Cover Stories
Detroit artist Stoop Lee is here to build up his peers with cool hip-hop, indie, and electro-pop
Uplifting. If we summed up Stoop Lee in just one word, that would be it: uplifting. “[At] the end of the day, I just wanna lift the city up and get people to see what’s going on here,” the artist, singer, and rapper otherwise known as Ade Olaniran says. “It’s bigger than me.” Olaniran particularly…
Dreamy Detroit Americana duo Rose St. Germaine tease truth from classic Westerns
“Timing is everything if you’re gonna be a gunslinger,” Emily “Rose” Seward croons on the title track of Rose St. Germaine’s new eclectic Americana album. Released in November and mastered by Third Man Records, Gunslinger investigates the good, the bad, and the ugly lurking inside all of us. “There’s a certain nostalgia to 1960s Spaghetti…
Marv Won’s next battle is personal
If you’ve ever seen him rap in a battle, you might know Marv Won to be sharp, charismatic, and funny at the same time. For over 20 years, he has made a name for himself in the battle rap world while making time for his own music projects in between. “Battle rap is for the…
Muslim twins Aint Afraid are challenging and changing the musical landscape
Stacey Holton watches in disbelief as the waitress inside of Canton’s Coffee Haus serves her twin daughters two stuffed croissants and two slices of cake. She gives them that, “Are you serious?” look and they respond with a, “Yes we are!” Holton shakes her head and says nothing else. One thing she understands is that…
Rock band Checker is playing to win
There’s a new two-piece rock ‘n’ roll band in town — and no, they aren’t pretending to be siblings. They’re called Checker, and they’re Cinquex on guitar and McKenna Fain on drums. Cinquex, 25, is from Detroit, while Fain, 23, is from the suburbs. “From the outside looking in, we’re like a PR person’s wet…
Problematic Black Hottie is Detroit nightlife’s empress of girl power
After recounting fragments of her DJ origin story while sitting on a bar stool inside downtown Detroit’s Paramita Sound, 29-year-old Nyambura Njee unspools a white receipt more than three feet long. The scroll lists all the clothing treasures she found at local thrift shops that day. Her eye-catching fashion taste is in demand as she…
Forged through friendship, Jack Droze & Lilahk will never not ‘Try’
Jack Droze & Lilahk have been performing together long before they had a figurative platform, or a literal stage. Down alleyways or in liquor store parking lots, drumming on upturned buckets beside Dumpsters or eventually freestyle rapping at any given social gathering, each seemed particularly energized by the other’s presence and creative company. And along…
Ahya Simone breaks boundaries
Ahya Simone does whatever the fuck she wants. She doesn’t like putting parameters on her creativity or being bound by one genre. The harpist and vocalist infuses R&B, ambient, and jazz into classical music. She’s also a composer, community activist, and filmmaker on some “catch me if you can” type shit. One week she’s playing…
How Kaci the Model became Detroit’s biggest and brightest child star since Aaliyah
Kaci, her sister Kalyx, and dancers Omaria (aka Mushy) and Kassidy are in the lobby of the New Center’s Fisher Building doing what energetic tween girls do best: make TikTok videos. Dressed in coordinating pink and white outfits, they pop, they lock, they spin, and they dip to Lil Boosie’s “Watch My Shoes.” A quick…
New Detroit music: 10 artists to watch in 2023
• Brooklyn Queen talks Dr. Phil, new music, and transitioning from child star to teenage diva • Stoop Lee is here to build up his peers • Dreamy Americana duo Rose St. Germaine tease truth from classic Westerns • Marv Won’s next battle is personal • Muslim twins Aint Afraid are challenging and changing the…
Brooklyn Queen talks Dr. Phil, new music, and transitioning from child star to teenage diva
It’s 90 minutes before showtime and 17-year-old hip-hop artist Brooklyn Queen is relaxed and carefree. She’s dressed in a gray denim outfit, black boots, and a baggy leather Detroit Pistons jacket, and talking to the other hip-hop artists in the room while trading laughs with friend and collaborator Yanni Monett. There’s not one sign of…
