At the intersection of EDM, soul, and instrumental hip hop, one up and coming artist has been absolutely cooking…or should we say baking? Kicking off March, Daily Bread served up a metaphorical buffet of beats to breadwinners alike who came to see the Atlanta native throw down at Irving Plaza in New York City. Rhett Whatley, aka Daily Bread, is a sonic alchemist mixing all your favorite southern trap, crunk, and snap music delights with a healthy helping of bass. On a cold windy night in the city, nothing quite warms us up like some freshly baked bangers.

Walking into the Irving Plaza, we could already tell this night would be different, as fans were dressed to impress bringing plenty of bread innuendos. Everything from fake baguettes to toast costumes created an undeniable festival aura emanating through a jam-packed sold out crowd of locals and tour vagabonds alike. After a great showing from openers Lumasi and Yoko, the audience was warm and the stage was set for Rhett to raise the roof. Like a strike of lightning illuminating the dead of night, Daily Bread lit up the venue with the bass heavy trip-hop track “The Rain Song,” accompanied by a light show and album art from his most recent project, Flash Flood II. We could hear his mastery of instrumental creation in this song from samples like “Rain” by Jose Feliciano, “Make it Rain” by Fat Joe ft. Lil Wayne, and more, all cut and woven into a single cohesive composition. It was clear that tonight would be a beat chopper's delight as the bar was set high for the sample-based producer to shine.

Although the house was packed, there was no shortage of groovin' and getting down from the audience as soul and rap mixes combined with dub audio manipulation to feed us the fuel needed to bust a move. This was again displayed on the song “Two Below Zero,” where Rhett out did himself by combining sitar jams, trembling bass distortion, and sci-fi sounds with a plethora of samples from songs like “My Hood” by Jeezy, “So Icy” by Gucci Mane, “Hey Ya!” by OutKast, and even “The Snow Miser and Heat Miser Song” from the 1974 Christmas TV special, The Year Without A Santa Claus. At one point during the show I encountered a few wooks and asked them how they would describe this genre of music to someone who’s never heard it before, to which they answered “Your favorite hip hop hits playing over the sounds of household appliances having an all out brawl with one another.” Certainly an interesting take from the eclectic crowd.

The show raged on and a track that definitely stood out was “Push It To The Limit” ft. Artifakts, where we entered an 80s flashback scene of drug lord action adventure with the song “Scarface (Push it to the Limit)” by Paul Engemann. Needless to say, the smorgasbord of genres encountered during the show along with Rhett’s ability to mix and produce on a live beat pad kept us on our toes. After his set ended, Daily Bread came out for an encore banger bash, playing his remix to dirty south classic, “Walk It Out”, and a brand new number that had a classic rock feel with a trap remix. Our heads are still spinning after this one, so go check out Daily Bread on his Flash Flood Tour, coming to a city near you this spring!

Connect with Daily Bread on Instagram, Spotify, SoundCloud and their website.