Crib Notes

Spotted at Lavish Life Social Club.

Looks like the rapper formerly known as B.o.B. is serious about taking his music to the next level.

Last Wednesday, Bobby Ray performed an acoustic set in celebration of his newly released mixtape B.o.B. vs. Bobby Ray. Zach Wolfe shot footage at Striver’s Row, the new men’s fashion boutique co-owned by Jason Geter of Grand Hustle (T.I.’s record label).

Whether you dig where Bobby Ray’s headed or not, it’s cool to see an MC signed to a major label (Rebel Rock/Grand Hustle/Atlantic) put his artistic evolution out on front street for all to critique. If anything, it proves the state of the industry is in total flux right now. Usually this is the kind of experimentation that goes on behind closed doors, and the end result is either shipped (yay) or shelved (nay) by the record label. Guess they’re taking a wait-and-see approach, too.

Either that, or they’re already sold on the end result and want to make sure the public is, so they’re spoon-feeding us. Experiment away I say, as long as there are no instructional dance songs in the works.

DOWNLOAD B.o.B vs. Bobby Ray

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Talk about an ironic turn of events.

Earlier this week, Atlanta-based rapper Cedric “Alfamega” Zellars was outed as a former federal informant “who snitched out criminal cohorts and testified as a government witness at the trial of an Atlanta heroin trafficker,” according to TheSmokingGun.com:

Court records show that Zellars began working with law enforcement officials after he was sentenced in September 1995 to 110 months in a federal gun case (Zellars, who had a prior felony robbery conviction, was collared for selling weapons to an undercover federal agent). Zellars “agreed to cooperate with authorities and was debriefed” about the criminal activity of several individuals. “In particular he was debriefed concerning the drug trafficking activities of a Mr. Ali Baaqar,” according to a government court filing, a copy of which you’ll find below. During his cooperation against Baaqar, Zellars met with a DEA agent and a federal prosecutor, and subsequently testified at trial.

No big surprise there. In many ways, trap rap has become little more than a sub-genre made up of dry snitches who boast of illicit activities on wax. Whether real or imagined, you’re bound to draw heat.

But Alfamega’s federal informant past drew particular interest because he happens to be signed to T.I.’s Grand Hustle label. And, as you know, T.I. is set to begin his year-long prison sentence resulting from a firearms conviction he received at the hands of a bodyguard-turned-informant who snitched him out to the feds two years ago.

So last night, T.I. called into Atlanta’s HOT 107.9 to deliver the news that Alfamega is no longer part of the Grand Hustle family:

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Killer Mike has been vocal about distinguishing authentic Atlanta rap from the emerging hipster-hop scene that’s taken root here in recent years. Now, he’s taking it to the recording booth with the scheduled release of a compilation album titled Underground Atlanta.

Due in June ’09, the album will highlight a range of hood-happy and street-certified ATL artists from Gucci Mane to T.I. — who recently signed Mike to Grand Hustle Records.

Underground Atlanta will be released through Killer Mike’s own Grindtime Official imprint via his distribution deal with SRC/Fontana.

He’s quoted in the press release below the jump:

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(SEE PHOTO GALLERY OF TODAY’S SENTENCING PRESS CONFERENCE)

A funny thing happened to Clifford “T.I.” Harris in the year leading up to the sentence hearing, held earlier today, on his federal firearms conviction: the 27-year-old Atlanta rapper turned his life around — and, apparently, a lot more lives in the process.

T.I. declared it so. His team of defense attorneys agreed. Even former Ambassador Andrew Young and Bishop Eddie Long said they recognized the change in him when they addressed the court on the defendant’s behalf.

But perhaps it was best acknowledged by U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. when he told T.I., “I congratulate you on the work you’ve done so far. If you had failed I would’ve sent you to prison [and] I would’ve probably held Mr. Nahmias out the window of the 23rd floor.”

Everyone in the courtroom laughed at that, including David E. Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Without his belief that society could be better served by sticking T.I. with 1,500 hours of community service rather than the four to six years of fed time warranted by the crime, the mood in that courtroom — located on the 23rd floor of the Richard B. Russell Federal Building — would’ve been quite different today.

