Don’t Sleep Pt. 5: Amare Symone, orgenA, Joseph Chilliams, Sylvie Grace, Jaro
Don’t Sleep Pt. 5:
Amare Symone, orgenA, Joseph Chilliams, Sylvie Grace, Jaro
Part five of our Don’t Sleep series features some artists who are Chicago born and raised along with a few who only recently started calling the city their home. All five artists do Chicago proud through their music, showing just how diverse and impressive the talent in the Windy City is. Check them all out below.
AMARE SYMONE
Some people take multiple projects to find a distinct sound and style, but Amare Symoné has done that already with her first drop, the Glass Windows EP. The whole tape is a polished, beautiful look into the life of Symoné and she gets to show off her voice throughout the whole thing. Her booming voice takes center stage in front of some very nice production as she sings about her vulnerabilities and life. It is also clear Symoné has a clear vision for her aesthetic and comes prepared with high quality visuals to pair with her high quality music.
ORGENA
orgenA calls both Chicago and Los Angeles home, but we’re happy he’s chosen to dip his toes into the Chicago scene and bring some west coast flavor. The dual-city artist has only dropped a handful of songs but all of them bring some very unique sounds and a style that is as dope and interesting as it is uncommon. His song Farther stands out in particular and brings some alt-rock influence to orgenA’s deliberate and poignant lyrics. As he gets more comfortable on the Chicago set, we’re hoping he’ll find similar artists to collaborate with.
JOSEPH CHILLIAMS
Whenever Joseph Chilliams is on a track, whether that be a feature or his own song, listeners can be sure to hear some jaw dropping, witty lyrics. The Pivot Gang member has proven time and time again that he is truly one of the best lyricists in the city, as exampled by his verse onWestside Bound 3 and his tracks Obama Care, Buck, and FN-2187 (100 Bars). Chilliams manages to combine humor with some of the more serious aspects of city life, bringing an important and diverse perspective to his music.
SYLVIE GRACE
Sylvie Grace is a perfect example of the wildly eclectic and collaborative scene in the city. Grace can sing, write songs and poems, and play the cello with mastery. She brings all these talents to her own music and has recently worked with Martin $ky, Melo Makes Music, and Ravyn Lenae on a track (Drain U) where she performed some live cello for the instrumental. Her own music can be beautifully haunting, with her song Lately highlighting her voice and songwriting ability. We expect to see more and more of her in the coming months.
JARO
Every once in a while I come across a SoundCloud page that is simply hard to click away from. Jaro has one of these SoundCloud pages. While he is a producer, he always has a recognizable, dope artist on his tracks including people like Kweku Collins, Sean Deaux, and Qari. The beatsmith provides excellent production for his guests as they enter into his genre bending home of music that combines and manipulates both old and new sounds, creating some of the best music in Chicago today. Jaro is also part of the always interesting band Beach Jesus.