Photo by Kevin Porier
October is Local Music Month, KXT’s celebration of the sounds reverberating throughout North Texas! Each day, we will highlight different local artists you can hear on KXT. Check back here, find us on our social media or tune in to 91.7 FM to see the day’s featured artist.
For Cameron McCloud, front-man for Dallas hip-hop collective Cure for Paranoia, music is therapy.
McCloud and his Cure for Paranoia partners, Tomahawk Jonez and JayAnalong, reflect the future of hip-hop, challenging the limits of the genre by fusing influences of rap, neo-soul, jazz, funk and everything in between. McCloud himself represents the changing face of hip-hop being an openly queer artist who doesn’t shy away from topics like mental health.
As McCloud told KXT contributor Jessica Waffles in 2021, “Originally, Cure For Paranoia was about dealing with mental illness, that struggle and fighting it off, but I don’t feel like I’m in that battle anymore. Now it’s about discovery of self. Figuring out who I am and what makes me happy.”
Since their formation in 2015, the group’s strength has resided in fearlessness and raw honesty, something that has caught the eyes and ears of music legends like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Bun B and Dallas’ own Erykah Badu – the latter has included Cure for Paranoia on past lineups of her annual birthday blowout concerts in Deep Ellum.
Naturally, their commanding artistry easily translates to their live performances. The group’s live presence is equal parts eccentric and electric, landing them on iconic stages like that of The Hollywood Bowl and South by Southwest. Just recently, NPR was so captivated by Cure for Paranoia’s 2023 Tiny Desk submission performance that the public media organization asked the band to join the Tiny Desk Contest’s “On The Road” tour stop in Houston.
Cure for Paranoia’s catalog stretches out across a cosmic collection of nearly two dozen singles, EPs, and the stellar 2021 album, Bamn. Being that the group is rooted in collaboration (collective area musicians often join Cure for Paranoia both in the studio and for various performances), you’ll also be greeted by the sounds and voices of many featured North Texas artists along the way.
Their brand new single, “From Texas” dropped on October 12 and features The Institute and fellow Dallas hip-hop mainstay Pat Ron. The track is an infectious Texan anthem anchored by the harmonious linking up of some of the Dallas music scene’s brightest stars.
You can regularly catch a Cure for Paranoia show vibrating throughout North Texas and beyond — stay tapped into the group via their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
You can hear even more local music at noon Mon-Fri on Local Bites and on the KXT Local Show on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. If you’re an artist from North Texas, you can submit your music to KXT for consideration right here.
Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