At Dearborn’s old-school Roman Village restaurant, I bonded with my Italian girlfriend’s dad
Roman history: On a recent guys’ night out with my Italian sweetheart’s father, I finally got around to visiting Dearborn’s venerated Roman Village. After being turned away at Miller’s Bar (they closed at 6 p.m. on a Saturday for lack of staff), we made our way down Dix and wet our whistles in the bar…
Detroit City Council approves hundreds of millions in tax incentives for District Detroit
Detroit City Council on Tuesday approved more than $615 million in tax incentives for two white billionaire developers — the Ilitch family and Stephen Ross — to build new residential units, hotel rooms, and office space in areas that should have already been transformed. Following more than two hours of public comment, the council voted…
Detroit civil rights icon Sarah E. Ray’s house to become a museum and community garden under new owner
The work to preserve the legacy of Detroit’s unsung civil rights hero Sarah Elizabeth Ray continues. On Tuesday, The Detroit Land Bank Authority unanimously voted to sell Ray’s house and an adjacent lot for $1 to SPB Global, which is registered to local businesswoman Shannon Steel. She plans to turn the home into a museum…
Michigan Science Center adults-only party returns with Lizzo laser show
Here’s your chance to hang out at the Michigan Science Center without all the screaming kids. On Saturday, April 15, the Science Center’s adults-only “After Dark” event returns, this time with a “World Space Party” theme. In addition to exploring the museum, attendees can enjoy drinks, food, music, special demonstrations, and, more importantly, a laser…
Wayne County workers busted for allegedly falsifying their time sheets
Three Wayne County workers are accused of billing taxpayers for time they didn’t work. The Wayne County Bridge Department employees are expected to be arraigned Tuesday morning on felony counts of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison. They are Scott VanPeeren, 54, of Wyandotte, John…
Rick Haglund: Whitmer says ‘bigotry is bad for business.’ Is it true?
It was a clever phrase designed to grab headlines, and it did. “Bigotry is bad for business,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in her January State of the State speech, imploring lawmakers to add anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation to the state’s civil rights law. They ultimately obliged and Whitmer signed the…
Hamtramck-based ‘pop star wannabe’ Mara Wanna explores grief on ‘Half of the Man’
Got a Detroit music tip? Send it to music@metrotimes.com. Pop star behavior on grieving and loss: Here’s new music from Hamtramck-based “pop star wannabe” Mara Wanna, who I recently saw play her first show at Marble Bar a few weeks back opening for drummer and singer-songwriter wunderkind Elise Trouw. The song is called “Half of…
Demolition begins on long-abandoned La Choy factory along Joe Louis Greenway in Detroit
Crews began demolishing a long-vacant Chinese food factory along Detroit’s Joe Louis Greenway on the city’s west side on Monday. The $1.6 million, city-funded demolition of the La Choy building at 8100 Schoolcraft Rd. is expected to be completed in a week. The city plans to raze or redevelop about 100 vacant commercial buildings during…
Randall Robinson, an ardent advocate of human rights, dies at 81
When a notice appeared that Randall Robinson, the exemplary human rights activist, law professor, and man of letters had transitioned, journalists around the world recalled his unimpeachable commitment and global influence, many of their voices gathered on Journal-isms where the esteemed editor Richard Prince is at the helm. On Saturday, as word spread of Robinson’s…
Another Black-owned ‘Detroit legacy’ cannabis dispensary opens
Another Black-owned dispensary opened in Detroit over the weekend after the city approved 34 applications in December for cannabis businesses to finally open. High Profile Cannabis Shop opened on Saturday at 20327 Groesbeck Hwy. on the city’s east side. It’s the latest adult-use dispensary to open in the past two weeks that is part of…
Lapointe: The Boss springs back — but at these prices, do you still get your money’s worth?
