Music Under Glass: A Westside Perspective
July 17 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
*Registration for this performance opens on July 1, 2024; the link will be added here*
Garfield Park Conservatory’s Music Under Glass summer concert series returns with an exciting lineup of 3 phenomenal West Side artists!
Kicking the series off, MFnMelo will perform tracks from his forthcoming EP’s “Shapes Of Transition” and “Limbo: Living In My Brain Occasionally”, which showcases some of Melo’s most vulnerable work to date! The show serves as a deeper dive into some of Melo’s previous work and the forthcoming EP’s in a more intimate and detailed manner. Melo will be accompanied by a band, additional vocalist and maybe even some pivotal guests. Just as the songs will be stripped down, so shall the layers between artist and the listeners. This show will run as a soundtrack to the life and career of MFnMelo. The ups and down. The wins and losses! Full on pivotal experience for those old and new to what MFnMelo has to offer! *This program is for all ages, however, please note that some lyrics contain profanity*
Tickets: Free with registration. Space is limited; if you register and are no longer able to make it, please let us know so we can open up the ticket to someone else.
Accommodations: If you’d like to request accommodations, please email Bendi at bqian@garfieldpark.org. On the registration form, there is also a spot to indicate if you’d like to request an accommodation. Please submit requests at least 72 hours prior to the start of the program.
About MFnMelo:
MFnMelo is an emcee, songwriter and founding member of the hip hop group Pivot Gang. With a style that balances sharp observations and poetically abstract reflections about life’s highs and lows, MFnMelo’s catalog has amassed millions of streams and a feverish fan base as a fully independent artist. Having established a grassroots movement in recent years, there is now a notable momentum behind him as he pursues an even bigger breakthrough.
Hailing from Chicago’s West Side, MFnMelo first started rapping through a shared passion for music with a group of friends who would eventually become Pivot Gang (comprised of Melo, Saba, Joseph Chilliams, Frsh Waters, John Walt, Squeak, and daedae). That passion is still felt in the collective’s music and has led them to be revered in their hometown, voted as the Best Hip-Hop Group by Chicago Reader in 2021, and having garnered recognition around the world.
Following his 2017 solo debut project, MeloDramatics, MFnMelo played a key role in Pivot Gang’s 2019 album, You Can’t Sit With Us, and embarked on the group’s nationwide tour before returning to his solo work that same year and dropping his sophomore effort, Everybody Eats. Vibrant, enlightening and full of lyrics with lasting emotional depth, Everybody Eats presented Melo at his best and most lucid self, finding a groove he’d revisit again in 2021’s #EnRoute —a collaborative EP with the late Pivot Gang producer Squeak.
MFnMelo’s work has been featured on Pitchfork, Complex, Billboard, The Fader and more. He’s also collaborated with the likes of Mick Jenkins, Jean Deaux, Monte Booker, and Smino. Alongside Pivot Gang, he’s sold-out multiple shows in cities across the United States, and earlier this year he joined Saba as an opener for the Back Home tour.
From recording in Saba and Joseph Chilliams’ makeshift basement studio to rocking stages in front of thousands of people, MFnMelo’s steady ascent is one to watch and root for.
