Chance The Rapper At Vocalo: "You Can't Thrive Without Community"

Open to stream our conversation with Chance in six parts…

To view this email as a web page, click here. Read up on some of our favorite sets from Pitchfork '22, like Noname & KAINA... If Chicago summer is for one thing… it's for local music. If you're looking for a sign to check out that local artist's set at any of the upcoming festivals, this is it! Here are some ways you can support local music through the end of July and into August. (P.S. — keep reading to find our exclusive interview with Chance the Rapper, available for streaming today.) Wicker Park Fest returns to Milwaukee Avenue, from Damen Avenue to Paulina Street, this weekend for three days of art and music! Festival organizers have again partnered with local venue Subterranean to curate their lineup of more than 40 artists across three stages, including NNAMDÏ, Matt Muse, Bumbac Joe, Lester Rey, Y La Bamba and so many others. And we can’t forget the 80+ local vendors, artisans and restaurants! Gate donations benefit Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce. Find a map of the festival, a full lineup and more information on the official Wicker Park Fest website. And speaking of Subterranean… we’re so excited to bring listeners our next Chi Sounds Like Showcase! Support Vocalo and local music and catch performances from Chicago's own Joel Q, Christian JaLon, nombreKARI and Heavy Crownz at the Subterranean on Thursday, Aug. 2 — two weeks from today! The showcase will again be hosted by Bekoe and feature sounds from afternoons host Nudia Hernandez. Tickets are on sale now here or at subt.net. Our sister station WBEZ, in partnership with Harmonica Dunn and Suburban Unity Alliance, is hosting their Food Aid Festival this Friday and Saturday, a two-day musical celebration addressing food insecurity in Chicago's West Side communities and nearby suburbs. Admission is free, but any donations will benefit the Oak Park Community Fridge, Beyond Hunger and Westchester Food Pantry. Friday's event will feature performances from The O'My's, Wyatt Waddell and 2019 Poet Laureate Kara Jackson at the the Kehrein Center for the Arts in the Austin neighborhood, and Saturday’s event features Mary Lane, Yomi, Trichomes, and more at the Oak Park School of Rock. More information is available on the Food Aid 2022 website. Chance the Rapper's nonprofit, SocialWorks, presents their next OpenMike this Saturday! Named after one of Chance's mentors Brother Mike Hawkins, OpenMike facilitates a space for high school students to express themselves creatively and connect with other like-minded people at the Harold Washington Library. For more information about OpenMike, SocialWorks or ways to get involved, check out their website.  Lollapalooza is already next weekend! Although this year’s lineup has a low number of Chicago-based acts — in terms of local artists you'd likely hear on Vocalo, just Peter CottonTale — there’s still a long list of artists we’re dying to catch live like J.Cole, Big Sean, Jazmine Sullivan, Sampa the Great, Mahalia, Denzel Curry, India Shawn and more. Festival information and tickets are available online, and don't forget to check out the after-show schedule! Always on the lookout for the next best free thing to do in Chicago this summer? So are we, but there are way too many to fit in one newsletter alone. But don't worry — our friends at WBEZ have got you covered with their free guide of costless Chicago activities you can take part in through August. Check 'em out online now! Are your playlists feeling a little old lately? Hit refresh with “Poised To Break Through,” your place to find music from artists flying just under the radar we think you need to know Poised To Break Through: July 2022 LISTEN HERE   1. Black Boys on the Radio - Benjamin Carter 2. water - oak you 3. Love vs Hate (prod. by Ucho) - Rhoyalic 4. After Every Dark Night - Grace Blackford 5. Don’t Take My Life - Aya Ito 6. I’m Riding - KNOT THEM 7. IOU (feat. Thomas Pridgen) - Afro Kitty Jones 8. One Smile - Ms.Philly 9. cycles (feat. Paal Singh) - Obumo Chance The Rapper At Vocalo: "You Can't Thrive Without Community" What we’ve all been waiting for! Chance the Rapper stopped by the Vocalo studios to say hi on June 30, and sat down for about an hour to talk with three of our on-air hosts, Bekoe, Nudia Hernandez and Ayana Contreras (who is also one of his high school mentors). We’re so excited to share pieces of this conversation with you — stream his interview in six parts and read up on Chance’s work, life and future plans now. And tune in to Vocalo at 91.1 FM all day today to catch clips from the interview, or stream them on Spotify! READ MORE Pitchfork 2022: Noname, The Roots And More Bring Sunshine Under Rainy Skies… We might have gotten rained on but that didn’t stop us from dancing to artists we love like Noname, KAINA, Toro y Moi, Tierra Whack, The Roots and so many others all weekend long at Pitchfork Music Festival 2022. Check out our Pitchfork coverage below and read up on some of our favorite sets, plus check out some photos highlighting a couple of our favorite moments throughout the weekend! And stay on the lookout for a couple of upcoming festival interviews... READ MORE Do Good Number One Like I mentioned earlier, Chance the Rapper’s nonprofit is SocialWorks, which he founded in 2016 with the intention of empowering and uplifting young people through arts, education and civic engagement. Their five initiatives (OpenMike being one) focus on education, homelessness, mental health, performance art and literary art. SocialWorks is always looking for passionate individuals to help out as volunteers; sign up to receive more information using their online form. GET INVOLVED Number Two Nonprofit Urban Growers Collective is looking for drop-in and recurring volunteers to help out at their largest farm site, South Chicago Farm, every Saturday! Volunteers can expect to help out with tasks like greeting customers, prepping beds, watering plants, seeding, harvesting and more. More information on how to sign up for a volunteer shift is on UGC’s website. GET INVOLVED Number Three Also every Saturday, Hermosa’s New Hope Church Food Kitchen is looking for volunteers to help combat food insecurity and provide hot meals, non-perishable foods and clothing to residents in need. Volunteers may assist with prepping bags of food for distribution, sorting and organizing clothing donations for distribution and/or distributing the food and clothing. Sign up or find more information here. GET INVOLVED Have a volunteer opportunity you want to amplify? A community service project that deserves some love?  Send them our way; we’ll share some in the next edition of The Goods!    Tag Vocalo on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #VocaloIRL to let me know!  After a rainy weekend at Pitchfork, I’m ready to take on the Chicago summer for real (even if that means embracing the humidity) — and I hope you all are too! But most importantly, remember to drink lots of water and take care of yourself in the summer heat. Talk to you later! Morgan Ciocca Vocalo Digital Media Producer & Editor, The Goods     ©Chicago Public Media Inc 848 East Grand Ave, Navy Pier Chicago, IL 60611 Please do not reply to this email. If you need assistance, contact us here. You are receiving this email because you are a Vocalo member or signed up to receive email communications from us. You can unsubscribe from Vocalo here. WBEZ Privacy Policy