Red Bull SoundClash coming to Atlanta with Shelley FKA DRAM vs. Westside Boogie
Shelley FKA DRAM will go head-to-head with Westside Boogie Nov. 30 at The Eastern.
Courtesy of: Redbull
Ready to rumble? Tomorrow evening The Eastern hosts the Red Bull Soundclash, a battle-of-the-voices. This event pits Shelley FKA DRAM versus Westside Boogie in one of Soundclash’s signature head-to-head concerts. Both competitors joined “City Lights” senior producer Kim Drobes via Zoom, along with the event’s host Joshua “J1” Raiford, and Junia Abaidoo, founder of Love Renaissance – the Atlanta-based label both competing artists call home.
A natural choice for the position of MC, Raiford currently serves as director of hip-hop programming for the streaming platform Pandora. “Soundclash is like nothing else that’s out there,” he said. “You’ve got two artists, two stages, and one winner. Even though it’s a friendly competition, there’s still going to be a winner that’s determined by the crowd.”
After each artist’s first four songs make up the “warm-up round,” a round of cover performances occurs. Next, there’s the “takeover.” Each artist is challenged to perform the same cover in their own unique arrangement. “One artist will start performing his song, and then the other artist has to jump in halfway through and finish performing that same song,” said Raiford.
Each artist brings on a surprise special guest in round four, the “wild card” round. The fifth round is the titular “soundclash,” Shelley and Westside Boogie will each perform their own original songs, but with two different styles or genres. “So they might do it like reggae, EDM, who knows. You just have to be there,” Raiford hinted. Lastly, a celebratory final round brings the artists together on one stage in collaboration.
A healthy dose of social media smack-talk has hyped up the show, with Shelley and Boogie serving up Instagram posts offering to “smoke my brother’s boots” and threatening “curtains for you.” Still, the artists assure audiences there’s nothing but love and excitement for one another’s performances. “I think it’s so dope because I’m naturally competitive. I know Shelley is naturally competitive, but we also are super close friends, so I think it’s just going to be dope that we got the opportunity to do this,” said Boogie.
Love Renaissance, the label that signed both Westside Boogie and Shelley, started in 2012 as the brainchild of five music-minded Georgia State University students. They set up shows, ran parties, and promoted artists, soon realizing they could unite these skills and passions under one project. “We all had a similar vision in terms of wanting to tell stories for artists and really just create worlds for artists, music to live in,” said Abaidoo. “We caught our stride when we started to really pinpoint artists like Shelley… that was really unique, and kind of left-of-center and not exactly what you would expect from the music industry at that time.”
Boogie joined the label in 2019 and is featured in their RapCaviar Cypher video. The spirit of collaboration, exchange, and even friendly friction in the Love Renaissance community fit naturally. For Shelley, competitive showmanship is a new but welcome medium for his talents. “I have that competitive spirit in me, just riling me up more so than ever. Because I’ve never been in a position where my talents were put up against somebody else… and the crowd actually decides. So as much love as it is, I’m just going to give it my all; I’m not going to cut any corners,” he said.
The Red Bull Soundclash featuring Shelley and Westside Boogie takes place Nov. 30 at the Eastern. Tickets and more information are available at www.redbull.com/us-en/music/events/soundclash-shelley-vs-boogie.
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