R.A.P. Ferreira at the Raccoon Motel -- April 23.
Thursday, April 23, 6 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
With Pitchfork magazine praising the musician's 2020 recording Purple Moonlight Pages for its "shifty rhythms, twinkly brass, and keys," Wisconsin-based rapper, poet, and producer Rory Allen Philip Ferreira – performing under his stage moniker R.A.P. Ferriera – headlines an April 23 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist's recent professional offerings including the 2024 album OUTSTANDING UNDERSTANDING and last year's collaborative studio album The Night Green Side of It, performed with Kenny Segal.
Born in Chicago in 1992, Ferreira was introduced to hip hop when his uncle, a battle rapper who goes by the name NIZM, showed him music by Nas. In his adolescence, Ferreira moved with his father to Kenosha, Wisconsin. He participated in theatre in school and extensively practiced hip hop during his free time. He first began rapping as part of the Kenosha and a Wisconsin hip-hop trio Nom de Rap, which additionally consisted of rappers Nicholas J and AD the Architect. Following high school, he studied philosophy at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, an academic discipline which the artist says he earnestly strives to integrate into his lyricism.
Ferreira released two EPs, Things That Happen at Day and Things That Happen at Night, in January 2013. The song "Kenosha, WI" had already been published by Johns Hopkins University Press in a 2012 issue of the journal Postmodern Culture. Following the release, Ferreira caught the attention of rapper Nocando and his label Hellfyre Club, which included Ferreira's role-models Busdriver and Open Mike Eagle. Ferreira had been talking to Busdriver and Eagle since 2012 and they had notified Nocando of his presence when he was considering quitting rap music. He later signed and was taken on his first tour, which found Ferreira traveling to 25 cities.
For years, Ferreira performed under the hipt-hop moniker Milo, releasing a quartet of studio albums in 2014's A Toothpaste Suburb, 2025's So the Flies Don't Come, 2017's Who Told You to Think??!!?!?!?!, and 2018's Budding Ornithologists Are Weary of Tired Analogies. He made his studip-album debut as R.A.P. Ferreira with 2020's Purple Moon Pages, consequently following it with 2021's the Light Empitting Diamond Cutter Scriptures, 2022's 5 to the Eye with Stars, and 2024's OUTSTANDING UNDERSTANDING. Ferreira also founded his label Ruby Yacht (stylized as RBYT) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Named after the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Ferreira's grandmother, it is entirely self-owned by Ferreira and self-financed.
R.A.P. Ferriera headlines his Davenport engagement on April 23, admission to the 6 p.m. concert is $19.84, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
