Clyde Lawrence Band: Say My Name feat. Gracie Lawrence

Chairman Mao's love for Leonard Cohen, Pacman and Peso in North Korea, William Onyeabor remixed and more in our weekly look at music

NYC native Clyde Lawrence had written music for soundtracks like “Miss Congeniality” and “Music & Lyrics” before even turning 15, but more recently, the multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter took on Destiny’s Child’s 2000 classic “Say My Name” and showcased his band’s musicianship on their respective instruments. A barefoot Jonathan Koh takes the wah-wah guitar licks hidden in the original and magnifies them in this rendition, setting …

Pacman and Peso: Escape to North Korea

Chairman Mao's love for Leonard Cohen, Pacman and Peso in North Korea, William Onyeabor remixed and more in our weekly look at music

Every now and again a story comes along that is truly stranger than fiction. This week DC’s aspiring rappers, Pacman and Peso, released their music video for “Escape to North Korea” which was shot on location in the heavily guarded totalitarian state. The duo funded their project on Kickstarter, which in turn connected them with local fan Ramsey Aburdene who eventually became their manager. Under …

Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen

Chairman Mao's love for Leonard Cohen, Pacman and Peso in North Korea, William Onyeabor remixed and more in our weekly look at music

This week’s PrivateJam comes from Red Bull Music Academy’s resident DJ, record collector and go-to music historian Jefferson Mao—aka Chairman Mao. With Mao’s encyclopedic knowledge of hip-hop and impressive interviewing skills with the likes of Dåm-Funk and DJ Premier, we were curious to know what Mao listens to when away from the decks. “I’m absolutely not any kind of authority on Leonard Cohen,” he says, …