I had been waiting for Kehlani’s SweetSexySavage tour to come to Portland since 2015, so it’s safe to say I was pumped, and a little nervous. (I always get nervous right before seeing one of my faves live.) After arriving at the Crystal extra early in an attempt to snag seats toward the front, my […]
Jenni Moore
Jenni Moore is a former music editor and hip-hop columnist and current freelancer at The Portland Mercury. She also writes about comedy, cannabis, movies, TV, and her hatred of taxidermy.
Posted inMusic
Come Party with Kehlani!
Buckle-up Kehlani stans of legal drinking age: After the gangsta R&B singer’s sold-out show at the Crystal Ballroom tomorrow night, Baelani will make an appearance at the Official Kehlani After Party at Club Trio. The event is coordinated by local production company Chapters Alumni, who will have DJ Fatboy and DJ Heat from WE 96.3 […]
Posted inMusic
Essential Songs by Oakland-Raised R&B Singer Kehlani
KEHLANI Prepare yourself. Courtesy of the artist In 2013, Kehlani Ashley Parrish was houseless. It’d been a year since she’d left her post as the lead singer of the girl group Poplyfe, citing managerial and contractual issues. Four years later, the 22-year-old is a Grammy-nominated R&B singer with an ongoing slew of collabs and singles […]
Posted inTV
Watch the Dear White People Series on Netflix Tonight! (It’s Much Better Than the Movie)
Justin Simien’s 2014 movie Dear White People was about the politics, activism, and social scene at Winchester, a racially divided Ivy League college. In the movie version of DWP, everything was rushed—the story and issues were too big to cram into 100 minutes. But as I’d hoped, the premise works much better on TV. The […]
Posted inMusic
Tonight Los Angeles Rapper/Singer KYLE Brings His Summer-Vibed Songs to Portland
KYLE Wed 4/26 Crystal Ballroom Courtesy of the artist KYLE, a 23-year-old rapper/singer from Los Angeles, doesn’t like being compared to Drake (see “Keep It Real”), but it’s hard not to see the vague similarities in their voices, personas, and appearances. And that’s a compliment! His catalog is filled with summer-vibed songs, silly-but-fun music videos, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Dear White People Is Much Better as a Netflix Series
Time to Enroll in Race 101.
Time to enroll in Race 101.
Posted inMusic
Cram for the Kehlani Tsunami
Essential Songs by the Oakland-Raised R&B Singer
Essential songs by the Oakland-raised R&B singer.
Posted inMusic
RECAP: Soul’d Out Festival 2017, April 19-23
Christopher Garcia Valle SOLANGE Friday April 21 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Last Friday night, the Solange show was the place to be. I ran into about eight people right off the bat. The Portland crowd was gorgeous, diverse, and buzzing with good energy. “Don’t let me down, Portland” I kept thinking to myself, […]
Posted inCannabis
Weed Fairies Are Real, and They’re EVERYWHERE
Photo by Getty/Smileitsmccheeze, Illustrations by Jenny Zych Remember back before legalization? When buying weed used to be such an illegal chore? Sometimes the dealer answered your texts, sometimes not. Usually they had plentiful stock, but sometimes you would catch them on a busy day when they were fresh out of pot. You’d have to set […]
Posted inMusic
Solange’s 2016 Album A Seat at the Table Is a Source of Joy and Validation for the Black Community
SOLANGE ELISA TAHAN When Beyoncé released Lemonade last April, it was one of the greatest celebrations of Black womanhood and collaborative Black excellence ever created by a mainstream artist—musically and visually, it was everything. Or at least we thought it was everything, until her more experimental little sis Solange Knowles dropped A Seat at the […]
Posted inMusic
Five Reasons You Shouldn’t Mope About Missing Drake and Travi$ Scott Last Night at the Memorial Coliseum
Kevin Winter/Getty Don’t get me wrong: Travi$ Scott is a great artist and an energetic performer, and having Drake show up was really memorable. But the Flying Lotus cancellation mixed with the miserable shittiness of the Memorial Coliseum made the show kind of… meh. Here are five reasons you should forget your FOMO: 1. Amongst […]
Posted inMusic
Big Freedia, the New Orleans Queen of Bounce, Returns to Portland
BIG FREEDIA She did not come to play. KOURY ANGELO Since releasing her studio debut, Queen Diva, in 2003, New Orleans’ Big Freedia—born Freddie Ross—continues to soar into legendary status. Four albums and dozens of hits later, she’s been instrumental in defining the hip-hop subgenre of bounce music. Backed by energetic and uptempo beats made […]