can increasingly tell the system what they want now.
For Darren Herft, AI’s potential in music has consistently been tied to its usefulness as a tool. Applied to discovery, the technology does not need to replace musicians or human creativity to have a major impact. It can change the infrastructure connecting creators with audiences.
Music Discovery Has Become an Economic Question
The scale of the streaming economy makes that connection increasingly valuable.
Global recorded music revenues reached $31.7 billion in 2025, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Streaming accounted for 52.4% of global recorded music revenue, while the number of users of paid streaming subscription accounts reached 837 million.
At that scale, a recommendation is not simply a convenience.
Recommendations direct attention. Attention generates streams. Streams contribute to revenue and can turn an artist with little recognition into one with a commercially meaningful audience.
Spotify reported in 2024 that its platform was generating more than 22 billion new artist discoveries each month. Around two billion of those discoveries developed into what Spotify described as more lasting connections between listeners and artists.
That gives recommendation systems significant economic influence.
As Darren Herft has emphasized in his broader commentary on AI and music, technological changes have to be considered in terms of what they mean for artists as well as platforms. AI-powered discovery creates another version of that question: who benefits when algorithms become increasingly important in determining where listener attention goes?
Emerging Artists Have the Most to Gain
The opportunity is particularly significant for independent and emerging musicians.
Digital distribution has dramatically reduced the difficulty of making music globally available. It has not solved the problem of getting people to listen.
An artist without a large existing audience is competing against an enormous catalog of established performers, independent musicians, and increasingly AI-generated material. Making another song available does little by itself if listeners never encounter it.
Recommendation technology can help solve part of that problem by matching music with people who appear likely to enjoy it.
Discover Weekly offers a useful indication of the scale. Spotify says the playlist produces more than 56 million new artist discoveries each week and that 77% involve emerging artists. Since its 2015 launch, more than 100 billion tracks have been streamed through Discover Weekly.
Those numbers matter to Darren Herft’s broader argument about AI expanding opportunities for musicians.
Darren Herft has previously highlighted how AI can lower barriers for independent artists by making sophisticated creative and production capabilities more accessible. Discovery technology potentially extends the same principle into distribution. Giving more people the ability to create professional music is more economically meaningful if technology can also improve their ability to find an audience.
AI therefore has the potential to affect both sides of the artist’s problem: making music and getting it heard.
Platforms Are Gaining More Influence Over Attention
There is also a harder side to that development.
If discovery increasingly happens through algorithms, musicians become more dependent on systems they do not control.
Streaming platforms already occupy a powerful position between artists and audiences. More sophisticated AI can strengthen that position because the platform is no longer simply hosting a catalog. It is increasingly determining how individual listeners navigate it.
The incentives are not necessarily identical.
An artist wants the right listeners to discover and continue engaging with their music. A listener wants music worth hearing. A streaming service wants to keep the listener engaged with its product.
Often those goals overlap. They do not have to overlap perfectly.
The more effectively AI can shape listening behavior, the more consequential decisions about recommendation systems become. That makes questions about transparency, artist treatment, and platform incentives more important rather than less.
For Darren Herft, this connects with a recurring issue in his analysis of AI music: innovation should not come at the expense of genuine artists.
The technology can create substantial opportunities. The structure around the technology determines how those opportunities are distributed.
Listeners Are Getting More Control
Streaming companies are also experimenting with ways to make recommendation systems less passive.
In 2025, Spotify expanded AI Playlist to Premium listeners in more than 40 additional markets, allowing users to create playlists through natural-language prompts involving genres, moods, artists, and other instructions.
Prompted Playlist goes further. Spotify describes the feature as a way for listeners to directly steer how music is discovered for them, incorporating their listening history alongside information about current trends, charts, culture, and music history.
Spotify’s AI DJ demonstrates the demand for another form of personalized discovery. By May 2026, the company said the feature had helped shape the listening experience of 94 million Premium users.
The strategic shift is straightforward.
For years, streaming companies competed to become better at predicting what listeners wanted. Generative AI allows them to supplement prediction with instruction.
Listening history might indicate that someone regularly plays a particular genre. A prompt can communicate that the same person wants something completely different tonight.
That distinction could make recommendation systems considerably more useful. It also gives listeners greater ability to determine whether AI reinforces their established preferences or takes them somewhere new.
Darren Herft’s broader view of AI as an enabling technology fits particularly well here. The strongest use of AI does not necessarily remove human choice. It can give people more precise control over what technology does for them.
