Still Saaling

Miles Saal September 17, 1996 - November 30, 2017

Miles Saal created a family in Pittsburgh. "He was Pittsburgh's biggest supporter, and he wasn't even from here," Ian Welch said. Miles made the youth and creative scenes in the city tighter by connecting people with different people. Miles gave love and respect to everybody because that's what humanity deserves. "He saw something in ourselves and brought it out of all of us to make the scene great," Welch said.

Miles Saal, the hip-hop musician, and illustrator died on November 30, 2017. He was 21-years-old.

Miles was selfless. All of the work he shared under his Yung Mulatto pen name proves how selfless he was. "He had his fingers on everything," rapper Cap Jazzo said. He doodled so many of the talented artists in the 'Burgh who do cool and progressive things. Literally, Miles drew all the people he knew who made music in the city and drew them on coffee sleeves. He detailed community in his zine publication, Pittsburgh Hip Hop Vol 1, and with all the work he did in album art and the beat production with musicians like Akono Miles, blackboi, Benji, Mars Jackson, and so many more. The music mix he helped lifestyle label Reviving Real create was so thorough in capturing the city's hip-hop scene. "Miles had taste," Noah McDonald said. When I think about his work, I see how he wanted us to relate to one another.

“He saw something in ourselves and brought it out of us to make the scene great.”

No one gave more support to this community than Miles and he wasn't even a Pittsburgh native. A New York-born and Jacksonville raised person had to teach us something about our own city, that we discriminate the support we give to each other. We pick and choose where, when, and who we want to support like everyone's hard work doesn't deserve that. The saddest part is now we'll all wake up and unite even more in the way Miles was showing us all this time, but he won't be here to feel that gratification knowing he gathered us together and we won't be able to hug him to thank him for it.

Find solace in everything he left behind because that is Miles' legacy. It will be a pleasure to see his creations live on as they do now, and more of the work he produced before he died. Miles gets credit for so much now and more in the future because, without his links to relationships, we'd still be stuck unwilling to leave our own worlds and adventure in someone else's.

Watch This Cool Skateboarding Video Part by Rage Club

"Welcome to the Club" by Cleveland based clothing company Rage Club at its core is an entertaining video with parts of skateboarding. It's much more though because the skaters' antics and dedication to hitting tricks, paired with the crazy tracklist that DJ TOPGUN lined up is hype. The footage by Thomas Netkowicz shows the Club skaters in California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania skating city-scape terrain.

Authentic youth and skate culture stack up here. The kids aren't wearing Thrasher Magazine shirts for nothing. Zay Jones tries to jump a 21-step staircase six times. He keeps injuring himself and keeps going, "legendary." There's crazy, painful looking fails throughout "Welcome to the Club," but credit the degree of tricks. Everything is tight when the beats drop and skaters like Cris Lesh, Kevin Perez, Jalen Willis, and more land tricks. TOPGUN, the creator of Rage Club, features in the part along with pieces of Club clothing, such as a long-sleeve, hat, and "FDT" shirt.

Photo by @_philms

Additionally, the entire project has relevance in Pittsburgh because the video has parts filmed in the city and it debuted at One Up Skate Shop on East Carson Street last Saturday, Nov. 4, and DJ TOPGUN is active in the 'Burgh's hip-hop scene. He's brought Cleveland artists, like Shawn K, to rock out here in the 412. Rapper Choo Jackson attended the "Welcome to the Club" debut.

Watch and follow the Club. Tracklist at 16:03.

A 'Rough' Recap

'Rough' has ushered in an era of tangible experiences by InTheRough.  Last Friday, Uptown Art House opened its doors to the ITR family, allowing some Pittsburgh creatives to enhance the "community type vibe," as one party-goer David Gilmour put it.  While tracks from iTunes libraries and SoundCloud playlists rang through "The Factory" space, art from Quaishawn Whitlock and impromptu performances by Sir E.U, Tedy Brewski, Nappy Napa & The Best Rapper in D.C. fulfilled the night's celebration.  Thank you to Parker Blair, Maps Glover and Jamal Gray for your cooperation and partcipation.

Throwing a party is like riding a bike: the more you ride, the smoother it becomes.  Let's ride to Pittsburgh. 

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+ "You guys have great transitions." Jamal Gray

+ "I think this is the epitome of what the Art House should be." Sebastian Medina-Tayac

+ "The right people are here." Alex Hersh

Cool Things Happening in D.C.- Halloweekend

Do you have Halloweekend plans in the District?

Although trick-or-treating down Embassy Row is an experience every D.C. transplant should have, here's a list of alternative events occurring over the next several days.

