Artist on the Rise: Kaiydo

Staff Writer: Orian Johnson

Up and coming artist, Kaiydo

A 20 year old artist from Atlanta named Keiondre Boone might just become your new favorite rapper. He’s currently released five tracks using the stage name Kaiydo, and all five are on his website, Kaiydo.com, as well as Soundcloud and the main five are on Spotify and Youtube. Kaiydo.com being a website, along with his own merch and album/song cover art, made himself despite not being a mainstream artist that people know right away when hearing his name.. Each of his tracks is one you can turn up to despite all having upbeat tones to them. One of the most surprising facts about his music is there isn’t any profanity in them. Not that it’s the most uncommon thing in the world, but it’s still interesting to find rap without swearing in modern music. In Fruit Punch, his most popular track, he talks about his aspirations like “a comma stream,” and “eight figures.” He’s obviously got the ambition to make it big in the music industry, and he’s got the talent. Chances are you haven’t heard of him before, but now that you have, you should definitely go check out his work if you’re a fan of the genre.

Update On Russ

Writer: Felicity Veliz

After working on a successful album, Russ is back gifting his fans a flurry of releases in a span of just a few days. He starts with releasing “Think Twice,” then “Prosper” and “Maybe” shortly after. For russ being known to be the only person to mix-master and produce his own music, he surprised his fans by trying something different when recruiting Scott Torch to handle all the production of each cut. He has kept the trend going with his newest project “Wife You Up.” Shockingly, this was not the only surprise Russ had for his fans. He also surprised his fans with John Mayer guitar feature. Although the feature with John Mayer did not include vocals, an appearance from a seven-time grammy award winner is always appreciated when looking for a career boost.

Merchnow

On “Wife You Up,” the subject matter doesn’t swerve much from Russ’s expressions for his significant other, showing his appreciation for the one girl that was with him from the start. He this all through his aspiring career as he promises to give up running around with other women for her sake.

“You was tryna know me/ When they didn’t know me/ Girl we fell in love we both worked at the mall/ Way before the rollie/ You were just my homie/ You were tryna love way before I had it all,” the Atlanta raised rapper says.

With “Prosper” and “Maybe” featuring a much more bouncy, upbeat atmosphere in both production and lyricism, “Wife You Up” partners up with this series’ opener “Think Twice” as it embraces a much more downtempo approach in delivery.

Most recently, Russ has been enjoying his success, especially since his album was announced a gold plaque for his There’s Really A Wolf debut album after selling the equivalent of over 500,000 units and a platinum plaque for his “What They Want” single, once it reached 1,000,000 benchmark.

With “Wife You Up” being the first song that features a big known artist, the song received a million plays the first 24 hours released and is currently one of his most trending songs as recently discussed on his twitter. The song itself has his fans buzzing and eager to find out what he has in store for them next.

Overall, I am happy to see Russ continue to feature talented artists in his songs that will help him get the publicity he deserves. I’m pumped to see where the Atlanta-raised artist will take his music the next few months.

Young Hollywood on the Rise

Writer: Lauryn Jackson

This year has been stellar for the movie industry and its stars on the big screen. From Dunkirk’s Fionn Whitehead to Baby Driver’s Ansel Elgort, young actors have started a trend of “stealing the show” in today’s films. The trend doesn’t stop with these summer blockbusters though. This upcoming fall holds much promise for Hollywood’s youth to keep stepping into the limelight. Several films to look forward to include Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and It which both put modern twists on flicks from the 90s.

       Picture via Pop Sugar

The upcoming 2017 film It serves as a reimagination of the franchise that stemmed from the popular novel by Stephen King. Already famously known for his starring role as Mike Wheeler in Netflix’s smash hit series Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard joins the cast of aspiring young actors in the film. The group of friends who band together against the infamous clown demon, Pennywise The Dancing Clown, are played by Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Lieberher, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, and Jeremy Ray Taylor. Despite portraying kids in “The Losers’ Club”, these Hollywood tweens look to be winners on-screen. Get spooked by this nostalgic thriller when it hits theaters next month on September 8th.

Picture via Entertainment Weekly

In this reboot of the classic film Jumanji, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle introduces a new storyline and a cast of both familiar and fresh faces. Apart from the film’s well-known actors, Jack Black, Dwayne Johnson, and Kevin Hart, the cast features Madison Iseman, Morgan Turner, Ser’Darius William Blain, Nick Jonas, and Alex Wolff. This version of the film depicts Jumanji as a vintage video game that four kids stuck in detention find while cleaning out their school’s basement. The lineup of new actors are accompanied by the Hollywood stars who act as the avatars that the kids choose in the game. Though it may be hard to beat the iconic performances shown in the original movie, this twist on an old favorite seems promising. Catch it in theaters December 20th.