Personalization Still Has Limits
Better personalization does not automatically produce better discovery.
A system optimized around someone’s established preferences can become very good at recommending increasingly precise variations of music that person already knows.
That may increase relevance, but discovery requires some degree of unfamiliarity.
This creates a fundamental tension for AI-powered music platforms. The safest recommendation is often something close to what a listener already enjoys. The most valuable discovery may be something the listener would never have requested without encountering it first.
Streaming platforms are beginning to give users more direct ways to influence that balance. Spotify, for example, added controls allowing Premium users to shape Discover Weekly by choosing from up to five genres, while Prompted Playlist allows much more detailed instructions.
A listener can increasingly ask specifically for emerging musicians, unfamiliar genres, or music outside their normal habits. That turns personalization from a system that simply reinforces historical behavior into something that can potentially be used for deliberate exploration.
The distinction matters for artists as well.
If recommendation technology primarily reinforces existing popularity, the largest artists retain a substantial advantage. If it becomes better at matching unfamiliar artists with appropriate listeners, AI could make discovery more economically valuable to musicians who do not already possess large audiences.
Which outcome dominates will depend less on AI’s raw capabilities than on how streaming platforms choose to deploy them.
Human Creativity Remains the Underlying Product
There is another complication emerging at the same time: AI is increasingly involved not only in recommending music, but in creating it.
That makes Darren Herft’s emphasis on genuine artists particularly relevant.
Darren Herft has argued that the industry should protect creative musicians as AI becomes more deeply integrated into music. He has also emphasized that AI can provide artists with useful new tools, lower production barriers, and expand what independent creators are capable of doing.
Those positions are not contradictory.
Recommendation algorithms can process quantities of information no human curator could realistically handle. Generative systems can interpret complicated requests and personalize listening at enormous scale. But those capabilities do not eliminate the underlying product listeners are looking for: music they value.
As AI-generated tracks become more common, streaming platforms will have to manage both sides simultaneously. AI will increasingly help determine what gets heard while also contributing to the volume of material competing to be heard.
For Darren Herft, that makes artist protection more consequential, not less. Better technology can improve the connection between artists and audiences, but only if the industry continues to preserve meaningful opportunities for human creators within the system.
What Comes Next for Music Discovery
Music streaming initially solved an access problem. Instead of buying individual recordings, listeners could access enormous catalogs on demand.
That created another problem: navigating them.
Recommendation algorithms became the answer. Generative AI is now pushing the model further by allowing listeners to actively shape those recommendations through increasingly specific instructions.
For streaming companies, that creates another competitive battleground. Most major services can offer enormous music catalogs. The ability to understand a listener better and connect that person with the right music can become a more meaningful point of differentiation.
There is a commercial incentive behind that investment as well. At its 2026 Investor Day, Spotify said early AI deployments were already producing measurable engagement improvements, including a 9% increase in Autoplay song saves and nearly 20% more interaction with DJ messages. The company explicitly described AI not simply as a cost but as a potential monetization opportunity capable of improving retention and lifetime customer value.
That puts the economics in clearer view. Better discovery is valuable to listeners and artists, but it can also make a streaming service more valuable to the company operating it.
For artists, better discovery can create additional routes to audiences. For listeners, it can reduce the amount of searching required to find something worth hearing. For platforms, it can strengthen engagement and retention.
Darren Herft’s analysis of AI and music ultimately returns to the balance between those interests. Technology can expand what artists and listeners are able to do, but the strongest version of that future is one in which innovation strengthens the relationship between creators and audiences rather than weakening it.
Conclusion
AI is becoming part of the infrastructure that determines how music gets heard.
The numbers already demonstrate the scale. Paid streaming subscription accounts reached 837 million users globally in 2025. Spotify says Discover Weekly alone generates more than 56 million new artist discoveries every week, while tens of millions of listeners have used newer AI-powered discovery products.
That gives AI a role extending well beyond playlist convenience.
For Darren Herft, the more important question is what that technology ultimately does for the people participating in the music economy. AI can help listeners navigate enormous catalogs and potentially give emerging artists better opportunities to reach the right audiences. At the same time, increasingly powerful recommendation systems give platforms greater influence over the distribution of attention.
The next stage of music discovery will therefore be determined by more than how accurately an algorithm predicts the next song. It will depend on whether AI can improve discovery while continuing to create meaningful opportunities for the human artists whose music gives those systems something worth recommending.
FAQs
Who is Darren Herft?
