Crib Notes

SEE THE GOODIE MOB PHOTO GALLERY

In the last several years, the state of Georgia underwent a drought so severe it led Governor Sonny Perdue to pray for rain on the steps of the state Capitol in 2007.

Meanwhile, the city of Atlanta continued to suffer from a drought of another kind: It seemed the Dirty South was all wet.

So the torrential rains that fell almost nonstop upon Atlanta in the week leading up to Goodie Mob’s reunion concert seemed like a supernatural sign that the group’s return might wash away the bullshit and bring back the real South — if only for one night.

By the time Khujo, Big Gipp, T-Mo and Cee-Lo stepped to the front of the stage around 9:06 p.m. — after an old-school set by Atlanta DJ Kizzy Rock, performances from Pastor Troy and Youngbloodz, and an intro that spoke to the occasion (”We are Success-N-Effect, some A-Town Playas”) from former Def Jam poet Georgia M.E. — the rains had calmed to barely a drizzle.

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Big Boi’s forthcoming solo album Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty has been blogged/talked about for so long it feels like old news. Turns out the main reason it remains unheard is because Jive Ass Records refused to release it.

So Big Boi’s seeking a contractual release from the label so he can join his former boss L.A. Reid at Def Jam, according to Eye Weekly:

“The lawyers just have to finish their lawyering,” Big explained, and added that he was happy to be working with LaFace co-founder and current Island Def Jam Chairman and CEO LA Reid again, since “he’s been with us since the beginning.”

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Spotted at MauriceGarland.com.

I’ve become infatuated with still photographer Zach Wolfe’s videography. Basically, the dude is ill. Like a hybrid of documentary photographer Gordon Parks and hip-hop video director Hype Williams, he combines a sense of realism and intimacy with some slick ass imagery and editing. I imagine it’s partly due to his technical know-how, his cutting-edge camera and his familiarity with his subjects. Because he’s established a rapport with such celebrities as Big Boi from past photo shoots, there’s no display of pretense — definitely no mugging for the camera, with just a minimal amount of shooter-subject interaction.

Peep his fly-on-the-wall footage of the recent Atlanta stop on the Sneaker Pimps tour featuring Big Boi’s sons Bamboo and Cross backstage with dad and his musical cohorts, including Khujo (Goodie Mob) and C-Bone.

Near the middle of the video, you get a vivid sense of what must be going through Big Boi’s mind in the moments before he steps on stage.

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Man … the scene was so thick
Low riders, ’77 Sevilles, El Dawgs
Nuttin but them ‘Lacs
All the players, all the hustlers
I’m talking ’bout a black man’s heaven here, yknahmsayin? Yeah.
— Intro to “Player’s Ball,” OutKast (1994)

DRE AND BIG

Once again, Maurice Garland delivers exclusive coverage with a behind-the-scenes peek at last Monday’s gathering of the primary members of Atlanta’s Dungeon Family at Stankonia Studios. From the photos posted, members on-hand included Goodie Mob’s Cee-Lo, Big Gipp, T-Mo and Khujo, Dre, Big Boi and Mr. DJ of OutKast, producer Ray Murray, Sleepy Brown, Witchdoctor, and plenty more. Also on hand were DJ Toomp and Spree Wilson.

As for the reason behind the reunion-of-sorts, Garland is keeping it under wraps for now. But it shall be revealed in time. Meanwhile, here’s what he had to say about how the meeting might affect DF’s musical future:

No, I don’t think a lick of music got recorded on this day. What I do know is that they had a closed-door meeting where issues were resolved and plans for the future were discussed.

I spoke with Big Boi a couple days ago and said that over the next two years we will be getting a barrage of Dungeon Family music. His solo album (expect some big news on that soon), Dre3000 solo album, a Goodie Mob album and another Outkast album are all included in that. Backbone is working right now and Witchdoctor is still dropping projects so please go out and support those.

At the end of the day, there is music recorded and ready to go from everybody for the most part, they’re all just trying to find homes (labels) for it to be put out on.

More photos below…

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Maurice Garland gets Big Boi to address the fashion faux pas that earned him the scorn of the Internets after his Sneaker Pimps performance last week.

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Spotted at MauriceGarland.com:

I’m posting this video because I found it interesting to see how Big Boi is attempting to bridge a gap of sorts by enlisting Gucci on his album. Only other time I can remember a DF member doing something like this was when, hell, Gucci featured Khujo on “Corner Cuttin’” on his first album.

Big Boi’s been doing this for a while now though. Him hopping on remixes to Gorilla Zoe’s “Hood Nigga” and DJ Unk’s “Walk It Out” are proof. I’m also posting it because it shows that as much as Atlanta Hip Hop seems to be segregated at times, there’s still some sort of unity.

The video comes courtesy Atlanta-based photographer/videographer Zach Wolfe, who holds down a guest column of sorts on SnortThis.com and has been posting fresh flicks (we’re talking moving images) on his own site for the past few months. Wolfe’s videos shine an imaginative light on the random nature of Atlanta’s music scene — due in part to his technical mastery of the Canon Mark 11 5D — but mostly because of his editorial choices, i.e. the shit he shoots.

