Heating up brunch
WhySham and Blaze bring the fire to ICA Insta party
Brandie Blaze had a revelation at an Oompa show at Great Scott a few years ago (she probably wasn’t the only one, hi-hop champion Oompa’s performances tend to inspire). Blaze needed to up her live game.
“Oompa was so incredible, she set the stage on fire, I cried, I danced, it was amazing,” said Blaze, another Boston hip-hop ruler. “But I realized my stage shows are never going to be like that if I don’t have a DJ.”
Blaze hadn’t yet clicked with anyone on the decks behind her, but she thought DJ WhySham might have the skills and creative punch to fit the bill. After the Great Scott show, Blaze went right up to WhySham and asked her to be her DJ.
“What she didn’t know is that I was already checking her out, thinking, ‘This artist is so dope, so fire,’” WhySham said.
The two agreed to give it a go. That was two years and a couple of dozen shows ago.
Now WhySham is prepping the Sept. 6 release of her LP “Finally.” Naturally, the record features Blaze on a couple of tracks but it also shows off an impressive slate of Boston aces including Cakeswagg, Red Shaydez and StarGyal Trippy. WhySham describes “Finally” as a tribute to her and Blaze’s work together and a project devoted to the city’s best and boldest female and non-binary artists on a single album.
“With this (album) I wanted to pay an ode to all the females who are putting in the work,” she said of a local scene crowded with talent.
Ahead of that, WhySham and Blaze will perform online via the Institute of Contemporary Art’s Instagram page for a Sunday brunch party. The pair will show off the charisma and chops that got them on the stage at the Bustout Boston Festival, a handful of Boston Music Award nominations and some adoring fans.
So what do they have planned for the ICA stream?
“You never know who might tune in, so we got to have our A game on,” WhySham said, noting the ICA audience may not know them as well as the club crowd does.
“We’re just going to have a (expletive) blast,” Blaze added with a laugh “We want people to have a good time and get up and dance. I think that can be hard to translate over Zoom, but Sham and I’s energy together, it’s undeniable, whether it’s in person or over Zoom.”