Introducing HOMEGROWN (April 2022)
From rappers and DJs to designers and poets, Chicago has always been home to countless creatives and visionaries. Our new series, Homegrown is a TGF x fromchicagototheworld guide to Chicago’s creative community and is dedicated to uplifting our local artists.
To kick it off, we linked up with Gold Haze, Kyra Horton, and Tri Nohbi. Stay tuned for monthly updates!
GOLDHAZE
Twitter/Instagram: @GoldxHaze
If you’ve been tapped into artists like Goody and Flex Sinatra, you’ve also been rocking with the production of TGF veteran, Gold Haze. His extensive catalog features something for everybody’s taste. Aside from producing, he also flexes his versatility on his most recent album, From Here on Out. Gold Haze is easily one of the city’s brightest talents.
Can you share a little background about yourself and what you do?
GH: I'm Gold Haze, a 27-year-old producer from Harvey, IL. I've been producing since 2012. Age 17. I was inspired by producers such as Kanye West, The Neptunes, Just Blaze, 9th Wonder & Timbaland. Those producers helped shape my sound as a creative. The first album I ever bought was Jay-Z's The Blueprint. I was only like 7 at the time but even then I realized the feeling it gave me & that always stuck with me as a creative person. I love to work with the artists around me & also I've released a few projects as well as an artist. More Than Gold in 2019 & From Here On Out in 2021.
How do you hope to use your art/craft to impact the city and/or your community?
GH: I feel like music is the most influential thing on earth & i just want to continue to spread the message of dedication, hard work & consistency. Learning those 3 factors helped change my life. My mission is to inspire everyone around me as much as possible. I just finished writing my book titled "Your Potential Is Endless" & the main goal of creating that book is to help creatives & upcoming creatives realize their worth.
What larger goals do you have for yourself and your art?
GH: When it comes to goals I love to focus on the things in front of me each day as much as possible. I truly feel like the more you put into each day creates more opportunities to execute bigger goals on the route to success. The art will continue to speak for itself the more you go through it & learn about yourself. That's the most beautiful thing about art when it comes down to it. That's also why it's important to document each step as well because you can literally watch your own growth as a creative. By creating weekly goals & building on each of them you will only get better in time.
Your production has been a big part of Chicago Hip-Hop in recent years and you’ve worked with a lot of talent like Goody, Flex Sinatra, Ausar, and Brittany Carter. What does it mean to you that you and your sound are such prominent parts of the city’s music scene?
GH: It means everything to me. Being able to work with such genuine artists as the ones you named is very important. I've had the pleasure of watching each of them grow into their own & it's been a blessing. Also what's so great about those artists as well as we have all built a community over time of people who love our work & support us. I have endless respect for Chicago & the legends to come from it.
What kind of influence do you hope that your sound has on Chicago and our music scene a few years down the line?
GH: Balance. Simple as that. Also, I want creatives to remember that it's alright with being true to yourself & your art. I'm not too one-sided in any sound & I always embraced it all from the soulful beats to the 808s. That's one of the great things about the sound of Chicago. We've been extremely great in so many different lanes. Ever since 2020 I & my team have been building our content, our base, & our catalog. It's been a blessing to watch because that's why we do it. To be able to create music that'll have people speaking about it, spreading the word & starting conversations is what it's all about. Also knowing that the best is yet to come as well. The fact that the content I've created in my room blessed me with 3 plaques, working with Timbaland & major brands shows that it's all possible no matter what position you are in. I want every creative in the scene to know that it doesn't have to stop here as well. Embrace collaborations, embrace the people around you, work with people that keep you out of your comfort zone & stay consistent as possible. Be a force. Being a force changed my life for the better.
KYRA HORTON
Twitter/Instagram: @kyratheecreator
Kyra Horton truly does it all. She has her hands in everything from poetry to painting. Most recently, Horton released her debut album, The Silencer, which she produced, mixed, and mastered herself. This recent release only adds to her already impressive creative catalog.
Can you share a little bit of background about yourself and what you do?
KH: I'm a multidisciplinary artist from Chicago. I grew up watching and competing in poetry competitions as well as open mics. I lived in other parts of the state, Arizona, and Los Angeles all before the age of 20. As I moved around the country, my artistry grew from poetry to painting, designing, writing, and more. The difference in cultures and environments really shaped my understanding of injustice, inequality, and resource deprivation. With a growing passion for political science and activism, my art began to form my work in my community and vice versa. While studying Political Science in college, I apply revolutionary and radical principles to the art that I create while maintaining a job in community justice work.
How do you hope to use your art to impact your city/community?
