“We live in strange times,” Chuck Indigo said onstage at The Blue Room at Third Man Records Saturday night. That line became a refrain between songs at nearly every break in his headlining set. Indigo, who by day Clark Kents as the Southern Movement Committee community organizer Nick Drake, kept returning to the notion of maintaining our humanity and surviving in the current era. Indigo never expanded much on the hardships he talked about, but instead focused on his solution: community. A few times, he openly asked folks to pledge their support for the people around them. Received with cheers and raised hands by the eager crowd, the rapper made communication and community building the focus of his hour on the Blue Room stage, never letting the audience forget that people have more power when united.
Third Man hosted the rain-check gig for the Indigo show, originally slated for January. After a snowstorm canceled the show, the event was rescheduled for the night after Valentine’s Day.
Mike Floss
The show began a little after 8 p.m. with an abbreviated set from Nashville MC Mike Floss. With an interesting approach to a shortened opening time slot, Floss ended a few of his songs early. At first, he said his 2024 single “Heat.wav” hadn’t gotten enough plays on streaming services for the audience to deserve to get the whole song. But the trend continued when Floss chopped a few other tracks in half. But Floss wasn’t using his time to stuff as many songs from his catalog as he could into his half-hour — the rapper used his extra time on the microphone to talk about the importance of community organizing.
When he isn’t spending his nights onstage, Floss’ Bruce Wayne hours are used as the arts and culture director at the Southern Movement Committee. He urged everyone in attendance to sign up for the fourth annual State of Black Tennessee Town Hall on Feb. 22. This wasn’t the first time I had seen Floss onstage in 2025 talking about the SMC’s work to anyone who would listen. Just last month he was at The Basement East hyping up his cause between hardcore bands. But when he’s making music, Floss is an incredible performer who can control a crowd and take full ownership of his set. Even the end of his set was unique — Floss opted not to perform his most recent single “World Wonder,” instead playing the studio version over the PA as he exited the stage.
Chuck Indigo
With a full band, the headliner came out and greeted his fans. Chuck Indigo, appropriately playing a room painted entirely dark blue, has a magnetic presence that connects with an audience on a level most artists couldn’t ever achieve. Accompanied by a DJ, drums, keys, guitar and bass, Indigo came fully equipped with a lockdown band. Much of his set list centered on his most recent album UNTIL I GET THERE, but deep Indigo-heads got special treats like “Pay Stubs” from 2019’s iNDigo Cafe and his rowdy full-crew anthem “Hoodrat Shit” off 2020’s No Moor Bad Days.
Catching up with the stellar MC ahead of his show at The Blue Room at Third Man Records
Indigo is known mostly as a rapper, but his style bounces around between hip-hop, sultry neo-soul and breezy R&B. When I interviewed the artist on Jan. 1, he informed me that much of the basis of what he does is rooted in gospel music — which makes sense after seeing the MC live. One could imagine his band playing together in a large church, with Indigo as a pastor testifying to parishioners, preaching the good word of community organizing and creating healthy environments for working folks. He made the audience pledge to look out for the people in their community and had everyone chanting “Capitalism sucks!”
Chuck Indigo
Throughout the night, Indigo recalled anecdotes from his life. With much of his family present at the show, the MC cited the uphill battles it took to get from his childhood in East Nashville to the life he has now as a father, husband, artist and activist, personal themes repeated all over his autobiographical UNTIL I GET THERE. The artist never shied away from speaking about what is on his heart, both in his music and in his work.
With an ever-growing number of listeners, Chuck Indigo has a lot of new ears hearing what he has to say. He clearly has every intention of putting it to good use.
Also check out photos of Mike Floss
