Photo by Max Sassaman Ramond, a rapper and entrepreneur who hails from Denver, is no stranger to switching things up. He travels frequently and, before the pandemic, spent several months living in Europe to focus on his music and personal growth. So, his recent relocation to Mesa came as no surprise to his manager, friends or fans. “Even if I’m in places I don’t know or have never been, I feel comfortable when I’m...
Monique Hasbun’s musical influences span a gamut from classic rock to Disney artists to the Latin music that permeated her Phoenix home as a child. Her debut, eponymous EP was released in September 2018, and she’s set to release an as-yet-untitled follow-up EP this summer. “I am very excited about the new music I am working on,” Hasbun says. “I definitely feel like I am revisiting my [Latin and Middle Eastern] roots with my new music.”...
“I really love my hometown,” singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun says. “My sisters make fun of me for how often I make excuses to go home.” Now in Nashville, Oladokun, who is releasing a new album on July 17, grew up in Casa Grande, a small desert city on the outskirts of Phoenix. Raised in a traditional Nigerian household, she describes her childhood as “being suspended between two worlds.” That duality, different perspectives and desert life all...
