This month is already crazy-swamped with festivals, releases, and events. And don’t even get me started (yet) on the new Portland Hip-Hop Week (August 20-26). Here are just a few ways to engage with locally sourced hip-hop and R&B in the first half of August.
Dodgr, “Hot” and “Wrong Way”
After being featured on projects by Anderson .Paak and Mark Ronson, Portland’s buzziest hip-hop artist has finally released some new solo material. Leaving “the Last Artful” segment of her moniker behind, the LA-bred rapper/singer is now simply going by Dodgr. And on July 19, she released two similarly-vibed singles: “Wrong Way” (produced by John Ho and G Koop) and “Hot” (co-produced by John Ho and Mark Ronson). “Wrong Way” is for the more rap-inclined fans, while “Hot,” is a romantic, radio-ready R&B bopper that’ll hit you right in the feels. On July 21, Dodgr got another huge look when “Hot” played during the credits of episode six of HBO’s Zendaya-starring series Euphoria, opening the artist up to an even larger fanbase. A recent listening party at the Hoxton gave Dodgr’s fans, collaborators, friends, and family a chance to hear some unreleased juice from her next project as well. Those are still under wraps (and, oh my god, soooo good), but at least we can sip on these two tracks while we wait.