His extended footage of Ricky Powell’s El Bar gig from earlier this year is classic.

But my personal favorite features Wheel Chair Matt peeling donuts in the ’68 GTO he rented to the Shop Boyz for their “Party Like a Rock Star” video. Apparently, there’s a big difference between rap and reality, according to Dax:

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The Creative Loafing team survived the brutal drive to and from Austin for this year’s South By Southwest festival, kept alive only by gallons of gas station coffee and truck stop tacos.

While we chased down every free meal and drink ticket we could find, we also managed to see a tiny fraction of the 1,900 bands that played this year. Sure, everyone is talking about it today, but we didn’t see Kanye or Metallica. We’re OK with that. Check out a rundown of our favorite moments from the festival after the jump.

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CL caught up with Big Boi at the Georgia Grammy nominees celebration, so we decided to test some of our upcoming Lust List questions out on him.

Name one band from the past you wish you could’ve been in?
Parliament Funkadelic

Favorite karaoke song?
“Ebony Eyes” by Rick James and Smokey Robinson

Best place in Atlanta to show out-of-towners?
Right now, Atlantic Station is pretty cool. They got a nice little vibe over there with Cirque du Soleil and everything. My all-time favorite has always been Little Five Points.

Most attractive feature on the opposite sex?
I’d have to say her brain, fa sho.

What’s the worst thing somebody can do on a date?
Not suckin’ no dick — that’s just a joke though! I don’t know, man, keep stopping by the gas station or something. Just be all the way ready.

Big Boi is nominated for Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group for the song, “Royal Flush,” featuring Andre 3000 and Raekwon. Stay tuned for more Lust List Q&As from Georgia Grammy nominees. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards air 8 p.m. Sun., Feb. 8 on CBS. CL’s Lust List issue drops next week.

(Photo courtesy Joeff Davis)

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Damnit Big Boi. Your big ballet is to blame for this:

Tonight Harlem rapper Jim Jones of the Dipset crew begins the two-night run of his off-Broadway musical, Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life & Mind of Jim Jones, based on music from his upcoming album. NahRight.com posted a video trailer of sorts for the two-night production.

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With Big Boi’s Sir Lucious Leftfoot … Son of Chico Dusty solo album set to drop in a few weeks, Andre Benjamin announced his plans to release an album of his own in early ‘09. Apparently, he’s looking forward to doing things on the solo tip despite the rash of high-profile collabos he’s been featured on in the past two years.

As he told Rolling Stone:

I’ve pretty much been working with myself,” he explains. “I’ve never really been that big on collaboration.” Benjamin wouldn’t reveal any other details, but he said he already had a goal and a direction for the album. “I have a concept, and all the soundscapes are already in my head, so I just have to figure out how to get there.”

When asked what he thought about the 1999 World Trade Organization protests, which is the subject of the new film, Battle in Seattle, that he stars in, Dre admitted he hadn’t heard anything about it until he read the script.

“I don’t know if I was out of the country or in the studio, but I missed it,” he explains. “The first time I heard about it was when I read the script and saw footage of what happened.”

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The nation’s economic funk has inspired a bit of uplifting funk from Big Boi.

He discussed his mission to balance bangin’ beats and lyrics with social responsibility in the lead single, “Sumthin’s Gotta Give” (featuring Mary J. Blige), from his solo album Sir Lucious Leftfoot … Son of Chico Dusty, due in October.

Apparently, it echoes OutKast’s legacy of inspiring grooves so much that Big had a hard time dropping the plural pronouns (”us,” “we”) when discussing his solo project:

“I keep saying ‘we,’ even though it’s a solo album. Me and Dre are like brothers, man. I’m putting this solo disc out, and then we’re going to come back with the next OutKast record.”

Full story here.

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BAD BOY’S BEHIND THIS: Natural-born hype-man P. Diddy compares Janelle Monae to James Brown and Elvis during their interview with Sway on MTV. Click here to see the full footage. (Photo courtesy MTV News)

If you’ve been following local phenom Janelle Monae’s career as close as we have, you know she’s been hella busy. Besides starring in the Atlanta Ballet collaboration with Big Boi titled big — which you can read about in this week’s CL cover story — she just got back from a trip to New York last week where she performed for an industry crowd.

MTV was on-hand and Sway even sat down to interview her and P. Diddy, who has been courting Monae and her Wondaland Arts Society partners since late last year. After keeping their working relationship under wraps for months, natural born hype-man Diddy compared his new artist Monae to James Brown, Elvis, Judy Garland and Anita Baker in the same breath.

The announcement of her signing confirms the story we broke last November. In the joint venture between Wondaland and Bad Boy/Atlantic, Big Boi of OutKast will “continue to serve as a collaborator and co-executive producer,” Monae announced in a blog posted on her MySpace page yesterday.

