The Deejay M Nunez Show

New rap artist Spendit blends a whimsical beat and street lyrics in new single “Hold Up”

By Kurt Beyers

To begin his career as a recording artist, Buffalo, New York, rapper Spendit has put out “Hold Up,” a chiming, melodious single with some hard-edged, explicit street lyrics.

“That track, I feel like, it describes my life,” he said. “I’m always trying to get to some money, and it’s an ever-changing world. I’m always trying to adapt.”

“Hold Up” is the lead single off his EP Check. Another single off the EP, “Grace,” has also been released.

He said that when he got the beat from his brother, Akaey, he only had an hour to work with it, and his first thought was, “I cannot attack this in an hour, and all I could think of was life is moving too fast. Can you hold up?”

And with that, he realized, “Hold up. Wow, that’s really me.” And it turned out to be one of the easiest songs he ever wrote.

Life movin’ too fast, can’t wait up, can’t hold up
Spend it, what’s the hold up, bands can’t fold up
Dropped out of college, she givin’ me brain, she givin’ me knowledge
Brand new coupe, no mileage, always flee, don’t need a stylist

He’s been writing for a few years but until this year he hadn’t made up his mind whether to pursue it as a career.

“I was never into music growing up. I was kind of getting into it in middle school, but I was more of an athlete. That’s what our family was known for.”

Akaey, though, was into music.

“He was the only person in the family doing it. At night he would play his beats, and I was in my room but because he was so close I could hear him. He would be up to 3 in the morning.”

Eventually, he said, “This was clicking. I could listen to songs, and it was, ‘Oh, he’s off beat. This one’s not off beat.’ I was observing even when I wasn’t trying to.”

Spendit works out his beats with Akaey and producer Losart, a childhood friend of Akaey’s. They find the beats for Spendit, and together the three of them work out the tracks.

“Whenever I’m done with a song and I need another one, they will send me a care package — that’s what we call them — and it’s like 100-some beats in there.”

Spendit wound up making three songs with the beat that became “Hold Up.”

“I kept hearing it differently every time I listened to it. It is definitely a unique beat, for sure. The other two I’ll probably break down and add them to different songs, because they’re quality as well. But this one, ‘Hold Up,’ this one got it.”

He wrote the EP a year ago, but even then he hadn’t made up his mind about music.

“I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to take it serious. My brother had been doing this for a while, and he knows the only way that you can make it in this industry is if you’re going to invest in yourself, invest in the time. And so I had to come to the realization of, ‘Is this really what I want to do?’ After months of thinking about it, I told him let’s go ahead and do it.”

This year, he has released Check and the two singles from it. Each of the six tracks is something new, a different sound, a different flow, a different feel. Spendit seeks new things.

“I’m open to like working with different styles, and not just rappers but singers because that’s how you get better, by doing things that you don’t think or don’t know if you can do. I want to be a person that’s like, ‘Hey, we’re making this song, and it’s not something that you’re used to.’ I want to be as versatile as possible.”

His plans are to put out another EP, with more videos. His YouTube channel has videos for “Hold Up” and “Grace,” but he wants more.

This winter, he will begin performing live in the Buffalo-Syracuse-Rochester region.

He is glad that he got a late start to his career because he believes it increased his creativity. “As soon as I get in the studio, man, it’s like everything just comes. I don’t plan on slowing down no time soon.”

Spend some time with Spendit and connect with him on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

Single, “Hold Up”:
https://open.spotify.com/track/3DQVto6JUZom5iyMgEuonD?si=e74934f3290a4dda

EP, Check: https://open.spotify.com/album/1slJDeEyPAOom2WZzd5EII

Amazon Music:

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/check-ep/1703711408

SoundCloud:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6SySLoM2PbzmFWMpH9pmvk

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Td5JRiA3y3jedDANWA11A

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Spenditofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spendit_official/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spenditofficial?_t=8hHkee4rRHC&_r=1

X: https://twitter.com/Spenditofficial




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Jett Jenkins dances with “Daredevil” in an exploration of indie-pop covers


With her newest release — a cover of Fiona Apple’s “Daredevil” — indie pop artist Jett Jenkins departs from the “dreamy, colorful production” of her last few releases and shows all the assertiveness and force of Fiona Apple’s original.

“Fiona Apple’s my favorite artist, and the album that ‘Daredevil’ is off of is the first one that really got me hooked into her music,” said Jett.

Jett’s “Daredevil” drops on November 17.

“That song really showed me how she can use emotion in her singing, and the bridge of that song was just so special to me — I loved it so much that I wanted to sing it myself.”

