070 Shake ISSUE 1: THE PROJECT ISSUE
WWW.070SHAKE.COM
CONTRIBUTORS
Art Director None Photography by Dan Regan Written by None Editor in Chief None Creative Director Franklin Diaz
Ranging from fraught to vicious, the voice of 070 Shake (Danielle Balbuena) is among the most unique in contemporary rap. Part of the New Jersey-based 070 crew, the rapper and singer broke through in 2016 as a teenager with “Trust Nobody,” originally released during the year’s first quarter. The cold-blooded track was picked up by Kanye West’s Def Jam-supported Getting Out Our Dreams label, which re-released it in late September, as Shake was about to begin an extensive October-November trek across the U.S. as the opening act for the 1975. A Lil Yachty collaboration titled “Rewind” was issued during that stretch. Just after the tour’s completion, Def Jam released the various-artists Direct Deposit, Vol. 1 compilation and featured “Trust Nobody” as the finale. Shortly thereafter, Shake and her 070 associates -- including Ralphy River, Treee Safari, and Phi -- independently released a compilation of their own, The 070 Project: Chapter One. Another independent Shake single, “Stranger,” follo-
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You can find more information at our website www.070shake.com
Table of Contents AN OVERVIEW OF THE LIFE DANIELLE BALBUENA
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WHO IS SHE?
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Singer from New Jersey with a deep, raspy voice, named 070 Shake 02
TOURS
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New Jersey’s newest rap poster child is going on her first headlining tour.
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CAREER
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Early years (2015–2016) Glitter and Yellow Girl (2017–present)
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THE 070 PROJECT: CHAPTER 1
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Features cuts from Shake and the rest of the 070 squad, including Phi, Hack,
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DEF JAM PRESS ROOM
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About.
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“GLITTER”
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070 Shake is making a name for herself on the big stage.
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HOW 070 SHAKE STOLE THE SHOW ON KANYE WEST’S NEW ALBUM
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PERSONAL LIFE
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On ‘Ye,’ the voice that stands out the most is from the young G.O.O.D. Music
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Shake being in a relationship with Sophia Diana Lodato.
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More at www.youtube.com
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I’m nothing I’m everything I’m not a girl I’m not a boy I love all colors I am human I AM. A QUOTE BY 070 SHAKE
One of many surprises on Kanye West’s new album, YE, was the appearance of a little-known rapper and singer from New Jersey with a deep, raspy voice, named 070 Shake, on the track “Ghost Town.” Twenty-year-old Shake, who signed to G.O.O.D. music in mid-2016, only released her first solo EP in March of this year, so you’d be forgiven for not being familiar with her catalogue just yet. But to get you started, we’ve compiled a brief guide to who she is, where she comes from, and how she got here.
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Who Is She? AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY CORINNA BURFORD
070 Shake is a 20-year old rapper and singer from North Bergen, New Jersey. She and her 070 crew (named after the New Jersey zip code), began releasing tracks on SoundCloud in early 2016, and soon after caught the attention of YesJulz, the Miami-based promoter, social-media star, and “director of vibes” (her words). After hearing the song “Proud,” Julz reached out to Shake on Twitter — “she slid into the DMs,” Shake said in an interview with RapRadar — and quickly signed on to be her manager. Since then, Shake has released a series of singles on her own, a mixtape with her crew called the 070 project: Chapter 1, featured on a track with Lil Yachty, and recently put out her first solo EP called Glitter, via G.O.O.D. Music and Def Jam. Since 2016, Shake has released around 20 loose tracks on Soundcloud, both on her own and with other members of the 070 crew. Last year, the crew released the 070 project mixtape through 1AM Entertainment, and in March of this year, she released her EP, Glitter. Key tracks include “Proud,” “Trust Nobody,” “Honey,” and “Sunday Night.” Her debut album, Yellow Girl, is due out next year. In January of this year, she told Billboard that she “was kind of in a funk when I was writing Yellow Girl. I worked on Yellow Girl when I was in that phase where I was doing all the stuff that I talked about in Glitter that I wanted to break free form. It’s kind of backwards on how my life was really going.” Member of the New Jersey collective 070 whose songwriting and lyrics touch on heavy topics such as drug addiction, death and love. She has notable songs that include “Bass for My Thoughts” and “Trust Nobody.” As prominently referenced in her music, Shake uses female pronouns when describing lovers. A 2017 Vogue essay on rising queer stars in rap music mentioned Shake being in a relationship with Sophia Diana Lodato. From teaching herself to play the piano, with no formal voice training or writing background – the power of Shake’s music comes from her unapologetic honesty.