ANS: Darren Herft is a global music executive whose work spans music, entertainment, technology, and business. His industry commentary examines developments affecting artists, streaming platforms, artificial intelligence, and the wider creative economy.
How is AI being used in music discovery?
ANS: Streaming services use recommendation technology to analyze listening behavior and suggest music. Newer generative AI products allow listeners to provide natural-language instructions and receive playlists or recommendations built around those requests.
Can AI help emerging artists reach listeners?
ANS: Recommendation systems can create additional opportunities for unfamiliar artists to reach potential fans. Spotify says Discover Weekly generates more than 56 million new artist discoveries each week, with 77% involving emerging artists.
How many people pay for music streaming?
ANS: According to IFPI, the number of users of paid streaming subscription accounts globally reached 837 million in 2025. Streaming accounted for 52.4% of worldwide recorded music revenue.
Does AI replace human music curation?
ANS: AI can automate and personalize discovery at a scale human curators cannot match, but human choice remains important. Newer systems increasingly allow listeners to actively steer recommendations rather than relying entirely on automated predictions.
Why does Darren Herft emphasize artists when discussing AI?
ANS: Darren Herft has argued that AI can provide meaningful new tools and opportunities for musicians, but that innovation should continue to protect genuine artists, recognize creative contribution, and support sustainable participation in the music industry.
Stardon Globe Breaks Free From the Noise With Hard-Hitting New Anthem “Free”
Burek Boys Bring Together the Best of Both Worlds
Inspired by the genre-bending spirit of Action Bronson, Burek Boys are proving that you don’t have to choose between bars and bites—you can do both.
On one side, Burek Boys are putting Albanian and Balkan food culture in the spotlight, traveling, reviewing restaurants, and introducing audiences to the flavors, traditions, and personalities behind the cuisine. Their content makes food entertaining while giving Albanian culture a platform far beyond the community itself.
But the Burek Boys story doesn’t stop at the food scene. They’re also making their way into hip-hop, recently stepping onto the stage in Stamford, Connecticut, as openers for rap heavyweights Fat Joe and DaBaby. Building a lane where music, food, travel, and personality could all coexist, Burek Boys are creating their own version of that formula—one burek and one stage at a time.
Food critics by day. Entertainers by night. Albanian culture everywhere in between.
You can check out their new single “NYC Marathon” out now on all platforms:
Three Songs, Two Exes, and More Than 20 Years of Memories: Marcus Christ Heads Back to the Studio
By Marcus Christ
Some songs begin with a beat. Others begin with a memory. For me, the three songs I am preparing to record professionally in Hollywood today began somewhere between the two. Maybe it’s somewhere in my heartbeat.
“Who Knew,” produced by Riki Beats, “You Keep Pressuring Me,” produced by 123 Studios, and “I’m Too Manic,” produced by Sogimura are three very different records. Two are directly connected to memories of former relationships. The third was not written specifically about either woman, but somehow those same memories still surface whenever I hear it.
That is one of the strange things about songwriting. You can move forward with your life without deleting the people, places, emotions, and experiences that helped shape it. Years later, a beat can bring something back. A lyric can open a door you thought you closed. Before you know it, something that happened more than 20 years ago is playing through the speakers again.
“Who Knew”: Remembering Crystal
“Who Knew” is the most openly nostalgic of the three songs. Produced by Riki Beats, the record was inspired by my memories of my ex, Crystal.
The opening immediately establishes what kind of record this is: a look backward from the perspective of someone who has continued living.
The song begins with a memory of a night in a car and the realization that neither of us could have known how significant that relationship would eventually become to me. That is where the title “Who Knew” comes from. Sometimes an ordinary moment only becomes important after enough years have passed for you to understand what it meant.
There is no attempt in the song to pretend that time stopped. I acknowledge that I heard Crystal got married, and I wish her and her husband the best. At the same time, moving forward does not require pretending the past never happened.
That contradiction drives the record.
I can accept that somebody has another life and still remember looking into her eyes. I can remember a kiss. I can remember feeling young. I can wonder what might have happened if different decisions had been made without believing that the past needs to be recreated.
One of the most important ideas in the song is losing not only a relationship but a friend. That is a different kind of loss. Relationships can end while the memories attached to the person continue occupying space in your mind.
The second verse begins moving away from nostalgia and toward acceptance. Crystal has her life, and I have mine. I am pursuing music, business, and everything else that lies ahead of me. Yet the song still leaves room for a simple question that many people probably have about somebody from their past: Do you ever think about me too?
