Category: hip-hop

Video by William Ruben HelmsMay 7, 202618:30

New Video: SHUB Teams Up with Aysanabee and Dreezus on Soulful and Introspective “Rise”

Dan “SHUB” General is a Mohawk producer and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nation reserve in Canada. As a co-founder of the trailblazing and acclaimed, Juno Award-winning Indigenous electronic music outfit A Tribe Called Red, now known as The Hallucci Nation, General has been instrumental in the development of powwow-step, a blend of the ancient rhythms of powwow music with scratching, hip-hop, and modern, bass-heavy electronic music production.

In 2014, General left A Tribe Called Red and stepped out into the spotlight as a solo artist and producer. His debut, 2016’s six-song PowWowStep EP featured collaborations with the Northern Cree Singers, smoke dance singer Frazer Sundown and Blackfeet Nation-based drum group, Black Lodge Singers. PowWowStep won an Indigenous Music Award for Best Instrumental Album and the Canadian Organization of Campus Activities (COCA) named him DJ of the Year in 2017.

Since then, the Canadian producer and DJ has released two albums, 2020’s War Club and last year’s Heritage (Part One). Conceived as part of a two-part series, Heritage (Part One) saw General stepping beyond the DJ booth and boldly stepping forward as a composer, storyteller and artist dedicated to expanding the reach of Indigenous music on a global scale.

The second part of the series Heritage (Part Two) dropped last week, and across the series’ material, SHUB brings together Indigenous artists across generations, using collaboration as a way to explore identity, community and continuity within contemporary music. “Hearing these artists step onto these tracks and take them somewhere I never could have on my own… that was the most rewarding part of making this record,” General says.

The acclaimed Canadian producer and artist is helping to actively expand the space Indigenous artists occupy within modern music. Heritage (Part Two) completes that vision, bringing together voices across cultures and styles into a single body of work. “It’s about cultures coming together through my music. If you can forget about everything else for a moment, take it in, and just feel free — that’s the real beauty. This album is about movement aned growth,” SHUB explains. “It’s not trying to be one genre — it’s just where I’m at right now.”

Last month, I wrote about “I Know,” feat. Sebastian Gaskin. With the album’s release, last week General shared “Rise,” feat. Aysanabee & Drezus is a soulful, gospel-inspired tune that details hidden struggles with mental health with a deeply personal, lived-in specificity. But at its core, is an emphasis on turning to community and family in one’s most difficult moments, because as the saying goes “you’re not alone.”

“The song to me is community,” says Aysanabee. “Indigenous people rising together.” Drezus adds: “Success doesn’t mean anything if your spirit is still suffering… this one’s for the people fighting battles no one else can see.”

Continuing an ongoing collaboration with Matt Guarrasi, the accompanying video was shot in Toronto’s St. Stephen-in-the-Fields. The trio of artists are framed within a grand, scared space that deserves — and demands — solemn contemplation and reverence. These scenes are intercut with a hand reaching into light and archival footage of children in residential schools. The result is a video grounded in a shared history while honoring the enduring resilience of Indigenous communities. As a Black man, it’s deeply familiar on an almost atomic level.

Video by William Ruben HelmsMay 1, 202610:00

New Video: A!MS Teams Up with ZieZie, Ramz, Lillz, and leon & Brodie on Swaggering “Wait What”

A!MS is an emerging and rising Ayia Napa, Cyprus-based artist, who has received international attention for a sound that he has dubbed “Global Street,” which is informed by his multicultural background and blends hip-hop’s spirit, street culture, global sounds, and digital-era creativity. He sees this new, hybrid sub-genre as a home for artists beyond traditional scenes, and as a way to unite voices from overlooked corners of the globe with a “as street, as it is worldwide” ethos.

The Cyprus-based artist’s sophomore album, last year’s Peak Season includes the Antaeus-produced “Light & Love,” feat. Julian Marley and Hypertone, the Golden Boy-produced Stjge co-written “Need Somebody” feat. UK-based rapper ArrDee, and the album’s latest single “Wait What?” features a collection of rising British emcees ZieZie, Ramz, Lillz, and Leon & Brodie. Clocking in at a little under two-and-a-half minutes, the song showcases each artist’s unique energy and distinct flows over a slick, hook-driven trap-meets-grime production, which features a looping, fluttering flute sample paired with bursts of twinkling keys, skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling triplets.

While anchored around an All-Star cast of up-and-comers, along with an established veteran, “Wait What” showcases the UK scene’s remarkable talent to a global audience hungering for new talent outside of North America.

Directed by WALKMNS, the accompanying video for “Wait What” is shot in a gorgeous, cinematic black and white and is split between footage of the artists performing at a festival and hanging out at what looks like a mix of suburban hotel, house, and mall.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 28, 202609:00

Throwback: Happy 60th Birthday, Too Short!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Too Short’s 60th birthday.

Video by William Ruben HelmsApr 23, 202612:30

New Video: JOVM Mainstay Genesis Owusu Shares Breakneck “LIFE KEEPS GOING”

Acclaimed multi-ARIA Award-winning Ghanian-born Canberra-based JOVM mainstay Genesis Owusu will be releasing his highly-anticipated third album REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE through OURNESS on May 15, 2026.

REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE reportedly sees one of Australia’s most celebrated and visionary contemporary artists construct an exposed state-of-the-day record that’s experimental yet cohesive, desolate yet ecstatic, unflinching yet free. Duality is at the core of an album that sees the JOVM mainstay layering musings on an unsettled world with piercing reflections of his, and our own places within the world. Rich in lyricism and earnest in its message, REDSTAR WU & THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE is a resolute effort that confronts a divisive era in which humanity and its institutions seem to be ripping apart at the seams and heeds a desperate need for unity.

Sonically drawing from and meshing elements funk, neo-soul, Brit rock and alt pop the album’s overall sound feels both sprawling and deliberate.

“The world hasn’t ended yet,” Owusu. says. “We’re still moving, we’re still jumping, we’re still living, and so we shall continue. Through rain, shine, exploitation and warfare. We, the people, will always stubbornly persist, and hopefully persist hand in hand.”

“LIFE KEEPS GOING,” the album’s latest single is a gritty, club friendly tune anchored around a propulsive, drum ‘n’ bass-like production featuring rapid-fire skittering beats, thumping, organ rattling low end and atmospheric synths. The track’s production evokes seemingly unstoppable force and movement and over the breakneck instrumentation, Owusu muses on time and the motions of life, finding strength and inspiration in their relentless, disobedient nature. Birth, love, war, heartache, despair, time cycling forward and death will continue well after all of us — and in turn, all of this — will be gone.

Directed by Isaac Brown, the frenetic accompanying video for “LIFE KEEPS GOING” was shot in Accra‘s massive Black Star Square, which was built for their independence and is steeped in national unity. We see Owusu by himself dancing and rocking out in the square and in a gorgeous, dream-like sequence on the beach at sunset. And although Owusu is a larger-than-life figure, his smallness in the face of such immense settings, the sea rolling in and out, the sky above are all serve as reminders of the song’s central themes — and why we need more unity in our world.