KH: I believe that art is a tool for liberation. Every time I perform a poem or design an item of clothing, I'm saying something. I plan to impact my community by giving it a voice and using my voice to demand what it needs. My passion for speaking goes beyond poetry. I use my voice to make calls to legislators, speak at civil public meetings, advocate for rights, and educate others. The issues of our community are diverse and multidimensional. I try to come at these issues from different angles and conversations. I want people to relate to the things that I say and find a home in my words. If I make a single Black person feel less isolated in their struggles, I've made my intended impact.
What larger goals do you have for yourself and your art?
KH: My ultimate goal is to become a professor as well as a community educator on the topic of politics. I want my art to be a means to this end. I believe that art is a catalyst for social change and I want to unify my career goals with my art to create that. I plan to show up for the community through investing, educating, advocating, organizing, and more. Art is my passion, nonetheless, so If I only use it as a self-care tool and have the opportunity to teach others to use it in the same way then I will be pleased with my work.
What was the message you wanted to portray in your latest project?
KH: There was a lot leading up to my project. I've released an EP, a book, and published poetry through different organizations throughout the years. All of those things planted seeds for this project. The name, The Silencer, is really profound in its explanation of the concept. There is a constant silencing that has happened in my life, whether from men because I identify as a woman, white people because I'm Black, or myself because of my fear of vulnerability. The silencing has shown up in so many different ways, but the album addresses each of those categories respectively. I wanted to speak fully without any sort of inhibition and tell my truth.
TRI NOHBI
Twitter/Instagram: @trinohbi
Tri Nohbi, formerly known as OvaEast Meech, is a multi-talented artist from Chicago's Eastside. As he embarks on a new era, Tri Nohbi's latest collections of singles showcase his Chicago roots and songwriting prowess. Be sure to press play on his recent single, JACK YA BODY, produced by Bay Area producer, Ruckazoid.
Can you share a little bit of background about yourself and what you do?
TN: Well, I am an artist, producer, and songwriter from the East Side of Chicago. I’m also the owner and founder of the indie record label AUGUSTA’S ATELIER. I was born an only child to a single mother and I credit her for my musical taste. I’m also a Gundam enthusiast.
How do you hope to use your art to impact your city/community?
TN: I’m aiming to introduce new sonics to the Chicago music scene. I think the Chicago music scene is immensely diverse and I just want to add another layer to that. Art is subjective you know, and my art is just my interpretation of the environment I grew up in and hopefully, people can relate. But also through AUGUSTA’S ATELIER, it’s my hope that we can help another artist in very practical ways, whether through A&R work, navigating the music industry & deals, connecting artists to resources, etc. but all that will come with time.
What larger goals do you have for yourself and your art?
TN: I believe AUGUSTA’S ATELIER is the new Roc-a-Fella Records. At least that’s the aim. I don’t want to be limited to music. I want to venture into fashion, film, and tech with the music being at the forefront of it all. As far as dream collabs musically, Kanye West, JAY-Z, Andre 3000, James Blake, Burna Boy, Durk, and NBA Youngboy are at the top of my list. As far as brand partnerships, I just want to work with people who believe in the vision, but I can’t cap like an LV collab or Nike collab wouldn't be fire lol
What inspired the interpolation of classic Chicago samples in your recent singles?
TN: Man, that idea came from conversations between me and Ruckazoid. He was really curious about my upbringing after listening to a handful of my songs and the content within them. Then this idea of a trilogy came up, and at the beginning of all good trilogies is a great origin story. So with these singles/first projects, we really wanted to bring it home. Radio is kinda this obsolete but effective thing, so we thought it would be really cool to introduce the world to what an ad-free power hour on Chicago radio sounds like. If you're from Chicago, you get it, if you're not maybe you have something similar. If you don’t have something like a power hour, then hopefully we just gave you a new experience in the age of playlisting.
In short, Ruck is amazing. He’s a DJ/Producer from the Bay and we met back in 2020 right before the pandemic. He has a revolutionary mind, never satisfied, always dreaming bigger, always wanting to push sound and art further. Those are the type of people I’m drawn to. We really connected on seeing certain issues with the current state of the music industry and wanting to change things (as lofty as that may seem). Music kinda came easy for us after that. He became one of my close friends in this industry in such a short time
You've been dropping singles since the start of the year, can you share a little more about what's in store for listeners?
TN: Aw man, so we’re just getting started. Disc 1 of the Trilogy is called LOV3BOMB! We have this special Chicago mix of the whole project, that will be available for purchase w/ merch exclusively through Bandcamp or through my website (We’re figuring this out now) But, we know times are difficult for us all right now, so we plan to release the project as singles for the remainder of the year for those that don’t have the funds to buy the whole project when it’s released. Disc 2 is done, and we’ll talk about that later. I’m locked in on Disc 3 currently. Me and my team are very excited to drop music consistently for the next few years!