For fans who fear what might become of Monae at a pop label like Bad Boy, she added:

I feel this movement is beyond independent or mainstream. Soul or rock. Black or white. Pompadour or perm. Saddle shoes or high heels. It’s about altering history through a great new era of music and art.

According to Mitchell Martin II of Wondaland, Diddy is so excited to be involved with an artist of Monae’s caliber — and a team with WAS’s marketing expertise — that he plans to stay out of their way as they do their thing.

So that means no “Bad Boy this, Bad Boy that” chants all over Monae’s vocals, right Diddy?

The next suite from Metropolis is scheduled to drop in June, with a full-length album containing both new and previously released material to drop in September, according to Martin.

Martin also gave some insight into a lot of conversation Wondaland has been fostering within the local music scene. Stay tuned for more on that in the upcoming CL Music Issue, which drops April 23.

Check out the MTV interview with Diddy and Monae, along with clips from her recent New York performance.

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s David Lee Simmons and WMLB-AM’s Max Arbes discussing this week’s cover story (out today) about big, the collaboration between Outkast’s Big Boi and the Atlanta Ballet.

To listen head over to PopSmart.

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Here’s a gallery of stars at the 2007 BET Hip-Hop Awards. The photos were taken by Kimberly Neal and Justin Lee from J. Lee Photography.

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(photo by Charlie McCullers)

The preview for big, Big Boi’s much-anticipated collaboration with choreographer Lauri Stallings and Atlanta Ballet, took place in the guise of a launch party for Atlanta Ballet’s 2007-2008 season. Held at the King Plow Arts Center, it mostly drew the kind of audience — lovers of the traditional arts — that probably knew nothing of hip-hop beyond what they might hear on the radio or TV. There were large tables of sushi and peppered chicken, and ballet patrons mingled around the studio with wine glasses in hand.

The host for the evening was John McFall, the company’s artistic director. He promised that Atlanta Ballet will create dozens of new costumes for big. “I think we’re going to set a bunch of new fashions with big,” he said, promising that the finished production will be a fantastic and provocative experience.

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I’ve seen scores of release dates for new music this fall, and I’ve noticed that there are few local superstars on the list. Last year seemed full of chart-topping acts, from Ludacris and Young Jeezy to Ciara. But this year may be relatively quiet. Sure, the Black Lips and Shawty Lo are cool, but they aren’t exactly top 10 material (except on critics’ lists, maybe). Keyshia Cole, who recently moved here, gets love but doesn’t really count.

No, I’m talking about the A-list superstars that run A-Town. Namely, what’s up with Usher?

Despite a few teasing comments to MTV, Usher has yet to announce a release date for his first album since 2004’s Confessions. The New York Times just leaked the news that he’ll appear on the season premiere of “Ellen” (alongside Hillary Clinton, no less), which indicates that he’s about to kick the promotional campaign into high gear. The episode broadcasts Monday, Sept. 3. But will it be for a Christmastime bonanza, or an early 2008 comeback?

Here are a few other local stars that may or may not drop albums before the year is out:

1. Big Boi: For much of the year, Big Boi talked about issuing his solo debut in 2007. But Rolling Stone just announced that it won’t come out until February 2008 at the earliest. But he gets a pass for popping up on UGK’s “International Players Anthem,” one of the best singles of the year.

2. Ludacris: Luda is still telling people to wait for his next album, Theater of the Mind. But, in my opinion, that will probably depend on whether he can come up with a few hit singles to launch the album properly, and whether he can finish those songs in the next month or so. If not, he’ll probably wait until next year.

3. Lil Jon: Crunk Rock has been in the works for nearly three years now. Last month, Lil Jon told Billboard that he has finished tracks with Kid Rock, Lil Wayne, Remy Ma, the Game, Gucci Mane, Fabo from D4L, P.O.D., Ciara, Ice Cube and R. Kelly. Lots of stars, sure, but when will the damn thing finally come out? He says it will arrive before the end of the year but, again, no release date.

4. Bow Wow: The artist formerly known as Lil Bow Wow hasn’t moved major units in a minute. But with his devoted teen base and history of radio hits, he’s still a threat to do so. He’s teaming up with another teen idol, Omarion, for the collaborative album Face Off. It drops via Jive Records Dec. 4.

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When Janelle Monae first revealed that Purple Ribbon would collaborate with the Atlanta Ballet, it seemed to make sense. After all, her upcoming Metropolis (and hey, I know y’all are sick of CL gabbing about it) is a highly operatic piece.

But now it looks like the whole camp, namely Big Boi, will take part in the production. In fact, it’s called Big with Antwan “Big Boi” Patterson and choreography by Laurie Stallings. You can read the press release here.

I’m nervous as to what it will look like. Will it be Big Boi, Monae, Scar, C-Bone and others standing around on stage as ballet performers flutter around them? Or will it be a relatively straightforward piece set to music from Purple Ribbon? I hope it’s the latter. I think Big Boi is dope, but the sight of him rapping alongside ballet dancers could be kinda goofy-looking.

At any rate, Big will only last six performances from April 12-18, 2008, so you should probably purchase tickets now.

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