Drawing from her life experiences, her raw emotional perspective is exemplified in her writing, her unique sound and her creations with the 070 Crew. The crew 070, representing the first three digits of the zip codes they hail from, is not just a group of creative youths but rather a family of talented young artists. It’s a sincere relationship of support and creativity between all of them that influences her emotional, dark, yet inspiring sound. In a culture where many millennials are more focused with building a brand rather than the message they’re creating, 070 Shake strays from the rest. Once she graduated, however, she underwent a stark change. Experimenting with psychedelics, she dove into Plato, Socrates and the Bible. “I became a new person. I had 100 tabs on my computer and learned all this on my own. After that I was reborn,” she says. “I felt like I didn’t need all the LSD. Felt like a trip from learning.” Realizing she had a heart for the kids in her city struggling in an overcrowded school system, she tagged herself “070 Shake” in tribute to her city’s zip code. She started putting music to her poems and “vibing out.” She’d never recorded until “Proud,” but once the seal was broken, she knew she’d found her passion, the way she could change the world—through music.
More information at www.070shake.com
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More at www.xxlmag.com
070 SHAKE IS GOING ON TOUR A N A RT I C L E WR I T T E N BY S I D N EY M A D D E N F E B R UA RY 2 7, 2 0 1 7
New Jersey’s newest rap poster child 070 Shake is going on her first headlining tour. The 21-year-old artist announces today (Feb. 27) that she’s hitting the road on the Route-13 Tour. Shake will embark on the 13-city tour in early April and is planning to bring her entire collective, 070 Crew, with her. Shake is still riding high off her 2016 banger “Trust Nobody” and got her first taste of tour life last year when she accompanied rockers The 1975 on their tour as an opening act. ”It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a little more intimate than the tour with The 1975, although I learned a lot from them,” Shake told XXL. “I know that it’s more than just going up there singing songs. I want to touch people in a way that they see things differently that’s really the point of it. You gotta give them back the love that they’re bringing, that’s what they’re really looking for.” In addition to bringing her 070 crew with her, Shake plans to supply her fans with
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new music soon. The upstart known for lovesick SoundCloud gems plans to drop an entirely new body of work preceding the tour. “If everything goes as plan, I’ll probably drop an EP,” said Shake. Peep which cities Shake plans to hit in the dates below and relive some of Shake’s past tour moments by checking out her tour mini doc. 070 Shake Route-13 Tour Dates April 7 - Jacksonville, Fl. - Jack Rabbits April 8 - Atlanta Ga. - Vinyl April 11 - Philadelphia, Pa. - The Foundry @ The Fillmore Philadelphia April 12 - Charlotte, N.C. - Visulite Theatre April 13 - Washington D.C. - U Street Music Hall April 15 - New York, N.Y. - Webster Hall April 16 - Boston, Mass. - Brighton Music Hall April 17 - Pittsburgh, Pa. - The Club @ Stage AE April 19 - Cleveland, Ohio - House of Blues
April 20 - Chicago Ill. - Reggie’s Rock Club April 21 - Grand Rapids, Mich. - The Stache @ The Intersection April 22 - Toronto, Ont. - The Hard Luck Bar April 23 - Detroit, Mich - Shelter
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AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NICO AMARCA IN NEW MUSIC
Early years (2015-2016) Prior to her music career, Shake wrote poetry. Shake began her music career in late 2015, recording the songs “Proud” and “Swervin”. Shake’s stage name is derived from her affiliation with the 070 music collective; 070 coming from NJ’s 070 area codes. By 2018, the 070 crew was noted to have 11 members when considering artists and producers. By 2016, Shake was earning hundreds of thousands streams on SoundCloud. Soon after posting several songs on SoundCloud, Shake attracted the attention of Miami-based promoter and social media personality YesJulz. After hearing “Proud” specifically, Julz reached out to Shake on Twitter, quickly signing on to be her manager. Shake broke through with “Trust Nobody”, released early in that