Sam’s Jams: 30 Songs Showcasing Detroit’s Current Genre-Bending Music Scene
Commemorating 70 years of local music, WDET producer Sam Beaubien highlights 30 tracks made today that show the diversity and genre-bending of the local music scene.
Artist: Sasha Kashperko
Track: Coffee Care
The Detroit music scene has gone through many changes over the years. From 60’s soul, the warehouse parties of the electronic music scene, the rap battles at The Hip-hop Shop, to the Garage Rock shows the Gold Dollar; Detroit has continued to be a leading force in the development of today’s music.
Everyday this week on Sam’s Jams we have focused on a different element of Detroit music. Monday we covered Jazz from Detroit, Tuesday was funk and soul from the Motor City, Wednesday we focused on electronic dance music, and Thursday we dove into Detroit hip-hop with J Dilla. For the last day of our week long Sam’s Jams residency celebrating WDET’s 70th Anniversary, we will focus on artists that are making waves in today’s local music scene.
What excites me the most about today’s music scene in Detroit is that many artists are blurring genre lines by mixing different styles together. Artists like Sasha Kashperko, Marcus Elliot, Ian Fink, and Shigeto are blending Jazz, hip-hop, electronic music, and soul together. R&B singers like Supercoolwicked and Cousin Mouth are also merging multiple elements into their music. The Hip-hop scene is continuing to evolve with artists like Nolan The Ninja, Adolf Jyn, and beat-makers like Jonah Baseball, Mefta, Illingsworth, and so many others. And producers like Kyle Hall, Jay Daniel, Waajeed, Omar S, and Blacknoi$e, are not only leading the local electronic scene, but also playing big stages all over the world.
Check out the Sam’s Jams playlist for over thirty tracks of new local music, and over 120 tracks total of Detroit classics.
Sam’s Jams is the weekly song selection of WDET’s creative producer Sam Beaubien, a longtime Detroit musician who also helms the soul-funk band Will Sessions.
From 70 years ago to contemporary releases today, Sam’s Jams is the musical equivalent of digging for hours in dusty record store bins to find forgotten-but-should-be-remembered deep cuts pulled from the genres of funk, jazz and soul genres.
