A Star In The Making: Reflecting on Menace4Hire’s “With All That Know Now” Listening Party

Aug 13

Words and Video by Keegan Hon

Standing shoulder to shoulder, everyone waited patiently for Menace4Hire to play his new project With All That I Know Now in Classick Studios located in West Town.

Menace4Hire is a local Chicago artist and fashion designer whose impact was clear when everyone's head moved in sync as his calm and laid-back flows grooved over levitating production. This is Menace's second full-length project after What Would Menace Do? that he dropped in January of 2024.

The atmosphere was freeing, but focused on analyzing Menace's new project– with rounds of applause closing out each track. Even collaborators were celebrated due to Menace highlighting them throughout the duration of the project, Waine Ghazi being of the collaborators. Ghazi not only featured on “JOY U BRING,” he also produced 5 tracks and co-produced with Malx on Carousel as well. Angelo Leroi produced the remaining 3 tracks on this album and the chemistry of Menace and his collaborators was highlighted through the cohesion of sound throughout this project– which was felt within Classick.

Having this listening party within a studio like Classick made a lot of sense. Legendary artists have had projects recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered within this space– Some of these artists are Chief Keef, Chance The Rapper, SZA, Smino and many more. This studio has cultivated an environment for up-and-coming artists as well, such as Kaicrewsade– an artist from Chicago who was also in attendance. Up-and-coming artists showed out to support Menace like Frank Leone, Femi Ishola, CHIDERA, and Greenttea to name a few. This environment of friends, collaborators, and supporters was full of warmth and joy with the sole goal of celebrating Menace4hire’s With All That I Know Now.

I was already a fan of Menace4hire before this listening party from tracks like “Casablanca” and “Merlin “from his EP Side Opposite North, but seeing the kind of people that showed up for him at this small intimate studio– silently listening for the next track to play, made me realize the kind of community Menace is building within Chicago, and I’m glad I got to be a small part of it for a night.

You can listen to this project on all streaming platforms.