1. October 26- RAYGUNOMICS & Emotio

Jamal Gray (middle) and Dajando Smith (right) at Funk Parade 2017. Photograph by Maxwell Young

Kwesi Lee of Emotio.

Jamal Gray, Kwesi Lee, and Dajando Smith are members of Washington, D.C.'s premiere rock-fusion band Nag Champa.  On Thursday, they will be performing as RAYGUNOMICS--an intergalactic parade of futuristic hip hop, funk, jazz, and go-go sounds.

Kwesi Lee, the guitarist from Nag Champa, will also be playing with a "vegan space metal" band from Maryland known as Emotio.

Dew Drop Inn

2801 8th St, NE

$5 | 8pm

2. October 26- Ace Cosgrove & Bob Moe Kill & Hardwork Movement

Ace Cosgrove has been busy performing his latest project Ms. Claire's Basement with experimental jazz group, BADBADNOTGOOD.  He returns to the District on Thursday to play a set at the hip Velvet Lounge with Bob Moe Kill and Philadelphia's Hardwork Movement. 

Velvet Lounge

915 U St, NW

$15 | 8:30pm

3. October 27- ROUGH

We got action at The Factory. #debutparty #DMV

A post shared by InTheRough (@intheroughstyle) on Sep 27, 2017 at 2:26pm PDT

It wouldn't be Halloweekend without a keg and bottomless drinks right? 

'Rough' is InTheRough's debut event.  It is a mixed media music and art show celebrating the youth movement in D.C. and its creative communities.  Friday night's show includes visual contributions from artist Quaishawn Whitlock while Tedy Brewski, Sir E.U, and Rob Smokes are among the musical stylings for the night.  Bring your dancing shoes.

Uptown Art House

3412 Connecticut Ave, NW

$10 drink ticket | 7pm

4. October 28- Mr. Daywalker

Mr. Daywalker photgraphed by Maxwell Young

Mr. Daywalker, AKA percussion's free spirit, will be performing new music at the Love + Solidarity Collective this Saturday.  Go and see what the quirkiness is all about.

Love + Solidarity Collective

439 Park Road, NW

Free | 9pm

5. October 28- Enter the Void

House of MXD is taking over the Art House this Saturday for their artist showcase "Enter the Void."  Artists like Dawn Musa, Kleonaptra, and St. Clair Castro will be setting the vibes.  Costumes are encouraged!

Uptown Art House

3412 Connecticut Ave, NW

$5 | 3-6pm

NVSV Directs Library Collaborative Tour & Breaks Down Life, Music, and a Beat

Know Pittsburgh Hip-Hop and the New Studio Making It

NVSV in Library Collaborative's green screen room | photograph by Alex Young

While talking about the benefits of signing a record deal, the rapper NVSV's (NASA) manager, Chanice Lazarre, popped her head in his yellow and blue studio-office to ask, "do you want to do a show at Diesel," the club on Pittsburgh's South Side. The 24-year-old music producer and rapper said yes as he appreciates the exposure.

Through that show and others, and credit to his management at Library Collaborative's independent record label, NVSV has cemented himself as a contributing member of the 'Burgh's local hip-hop scene by taking opportunities to perform. He performed a trap hip-hop show in Butler, Pa. and performed at James Street Gastropub on the North Side last weekend.

NVSV's music features "a lot of personal experience, lessons, and self-reflection. I want people to see what I'm living through," he said.

A post shared by InTheRough (@intheroughstyle) on Oct 11, 2017 at 3:59pm PDT

At Library Collaborative, "we have artists on the label right now. I am one of them. Then there's Juice, L K Hae, he's like an alternative rock type act, and Tremoravia, he's like a hard rock guy," NVSV said. SMTATOE, a guitarist and pianist, as well as the rapper Vapo Reeves benefit from the label's resources. The diversity of the Library's in-house artists is the best resource. "We definitely have a catalog or library of musicians from different backgrounds," he said.  If "I need these [piano] keys, I can go around the corner and be like, 'Smitty [SMTATOE], can you play these keys for me?' And Smitty is damn near a classically trained pianist."

"Everyone is feeding off everyone else's process, so you end up learning a lot about how all the artists here approach what they do," SMTATOE said. "I've learned a lot from just trying new approaches I wouldn't have tried."

NVSV's appreciation for eclectic styles of music came from his childhood while he grew up in Baltimore. "I listened to a lot of everything... There was a lot of house music and a lot of gospel music. With my mom, I grew up Christian. I went to Catholic schools," he said.

Listeners of NVSV can draw comparisons to Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco. He said he relates to Chicago music the most, and that the listener needs to accept what they're not accustomed to.  "I don't get too caught up in the braggadocios [raps]," NVSV said.