year. In August, Shake collaborated with fellow 070 members Ralphy, River, Hack, and Tree on the single “Honey”. The song featured production from frequent collaborators The Kompetition, a three-person production group. “Honey” simultaneously premiered on Complex and 1 AM Radio on Dash. Vibe commented that the track “[sounded] tailor made to rock on dance floors everywhere.” Also in 2016, Shake signed with Kanye West’s GOOD Music label. GOOD Music found out about Shake through Julz, as she played some of Shake’s music at a Yeezy fitting, interesting the label’s president, Pusha T. After singing Shake, the label picked up her “Trust Nobody” track and re-released it in September. Shake spent October and November opening up for English rock band The 1975 during the American leg of their 2016 tour. On December 8, 070 released their first mixtape, The 070 Project: Chapter 1. Trust and believe Shake will be stirring up the blogosphere in no time. She listened mostly to rock music, particularly John Mayer, the Beatles, Kid Cudi. “I listened to things with feeling,” she says. “The Beatles didn’t really care bout materialistic things. I wanna bring it back to that. There’s a difference between music that bumps and music you feel. ‘Imagine’ is one of my favorite lyrical songs. The words are pretty simple, but just the meaning in general.” Indeed she is, and she’s not leaving anytime soon. In less than two years, 070 Shake has racked up millions of Soundcloud plays; featured on everyone from Lil Yachty to Fabulous records; appeared onstage alongside artists like Sonny Digital, Pusha T and Desiigner; and garnered praise for her “gritty realness” that places her in a “category of her own” (Highsnobeity). Signing to GOOD Music / Def Jam in 2017, her appeal is obvious—thick with emotion, her smoky voice cuts through a never-ending throng of hollow-voiced public figures obsessed with wealth and superficial pleasures. In a world more consumed than ever with consumption, 070 Shake’s honesty and heart are desperately needed.
More information at www.highsnobiety.com/shake/
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Glitter and Yellow Girl (2017–present) AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY MIKELLE STREET
Shake modeled for Gyspy Sport’s Fall 2017 runway show. She also went on her first headlining tour in April. In a 2017 interview with Paper, Shake mentioned her Yellow Girl EP would release later that year. The project however, was moved back to release after Glitter, another collaboration with The Kompetition. Her solo debut, the 6-track Glitter EP was released on March 23, 2018, although it was originally slated for a January 26 release and to include 12 tracks. At the time of Glitter’s release, media outlets noted that her lyrical content concentrated on her self esteem issues, drug use, and sexuality. Shake described Glitter as “about being in a dark place and finding yourself and figuring it out. It’s about being in the lowest of lows type of shit.” Shortly prior to Glitter’s release, Shake performed at the SXSW music festival. In May, Shake was featured on “Santeria”, a track from Pusha T’s album Daytona. Shake also had uncredited feature vocals on “Ghost Town” and “Violent Crimes” from Kanye West’s album Ye. Michael Sapanora praised the two tracks as “standout cuts” on the album, and ranked “Ghost Town” specifically as the album’s best song. HotNewHipHop praised Shake’s performance on “Ghost Town” as the highlight of the song, and called the track the climax of the album. Shake told Pigeons & Planes that “Ghost Town” was nearly left off Ye, as the track was finished on the same day of the album’s release. “Ghost Town” also featured vocals from Kid Cudi, another inspiration of Shake’s; she shared with Pigeons & Planes, “All my life I grew up listening to Kanye West and Kid Cudi. I’ve cried to their music. They’ve definitely changed my life, and saved me from a lot of stuff.” Shake’s recording experience with West in Wyoming for his Ye album impacted her thoughts about Yellow Girl; she stated “I don’t know if it’s going to be called Yellow Girl. I know the songs are definitely
More at www.billboard.com
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Meet The @070Project AN ARTICAL BY GARBS
