Tue, Mar 19, 2019
JPEGMAFIA, aka Peggy, is a rapper/producer originally from NY but describes himself as a Baltimore artist. At 13 Peggy moved to the south where he eventually would join the Air Force and serve a 4 year tour in Iraq. Peggy is now an acclaimed artist covered by publications from Pitchfork to Fader and everywhere in between. Oh and if this doesn't work out he'll turn to journalism.
Thu, Mar 14, 2019
This week in The Cave we have two of our favorite artists from the Midwest - Smino and Monte Booker. Smino is getting ready to kick off his HOOPTI TOUR starting tomorrow, while Monte is still trying to find his way back to Earth. LA Rapper Buddy (loves kush) makes an appearance as well.
Thu, Mar 28, 2019
This week on The Cave, we are joined by the elegant, charming, inimitable Rico Nasty. She has descended from her bejeweled perch among the immortal souls of Mt. Olympus to join the peasants below and remind us why we all pray to her shrine nightly. Kenny, who just so happens to be a white person of the male gender, assembles an instrumental out of thin, blunt smoke air and the magic begins. Their collaborative album, Anger Management, not to be confused with the 2003 comedy starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson, is set for an April release. Expect emotional purging, guitar shredding, screaming, and KENNYYYYYYYYYYYYYing.
Thu, Apr 11, 2019
This week on The Cave, we are joined by a man of true character and grit, from the smokestacks of Gary, Indiana: Freddie Gibbs. He regales us with lurid tales of coke-snorting dinner companions and misplaced pussy hairs while Kenny Beats prepares an appropriate instrumental for the occasion. No sooner than Kenny (who against all odds has continued to be a white man from Connecticut) finishes the beat, Gibbs is in the booth tearing down our beloved studio with an effortless freestyle, riffing on a classic Juicy J verse. He then drops the mic in dramatic fashion, not unlike our 44th president at his final White House Correspondents' Dinner. We as an audience are left feeling blessed, moved, and like we truly learned something today.
Thu, Apr 25, 2019
Zack Fox is on The Cave this week. He is perhaps best known for his work on the Manhattan Project under J. Robert Oppenheimer, his involvement in Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States, and of course his role as host of Chef's Table on Netflix. Today he gives us mental illness bars, Gaza bars, dick in Doritos dust bars, among many other pressing and controversial modern issues. He is not afraid to say what needs to be said about dipping his balls in thousand island dressing, despite much opposition and pressure from both the Democratic party and the GOP. "We will not be silenced," declared a spokesman from his team earlier this week during a press conference. But where would Zack's mission be without the support of Kenny Beats, who somehow put together a soundscape reminiscent of our lord and savior Jesus Christ crip-walking for three days straight on his way back from crucifixion. It is only through the magic of collaboration between the two that we as members of the audience are welcomed to the proverbial meat show.
Thu, May 9, 2019
This week on The Cave, we have the illustrious Vince Staples in our presence. And at his behest, the honorable Kenneth Beats III. Kenny, who is definitely and most certainly not a member of any state police force or federal law enforcement agency administered by the Department of Justice, puts together an instrumental of global significance with massive geopolitical implications. Vince then effortlessly dismantles the Kenny Beat and continues on with his life through the exit door of The Cave. The pair behind classic 2018 album FM. does not disappoint, nor would you have ever expected them to. Just another day on the most compelling show on YouTube.
Thu, May 23, 2019
This week on The Cave we have Doja Cat, who left the farm just to bless us with a bubbly freestyle. Leaving her bovine endeavors aside for the day, she asked Kenny to serve up something hard but cute. Like a teddy bear with a gun. Seemingly, nothing is beyond Kenny's sonic versatility. Just minutes later, Doja got in the booth to give us "put this pussy on his face tattoos" bars, invent a new chest-centric dance, and ask us all to buy her merch.
Thu, Jun 6, 2019
This week on the Cave we have Texas legend Maxo Kream. After investigating the mysterious attic in the studio, wielding our episode 5 sword, and suggesting that Kenny strap up, Maxo starts his freestyle earlier than anyone on the show so far. As in, before the beat is even made. Kenny himself shows out this time sonically by adding his own voice as an element of the beat. Going above and beyond for the people. And then, before we even get in the booth, a dance-off erupts. But don't listen to to me, just watch the video, why would you even be reading a YouTube description, we're all dying and so much sooner than you think.
Thu, Jun 20, 2019
This week on The Cave we have Lil Yachty and guest producer 30 Roc. And for the first time on the show, we see the artist actually flat out decline the first beat they're given. We didn't even know that was an option. But things begin to consolidate when Kenny and 30 cook up a menacing, minimalist haunted house type beat that finally gets Yachty in the right mode. Boat then proceeds to give us more bars than anyone who has ever claimed to not be a rapper before him. But not before announcing the nature of his bowel movements to everyone in the studio. Perhaps that's the key to generating the right vibe for vocal creativity. See you all in a fortnight.
Thu, Jul 4, 2019
By popular demand but mostly our own intention, Atlanta's Earth Gang joins the Cave this week. After complaining about the Kenny Beats is white meme being fully eclipsed by the Kenny Beats is the police meme, our host proceeds to make a time machine that transports us back to the year 2003. The beat he makes draws from two completely different sounding songs from that year, Busta Rhymes "Light Your Ass On Fire" and Lumidee's "Never Leave You"-both reminiscent of a time when a young Kenny fantasized about Jennifer Aniston as he blossomed into puberty. It turns out to be the ideal concoction for the Earth Gang boys to hop on with an effortless one take. Revenge Of The Dreamers III out now.
