The Cave (2019)
The Cave is a bi-weekly freestyle series hosted by Kenny Beats featuring a new artist each episode. One 10 minute beat from Kenny, 16-32 bars from a friend, every other week.
-
Episode 1 - KENNY BEATS & JPEGMAFIA FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-03-01JPEGMAFIA, 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.
-
Episode 2 - KENNY BEATS & SMINO + MONTE BOOKER FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-03-15This week in The Cave we have two of our favorite artists from the Midwest - Smino & 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.
-
Episode 3 - KENNY BEATS & RICO NASTY FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-03-29This 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.
-
Episode 4 - KENNY BEATS & FREDDIE GIBBS FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-04-12This 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.
-
Episode 5 - KENNY BEATS & ZACK FOX FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-04-26Zack 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.
-
Episode 6 - KENNY BEATS & VINCE STAPLES FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-05-10This 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.
-
Episode 7 - KENNY BEATS & DOJA CAT FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-05-24This 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.
-
Episode 8 - KENNY BEATS & MAXO KREAM FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-06-07This 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.
-
Episode 9 - KENNY BEATS & LIL YACHTY FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-06-21This 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!
-
Episode 10 - KENNY BEATS & EARTHGANG FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-07-05By 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!
-
Episode 11 - KENNY BEATS & KEY! FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-07-19This 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).
-
Episode 12 - KENNY BEATS & DENZEL CURRY FREESTYLE
Release Date: 2019-08-02As devastating as it sounds, we have finally come upon the season finale of The Cave. It was just this past March that we released the first episode of this show, with the intention of showing people some of the personalities and antics that take place daily at Kenny’s illustrious studio. It is meant to serve not only as entertainment, but also as inspiration for those who want to be creative with their friends. For that reason, the feel of this show is intentionally DIY, not slick and over-produced, not over-thought. This was all conceptualized, designed, produced, and edited in-house by the DOTS family. That is all to say, you can do it too, using the people you have around you and tools that are already available. Capping it all off is Florida’s Denzel Curry, who for the first time in show history, brought no one with him.