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
GROOVIN' FOR GOOD
Ubuntu Health Foundation has built a Chicago Afro-diaspora arc that doesn't present as an institution. It reads as a party. It works as public health programming.
The Reading · 30 Days Later — better known as, "Change Your Life"
NoLaces reads what stays. The first entry in The Reading · 30 Days Later — coverage one month after release, when the song has settled into rooms. better known as, "Change Your Life."
FREEDOM AT ANCHOR
Four days. Thirty rooms. One diaspora. The holiday, the music, the operators, the geography, the mentorship arc, and the rain on the boat. A NoLaces field report from Black Yacht Weekend 2026.
Our Playlist Is Human, Too.
On Vocalo's Hotline, the stations that became institutions, and the Afro-diaspora listening culture Chicago was always building.
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.
◷ Live Jun 10 — 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