Importantly, NVSV saw education as his way out of the 'hood. Music "was a hobby" of his while he matriculated through school. "When all of my friends are going to the zone school, and they see me going to school with a suit and tie on, I knew education would always be my way out of the city," NVSV said.

It wasn't until NVSV attended The Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 2011 when he understood the profitability of making music. "I encountered a lot of people who were artistic in their respect," he said. One of the owners of Library Collaborative, Shane Johnson, attended The Art Institute and that's how NVSV learned about the studio.

After graduation in 2015 with a degree in Industrial Design, NVSV, officially Aaron Adkinson, took a job with Invent Help where he did 3D printing. He'd head straight to the Library after his nine to five shift, and he'd stay there until three in the morning producing all the beats he'd rap over (he produces under the moniker SWGLTUUF). "The owners saw the drive of the musicians they had here. It's just a dedication to that craft that made the owners go forward and start a record label," NVSV said.

The Library Collaborative opened its doors as a full-service multi-media recording studio in Pittsburgh's South Hills on October 13, 2017. They have rooms for recording live instrumentation with guitars and drums, a full environment green screen, a projector room, and more. Artists on the label, like NVSV and SMTATOE, help run the studio's operations and manage clients.

Further, the Library focuses on "making sure the quality of all of our work is up to par, all of it is seen and respected as such," Juice said. Raising the bar of "the music itself but also in the events that the scene provides."

“Right now, Pittsburgh is doing well because the art scene is flourishing. Me as an artist, I feel like this place as a sanctuary for artists to come to is going to be on the up and up. I’m not trying to run away from Pittsburgh anytime soon.”

— NVSV

Although the city thrives creatively, people, especially rappers like Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, tend to go elsewhere to make names for themselves and come back to visit home when convenient. NVSV wants to be part of the crop of people who stay in the 'Burgh and be the "poster children" for the community. "We need to become the promoters. We're in touch with the culture" he said.

NVSV said he is "hopeful for the future" in Pittsburgh. "By playing, creating and working hard we can inspire the same people that inspire us," Juice said.

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ITR: Whenever you were little, who were you listening to?

NVSV: Growing up I listened to a lot of everything. I'm from Baltimore, so there was a lot of house music and a lot of gospel music. With my mom, I grew up Christian. I went to Catholic schools. My mom kept me in private schools because she didn't want me to fall into that crowd which was a crowd I'm familiar with 'cause I grew up in the 'hood. When all of my friends are going to the zone school, and they see me going to school with a suit and tie on, I knew education would always be my way out of the city. When I see people I grew up with pursuing music as their ticket out, I understand that. You do need to get out and school is not for everybody, but I knew that was my way. As far as music, during that transition, I was susceptible to everything. What I listened to really was Jay Z, Lupe, and Kanye. Ludacris too. Ludacris was the first CD I bought. Fuckin' "Chicken and Beer." As of now, we have so many vinyl records here and so many other forms of music that I wasn't aware of before. It's just opened my ear.

ITR: Talk about the artistic freedom you have here at Library Collaborative or the tools that are here and not elsewhere.

NVSV: The perspective of other musicians. I can sit here and twiddle at a beat for hours and I'm like, 'I need these keys.' I can go around the corner and be like, 'Smitty (SMTATOE), can you play these keys for me?' And Smitty is damn near a classically trained pianist. [laughs] I don't have to sample. I can sit here with someone and we bond over music and they express what they're feeling over what I did. It's Library Collaborative because there's a lot of collaboration going on. We don't turn down an opportunity to collaborate. All the projects we've released under the label, every artist that's ever worked here is on each one of those projects. I know a song that I perform called "Entropy" that people love. It was from my last album called "Mystic." It was just a cool song to me and not anything serious. It's me and L K Hae and I just asked him to throw me some guitar lines on it. People love that song and I wasn't expecting them to feel that way towards it. That's a testament to his talent.

ITR: Do you know Geechi P?

NVSV: Yeah.

ITR: He loves that song, "Entropy." We like "Swim At Own Risk" on your "Bamboo" project. What do you like to speak on in your music?

NVSV: It's funny you said that. That song was an inspiration. I've always been NVSV (NASA) and I got it from a college friend. She used to call me NEVA SOBA because every time she saw me I always had a blunt in my ear. I turned that into NVSV since 2012. When I first got here to the studio, I was doing a lot of my own stuff and it was my first time seeing a guitarist and a live drummer. It was new to me so I wanted to do something with that so I created a band called EVRTH (earth). We dismembered, but I wanted to do something different. This genre was neo-soul, Fugees-esque. 'Swim At Your Own Risk' is inspired by a song called 'Oceans' that EVRTH performed. It was written as a double entendre for women as a body of water and as a life force for the world. My writing process is a lot of personal experience, lessons, and self-reflection. I don't get too caught up in the braggadocios. I want people to see what I'm living through.