So you just thought it was Shake yelling “070� huh? Well you were wrong and the 070 Project has arrived and is here to stay. So when this whole YesJulz x 070Shake phenomenon began, most only heard of Shake (Dani) and a few heard the features from 070 crew member Phi. Little did we all know, but 070 had multiple components and has been patiently waiting to unveil the entire team as a whole. Well that time has arrived and the New Jersey based trippy squad has decided to
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make their unified voice heard. With an in-house production group (consisting of Sebastian, Razsy & Ether) called The Kompetition, a list of lyricist, a model, a few dope videographers and a city that supports, The 070 Project comes together like Megatron. Their sound is infectious, their look is eclectic and their plan is working. To announce their forthcoming to this music industry, the crew does what crews do and held a cypher. Recently they released a home-based visual depicting their
many dynamics and overall support. “070 Freestyle� is the debut of the 070 Project as a whole and displays Shake, Malick, Phi, B-Hesh, Hackley and Ralphy River. The entire tandem of talent delivers heavy bars as they speak on the growth they have experienced so far. The visual was shot right in their backyard of Paterson, NJ and was captured by the visionary known as LLAMA. On a beautiful New Jersey day, the crew and a slew of supports head down to the local park to film great vibes, good music and psychedelic scenarios. Making great use of their time nd efforts, 070 Project shows fans what to expect when the team unifies. Ribus imus ped molentotam, aute ommolor eptatqu atiatur sum apeliqui temoluptius, utem quid
quatur, cus, unt landucipsus. Lorernam que modi sequam eturescil ilit ut est adi bea ni debis dictae nimodi ommolo et occus nus audae alis dolorem sitas con re volor rem eum ate cumque volor adictur, sed quatemp orecatquunt. Peliatur res quae reprovid ma ipictor eiumque vollam fugianim nonsectorae dolore, corum laborum quam fuga. Et aut re solupta sperum comnis erspit aut la que asi velentet liqui comnimus rem ut aut et, sincil min niae. Agnatem facea dignis dolorenis dolupta tisquo doloreh endunt. Itibus rem in eatur, quam, ullam quas qui to est, sit, consequi reiuscid que esti con corempo reprerore omnihilibus im fuga. Nam ab ipsant acil eaquate moditi totaspicias et vel ipiet et quam, volorro rehent dolo et facerro consedis alibus,
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The 070 Project: Chapter 1 AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JONATHAN SAWYER IN NEW MUSIC
Fresh from a North American tour with 1975, New Jersey newcomer and G.O.O.D. Music signee Shake continues to bolster her fan base, as alongside her 070 collective, they have come together to release a new group mixtape, The 070 Project: Chapter 1. The release arrives today as the crew will be taking over the illustrious Webster Hall tonight for a sold-out performance.
includes their previously released singles “Honey” and “Stayin Alive.” The latter song was inspired by run-ins with the police in the crew’s hometown of North Bergen, New Jersey. Although Shake is only 19 years old, she’s already doing major things, including aligning with social media star YesJulz and hitting the road on tour.
The 070 Project: Chapter 1 features cuts from Shake Tracklist: and the rest of the 070 squad, including Phi, Hack, Raphy River, Treee Safari, Bheeshma, BeHeard and Malick. 1. Intro To Die 2. Precious Pressure (Ft. Ralphy River, Treee Safari & “Nothing here was forced. Us coming together, having Shake) the same vision and fitting well into one another’s 3. Smokey Mirrors (Ft. Ralphy River, Phi & Treee Sasound… it manifested organically,” said Shake. “We fari) know why we are here, our destiny is inevitable. We 4. Through The Speakers (Ft. Shake & Phi) represent freedom. We just want people to enjoy the 5. Apple (Ft. Shake, Ralphy River & Phi) music and be free.” 6. My Niggas (Ft. Treee Safari, Beheard & Bheeshma) 7. Keep Up (Ft. Shake & Malick) So you just thought it was Shake yelling “070” huh? Well 8. Cooking (Ft. Treee Safari, Malick, Bheeshma, Ralphy you were wrong and the 070 Project has arrived and is River & Razsy Beats) here to stay. So when this whole YesJulz x 070Shake 9. Remember The Days (Ft. Razsy Beats, Ralphy River, phenomenon began, most only heard of Shake (Dani) Shake, Beheard, Phi & Treee Safari) and a few heard the features from 070 crew member 10. Interlude To Fight