Jason Griff shares the new “Fireside Chats 2.”
A year and a half after releasing his critically-acclaimed “Fireside Chats” album, producer Jason Griff is back again, flipping punk rock songs into scorching beats featuring over 20 of the best artists in indie rap. Familiar voices such as Defcee and Curly Castro return on the second installment as well as new collaborations with artists like AJ Suede, Fatboi Sharif, Brian Ennals and more. The Fireside Chats projects are inspired by Griff’s love of the punk rock scene in Chicago in the late 90s, when he often made the trip from the far reaches of the Northwest suburbs to the Fireside Bowl on Fullerton Ave.
The iconic bowling alley-turned venue-turned bowling alley again is featured on the cover of the album. Griff came up with the idea to flip punk rock samples during a time when producers were so heavily leaning into flipping soul samples, and he wanted to do something he felt was new and unique to the world of sample-based hip-hop. The result was Fireside Chats.
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The second instalment in the series leans more heavily into the collaborative spirit than the first. Eight of the ten songs feature more that one rapper, often highlighting fresh pairings that we have yet to hear, e.g Brian Ennals and Alex Ludovico on “KetaMegan” and Bobby Noble (of PenPals) and Love, Ulysses on “Laser Eyes.” The album is also fortunate to include another posthumus verse from the late Lorde Jones Scorcese, as he pairs with longtime friend and collaborator NiceyMost on the banger “PB & J Flow (Ode to Dipset).” Scorcese had originally recorded the song for the first Fireside Chats, but it was withheld from the album after his passing in order to include it on “Fireside Chats 2.“
Also featured on this murderer’s row of indie rap talent are Ace Cannons, Teller Bank$, Billa Camp (Low Down Brass Band), King Micah the Infamous, Doampeace (DXA), Rapswell (PenPals), Alaska (Hanger 18, Def Jux), Zilla Rocca, andrew and Jesse the Tree.