Jett’s voice has softer edges than Fiona’s, yet when she launches into that bridge she is every bit as commanding — “Seek. Me. Out. — every word an order to be obeyed.

Seek me out
Look at, look at, look at, look at me
I'm all the fishes in the sea
Wake me up
Give me, give me, give me what you got In your mind, in the middle of the night

“It’s a song that I love so much I wish I wrote it, so, the best thing I could do was sing it. It’s kind of a declaration of love to Fiona Apple, but it’s my own version, and it’s how I hear the song and how it — my interpretation of it musically — how it makes me feel.”

Her version has the same musical structure, the same emphatic beat and rhythm, but the instrumentation gives it a more whimsical vibe as it builds toward that powerful bridge where the woman singing demands the attention of her lover.

And the listener.

“I wanted to keep it similar because I love the song so much, but I also wanted to make it a little bit more modern, make it more my style, so, it has a bit of flair.”

The EP that “Daredevil” precedes, Break Cover, Volume 1, will be, as the name suggests, an EP of cover songs. Her live shows include cover songs, and she gets good feedback on them.

“I wanted to choose some of my favorite artists and songs and put them out. A lot of my favorite artists, like Phoebe Bridgers and Fiona Apple, have released cover songs, but I thought it would be really interesting to do a whole EP of them.”

The planned release for the EP is December 2.

In its tone and assertiveness, her “Daredevil” is much more like her first song, “City in Anger,” released in 2021, than the reflective, meditative indie-pop music she has released since.

“I think I tend to go toward meditative stuff because I consider myself more of a poet,” she said,

Jett, a Texas writing major attending college in Brooklyn, New York, says she is willing to go wherever her music will take her.

“I’ll always put out music even if it doesn’t get super big or even just big at all, because I am such a diehard fan of all music. I’d love if it could take me to a bigger place where I could meet people and share my music. My music is very personal and has helped me through a lot of hard times. I hope that my music can help other people.”

She is moving back toward the edginess of “City of Anger,” which was the first song she ever wrote and is still one of her favorites.

“To me, it was like the perfect first song because I Ioved the rock element, but it also felt a lot like meditations on grief. It was just a plethora of things that I loved about music.”

Her next album after Break Cover will be more in that direction and “more into indie-punk rock, and a little bit like new wave.”

“I’m definitely trying to write more aggressive stuff. Most of my favorite songs are very anger filled songs, and I’m kind of going towards that.”

Go with Jett Jenkins on her musical journey and stay connected on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

Website: https://jettjenkins.com
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jettjenkinsmusic
Amazon Music: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jett+Jenkins&i=digital-music&search-type=ss&ref=ntt_srch_drd_B09LSS84DB
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jett-jenkins/1595458604
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5eQTLH2RK7Et9can4bdmI7?si=t4-DJRXlTI2XyZS8FsvCJg&utm_medium=share&utm_source=linktree&nd=1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZhrq3wUCitYxyIeeV1sY6A
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jettjenkinsmusic/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jettjenkinsmusic
X: https://twitter.com/_jettjenkins
Bandsintown: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15501609-jett-jenkins
Pandora: https://www.pandora.com/artist/jett-jenkins/ARgq4Zq3JPX93h4

For more information about Jett Jenkins, please contact Therese, Starlight PR etc.




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Honey Made lays down driving funk, soul and hip-hop in new EP titled Charge It To The Band Fund


By Bobby Martin

It has been a long road with many twists and turns, but Austin based funk group Honey Made has released their newest EP called Charge It To The Band Fund, which has an eclectic mix of soul, funk, a little hip hop and plenty of horns.

The newest single, “Ashy Pockets (My Mode)” is a remix of an original track that was very much focused on the “green culture,” McDaniel explained. Producer John Ryan liked the chorus and hook of “Ashy Pockets” and wanted to rework the arrangement and lyrics for radio that is now being released on the new EP.

“The sentiment is still there but the focus is now on why this person maybe wants to smoke,” Trombonist Donald McDaniel said. “Like, what is he trying to get away from or self-medicate with. The theme of that song is that ‘I’m in a dead end job. I can’t wait to get off work and get in my mode.’”

Honey Made is a nine piece funk band consisting of: Willie Barnes, Vocals; Donald Ford Jr., vocals; Brian Cokeley, Keys; Lee Braverman, Bass; Chris Barnes, Drums & Vocals; Mark Saldana, Percussion; Dustin Hunter, Tenor Saxophone & Baritone Saxophone; Joseph Marrow, Trumpet & Flugelhorn; and Donald McDaniel, Trombone.