Phi. Little did we all know, but 070 had multiple com- 11. Dem Dead (Ft. Razsy Beats, Phi, Ralphy River & ponents and has been patiently waiting to unveil the Shake) entire team as a whole. Well that time has arrived and 12. Staying Alive (Ft. Shake, Ralphy River, Hack & Phi) the New Jersey based trippy squad has decided to make 13. Honey (Ft. Shake, Ralphy River, Hack & Treee Satheir unified voice heard with the “070 Project: Chapter fari) 1” 14. Crown (Ft. Ralphy River, Hack, Shake, Phi & Treee Safari) With an in-house production group (consisting of Se- 15. Outro To Live bastian, Razsy & Ether) called The Kompetition, a list of lyricist, a model, a few dope videographers and a city that supports, The 070 Project comes together like Megatron. Their sound is infectious, their look is eclectic and their plan is working. Shake and her New Jersey-based crew 070 unleashed The 070 Project: Chapter 1 on Thursday. The project
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More at www.complex.com/music/.com
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One day, 070 Shake was on the floor searching for quarters. The next, she was in a Miami penthouse. The 21-year-old singer and rapper from North Bergen, NJ, had never really considered making music, but she’d often soothed her depression by writing poetry. One September day in 2016, a friend mentioned a brother with a recording studio and she felt a tug. Why not marry her words with music? Stepping into the booth for the first time ever, she recorded “Proud,” an achingly vulnerable reflection on teenage rebellion and rejection over a gently swaying, bittersweet beat. “At that time I felt like I made no one proud, but I always envisioned myself as a leader,” she says. She posted the song online and social influencer Julieanna “YesJulz” Goddard—who eventually would become Shake’s manager—found it, tweeting, “Where’s this boy?” “I was like, ‘I’m a girl and I’m here,’” Shake says. In her early adolescence, she sunk into a deep depression, and poetry was her escape. Still, pouring her heart onto the page couldn’t quell her rising rebelliousness, and she soon was getting suspended from high school for pranks like stealing the frogs from the science lab.
More at www.billboard.com
LOCATION
New York, U.S.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Daniel Regan
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I GREW UP LISTENING TO KANYE WEST AND KID CUDI. I’VE CRIED TO THEIR MUSIC. THEY’VE DEFINITELY CHANGED MY LIFE, AND SAVED ME FRO MA LOT OF STUFF. A QUOTE BY 070 SHAKE/ VOGUE/ARTICLES
Those videos of you listening to “Ghost Town” in Wyoming are amazing. That was just a real moment... All my life I grew up listening to Kanye West and Kid Cudi. I’ve cried to their music. They’ve definitely changed my life, and saved me from a lot of stuff. And I never made music back then—if I had told myself four years ago that I was going to be on Ye’s album called ye, I would have said “yeah, right.” It was just random, I never made music so that wasn’t an option for me. I wrote poetry when I wasn’t playing basketball, but never music. Could you tell us how you ended up signing to G.O.O.D? A girl from my town played Kanye one of my songs, called “Sunday Night.” Initially, there were labels that were looking at me, but I said I’m not going to sign to anyone unless it’s Kanye West. And a week and a half later, Steven Victor found me. Speaking of elevating, what’s it been like being on a label like G.O.O.D.? I think it’s the dopest part of mu-
sic. I see us as the Avengers, everybody else is Thanos. Francis & The Lights, he did a lot of extra stuff on ye, and he’s really fucking dope. I became good friends with him, he’s on the label too. I also love it because everybody has a really big heart, and their mission is bigger than getting plays. It’s a lot about spreading love, and I love that. What are you looking forward to in 2018? 070 Project Part 2. This one is fucking different, shout out to The Kompetition. I’m also going to have the best project of this year, once it comes out. Some of the words that said ‘‘070 Shake’’ in an interview by Graham Corrigan for Pigeons & Planes.
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070 SHAKE DELIVERS ‘GLITTER‘ EP AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY XXLMAG
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LOCATION
New Jersey, U.S.
