It should go without saying at this point that 2024 has been a wild year for music. We’ve seen artists like Chappell Roan go from sleeper hitmaker to megastar almost overnight. We’ve seen albums like BRAT absolutely dominate pop culture to the point where its aesthetic has been used in American political campaigns (to varying levels of success).

I’m pretty sure it's physically impossible for JPEGMAFIA ever to disappoint me. Currently riding a monumental wave of productivity, the New York rapper has just wrapped up the North American tour for his 3rd album released this decade, I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU. Lucky for us, Peggy’s final stop was here in Montreal, and even with my deep-rooted distaste for MTELUS, it was a show I will brag about for years to come.

Weekday shows have always irked me a little; standing in a crowd at 9 pm, with that lingering dread of class the next morning sitting idly in the back of my mind. It takes a special kind of music to cut through that sadness, and thankfully L’Escogriffe Bar had exactly that this past Tuesday night. 

Osamason’s Wish You Were Here tour, featuring 1oneam, exemplifies the raw energy and intense atmosphere of the underground rap scene. Hailing from Goose Creek, South Carolina, Osamason launched his music career on SoundCloud in 2020. It was his breakout single, “CTS-V” released in 2023, that solidified him as one of the most prominent figures in the underground.

Tinashe’s world tour show at MTELUS did not live up to the level of freak I expected. The R&B legend, who’s been in the game for over a decade, gained more popularity with her album Quantum Baby riding the wave of Brat Summer. The show was well done and long, the dancers and Tinashe were very talented, but there was a lack of aesthetic continuance. Song transitions felt disjointed, as if there was a slew of creative directors who didn’t talk to each other.