Who & Why....Naledge

Being from a city where some of hip-hop's heavy hitters like Kanye, Common, and Lupe Fiasco hail from, one might find it hard to create their own niche'. But after speaking to Chicago's own Jabari Evans or more commonly known as Naledge, one half of the duo Kidz In The Hall, this young artist has set his own path by releasing his very much anticipated mixtape Chicago Picasso.

With the word Picasso in the title one could easily draw the conclusion that Mr. Evans would be painting a picture of the city known for music, food, and bad weather.

"This is my vision of Chicago," said Naledge "This is like the soundtrack to the perfect day in Chicago."

So with many of cities visited on tour, national fame with his group, and a host of collaborations with artists such as Estelle. Clipse, and Bun B it may come to many as a shock that he feels overlooked in his own hometown.

"I could be rated higher than what I am," he said. "I am underrated when it comes to the five best rappers in Chicago."

With Chicago Picasso that is out now Naledge comes full circle with his first solo showing.

"Everyone has their sound," he states "I put this out myself, everything about this mixtape is me."

If you haven't heard....

On July 28^th “More To Love” will make its debut premiere on Fox Television. The objective of the show is to find love for “average-looking” participants. The producer of the show is Mike Fleiss who is also the producer of ABC’s The Bachelor. In that show one male contestant searches for love throughout a group of perfectly sized zero female contestants. ‘More To Love’ which airs July 28^th will however depart from the usual picture perfect contestants and will feature overweight hopefuls. Mike Darnell, president of Fox Alternative, had this to say about the show.

“For six years it’s been skinny-minis and good-looking bachelors, and that’s not what the dating world looks like,” “Why don’t real women—the women who watch these shows, for the most part—have a chance to find love too?”

So what does this mean for a society where eight out of ten people over the age of 25 are overweight? Does this mean that new doors for plus size Americans to make it on television have now opened? Or is this yet another cruel ploy at the hands of network execs to make fun of the ones who are different?

I must say that through this show overweight people in America will be looked as people and not as outcasts.