88 Killa Collabs with Tum Tum in New Single
88 Killa’s rap career kind of reminds me of a well-known shark making a regular appearance at a popular beach, where everyone’s blissful day at the ocean is suddenly upended by the sight of a dorsal fin slicing through the waves, a grim herald of a force both lethal and unstoppable, very much like when people hear Omar whistling “The Farmer in the Dell” on The Wire. Besides 88’s 2015 EP, 88 Karats, and his 2021 full-length, 88 Special, the Fort Worth rapper has regularly dropped singles and collaborations — in the 2010s, he partnered with local greats like Sam Lao, Wrex, and Nice Major — once or twice a year, when he tends to materialize suddenly, slide over some ice-cold lines, then disappear into memory, leaving you with the thrill that he’ll be back again when you least expect it.
This year, 88 Killa’s proverbial fin cut the surface in February with the single “Real Get Money Playa$” and again in May with another track, “Workin’ ” — over Labor Day weekend, he released his newest single, a collaboration with Dirty South Ridaz founder Tum Tum called “Pro Tools.” Way back in 2015, I got hooked on the high-stakes, get-money drama and skittery 808 claps and pings of “Kream.” Eleven years later, “Pro Tools” puts those beats beneath an elegant, jazz piano sample that has been looping in my brain for a week. In the choruses, he and Tum Tum keep to the creeds that made them: “I still live the values of the old rules / They say the game changed / I say you’re supposed to / That don’t mean that you switch up and move like hoes do.” No matter how the game tilts, 88 Killa’s aim is always steady.
La Bell’s Got the Chill Communication
La Bell’s voice is probably best known from her gig as the weekday 10am-3pm DJ on 91.7 KXT, but she’s been making music as a hip-hop/R&B performer/producer for almost two decades. At the end of August, she released to Spotify her newest single, “Where You Are,” a soulful ode to finding home wherever you and your beloved find yourselves together. The track’s sunny groove and Bell’s playful, honey-sweet melody set lines like “there are 24 hours in a day, and I choose to spend them with you” aloft, the sonic equivalent of a butterfly riding a nice breeze on a Bill Withers-y lovely day.
La Bell will perform at Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis St, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798) on Sat, Sep 19, at 8pm, part of a very fun, very eclectic lineup presented by local artists JackDaw and Andrew Hammond Kendall for Fall Gallery Night. The show Unicorn Club 8 combines an art market with live bands, and it’s all-ages and free to attend, kicking off at 6pm with sets from punk/songwriter Kevin England and electronic artist Beach Priest. After Bell’s set, the Claire Hinkle Band is at 9pm, followed by Crooked Bones at 10pm and Nip Slip closing out the night at 11pm. Outdoors, soundsystem crew ez____clap and DJ UNDERWATER ON EARTH will spin a cross-genre dance party from 9pm to 2am. Whether you catch Bell’s set at 8 or pop in to hang outside ’til close, Unicorn Club sounds like a hella fun time.
Who You Know in Nashville?
On Thu, Sep 17, several local musicians are playing Visit Fort Worth’s Cowtown GitDown showcase in Nashville as part of Americanafest, the annual Music City gathering of dobro, fiddle, and lap steel players and the songwriters who hire them. Thursday’s F-dub showcase is from 11:30am to 7pm and features Abraham Alexander, Matthew McNeal, .Marcel., Mollie Danel, Bolton Serunjogi, Simon Flory, Michael Lee & The Wartime Limousine, Cut Throat Finches, Lincoln Swanzy, TRVR?, and Christian Carlos Carvajal & The 300. Send a Nashville friend their way if you have one!
