Run Along Forever Merges Milwaukee Hip-Hop with Compilation

At one point, it was a common complaint among local musicians that Milwaukee’s hip-hop scene was too divided to succeed. The age of social media and streaming has helped bridge many gaps, but the competitive nature of the genre has left Milwaukee with as little to do as Juneau and Kilbourne deliberately constructing side-by-side streets. department remained. While some projects strive to unite city hosts of all backgrounds, Run Along Forever’s recent 20-track, 30-artist compilation feels very special.

With a spoken word intro by DJay Mando, the premise is clear. Not only does it bring together Milwaukee artists of all backgrounds, but it also offers projects that improve the city’s music community so that it is not skipped in discussions about national and Midwestern music. By grapher-turned-multimedia producers Nolan Busalacchi and Eli Stamstad, they’ve made a habit of working with the city’s artists.

“I’ve been shooting music videos for almost two years now,” Busaracki explains. “One day, Eli and I sat down and thought, ‘How can we take this to the next level? That’s how Run Along Forever started as a duo. We built all these relationships by shooting videos for artists, and one of my friends’ girlfriends said, ‘Why don’t you do an album with all your friends? rice field. ”

sound of keep running forever Incredibly modern, it relies heavily on internet-driven energy that has created its own subgenre, thriving on Spotify playlists and making TikTok and Instagram videos music discovery platforms. But what’s great about this project is the way each artist brings their own unique rap style to the production, and the way the duo’s curation blends the contrasting deliveries. For example, YouTube underground standout Chicken P is featured alongside Run Along’s pop-minded Dalyn XL on “Don’t Play With Me,” while Corey Piper, Jane Joyce and Lina pop and soul on “Bad Times.” The styling of each is featured. Essentially, compilations act as sonic jigsaw puzzles, with each artist having to fit in the right pocket for the album as a whole to work properly. The collaborations on display hopefully introduce new artists to Milwaukee’s hip-hop fans.

“The goal of this project was to enable collaboration between artists who probably wouldn’t normally work together,” says Busalacchi. “We basically got to the point that there are so many people on this that we had to check everyone rode. I wanted to encapsulate the whole city with this. ”

As a production duo, in addition to compilations, clips for “Happy Days” featuring Genesis Range and Visca Ray, and “Patience” featuring Von Alexander, Dalyn XL, Lucien Parker and Jay. The visuals of Run Along Forever are strong. Mando is already online. It’s assumed that more of the album will be handled visually, and the steady unfolding of the video gives the album an extra leg in a streaming environment that’s here today and gone tomorrow.

“I was really blown away by how excited everyone was,” Busaracki said. “Everyone came in because they really wanted to contribute their work and made sure they were well represented. We are very excited to share this with the city.”

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