Jay Styx/Mendax
The Meltdown festival
Tangent Gallery
Detroit
Oct. 17, 2025
When I was 19 or 20 and first living in Detroit while home from college for the summer, I went to one of my first local artist events as an adult at the Trumbullplex — an underground rap and R&B show that a friend invited me to.
I still remember my feelings of amazement at the coolness and creativity in the room. I only remember a couple of the artists who performed that day, but every time I see them at events now, I feel a rush of nostalgia.
One of those artists was named Jay Styx.
This past weekend, over four years later, I saw him again at Detroit’s new hip-hop festival The Meltdown — this time performing as part of an artist collective called MENDAX, a name I’d only heard once or twice before.
Their set, near the end of the night, was electric with energy. The group huddled near the front of the stage, trading verses, hyping each other up, and bouncing off the audience. It didn’t feel like a typical performance — it felt like a jam session among friends, a spontaneous moment of fun.
MENDAX performed several tracks from their recent album WORLD WAR CCC, released earlier this year on July 4. The project, a collaboration featuring over 15 contributors on the cover, felt alive on stage. Each member brought a distinct style: rapid-fire bars, melodic flows, and playful ad-libs intertwined seamlessly.
While the festival’s sound made it hard to catch every lyric, repeated lines like “I’m tryna get to the money” came through clearly, offering simple but infectious declarations of the fun and drive behind the music.
The group’s chemistry made even the festival’s largest room feel intimate.
Sonically, MENDAX leans into classic hip-hop layered with modern rhythms and heavy basslines, bridging Detroit’s underground history with contemporary experimentation. Moments of serious intensity alternated with lighthearted fun: laughing between bars, joking with each other, and encouraging fans to jump along.
The Meltdown Festival as a whole echoed that feeling. Tangent Gallery was filled with collaboration and familiarity, bringing together not just local hip-hop talent, but also vintage fashion vendors, a place for one-mic recording sessions, and walls lined with visual art.
Throughout the night, I talked to people about what drives them to keep creating. Most said it was exactly this — being surrounded by art, energy, and people who genuinely support each other. I often feel the same; It’s hard to stay inspired in my work — writing, music, community — without a creative exchange between myself and people I admire.
It was clear that for MENDAX, similarly, performing is just as much about friendship and shared energy as it is about music itself.
Presented by Kismet and digital creator IceeFiles, the festival was a perfect example of Detroit creativity at its best: part showcase, part reunion, part celebration of the city’s energy.
Watching MENDAX reminded me of that night at Trumbullplex years ago, when I first felt the spark of Detroit’s underground community. The group embodies that same spirit — the connection between artists, friends, and audience that makes shows like this feel bigger than any one person.
If you watch the MENDAX's YouTube vlog on their Meltdown Festival experience, you''ll feel the energy too.
MENDAX performing at Detroit's Meltdown Festival on Oct. 18, 2025.