PHOTO
Dan Regan
070 Shake is quietly building a major buzz. On Friday (March 23), the G.O.O.D. Music recording artist released he new EP Glitter. The emotional mix features six tracks, including the lengthy title “I Laugh When I’m With Friends But Sad When I’m Alone,” which sets the tone on the EP. The North Bergen, N.J. rhymer delivers her soul over the length of the release with musical musings about sexuality, addiction and depression. After building a buzz with her 070 crew and the single “Trust Nobody” in 2016, the “Stranger” MC signed to Ye’s imprint in last year. In April, she put out the group tape The 070 Project: Chapter 1.
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01. HE’S BIPOLAR The
album
cover
for
West’s “ye” reads in lime-green font: “I hate being bi-polar it’s awesome.” The cover also shows a photo of moun-
02. LESS IS NOT MORE In
some
instances,
a
concise offering is more welcome than a project that is overstuffed for the purpose of streaming records. But for Kanye
03. BUT KANYE’S RHYMES ARE NOT UP TO
Unlike Pusha T’s Daytona, Kanye doesn’t pack the lyrical punch that is necessary to take the production to the next
The New Jersey native goes on to say that “Ghost Town” almost didn’t make the album’s final cut. “At the end we were talking and asking, ‘Is this the one right here?’ And I kind of mentioned ‘Ghost Town’ and said maybe we could use something from that. He listened to the reference again, and said, ‘Oh yeah, this is the one.’ So ‘Ghost Town’ almost didn’t make it,” Shake explained. The Glitter artist notched a feature singing in Spanish on Pusha T’s “Santeria,” which appeared on his bristling seven-track Daytona album. Shake is still hard at work on her debut album that’s expected to drop later in 2018.
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LOCATION
New York, U.S.
INTERVIEW
Rolling Stone
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More at www.rollingstone.com
Review: Kanye West’s Chaotic, Insecure ‘Ye‘
AN ARTICLE WRIT TEN BY RYAN DORGAN/ THE NEW YORK TIMES/ REDUX
It’s been a mighty grim year to be a Kanye fan. For a lot of people, this guy is just a celebrity douchebag who dabbles in music on the side. But for the first time, it sounds like Kanye agrees with them. It always seemed like he cultivated that “jerk-off who never takes work off” image so he could hide his genius behind it – he felt safer there, with a smokescreen of bravado to hide the vulnerability and melancholy in his music. You didn’t have to dig deep to find it – it was all over songs like “Bound 2” or “We Major” or “All of the Lights.” But he’s kept busy in 2018 playing the clown, trying way too hard for cheap controversy and making longtime adherents feel like suckers. He’s worked to stroke his new friends on the right, proudly posting a selfie wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap autographed by his close personal pal the president, or going on TMZ to share his thoughts about slavery. (“When you hear about slavery for 400 years – 400 years, that sounds like a choice.”) Fans have
found it tougher to keep pretending his political rants are some kind of fluke impulse, rather than a totally consistent statement he’s been pushing for at least two years now. (Or longer, depending on how much political slack you happen to cut the misogyny on The Life of Pablo.) His latest album isn’t the career-torpedoing disaster that many fans were bracing themselves for, but it sure didn’t turn out to be the heartwarming redemption story it angles to be. “It’s been a shaky-ass year,” Kanye complains early in Ye, and he isn’t kidding – he’s managed to compress the past 25 years of Morrissey’s career into a few months. Released five years almost to the day after his masterpiece, Yeezus, leaked and lit up the summer of 2013, Ye courts the comparison – it has half of Yeezus’ title, half its running time and half its confidence. It isn’t much of a musical experience, and it isn’t meant to be – just another artifact in the never-ending saga of Kanye Agonistes. For a few years the-
re, West was America’s most controversial mood-swinging drama queen. But then he lost the crown, and he hasn’t been taking it well. After his hospitalization in November 2016 – following an onstage plea for Jay-Z not to kill him – he emerged to throw his arms around the newly elected commander in chief, by far the most high-profile celebrity to do so, a belt he still holds, Roseanne or no Roseanne. Then he dropped out of sight for a while, which seemed like a wise move. It raised hopes that he was checking his head, maybe using Wyoming the way Bowie used Berlin, as an escape from the celebrity hellhole and a workshop to try new musical experiments. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case, going by the results. It’s a beleaguered public statement from a star who currently thinks being beleaguered is what makes him interesting. If you put serious time into Ye, which is probably more than its author did, you find it isn’t as flaccid as it first sounds. The album runs 23 minutes, one-third the length of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, giving the impression that he’s punching below his weight, yet it still feels overlong. “Ghost Town” is the one that stands on its own, with his protégée 070 Shake wailing its anthemic rock
