Not only is 2020 the Year of Chicago Music, it’s also the 35th year for the nonprofit Arts & Business Council of Chicago (A&BC), which provides business expertise and training to creatives and their organizations citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC has launched the #ChiMusic35 campaign at ChiMusic35.com, which includes a public poll to determine the consensus 35 greatest moments in Chicago music history as well as a raffle to benefit the A&BC’s work supporting creative communities struggling with the impact of COVID-19 in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods.
Rhymefest: One of the most powerful, understated moments in Chicago music history of the last five years—and Kanye and I were just speaking about this a day ago—was an event called Aahh! Fest. It was created [in 2014] by Common and Donda’s House, which was a nonprofit organization that myself and my then wife ran. The first day was Community Day, where vendors got to come out and give information and resources to the community. The first day was free for all the young people in the city to attend. Diggy Simmons performed with myself and Common.
Well, I’m going to say this, but this extends to other genres of music. The people that migrated to Chicago from the south and brought gospel, that evolved into the way we do blues, that turned into the way that we express ourselves, the Africana way that we do house music—[we’re the home] of house music, the home of the blues, the evolution of gospel, and the consciousness of hip-hop. That’s what we are, especially when you look at the ones who truly have made it in hip-hop from Chicago. It is the consciousness of the genre. v
