81355 returns to HI-FI Indy on Wednesday, April 20th. Get your tickets for their Indianapolis show HERE.
Oreo Jones, Indianapolis rapper and trailblazer, recently sat down with Dave Lindquist from the Indianapolis Business Journal to talk about his hip-hop group 81355, his role in an upcoming Indiana State Museum exhibit, and an update on Chreece hip-hop festival. Read the full article HERE.
81355
81355 (pronounced “bless”) is a voltronized collaboration between three of Indianapolis music scene’s elder statesmen: Sirius Blvck, Oreo Jones, and Sedcairn Archives. While the three have worked together in the past, contributing to one another’s projects as cameos and guest production, this is the first instance in which they have bonded together from conception to execution.
81355 performs at HI-FI Indy on Wednesday, April 20th before embarking on their 21-date tour around the Midwest, East Coast, and Southern U.S. To wrap up their tour, the group returns home to perform at Indianapolis’ WonderRoad Festival at Garfield Park, June 11-12.
Major Taylor
Jones expresses his excitement about his part in the “Major Taylor: Fastest Cyclist in the World” exhibit at the Indiana State Museum. Major Taylor (1878-1932) was a Black professional cyclist, born and raised in Indianapolis. Because it was the late 1800s, Taylor was not celebrated until after he left Indiana. “Taylor was an extraordinary individual-it’s always important to showcase and bring light to these stories” Jones states.
Jones contributed to a piece of instrumental music featured in the exhibit. The Major Taylor exhibit is open through October 23rd, 2022 at the Indiana State Museum in Downtown Indy.
Chreece Hip-Hop Festival
Oreo Jones founded the annual Chreece hip-hop festival in 2015. Chreece, a mash of the words ‘cheers’ and ‘peace’, is a single-day music festival in August created in 2015 to unite the various branches of Indiana and the Midwest’s wide ranging and diverse hip-hop scene.
The event has not happened since 2019 due to the pandemic, but Jones is planning the festival’s return for Summer 2023.