Draft:Hailemariam Kassa
Sideshow | |
|---|---|
| Born | Hailemariam Kassa January 27, 1998 Ethiopia |
| Origin | Los Angeles |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Rapper, Songwriter, Record Producer |
| Years active | 2020-Present |
| Labels | 10k |
Hailemariam Kassa (Born January 27th, 1998), known professionally as Sideshow[1], is an Ethiopian rapper, songwriter and record producer based in Los Angeles. While Kassa was born in Ethiopia and is a proud Tigrayan, he moved to the DMV area in elementary school and currently resides in Los Angeles, he combines styles from all 3 of these areas to create his diverse and experimental rapping style.[2][3]
Kassa began his career in 2020, with his first song, "01โBEIGECAMRY", releasing on January 17th, 2020, to DSPs under his longtime collaboration partner MIKE's label, 10k. This was the lead single to his first mixtape Farley which released to Digital Streaming Platforms on February 24th, 2020. This song is also one of his biggest, amassing over ten million listens on Spotify.[4]
Kassa would find minimal success with his first few projects, releasing the EP Ginger Shot later in 2020 and the mixtape Asked Amlak to Wash My Hands, also in 2020. He finally began to find larger success early on in 2021 with his feature on the track "TV Dinners" with Boldy James on Producer The Alchemist's EP, This Thing of Ours. He then carried this success into his first studio album, Wicked Man's Reprise which released on May 7, 2021, to plenty of critical acclaim, but not much commercial success.
Outside of rap, Kassa is very active on issues concerning third-world countries in Africa, especially in his ancestral region of Tigray. He is very vocal about issues occurring within the nation, and he was especially active during the Tigray war from 2020-2022, often talking about the war in his music and spreading information on the war and the atrocities being committed on social media.
Musical Career
[edit | edit source]2020: Early Music/Farley Era
[edit | edit source]Kassa released his debut project, a nine-track mixtape titled Farley, to DSPs in February of 2020. It is presumed to be named after one of Kassa's imprisoned friends, as the day the album released, he posted the cover art to Instagram with a caption beginning with "Free Farley. Shout out all my bruvas."[5] Not much is known about the recording and making of this project, only that it featured his first ever single "01โBEIGECAMRY" and the cover art was made by Kassa himself. The project included 5 featured artists, Former Odd Future Member and Current Skateboarder Na-Kel Smith, Kassa's longtime friend, collaborator and label owner, MIKE, and rappers Medhane, MAVI and Zelooperz.
In between the release of Farley and during the making of his next project, Ginger Shot, Kassa joined MIKE and fellow label mate, Jadasea during their UK tour, as he performed at a concert in Bristol[6]
March 2020 came another project from Kassa, as he released the four-track EP Ginger Shot on March 13, 2020. While this project is only four songs long, the making of it was likely rushed, as it released only 18 days after Farley and Kassa himself claimed the songs were made entirely in Airbnb's.[7]
Kassa's final major project of 2020 came when he released his mixtape Asked Amlak to Wash My Hands on April 1, 2020. While this project didn't do as well as his last major project Farley, He still gained more recognition, as the song "A's" gained over one million listens on Spotify.[4]
Kassa's last release of 2020 came on July 2, 2020, with a song titled "Strength".
2021: Wicked Man's Reprise Era
[edit | edit source]Kassa started 2021 by joining Boldy James on The Alchemist's song "TV Dinners", this was his first major feature as both Boldy James and The Alchemist are fairly well-known names in the underground rap scene. This quickly became the biggest song he's been featured on, gaining over twelve million plays on Spotify.[4] This song earned Kassa much more popularity while he was in the making of his first studio album, Wicked Man's Reprise
Kassa took to Instagram on May 3, 2021, to announce he was releasing a new album, making a post including the front and back cover arts with the caption "WMR out Friday. Artwork by me."[8] Wicked Man's Reprise officially released on May 7, 2021, The album did much better commercially, with the intro track "Kings of Different Things" receiving over twelve million plays on Spotify.[4]
Kassa then became featured on MIKE's 2021 album, Disco! on the song "alarmed!" in June, bringing more attention to his name, as the song currently sits at over a million listens on Spotify and MIKE is also fairly well-known within the underground.[4]
Kassa finished the year with the singles "interchangable", featuring MAVI and Na-Kel Smith, and "The Way of All Flesh", releasing on September 1, 2021, and December 28, 2021, respectively. In between these tracks, he also released a four-track EP titled Skinny: Who Made the Devil Red? on December 10, 2021.
