Lorena Cupcake

The brave souls who devote their lives to selling records face specific challenges in addition to the usual retail headaches.

An interview with an internet famous rapper & meme maker on mental health, being true to yourself, and fucking with the vision.

A memorial for a dearly missed Chicago rapper, singer, and founder of Pivot Gang.

An introductory primer to Mexican soft drinks.

I profiled a rapper out of Chicago's DIY scene who created an musical roadmap to healing and love dedicated to a young niece growing up on the west side.

At a time when so many streetwear shops depend on a coastal presence to make their mark — and on selling coveted items like Yeezy sneakers to make their money — FTW is doing something different, and they’re doing it in a way that honors the place where they were raised.

I wrote about 90s/00s nostalgia in rap and what it says about youth as a hip-hop status symbol.

The Store Brand Soda version of a End of the Year List, which is to say not one at all.

The most popular article Store Brand Soda has ever published. It uses the framework of an experience I had at a bar in Austin to examine the larger issue about how abuse in punk is often tolerated due to a lack of concrete policies and staff training at venues and a lack of social consequences for abuse within scenes.

I explain my thought process when considering the creative output of an abusive individual, and pour forth conflicted feelings about The Beatles, James Brown, Modest Mouse, Drunkdriver, and Pablo Picasso.

I wrote about taking trauma and mental illness into account when we discuss Kanye's unpredictable behavior.

I interviewed Chicago three piece Glamour Hotline about marketing, friendship, & DIY.

I wrote about Famous Dex, fandom, and how we react when it turns out artists we've supported have perpetrated abuse.

“You’re doing everything right,” my doctor said, pressing a stethoscope to my slouching back. “You’re just really run down.” I resolved to find out exactly why the festival flu was such a powerful opponent, and how I’d defeat it next summer.

At its most inspired, Drake’s feelings-centric rap creates soap operatic confections of Cheesecake Factory whipped cream; at its lowest, it takes form of an underhanded shot at a rival’s public struggle with mental illness and addiction.