The
Record.
Chicago's Afro-diaspora, documented. The rooms nobody else is writing about, the selectors running the city, the promoters building the infrastructure. First-hand. In real time.
NOLACES RADIO · CHICAGO, IL
BAD is a Pregame.
By 6 PM on a Friday at Brûlée, the room is already negotiating its tempo. The plates haven't all gone out yet. The first selector is settling in. And the people walking in are dressed for somewhere they have not yet decided to go.
Nine Rooms, One Diaspora.
Black Chicago spent three days dancing for money and one day sitting down to eat and the weekend's real shape was the contrast.
CHICAGO · DOCUMENTED · 2026More from The Record.
The RecordBAD Is a Pregame
Inside the Chicago Friday format three weeks old — The Pregame, DJ Q-Hefner, and what reverse brunch actually means for Black Chicago's grown-and-social economy.
◷ Coming Jun 4 — Get notifiedThe RecordFriday Jr. — Peter Cottontale's Thursday
A Grammy-winning Chance the Rapper collaborator holds a weekly residency at Ace Lounge on Wells Street. Nobody is writing about it. We are.
◷ TBA — Get notifiedThe ReadingForever Mine — Chicago's First Diaspora Festival
They called it R&B and house. We heard the diaspora — Shaggy, Kaytranada, Terry Hunter, Hillery Banks on one ticket.
◷ TBA — Get notified
