A few legends fly into Chicago to kick off the Lollapalooza weekend despite the gloomy weather. Last Friday the Sway In The Morning show taped a live broadcast at the Chop Shop on the edge of the city’s business district. Sway Calloway, Heather B. and DJ Kid Wonder took a break from the SiriusXM studio to show love to the Windy City. Guest hosting was George Daniels who for years, similar to Sway himself, has helped independent artists gain exposure by selling their CD’s at the same shops he sold popular music. Daniels will be opening a new record shop at Navy Pier, which will house over 30,000 albums.
Among those who visited were GLC The Ism of G.O.O.D. Music, Michael Christmas, The Boy Illinois and J Ivy who performed spoken word – a nice break from the hits of Common and Kanye West flowing from Kid Wonders turntables. Earlier in the show rapper Saba and other members of the Pivot music collective hit the stage to perform and give thanks to the city that grew them.
Ending the show was the weekly Friday Fire Cypher. Each lucky rapper was given a 16-bar limit and a beat selected at random by Kid Wonder. At the end of each turn the crowd is asked if those bars won them over; fans are known to the show as “Hyena’s”. There was no denying the Chicago love as almost each participant was given round of applause accompanied by the howling sound of the Hyena’s.
Although the show ends each weekday at 11 P.M. the party at the Chop Shop continued. Sway and Heather B. concluded the live broadcast with a promise to return and a show of appreciation for the Windy City via free drinks for the first 20 fans at the bar.
http://swaysuniverse.com/sway-in-chicago-chicago-cypher-with-hot-and-upcoming-emcees-pt-1/