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The North Jersey-based artist was born Danielle Balbuena—the stage name indicates affiliation with her local 070 crew. Another hometown connection: after linking with YesJulz’s management agency 1AM, Shake signed to G.O.O.D. Music in 2016, and released the The 070 Project: Chapter 1 that December. A string of singles followed, and Shake’s excellent Glitter EP dropped back in March. Each release has received more attention than the last, and the momentum came to a head last week, when Shake delivered the three biggest features of her young career. There she is singing the hook on Pusha T’s “Santeria,” a poignant moment on the album’s darkest and most personal track. Then Shake popped up twice on ye: her intro and hook for “Violent Crimes” opens the door, and her soaring contribution to “Ghost
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Town” is a decisive step across the threshold to stardom. But it almost didn’t happen. “I had done a reference for it, and then I guess he forgot about it,” Shake tells us over the phone. It took a timely reminder for Kanye to play back the reference and realize Shake’s version was “the one.” Realizing she had a heart for the kids in her city struggling in an overcrowded school system, she tagged herself “070 Shake” in tribute to her city’s zip code. She started putting music to her poems and “vibing out.” She’d never recorded until “Proud,” but once the seal was broken, she knew she’d found her passion, the way she could change the world—through music. “I just wanna help people find love. And make everybody happy,” she says. And, perhaps something a little easier to accomplish: “My goal in life is to make my mom proud.”
LOCATION
New York, U.S.
INTERVIEW
Def Jam
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“
“That’s what music is,” says Shake. “It clears the way for people; you gotta be clear that you’re steering in the right direction.”
A QUOTE BY 070 SHAKE FOR VOGUE
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01. SHE’S FROM NEW JERSEY, A N D P R O U D LY S O
Shake hails from North Bergen, New Jersey, and that fact is a point of pride and integral part of the young rapper’s identity. Putting on for Jersey kids is important to Shake; in a short doc released earlier this year, Balbuena said, “A lot of the kids that grew up here – no one gets a chance to really do anything. I wanna bring Jersey up like what Jay did to Brooklyn, because there’s so much talent. No one really pays attention.” Balbuena turned heads early on in her career with North Bergen collective 070, the source of her namesake and a tribute to New Jersey zip codes. Growing up, 070 Shake had plenty of love, if not money. Her parents were divorced, and because her mother struggled financially, Shake was sent to live with various family members--the Dominican Republic with her grandmother, Colorado with her aunt and uncle, who writes Christian music. She listened mostly to rock music, particularly John Mayer, the Beatles, Kid Cudi. “I listened to things with feeling,” she says. “The Beatles didn’t really care bout materialistic things. I wanna bring it back to that. There’s a difference between music that bumps and music you feel. ‘Imagine’ is one of my favorite lyrical songs. The words are pretty simple, but just the meaning in general.”
02. SHE GOT HER RAP NAME PLAYING BALL
Hooping recreationally was a regular pastime for Shake in Jersey. Known then simply as Dani, one play in particular — dubbed the “shake weave” by Balbuena and her best friend — would lead the rapper to create the Twitter handle @DShake. After that, “everybody just started calling me Shake,” she said in the documentary.
03. SHE BECAME INTERESTED IN RAPPING THROUGH POETRY
As a means of finessing class participation and finding a form of self-expression, Shake dove into poetry to pretend she was taking notes in class. Not one to describe herself as a softspoken person, Shake saw poetry as a vehicle for emotional vulnerability.
04. SHE’S ALSO A MODEL
You might be familiarizing yourself with Shake’s work off recent G.O.O.D. Music features, but you’ve probably seen Shake before without even realizing it. In 2016, the New Jersey rapper was featured in a lookbook for KITH’s spring collection, and walked in New York fashion label Gypsy Sport’s FW17 show last year. In April, she modeled for French fashion house Mugler’s RTW Fall 2018 Collection.
