LIVE REVIEWS
On Friday night (May 18), Red Bull brought out a slew of gritty underground artists for its horror-themed night of hip-hop, Careful on the Pavement, as part of its Red Bull Music Festival. Bubbling rappers such as Chynna, Lil Wop and Rico Nasty put on gritty performances at New York City's Cutting Room.
DJ Kenn entertained the eager (and heavily medicated) crowd before the evening's first performer took the stage. As the clock moved past 10 p.m., rising D.C. rapper Rico Nasty stormed the venue to loud cheers. Donning her always animated clothing—a white tank top and black sweat pants with giant-sized looped earrings hanging off the side of the pants—the 21-year-old MC, who admitted to popping a Percocet before hopping on stage, engaged with concertgoers with her buzzing singles "Popping," "Trust Issues" and "Key Lime OG."
Despite gifting fans with an energetic set and engaging with fans, the "Hey Arnold" rapper said that she would rather be inside the studio creating music. "I like recording. I spend weeks at a time in studio sessions," she said after leaving the stage. "With touring, so much is on my mind. Keeping up with sh*t. And on the road, I buy so much expensive sh*t."
Nasty's set was followed by bubbling underground MCs such as Lil Wop, Bali Baby, Asian Doll and others, whose bravado-and sex-filled rhymes connected to the street and drug-infused energy of the concert-goers.
However, the highlight of the night came from Philly rapper, Chynna, who kept her set gritty by running through hard-boiled singles such "Gleen Coco," "Seasonal Depression" and "Practice." Decked out in black-and-white camouflage pants and a black crop-top, Chynna announced to the crowd that she is three years opiate free, which was followed by loud cheers.
"I felt crazy. I didn't want to be a statistic. I didn't want to go out that way and people be like: 'I told you so," or glamorize it [drugs], because I don't feel like that," Chynna told us after catching a breather. "It was nerve-wracking to be open, but when you see how many more people who are dealing with the same thing, it's good to have some kind of example of someone you didn't expect to be going through it."
Chynna also explained how having a support system was instrumental in her battling addiction. "It was hard," she said. "I had to go away for a minute and I did detox, but it was a matter of having a really good support system of family and friends."
Overall, Red Bull's Careful on the Pavement was created as an underworld environment, which is great for fans who cater to riff-raff spaces, but Chynna's announcement of her newfound drug-free life was a reminder that hip-hop's underworld can mesh with the cool lames of the world.
LIVE REVIEWS
Slayyyter played her take on Turnstile’s ‘Birds’ onstage for the first time in Atlanta. You can watch footage of the performance below.
Slayyyter is currently touring with her ‘Wor$t Girl In The World’ show. She added the cover to her set at The Eastern on Monday night (September 21).
She sang ‘Birds: Slayyyter Version’ near the end of the main set, following ‘Brittany Murphy’. She then came back for an encore featuring ‘Brand New Chanel$’ and ‘Beat Up Chanel$’.
It was her first live performance of the song. She originally recorded it for Turnstile’s ‘Never Enough: Versions’, a collection of reworked tracks released on August 28.
The 22 track release brings together new interpretations of songs from Turnstile’s fourth album. Contributors include Elton John, Hayley Williams, Blood Orange, A. G. Cook, Faye Webster, Four Tet, Oklou, Floating Points, Nourished By Time, Alex G, Julien Baker and Mustafa.
Panda Bear recorded a new take on ‘Magic Man’, while Dying Fetus gave ‘Birds’ another interpretation rooted in death metal.
See Slayyyter perform the track live and listen to her studio recording here:
Slayyyter trades the original song’s hardcore intensity for a bigger electronic sound that feels at home alongside her latest album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’.
Turnstile first released ‘Birds’ on their 2025 album ‘Never Enough’. The song won Best Metal Performance at the 2026 Grammy Awards, where the album also won Best Rock Album.
In its five star review of ‘Never Enough’, NME pointed to ‘Birds’ and ‘Sole’ as reminders of Turnstile’s hardcore beginnings. It also praised the album for “furthering their unique, pop-facing take on hardcore”.
Slayyyter will join Turnstile on another stage next month. She and Die Spitz are set to support the band at the University of Kansas in Lawrence on October 6 for the ‘Never Enough Tour Pt. 2’.
It has been a big year for Slayyyter. Her third album, ‘Wor$t Girl In America’, came out in March, and NME’s review highlighted its mix of “brash, sleazy pop” and late 2000s indie sleaze sounds.
Last month, she performed Hole’s ‘Violet’ for triple J’s Like A Version. Courtney Love called the cover “a delight” and encouraged Slayyyter to “keep wiping the floors with us”.
A few weeks later, Slayyyter took ‘Wor$t Girl In America’ to Reading Festival. NME’s live review declared that there was “undoubtedly a star before us on stage” and praised her “rasped, rocked-up delivery” and growing confidence as a performer.
