United States
Music, entertainment, culture and lifestyle writer with an affinity for streetwear and a passion for history. Reformed sportswriter.
Detroit-bred, currently living in Maryland. Follow me on Twitter @jamdraper.
It was a crisp June night and we sat in a nook on the far end of the beach near Front Street, shaded by white pines and juniper bushes. We poured premixed vodka lemonades into McDonald's cups and sipped as the temperature dipped and the late night sun sunk into the vast horizon.
It was big news when Frank Ocean, R&B's Salinger-adjacent generational recluse, pulled out of the headliner spot for Coachella's second weekend after an opening week that was an unmitigated public relations disaster. Ocean has given very few live performances since his rapid ascent to legend status, maintaining an air of mystique most public figures can't hold onto in the age of social media.
For anyone who has experienced loss in the digital age, the shocking moment hit particularly hard. Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 4, Episode 3 of 'Succession.' My grandfather died six years ago this September. At the time, I lived in a grungy, musty, dimly lit two-bedroom apartment in the heart of East Lansing, Michigan.
No ads, no corporate sponsors, no bullshit. Please help support independent music journalism by subscribing to Passion of the Weiss on Patreon. A few hours ago, on a Wednesday afternoon in early February, Babyface Ray's counterpart and mentor, Peezy, was released from the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in eastern Ohio after serving an 18-month sentence.
"You might never see a set like this again," muttered Adrianne Lenker, Big Thief's frontwoman, in the middle of the band's Saturday night set at the Royal Oak Music Theatre. Between songs, Lenker spoke meekly, in a volume barely above a murmur, some quips more audible than others.
Now, more so than ever, it feels like a time for reckoning with journalism. We're so far removed from the Carl Bernsteins and Walter Cronkites of the world. There are so many different opinions, viewpoints and narratives easily accessible to the average American, mostly online.
Flint rap was the first Hip Hop scene between the coasts to bypass local radio pipelines and get national airplay. A new generation of artists are building on that legacy.
Sweeping the Street Pulitzers for the past decade-plus. Please support Passion of the Weiss by subscribing to our Patreon. If you don't like Jameson Draper, acquire some taste. After years of collaborations with artists from every corner of the city, Juan opened up his own studio in the late 2000s to nurture the career of young, talented Detroit artists.
