Last night I had the extreme pleasure of celebrating the success of my long-time friend, JAGA. The mood at Barboza was one of the pure smiles as JAGA played through his debut tape, .Wavpool. Support from Gortesh Polenzi and my other ride-or-die, Campana, set the vibes as correct as possible, dropping bombs left-and-right to kick-off the evening.
Smoke was in the air, as was pure platonic love as a room jam-packed with homies shouted out lyrics into the drunken abyss of our youth. Every performer last night busted out some new heat. Not one performer last night isn’t low-key thriving in their own lane on some seriously slept-on sounds.
I just want to highlight outright that I have nary seen so many dedicated fans at a debut release for a local artist, literally mouthing every word…except maybe at a Travis Thompson gig…who also appeared with the squad to show love to the man of the hour.
JAGA’s performance was visceral, fun, sweaty, and memorable. This kid can drop the heat and offers up flows that catch your attention. You can only come up with a minimum of three derivatives to try and describe the “JAGA sound” because it can’t be put in a box.
Pulling from rock, metal, pop, soul, chorale, old and new school hip-hop, etc—this shit is unique. This boy does not limit his pallet on what flavors he uses to enrich his music. And he produces all his own beats! WAKE UP!
Keep your eyes and ears out for some summer dates you may be able to scope JAGA set the mood harder than scented candles and Barry White on a somber evening. There will also be a slick music vid for his song “One Step” featuring footage from the release, so look out for that!
Campana
Homeboy has grown so much in the past eight years I have known him and heard his music. True stage presence, swagger, and eloquence are all synonymous with Campana, mixed with fiery flows and heavy production make him lit as hell. My boy dropped some new cuts and eluded to some big moves he will be making as both a solo artist, and front-man of his band, Cosmos. Keep. It. Locked. On. This. Guy.
Follow Campana HERE.
The efforts of Campana over the past two years solo and with Cosmos have taken him from zero to one hundred. My guy has rocked CHBP, Bumbershoot, Sasquatch, even Prince’s Mansion (yes that Prince.) Campana has Seattle figured out and it’s set to put him up it’s really just a small matter of time…that I am growing far and far more impatient for.
I have seen Campana make leaps and bounds in his career in less than half the time of many others I’ve seen before him. So you know that these fresh rhymes and funky dance moves can’t be the only thing he’s rocking—it’s intelligence for how this game works.
Make sure you keep your social media eyes attentive on Campana’s moves. Because I promise you in 2018 they will be huge and if you don’t speak now you’ll forever hold your peace in bitter anguish.
Gortesh Polenzi
Out the gate, I knew I loved this man. He showed up in the green room, dropped a fat kush-pack on the stool and insisted we get to twisting, then left the room deadass. G. Polenzi has an energy to him that is magnetic and captivating.
You want to see what vibe he is gonna take on next, going seamlessly from a rocked-out trap beat with a raspy tone to a wavy soul-inspired track with some silky vocal stylings. The kid has stamina and an engaging on-stage presence.
Polenzi, Owner of TownTv, our homies and sponsors of last night’s festivities, is about to go on tour. Homeboy will be rocking stages all over the West Coast starting June 1st with Karma, a dude I have been seeing pop up like crazy. So you know it is gonna be some serious vibes, folks.
Follow G. Polenzi HERE.
Scope our BLOG POST on Polenzi’s tour with Karma for more info.
Follow JAGA
Smoker’s Choice: Though the blunts were flowing last night my preferred high for on-the-go or partying is always a sativa-dominant oil. I had a tasty Tangerine Power cartridge from RSO+Go that kept me awake and grooving all night.