I don’t need an answer for the song to work.
The question is the song.
“You Keep Pressuring Me”: Back to 2003
If “Who Knew” remembers Crystal with nostalgia, “You Keep Pressuring Me” approaches memories of my ex Candice from a very different emotional direction.
The song repeatedly takes the listener back to 2003, when I was living in Prince George’s County, Maryland. More than two decades later, those experiences are being transformed into an emo-rock record that I am preparing to record in Hollywood.
That distance matters.
I am not the same person I was in 2003. Neither are the people I knew then. When I write about that period today, I am not simply documenting an argument or relationship exactly as it happened. I am interpreting those memories through everything that has happened since.
One of my favorite ideas in the song is movement. I write about no longer sitting in the back seat, taking the driver’s seat, seeing what the driver sees, and trying to avoid “memory lane.”
Those images are intentional.
The driver’s seat represents control. Memory lane represents the past. The song places me somewhere between the two: attempting to control where I am going while still recognizing where I have been.
The hook makes the time difference impossible to ignore. The lead vocal asks why this person keeps putting pressure on me, while the background response reminds the listener: that was back in ’03.
That background vocal is also an example of why I make demos before recording the professional version of a song.
The Demo Is a Blueprint
A demo is not necessarily supposed to be the final vocal performance.
When I make a demo, I am studying my own record. I use it to learn the melody, memorize and evaluate the lyrics, test different cadences, establish breathing points, plan background vocals, and determine where the ad-libs belong.
Sometimes lyrics look great on paper and don’t work when performed. Sometimes a word needs to change. Sometimes the melody in your head becomes something different when it comes through a microphone.
The demo exposes those things before valuable studio time is spent figuring them out.
For “You Keep Pressuring Me,” for example, I already know that the lead vocal and the background responses have to interact. Reading the lyrics tells somebody what the words are. Hearing my demo tells them how I imagine those words being performed.
That distinction becomes especially important when working with another vocalist, engineer, or producer. My demo can function as a reference performance. I can demonstrate where I want a response, where something should be doubled, where the energy should increase, or how I hear a particular melody.
I am not always trying to give the greatest vocal performance possible on the demo.
Sometimes I am teaching the eventual performer how I hear the song.
“I’m Too Manic”: When a Song Finds Memories of Its Own
“I’m Too Manic,” produced by Sogimura, is different because I did not write it specifically about Crystal or Candice.
Yet I still think about them when I hear parts of it.
That fascinates me as a songwriter because it demonstrates that the meaning of a song can continue developing after it has been written. The writer can begin with one idea, but certain lyrics can unexpectedly connect to other experiences.
“I’m Too Manic” moves quickly. Its verses contain chains of rhymes, changing thoughts, bravado, relationships, danger, ambition, memories, humor, conflict, and the feeling of constantly being in motion. The structure itself helps communicate the restless energy behind the record.
Then there are moments when the song suddenly looks backward.
There are references to remembering old adventures, relationships, difficult periods, and somehow making it through them. Those lyrics were not written as messages specifically to Crystal or Candice. Still, my own history affects what I hear when I perform them.
That illustrates something important about music: the subject of a song and the memories attached to a song do not always have to be identical.
Listeners do this too. Someone can hear my song about one experience and immediately think about something completely different from their own life.
Once music leaves the writer’s notebook, it begins collecting other meanings.
Three Songs Head to Hollywood
Today, August 11, 2026, I am taking all three songs into a professional recording environment in Hollywood.
The demos have already done their job.
They have allowed me to live with the records before committing to the final performances. I have been able to hear where the lyrics work, study the melodies, consider the ad-libs and background vocals, and think about what emotional character each song requires.
Now comes another stage of creation.
I hope to work with engineer Georgii during today’s session, although the engineer has not yet been confirmed. Whoever is behind the board, the objective remains the same: take the ideas captured in these demos and turn them into professional records.
And I don’t expect every final recording to sound exactly like its demo.
That’s part of the point.
A demo is a blueprint, not the finished building. Something may happen behind the microphone that I didn’t anticipate. A different cadence may sound better. An ad-lib may happen spontaneously. A lyric may suddenly feel unnecessary. An engineer may hear something that I missed.
That is where preparation meets performance.
Sometimes the Past Becomes the Next Record
There is something surreal about taking memories from different periods of my life and carrying them into a Hollywood recording studio more than 20 years later.
Crystal has her own life. Candice has her own life. I have mine.