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In terms of personal style, Dani reached her masculine zenith in eighth grade. Her androgynous ways mirror that of Paramore’s Hayley Williams in terms of the punk streamlined color palette the audience witnesses within her wardrobe. Proudly, she partakes in a healthy and strong relationship with her partner, Sophia Diana Lodato. Moreover, her multifaceted musical capabilities placed her within the company of artists such as Amir Obe, Fabolous and producer Sonny Digital. Additionally, through connectivity she includes herself amongst the likes of Pusha T, Desiigner and Travis Scott (also a close friend of YesJulz.) Unafraid to take a risk with fascinating potential, Shake 070’s buzzworthy upstart allows her to catapult over the competition. Shake became very well known for the popularization of the phrase, “Level Up” on her track with Fabolous “To The Top.” Some of her discography includes EP’s like “Yellow Girl” and “Glitter.” On “Glitter,” she wrote a structurally sound batch of songs that catch the attention of the music user. Specifically, the utilization of ballads that capitalize on the advantage of empty space create deep reflection and rumination in the psyche of the listener. Her vulnerability creates dividends in the sense that she can gently sway over a beat or aggressively attack it providing fans with unpredictable versatility. Indisputably, Shake achieves mastery within her music and provides her fanbase with a reason to thrive and advance each and every day. “I respect everybody’s artistry,” says 070 Shake, a 20-year-old rapper who originally hails from Jersey City. “But when you’re actually saying something that means something that gets stuck in people’s heads, they’ll think about what they’re saying and learn something.” 070 Shake is teasing her own album release for the upcoming Yellow Girl; for now, she’s been announcing her new tracks on Instagram. She started writing poetry before she got into making music, and even her social media captions reveal her mining for meaning. “You can’t treat it like a game; the way I present myself is really important,” she says. She’s aware of being a role model and of modeling the payoff of going deep, allowing lyricism to connect and even possibly change people, the way that she was changed by her own appreciation for artists like Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys. “The day I meet her I’m gonna die,” Shake says of Keys. “I’d have dreams of her just walking past the front of my house.” Shake hopes the future finds her music carrying her words into her fans’ front yards, their house parties, their brokenhearted moments in their bedrooms. “It’s funny, because sometimes when you write, you have to dig out things you don’t even wanna talk about,” she says. “It’s
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“At that time I felt like I made no one proud, but I always envisioned myself as a leader.” A QUOTE BY DANIELLE BALBUENA VIA TWITTER
Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, 070 Shake didn’t exactly have aspirations to become a major-label artist. “When I was a little kid in the hood just watching TV, looking at the Grammys, it’s this huge thing, [but] I just never really pictured myself in it,” she says. But after a whirlwind few years—Shake uploaded her first songs to Soundcloud just two years ago—the 20-year-old raspy-voiced rapper is now signed to GOOD Music (Kanye West’s Def Jam imprint) and has been embraced by a number of the fashion world’s underground critical darlings. Shake walked in the Fall 2017 Gypsy Sport show, strutting down the runway in a crushed red velvet dress and heavy-duty cyber-goth boots, and most recently starred in Telfar’s musical of a show alongside the likes of Dev Hynes, Kelela, and Kelsey Lu. Following this somewhat unexpected foray into fashion, she’s now released an EP, Glitter, which encapsulates a period of healing for the artist. “I was in a very dark place and then Glitter was the process of me getting out of it,” she says. The title comes from an appreciation of the people in Shake’s life who contribute to her shine, in a sense. “I just felt like I was giving them glitter and they were giving me glitter back,” she says. “When I write music it’s kind of like I’m confronting myself. I don’t go to therapy. So when I’m writing music I’m finally confronting my issues and putting myself on the spot. Even if its uncomfortable, I just have to be real.” This authentic-at-all-costs mentality extends to her sense of style as well. Shake didn’t necessarily care about labels or trends when she was growing up. Her friend had a connection at the local Salvation Army, so Shake and her crew would dig through bags of clothes from the thrift store each week. Given that she’s from Jersey, she does corroborate the East Coast cultural hegemony of brands like HBA and Supreme, but her hometown
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New York, U.S.
Dan Regan
27th jun, 2017
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WWW.070SHAKE.COM