En route to Detroit and everywhere else, the touring Bruce Springsteen stopped last week for a non-concert gig in Washington, D.C., to accept a “National Medal of the Arts” from President Joe Biden. Corny Uncle Joe called him “a ‘Joisey Boy’” and he hinted at his own potential re-election bid by referring to a Springsteen…
Gov. Whitmer repeals ‘right-to-work,’ restores prevailing wage law
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday signed a package of pro-labor bills that restores prevailing wage for construction workers and repeals the state’s so-called “right-to-work” law that prevented union contracts from requiring membership fees as a condition of employment. The bills are a major victory for the labor movement as Democrats continue to use their new…
String of dispensary break-ins in Michigan leads to charges against 12 suspects
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is filing charges against 12 people following a string of break-ins at cannabis dispensaries across the state. The suspects are accused of breaking into 21 dispensaries in May 2022. Nessel issued warrants to charge the suspects with safe-breaking, criminal enterprise, and breaking and entering a building with intent. If convicted,…
House of Dank Holds Official Grand Opening Party in Saginaw
SAGINAW, Mich. – THIS SATURDAY, House of Dank will host yet another Grand Opening Party on March 25th at 3054 E Holland Rd, Saginaw, MI 48601 from 9am to 6pm. Store hours for in-store shopping and curbside pick-up will run from 9am to 9pm. The recreational only location will have vendors on site throughout the…
Detroit man charged after video shows him brutally beating dog for chewing his Cartier sunglasses
A 29-year-old Detroit man accused of viciously beating a pit bull puppy and then dumping her in a garbage can outside his house because she had chewed his Cartier sunglasses was charged Thursday with animal torture and cruelty. The man, whose identity will be released when a magistrate signs the warrant, faces up to seven…
Court of Appeals orders Crumbleys to stand trial for mass shooting at Oxford High School
James and Jennifer Crumbley must stand trial for the deadly mass shooting at Oxford High School, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. The Crumbleys bought their then-15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley, a gun as a Christmas gift that he used to kill four of his classmates and wound seven others in November 2021. The Crumbleys…
Wayne County man who stormed U.S. Capitol sentenced to 9 months in prison
A Brownstown Township man who declared that “war was coming” before he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in prison, two years of supervised release, a $500 fine, and restitution of $2,000. Anthony Puma, 50, pleaded guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding on Aug. 30, 2022.…
Ypsilanti’s Basil Babe turns out a bangin’ massaman curry
As we ate at Thai restaurant Basil Babe, a friend commented that its massaman curry is the best version of the dish he has come across in the Ypsi-Ann Arbor area, and perhaps anywhere. I’ll go even higher in my praise — this is one of the better dishes I’ve dug into for a review…
Berkley welcomes weed with opening of its first dispensary
The city of Berkley is getting its first dispensary in time for 4/20. Quality Roots will open its sixth — and largest — location on April 5 at 3916 W. 11 Mile Rd. To celebrate the opening, the dispensary will be offering deals and giveaways and hosting DJs and food vendors throughout the month. “This…
The Fillmore Detroit is holding a job fair
Do you want a job at one of Detroit’s hottest music venues? The Fillmore Detroit is hosting a job fair to fill a number of open positions including ticket scanners, box office staff, bartenders, ID checkers, coat check, and ushers. Operator Live Nation says the part-time and seasonal jobs “are ideal for college students, retirees,…
Right to Work repeal will make Michigan a leading state for workers’ rights again, unions say
A flurry of expected signatures from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are set to accomplish what Michigan unions have been awaiting for 11 long years — a repeal of anti-labor laws like Right to Work, which suppress workers’ collective bargaining abilities and weaken union resources. Other pro-labor reforms making their way through the Legislature include reinstating prevailing…
Ann Arbor’s FoolMoon announces out-of-this-world details for 13th annual festival of lights
Ann Arbor’s 1th annual FoolMoon festival is set to return to the streets of Kerrytown on Friday, April 7, and on Wednesday organizers announced new details for the event. “With a theme of UFOs (unidentified foolish objects), guests will be transported to another galaxy, so let’s blast off!” organizers said. As usual, the festival includes…
Free Will Astrology (March 22-28)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): If we were to choose one person to illustrate the symbolic power of astrology, it might be Aries financier and investment banker J. P. Morgan (1837–1913). His astrological chart strongly suggested he would be one of the richest people of his era. The sun, Mercury, Pluto, and Venus were in Aries…