Honey Made as a group came onto the Austin music scene in 2018, but their story goes back to 2014 when members of the band went by Mama K and the Shades. Mama K and the Shades was founded by saxophonist David McKnight and singer Kelsey Garcia. While they had a great run, in 2015 tragedy struck after a show they were playing in San Marcus just south of Austin. The venue they were playing at had a beach theme, and after the gig, members of the band decided to swim in the San Marcus river. McKnight went in the water and never came back up. The band gathered afterward and decided that David would have wanted them to keep performing following his death.

“We had a lot of original music with that band, and we did release a record after his death,” said McDaniel. “The actual name of that record was Honey Made.”

McDaniel said bands can be kind of like marriages, and as they were coming upon the fall of 2017 they were in the studio. They hired Steve Berlin of Los Lobos fame to produce the album Brand New, and McDaniel said it is very high quality, although there were some intense moments of criticism that McDaniel said made the product better. However, in the middle of the session Garcia quit the band, leaving the rest of the nine-piece funk group wondering what to do.

They had to go back, take out her vocals and re-track everything they had done to that point. The band finished the record, but they knew they could no longer be Mama K and the Shades.

McDaniel said that when the music was really good, McKnight used to say, “well that’s just honey made.” In a way of honoring their founder and continuing the funk, they decided that would be the choice.

“We said why don’t we just be Honey Made?” McDaniel recalled. “Well, that makes perfect sense. It’s a tribute to David and kind of our identity. We wouldn’t be a band without David.”

The name change made things tough, as they had established themselves with their former moniker and they were struggling to get gigs and they had debts to pay off from the making of Brand New.

Fast forward to 2019 and McDaniel came up with a plan to re-establish their identity and release music under the new name. He was at the South By Southwest Festival and the Austin Music Foundation was putting on educational sessions, and one free session was to meet talent buyers. They managed to get booked for a show at Stubbs, in the indoor venue in June 2019 which ended up being the launch of the band Honey Made.

The wild journey continued, and just as they were getting started the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to all momentum. They wrote music and rehearsed as much as they could and put out “stay at home sessions.”

“The music that is on the new EP was written largely while we were isolated,” McDaniel said. “We kept creating even though we couldn’t get out.”

The EP is set for release in November 17 and will be available on all major platforms. It features seven very different tracks with a wide range of emotions emitting from the tunes. It has all the elements a funk album should have, whether it is the fun loving “Get On Up” and “Vibin”, the soulful R&B sound of “Upstairs and “Love It”, the relatable aspect of being fed up in songs like “Ashy Pockets (My Mode)” and “FYC” , or a song of gratitude like “DFA”-standing for D-Bone Funk Amazing named after McDaniel, who plays trombone, and what he’s done for the band.

“When you listen to this EP, you’ll see that we just refuse to be defined by a single genre,” McDaniel said. “We don’t just play the heck out of a single sound. That’s not us. In this record there’s a little more hip hop influence, but then there are songs like ‘Upstairs’ that is like an old MoTown sound.”

He added, “We are just a really, really good live band.”

McDaniel loves the diversity of the group, with multiple ethnicities and age ranging from late 20s to Donald’s age of 68-years-old. He said music is a unifier, and people of different walks of life can get on the same page through it.

“I really love these guys and they’re an excellent group of musicians,” said McDaniel. “Everything I’ve ever done for the band is because I truly believe in these musicians. I want us all to be successful. This business is a real grind and it is hard, but I think our music is really good. The only reason we do it is for the music at the end of the day.”