Thu, Jul 18, 2019
This week on The Cave we have a special guest, very near and dear to the DOTS family. The originator of the "Woah Kenny," the 777 man, king of the non sequitur and overall legendary artist Key. I'm about to break the fourth wall of this YouTube video description and just say that he and Kenny made the best tape of 2018 and continue to be the rap/producer duo to beat. In this session, we get to watch a version of their process in real time. Key. requests a type of sound, in this case "some New Orleans shit." We then watch Kenny interpret that with his internal human algorithm and within a few minutes, it has inexplicably materialized as a beat. We even get a history lesson in New Orleans and Texas rap in the mean time. We also get to hear a live recording of the "Woah Kenny" tag, though it never quite hits the original mark (lightning never strikes the same place twice). Then, in one of the rarest moments on this series, we get to hear from 03 Greedo in the middle of Key!'s effortless freestyle. These are the times we will look back on years from now, and think "Oh shit, that really happened. We were really doing something." And our kids will say, "Shut up, dad" through their brain implant modules. Then we'll say, "You don't know anything about music." Then our kids will say, "What the fuck is music?" and go back to their fleshless digital selves in the cloud where there are no mixtapes, only data.
Thu, Aug 1, 2019
Capping it all off is Florida's Denzel Curry, who for the first time in show history, brought no one with him. We get an education in the late Ceddy Bu terminology, new instances of the now recurring theme of Kenny ignoring notifications from rappers while at the computer, and one of the most monumental-sounding freestyles we've witnessed on the show.
Thu, Oct 17, 2019
Kicking off this season is Detroit legend Danny Brown. We learn about how Kenny and Danny's paths crossed for the first time almost a decade ago. We learn about how the real life Pootie Tang saved Danny's life with a belt. We learn the WiFi network. And by the end, we all learn something about ourselves.
Thu, Oct 31, 2019
This week on The Cave we welcome Atlanta's 6lack. He's here not to sing but to rap, bringing capital B Bars to our humble show. Kenny cooks up a New York style, getting money on the block in Brooklyn type beat, inspired by thumbing through all the fake hundreds that have accumulated in the studio. We learn about 6lack's process, that he hasn't physically written his music since 2010. We learn about his history with battle rap, and his transition to singing. We learn that with enough time and personal, private effort, anyone could become a vocalist. Just don't let anyone hear your shit for a while. And finally, we hear one of the most effortless freestyles ever witnessed on this show. So effortless in fact, that after the first few bars, 6lack takes a seat and raps the rest of it on the DOTS couch. By the end, we are left with the overwhelming feeling of having been given more than enough bars. Look out for references to other Cave guests in his verse, and remember: if 6lack says anyone can become a vocalist, and Ratatouille says anyone can cook, you can do anything you want.
Thu, Nov 28, 2019
Welcome back to The Cave, where today we are joined by our first guest from across the pond, U.K. legend slowthai. His vibe of choice: a combination of strippers, Scarface, and pasta. Kenny expertly constructs a Nando's PERi-PERi sauce infused instrumental while slowthai initiates his transcendental, inner-truth-seeking creative process. After a series of advanced meditative techniques, including the ancient Taoist practice known in some rare traditional circles as the "outdoor cigarette and slow kick," thai was ready to face the booth. His freestyle gives us entry to what English philosopher Aldous Huxley referred to as the doors of perception. Replete with the keys to enlightenment, slowthai's bars begin to spill over like nectar of the Olympian gods overflowing their amphora vessels. Not long after rejecting the confines of the beat and continuing on into a cappella, our guest is asked to "get out the booth bruh, you're done," by which he graciously abides.
Thu, Dec 12, 2019
Yes, The Cave has historically featured the making of beats and the rappers that rap over those beats, but what is a show without evolution and expansion? Did The Wire not explore a different Baltimore institution with each season? Did Spongebob Squarepants shy away from innovation out of some misplaced sense of fear that in doing so it may alienate its core audience? The answer, as you may have already deduced, is "no." And in our case, what this all means is that for the first time in our beloved program's history are we bringing true instrumentation into the creative process. This week's esteemed guest and former Guitar Center sales associate, Omar Apollo, turns the studio into a veritable jam session by busting out the bass guitar and rigging its output to Kenny's Ableton grid. What results is something truly new and refreshing. Once Omar's impromptu bassline is layered among Kenny's drums, everyone is ready for magic to emerge from the vocal booth. And emerge it does, in angelic fashion. As though not enough firsts had already been achieved at this point in the episode, Omar's freestyle verse is not only sung, but it is also bilingual. Indeed, The Cave has been rendered an international broadcast. We're global now.
Thu, Dec 26, 2019
This week on The Cave, we are joined by Detroit native TeeJayx6. He's been called many things. Forbes named him "The Frank Abagnale of the SoundCloud generation." The New Yorker referred to him as "The John Nash of pin numbers." WIRED crowned him "The Bitcoin Bully." What he's done for the scamming community cannot be overstated. His painstakingly thorough yet accessible instructional scamming walk-throughs have democratized the art of credit card fraud, allowing anyone with an internet connection to participate in what has historically been an elitist meritocracy. He's also pioneered the effort of humanizing swipers worldwide through his music, bringing toward mainstream consciousness a group of people who have been consistently relegated to the fringes of society.