ARTS Picks: Gritty City Records

High-energy Richmond hip-hop coalition Gritty City Records featuring nearly a dozen emcees and producers gets real and raw, spitting fiery verse influenced by ’90s artists such as Nas, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan. The group is joined by socially conscious lyrical mastermind Keese, Alex Brown of extraterrestrial-seeking Friends From Earth and spiritual hip-hop duo Lo$tnFound. […]

Local rapper Keese envisions unity through compassion

Keese is a quiet guy. While growing up in Charlottesville’s 10th and Page neighborhood, he didn’t say much. But he paid close attention to everyone around him—his friends and family, his neighbors, what was going on in his city schools. English was his favorite subject—he liked to read and he loved to write stories. When […]