Essential Tracks:
Revelry Music and Arts Festival 2014

Sky Ferreira: “I Blame Myself”

Sky Ferreira’s transfixing ballad comes off her first full-length album, My Time, Night Time, released after years of songwriting for other singers. “I Blame Myself” is one of the standout hits on an album full of ’80s inspired pop. As her live turn on Jimmy Kimmel Live best illustrates, the track perfectly channels her sickly-sweet sound, which is at once deeply jarring and highly danceable.

G-Eazy: “Almost Famous”

If a young singer from the 1950s stepped into some sort of space-time vortex and ended up in the Bay Area circa 2006, and set his mind to rapping, he would sound something like G-Eazy.

With his affinity for the all-black outfits and pomade, he’s halfway between troubadour and trill, with a level of clarity and precision to his aesthetic that manages to impress as much as any verse.

“Almost Famous” captures that big-band style and swagger and lets it breathe over a momentous, snare-fueled instrumental.

Lucki Eck$: “No Troubles”

The Chicago MC shows up over a Bob Marley & the Wailers-sampling instrumental, which merits a second look for that very reason alone. With a flow that recalls another young, dollar-signed MC that visited the Union last year (Brooklyn’s own Joey Bada$$), Eck$’ set should be on every list, if only, like Joey, his boom-bap sound on ”No Troubles” brings you back to the days of “Word Up!,” Salt-n-Pepa, and Heavy D.

Lord of the Fly feat. defcee & CRASHprez: “Wreckless”

“Wreckless” comes off Lord of the Fly’s recently released project Not Safe for Work. Over a stellar Jonny Amo beat that does a seamless 9th Wonder impression, the three build off one another’s energy and will surely do so live. (Hopefully the song will show up on either Lord of the Fly’s or CRASHprez’s sets on the Terrace stage.)

But the real thrill comes from following the UW-Madison educated rappers’ respective trajectories. For anyone planning on stopping in this weekend who’s ever caught any of the three at a campus open mic or show over the past couple of years, the continued progress will make the strongest impression. It’s rare to have the ability to watch one musician evolve and grow before your eyes, and we’ve had the privilege to see a whole stable of First Wave and campus musicians do so.