ITR: What has Pittsburgh meant to you? Were you involved in the creative community in Baltimore before you left to notice a difference or similarity between the two cities?

NVSV: A little bit but it's different when you're doing that as a child to when you're an adult. In Baltimore, I attended the Baltimore School for the Arts until I got kicked out [laughs]. I've always been artistically inclined. So, in Baltimore in 2009, they started cutting art programs. I knew people who didn't have art in school. I'm fortunate to go to private schools so we have art. It was something I felt like I was wasting while I was there and I could have done more with. In Pittsburgh, the Art Institute was my first choice. People are like, 'you chose to come here?' Yeah because I wanted to be an industrial designer and they had Industrial Design. The only other Art Institute that had that was in Orlando so I knew I'd be on the beach all day and I would've failed. It was strategic planning coming to Pittsburgh. When I got here, it was a lot of diversity. I never looked at people as different races because growing up in the inner-city all you see is one race. I remember telling people here I thought white people were exclusive to teachers. [laughs] You know? I didn't think they did anything else in the world. Coming here to Pittsburgh was one of my first times seeing an inter-racial relationship. That opened my eyes to a lot more. They're mixing here and I knew that they've always been mixing. My mom wanted me to go to an H.B.C.U. and I told her that the world isn't black [laughs] and she gave me shit for it. You can't win in a world with all black thinking because that's not what the world is.

ITR: Is Pittsburgh a place you continue to see yourself?

NVSV: Right now, Pittsburgh is doing well because the art scene is flourishing. Me as an artist, I feel like this place as a sanctuary for artists to come to is going to be on the up and up. I'm not trying to run away from Pittsburgh anytime soon. They're going to be poster children and I feel like we are in a position to do that. You guys also. I see you guys everywhere. Reviving Real just to name a couple. I'll be here for a little bit. If I do go anywhere, it'll be overseas. My end goal is to be in Africa. I do music differently from why other people do music. Of course for the money, but what I want to do with my money is different from other people. I still have that industrial design background in mind. Once I do make these millions on millions, my plan is to buy land and start a self-sufficient community, hopefully, a city one day. I have blueprints and shit already. I want to build a city inside of a mountain. I have some architecture friends. I just need to meet some engineers. That's another thing I can attribute to Pittsburgh, meeting people from different fields of studies. I can definitely say thank you to Keep Pittsburgh Dope and them. Just for rubbing shoulders with aeronautics guys like last time I was at Creatives Drink. I met this guy who designed airplanes. We're just being drunk together. It's an experience you can't get anywhere else, and if you can get it somewhere else it needs to be publicized. It's the new age fraternal system or partnerships for life.

ITR: Do you feel like you can achieve your artistic goals in Pittsburgh? Do you think the city moves fast enough? Things happen here but people don't see trends quick enough.

NVSV: Right now, no. But I'm hopeful for the future. It's a big city small town type aspect, but it's like, you ever see the movies with the high school football star of the small town and he doesn't make it to the league? But he goes on to own the local car dealership. [laughs] That's the hero though. That's what Pittsburgh is. They want that local star to come up, but they want him to come up and stay here.

ITR: How do we keep people here? When you look at Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, they came up here and left. But, when you look at these Jimmy Wopo interviews, he's talking about keeping the attention in the city. How can people like yourself keep the community here so that attention stays here?

NVSV: We need to become the promoters. Right now, there's a monopoly on that with Drusky Entertainment and Opus One. I won't even call them promoters. They tell you who is coming to town and they tell you to sell these tickets. They don't promote anything themselves because it's up to the artist to do it. When I'm telling people about 24hrs and people are like, 'who the fuck is that' I'm like 'bro you have no idea.' Then 24 is hitting me up like, 'bro this shit's not sold out.' 'I don't know what you want me to do. I sold these 50 tickets they gave me.' I feel like promoting isn't here in the city. We need a promotion agency to bring these popular acts and that's why they are skipping over Pittsburgh.

More from NVSV:

+ "You have to remember people are sponges."

+ Check out the collaboration with Chicago rapper Qari.

+ "Art is all about risk."

+ "I like when producers drop albums because you can see what they want to hear."

+ "Producing for people is hard when they tell you 'make a beat like this.'"

+ "I love Pittsburgh for what it's given me."

[NVSV & Library Collaborative Video Tracklist in Order: "Déteste (Here's To You Instrumental)" by Yung Mulatto, "UDN2K" by Saani Mac, "No Lil Pups" by Pk Delay, "FlyClassWeirdo (Intro)" by R.D.P., and "Drop" by SWGLTUUF. 'Burgh Noise, of course.]