2022: Wegahta Tapes Vol. 1 Era
[edit | edit source]To begin his 2022 campaign, Kassa announced his second studio album, Wegahta Tapes Vol. 1, via an instagram post on May 11th, 2022, 2 days before the album was set to release. The post included images of the front cover art and back cover/tracklist with a caption reading "Wegahta Tapes Vol 1 / Dropping this Friday / Appreciate everyone involved / Appreciate everyone listening / Artwork by me. / 10k UA."[9] The album officially released on May 13th, 2022 to a similar amount of praise, it also earned an official critic review from Dylan Green on Pitchfork, recieving a 7.4/10.[10] This project also continued the upwards trend commercially, with the tracks "Sneeky Steps" and "Wegahta's Brother" recieving 3.4 million and 2.8 million plays on Spotify respectfully.[4]
To finish off 2022, Kassa announced the single "SouthSideSuperhero" on Instagram on August, 19th, 2022. The post included the cover art as well as a caption reading "Out Now / Produced by @omari_lyseight / #UA #10K / ๐๐๐๐โโฌ."[11]
2023: DON'T JUST STAND THERE! / JAM Era
[edit | edit source]On January 26th, 2023, Kassa posted to his instagram page again to announce his new album, which was set to release on the same date, but was seemingly delayed by management. This was said by Kassa himself in the caption of the post "2/21**** tried my best to drop today but @naavink told me 2 wait! / Cover by Myself / Stamped it Myself / FREE @2muchmeds ๐."[12] This caption accompanied 4 slides, the cover art of the album, the back cover art, which included the tracklist and producers, a photo of the original cover art before stamping the title, DON'T JUST STAND THERE!, and finally a video of Kassa himself stamping the title onto the art.[12] Kassa's third studio album, DON'T JUST STAND THERE! was officially released on February 21st, 2023 to similar critical acclaim once again, also similar to his previous project, it recived an official critic review from Mackenzie Cummings-Grady of HipHopDX, recieving a score of 82/100.[13] This project like his past works, also saw increased success commercially, with the tracks "S.H.O.W. ENT" and "JIH LIKE MORANT" recieving over 7 million and 6.5 million plays on Spotify respectfully.[4]
The first half of 2023 saw Kassa do a few shows across the nation with his labelmates, including his very first headline show in Brooklyn, NY, alongside his labelmates Niontay and El Cousteau.[14] He also appeared on The Alchemist's track "Bless" alongside MIKE, bringing him more recognition, as the song has recieved over 5.6 million plays on Spotify.[4]
Kassa then announced his collab EP JAM produced by longtime collaborator Alexander Spit on his instagram page on July 17th, 2023, the post included the front and back covers, with the back cover including the tracklist, and a mix of 3 images and videos showing the creative process behind the covers. The post was also accompaanied by a caption reading "JAM OUT 8/4 ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ / PRODUCED ENTIRELY BY @alexanderspit / POWERED BY @ua_regime + @bodymotion__ / MADE BY ๐๐พ."[15] The project was released on August 4th, 2023, following the lead single "Chapter 6: Hard 2 Kill" being released 2 weeks prior on July 20th, 2023.
Kassa's final release of the year was announced on September 27th, 2023[16], with the track coming the next week on October 5th, 2023, a single titled "Lex (Every Workhorse Goes to Heaven)". This would be the lead single for his next album, F.U.N. T.O.Y.
2024-2025: F.U.N. T.O.Y. Era-Present
[edit | edit source]Kassa would take to Instagram on May 5th, 2025 to announce his next album, the post included the cover art as well as a caption reading "F.U.N. T.O.Y. 6/11 / Painting by @haesuhpaik / แญแแต แ แแ แแฒแซ."[17] Kassa's fourth studio album, F.U.N. T.O.Y. was released on June 11th, 2024. It also recieved a critic review from Dash Lewis of Pitchfork recieving a 7.6/10.[18] This project however, did not do as well commercially, with no tracks recieving over a million plays on Spotify.[4]
His most recent appearances has been on the tracks "Triangle Offense" with MAVI and Niontay and "Brotherly Hoods" with 12k Gotti.
Personal Life
[edit | edit source]Outside of rap, Kassa expresses much of his creativity through art and clothing design, as he often creates the art for his own music as well as the music of other artists and he owns a clothing brand where he often releases many different pieces of clothing, often with brigh colors and underlying messages.[19]
Kassa is also very vocal about issues within his home country of Ethiopia, specifically within the Tigray region. This is shown within all his creative expressions as he has many tracks such as "2 GOOD TIGRAY"[20] which discuss the war in Tigray and call for peace within the region. This is also seen in his art as the back cover of his album Wicked Man's Reprise depicts a man stepping on a burning Ethiopian Flag, showing disrespect to the nation; as well as 2 images of snapping chains, showing that the people should be freed. Finally, during the war, he constantly posted to his instagram about the war and he still has 2 highlights on his page titled "WOYANE LIVES"[21] and "FREE TIGRAY"[22] which are full of his posts about the war, why it should stop, and calling for justice for the civilians.
Discography
[edit | edit source]| Sideshow discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | Wicked Man's Reprise, Wegahta Tapes Vol. 1, DON'T JUST STAND THERE!, F.U.N. T.O.Y. |
| EPs | Ginger Shot, Skinny: Who Made The Devil Red?, JAM |
| Mixtapes | Farley, Asked Amlak to Wash My Hands |
| Singles | 01โBEIGECAMRY, Strength, interchangeable, the way of all flesh, SouthSideSuperhero, S.H.O.W. ENT, Chapter 6: Hard 2 Kill, LEX (EVERY WORKHORSE GOES TO HEAVEN), SELL ME SICKNESS SELL ME HEALTH (EAZY T) |
| Key Features | TV Dinners, Bless, Hell Date, alarmed!, Triangle offense |
References
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