SXSW

He decided on a path in music by way of poetry — then the beat kicked in. Now he’s a rising star and just signed by Def Jam. We caught up with Toronto’s Jahkoy after his set at the 2016 SXSW in Austin, Texas.

President Barack Obama became the first sitting US president to speak at the annual South by Southwest festival on Friday and called on the tech entrepreneurs in the audience to think of ways to make government work better through technology. But what was on the mind of many was the case between Apple and the FBI. And, while not addressing specifics, Obama offered his thoughts about the larger privacy vs. security debate and it’s clear where he stands — and that’s with the FBI.

SXSW Interactive is where you go when want to find out about the next big thing in technology. We traveled down to Austin to report on modern activism and protest culture post-Snowden. It wasn’t supposed to be about music. But because Austin, it was.

Only a few minutes before this performance, Australian singer Conrad Sewell was on the Spotify House stage at SXSW playing to hundreds of new and adoring fans. This guy is going to be huge. Before that happens, Conrad walked down the street to a quiet spot where he sang an acoustic version of his song “Hold Me Up.”

While at SXSW, Sweden’s Amason was staying at an idyllic ranch house outside of Austin. Fresh from their performance as part of the festival, Amason invited us to a quiet performance of their song “Went To War” on their back porch.