Instagram
Twitter
TikTok
honeymadeatx.com
Spotify
Apple Music


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Alternative Rock band Hands of Spite bring life to insightful new EP By Jenna Gengler Boston based Alternative Rock band Hands of Spite released their debut album on January 24, 2023. The band features frontmen Austin Bullock and Sam Gelston, both on guitar and vocals, and is backed by rhythm powerhouses Zac Stein and Nate Belton on drums/vocals and bass respectively. Their new project, titled Inchoate, dives into the idea of not being fully formed, continuing to grow and develop into something bigger and better than you once were. Matching the EP’s concept, the title “Inchoate” is described as “just begun and so not fully formed or developed”. It seems to be the perfect descriptor for new and upcoming band. The project was pioneered during the Covid-19 Quarantine and provided a way for the group to really get into a flow of their own. “Because of the situation, we were able to write and practice the pieces as much as possible,” Sam explained. “I think it allowed us to release something with a really accurate representation of our actual performances.” The feature track on this EP is “What Do You Say”, a song co-written by frontmen Austin and Sam. It dives into the question of who you are as a person and what you have done in your life. Not only does the song showcase the ability of both writers, but presents the band in an incredible and honest light. It is an articulate show of the band's diversity and musicality. The album, Inchoate, as a whole leads you through the stages of grief. As you listen to the song you are pulled through a series of definitive emotions, all redefined to be more accessible and easier to both understand and listen to. It is an amazing introduction to Hands of Spite as a band and a thoughtful lead up to their next project and first full length album. The album is set to release later in 2023. “We are so grateful to be here,” said the band. “We feel really lucky to be here, making music together and building ourselves from the ground up.” Though Hands of Spite already has a strong base and compelling music, they are continuing to grow and develop as a band as well as individuals, as their latest project so aptly describes. Keep an eye out for Hands of Spite in the coming year as they continue to release new music and plan for an upcoming tour. They are truly looking forward to growing with their fanbase and building up a community with the music that they create. Be sure to stay tuned in to Hands of Spite on various platforms for new music, visuals and social posts. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handsofspiteband/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handsofspite Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5XpTHruEyToOoIjtw73LVq?si=o48WucpwTBeJEaPnzXdaKQ Website: https://www.handsofspiteband.com/

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Duvee Davis and his hip hop career find new life after relocating to Bangkok, Thailand By Brennan Stebbins For Duvee Davis, boxing was life when he was a kid. Even when he would have rather been out playing with friends, he dutifully headed to his father’s boxing gym where he was often forced to spar with grown adults. “I was just getting beat up pretty much every day I went into the gym,” he says. But one night during a fight a DJ played Naughty By Nature and the music had an instant effect on Davis. He won his first fight that night and became obsessed with aggressive hip hop. “It motivated me to go to the gym, motivated me to fight, trained my brain to be ready to take all the stuff I was dealing with,” he says. “It was like a therapist or something for me.” And the young Davis was dealing with a lot. He lived in perpetual fear of disappointing his father and the physical and mental abuse that would follow. His father started an affair with a drug-addicted cleaning lady who then sexually abused the 13-year-old. She would later run over and kill his father in the family driveway. Hip hop helped so much, in fact, that Davis pursued it professionally, but he unknowingly impregnated a singer he’d shared the stage with. He only found out he had a son when the boy was four months old, and then his mother departed, leaving him a single father. Music came to a halt; Davis needed to shift gears and earn money. So he enlisted in the US army and found himself serving in war-torn Iraq. His struggles only mounted after he returned, so he took the bold step of moving himself and his son across the world to Bangkok, Thailand to leave his emotional baggage behind and get a fresh start. “I remember when I went overseas, the feeling of touching down in Kuwait or wherever and it felt like I was free of my past,” he says. “I wanted to move to Bangkok for the low cost of living, then I remembered that feeling and said I’d like to do that. It’s like a new start.” And with more money in the bank, Davis – and his son – are back in the hip hop game. “It’s so cool,” he says. “My son produces beats and it’s a great thing we can do together. He’s got the new style. I’m more boom bap traditional with the kick and the snare when I make beats but he’s like the new school trap.” Davis has released more than a dozen singles since 2020, including songs like “Glue” and “Success” this year. He’s also put out music videos for “Flowstate,” “Born Alone Die Alone,” and “Glue.” “Glue,” which already has nearly 30,000 plays on YouTube alone, represents everything going well in a relationship with a woman and the video features several women dancing. But filming pornography is illegal in Thailand and carries heavy consequences – while filming the video at a hotel, the manager thought the crew was filming pornography and Davis and others had to rush out and go on the run for a while. The video for “Flowstate” was filmed around his Bangkok condo, and “Born Alone Die Alone” was filmed in Bangkok’s Chinatown. “I want to start spreading my message,” Davis says. “For children that have been abused and to break the cycle of child abuse. I have my son, I had a tough upbringing with my stepmother and father and I’m breaking the cycle, not repeating the same thing. I want to spread that message and I want to make something that my son can step in and take over when he’s older and run with it.” Davis is back in the studio this fall working on four new songs with his son. They’ll be part of a future EP featuring his son’s beats. He’s also in the process of making another music video, and plans to start doing more on his YouTube channel about music and life in Bangkok. “Having money in the bank and not worrying about paying the bills, man that eases anxiety and bad thoughts a whole lot,” he says. “Not having to see the same people, the same things that I associate with the past trauma definitely helps. It’s a fresh start, a rebirth. I’m 39, almost 40,

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