One of the biggest perks of living in Chicago is access to some of the best music. This summer, alone, brought Migos, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Joey Purp, Solange, Danny Brown, Big Sean, Justice, blink-182, The Killers, and other insane acts to music fests all over the city. Chance the Rapper hosted a free concert with Madeintyo, Jeremih, Future, and Chance himself as performers. I think I saw more concerts this past summer than all the other years in my life. On top of that, anytime a music artist announces a tour, Chicago is a guaranteed stop.
Luv Is Rage is the third mixtape by American rapper Lil Uzi Vert and Cozy Tapes Vol. 1: Friends is the debut studio album by hip hop collective ASAP Mob. Today, August 24th, 2017, three days before program launch, the sequel to both of these respective projects are supposed to drop online. Earlier this week, Chance the Rapper released a video on Instagram with a short clip of music he is working on and Taylor Bennett released a series of remixes of songs of his SoundCloud. This Saturday, August 26th, Playboi Carti is having a concert at the House of Blues and during September 16th and 17th, Vic Mensa and Joey Purp will be headlining the Spaceland Block Party at Union Station.
While I am extremely excited to go to Ecuador and leave Chicago, most of my FOMO relates to music. Everything I listed about takes place in the span of less than a month- I’m going to be gone for 8 months. I know I’ll have internet access but pop-up concerts and interacting with other music lovers is best done in person. I think seeing people’s social media back in the US will really be a double edged sword: I get to be apart of music spreading and people listening but it will be through a screen.
Music is only one of many things I’m going to experience through a screen and I think that’s what worries me a lot. I don’t know what else I am going to see through a screen and that’s a daunting unknown for me. It could be anything from birthdays to Christmas to watching my friends get their college acceptances. As launch day gets closer and goodbyes become more frequent, I realize a lot of the unknown is what makes me most nervous.