These songs aren’t attempts to change that.
They are examples of what writers do with memory.
We revisit it. We reinterpret it. We exaggerate parts of it, laugh about parts of it, question parts of it, and sometimes discover that something we thought we had forgotten was simply waiting for the right instrumental.
“Who Knew” asks what might have been.
“You Keep Pressuring Me” looks back at 2003 while insisting on moving forward.
“I’m Too Manic” wasn’t written specifically about either relationship, yet pieces of my past still find their way into how I experience the record.
Three songs. Three different emotional perspectives. Three different producers. More than two decades of memories feeding the writing.
And today, the demos leave my phone and head into the studio.
What comes out of that studio may not sound exactly like what went in.
That’s the reason I’m going.
Visit Marcus Christ at: Marcus Christ LinkTree
THE COUNCIL 2432 TAKES ITS OHIO HIP-HOP MOVEMENT TO ILLINOIS FOR “LOUD N DA STICKS” FESTIVAL
Jag Da Apostle, Manny Divine, Mall Black, Matthew Cooper, Bobby Parrish and Billy Blaize bring The Council 2432’s independent sound and Midwest energy to Mt. Olive on August 15
The Council 2432 is taking the movement beyond Ohio and deeper into the Midwest. The independent hip-hop collective will represent the Buckeye State at Jay Panduh’s “Loud N Da Sticks”, an all-day music, culture and cannabis-friendly 18+ event taking place Saturday, August 15, 2026, at 21700 Old Reservoir Road in Mt. Olive, Illinois.
Representing The Council 2432 on the Illinois stage will be Jag Da Apostle, Manny Divine, Mall Black, Matthew Cooper, Bobby Parrish and Billy Blaize—six distinct personalities united under one movement, each bringing a different voice, style and energy to a collective built around authenticity, brotherhood, independent hustle and the unmistakable grit of Ohio hip-hop.
For The Council 2432, the trip to Illinois represents another step in expanding a movement that has been building throughout the Ohio Valley and beyond. Rather than waiting for the industry to come to them, the collective continues to take its music directly to audiences—performing, networking and building relationships one city and one stage at a time.
Jag Da Apostle stands as one of the creative forces behind The Council’s sound and direction, bringing veteran presence, production instincts and a commanding approach to the microphone. Manny Divine delivers a smooth, controlled style rooted in lyric-driven hip-hop, while Mall Black brings his own street-tested voice and Cleveland influence to the collective.
Matthew Cooper adds another dimension to The Council’s chemistry with his individual style and presence, while Bobby Parrish brings renewed hunger and veteran perspective to the movement following his return to hip-hop. Together with Billy Blaize, whose leadership and business vision have helped drive The Council forward, the six artists represent a collective determined to turn regional momentum into something much bigger.
“Loud N Da Sticks” provides the group with another opportunity to introduce that chemistry to a new audience while sharing the stage with independent talent from throughout the Midwest.
The festival is scheduled to run from 1:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m., with local jam bands performing from 2:00–5:00 p.m. and hip-hop performances scheduled from 6:00–11:00 p.m. The event will also feature local vendors, food trucks, games and activities.
The Council 2432 joins a diverse lineup that includes Stevie Stone, Blind Fury, King N.U.B.S. and numerous independent artists and brands.
The Illinois appearance continues an active period for The Council 2432. From live performances and community events to media appearances and regional travel, the collective continues demonstrating what can happen when independent artists combine talent, organization, consistency and a unified vision.
For Jag Da Apostle, Manny Divine, Mall Black, Matthew Cooper, Bobby Parrish and Billy Blaize, August 15 represents more than another performance date. It is another state, another market and another opportunity to put The Council 2432 in front of a new audience.
From the Ohio Valley to Illinois, The Council is carrying its music, culture and independent mentality across state lines.
THE COUNCIL 2432 ISN’T WAITING FOR A LANE. THEY’RE BUILDING ONE.
EVENT INFORMATION
Jay Panduh Presents: LOUD N DA STICKS
Saturday, August 15, 2026
Doors: 1:00 PM
Show Ends: 11:00 PM
Location: 21700 Old Reservoir Road, Mt. Olive, IL 62069
Admission: 18+ Adults Only
Featuring The Council 2432:
Jag Da Apostle • Manny Divine • Mall Black • Matthew Cooper • Bobby Parrish • Billy Blaize
#thecouncil2432 #loudndasticks #ohiohiphop #weedsuitheros