Hoods up, Cincinnati! Joey Talmage, formerly one half of Flowhio, returns to the Queen City under his new moniker Hoody Time for a special free show at Chameleon in Northside on Sunday, May 15 to perform his recent EP The Hotness. Talmage reunites with his old Flowhio producer, Samuel Steezemore, to bring forth a project that sizzles from start to finish and the show will be Hoody Time's first performance of the new album.
The Hotness was originally intended to be a Flowhio creation to mark the group's comeback album, but it was not in the cards once Talmage moved to Los Angeles and began making music there. Nonetheless, even though it is titled under Hoody Time, Steezemore (Wade Foster), produced the majority of the beats on the EP and despite the absence of his vocals, the Flowhio spirit certainly remains present in the project. It took over two years to finally bring all the elements together, but now that it's here, its heat is ever present and extremely flammable.
“It was a good core group of people working on the record, but it had to get to a certain point before it could actually take off. A lot of it was just hurry up and wait and figure out how to get everybody and everything in its right place,” Talmage said. “By doing that, I think we came out with a pretty (expletive) good project that sounds like people cohesively worked together and made it work.”
Another familiar face to the Flowhio family is lyricist Sam Rothstein who not only appears on The Hotness but will also have his own set at Chameleon on May 15 before Hoody Time. Rothstein drops bars on “Supreme Illitude” on this project, and also had teamed up on various Flowhio joints in the past.
“That kid's got fire; Rothstein has heat. I love his style. He's incredible with the wordplay and I love meeting emcees that surprise me with cadence and the way he blends words,” Talmage said.
Also within The Hotness effort is a sense of altruism, as all proceeds from the single “Little Dreamer” and one-sixth of the overall album proceeds go to the Whiz Kids program, a local tutoring and mentoring initiative aimed at assisting at-risk elementary students. On the track itself are some local kids that sing the hook of the song.
“I've always had the spot in my heart where I want to give back because the best joy you can find in life is the joy in others,” Talmage said. “When I had the idea of Little Dreamer, I immediately thought about the kids that my mom works with. It's about those feelings you get when you finally know what you want to do in life or even when you're little and you have huge dreams that change over time. You never really forget when you were little and you wanted to be a fireman or be just like your dad, so it felt perfect to have kids sing it. I wanted it to be really raw and beautifully imperfect because that's what we all are.”
Talmage has not done a show in his hometown of Cincinnati since he left for the West Coast and is extremely hyped to return to the homeland.
“It's going to be a good time reconnecting with the boys and just partying,” he said about coming home. “We're going to have a good show.”
Also on the bill is producer and electronic sound wizard Phonophage who is the opening act for the evening. DJ Jessica the Ripper will be spinning the wax on the turntables throughout the show and hip hop producer Homage (CVG) is hosting the event. The night is a Cincinnati showcase centered around Hoody Time and The Hotness beginning at 9pm and free to anyone over 21 years of age.