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Spotted at NahRight.com.

The Vibe press release offers a sneak peak into the magazine’s upcoming cover story in which T.I. addresses speculation that he must’ve snitched to receive such a light sentence over his federal firearms conviction:

In an extensive report titled “Cell Therapy,” VIBE Senior Editor Benjamin Meadows-Ingram chronicles the superstar’s history-making legal battle and gut-wrenching journey since his 2007 arrest for attempting to collect three unregistered machine guns and two silencers following his BET Hip Hop Awards performance rehearsal.

After the announcement on March 27, 2008 of what many felt was a shockingly light slap on the wrist for the serious charges, many responded by screaming, “Snitch!” However, authorities agreed to a groundbreaking plea deal negotiated by heavyweight Criminal Defense Attorney, Steve Sadow, who cited the star’s ability to influence others by serving 1500 hours of community service.

US Attorney David Nahmias says, “What [the defense] proposed, and what I ultimately thought was reasonable, is that Mr. Harris has the ability to reach thousands, probably tens of thousands of people, particularly at-risk young people. And that out of the tens of thousands of people he could reach, he has the real possibility of getting at least a few of them not to commit the kinds of crimes we would prosecute.”

T.I. bites back at rumors about how he scored this largely unprecedented deal by saying, “Ain’t no such thing as a secret snitch…Pull up my agreement. It’s public record.”

His one year sentence begins at the end of March. Stay tuned for Creative Loafing’s upcoming feature on T.I.’s Grand Hustle label and how its roster of artists (Young Dro, Yung LA, B.O.B.) plans to hold down the fort while T.I. serves his time.

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Since aligning with T.I.’s Grand Hustle label for major distribution via Atlantic, Atlanta rapper Killer Mike has been on his studio grind. Hip-hop writer Maurice Garland recently posted exclusive footage of Mike in the studio with producer No I.D. (Kanye West’s mentor) after the two completed material for Mike’s upcoming release. But don’t expect to hear any music; they’re being real protective.

The video above, from UNN, shows Mike interviewing versatile producer Jim Jonsin (Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop,” T.I.’s “Whatever You Like”), who’ll also contribute production to the album. In the interview, Jonsin says his mother was into R&B and disco and his father was a rock and roll head — which accounts for the hybrid sound he’s been lending to hip-hop via production for such artists as Decatur’s B.O.B.

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BET.com is currently streaming T.I.’s full album, Paper Trail, scheduled for release next Tuesday, September 30. Click here to listen — it probably won’t be up for long.

First impressions…

The album might represent his biggest push for pop recognition since his 2001 debut, I’m Serious. Featured artists include Usher, Rihanna and John Legend. If anything, it proves T.I. is eager to capitalize on the heightened media exposure his criminal exploits have afforded him. His recent performance at the 2008 MTV VMAs is a direct result.

On standout track “Ready for Whatever” he offers up the closest thing to an explanation for being loaded down with enough automatic weapons to catch fed time after being arrested on that fateful day last October.

“On the streets it’s people who won’t rest unless I rest in peace,” he raps. “But I’m wrong and I know it/my excuse is unimportant/I’m just trying to let you know I ain’t think I had a choice.”

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It’s hard to believe the Aphilliates’ offices are still located at 147 Walker St. — the same place where Atlanta police arrested Tyree “DJ Drama” Simmons and Don Cannon last January on bootlegging charges.

“A lot of people were like, ‘You’re going to stay there? Don’t you feel like it’s negative energy?’” says DJ Drama, who takes a moment to talk before going on the air to host “Gangsta Grillz Radio,” the 8 p.m. Friday show he co-hosts with Cannon for Sirius satellite radio. The duo broadcasts the program from a studio room in the offices. “But it would only be negative energy if I felt as if everything turned out in a negative way. I’m the type of person where my glass is always half-full. This is our home.”

It’s the type of attitude that has sustained Drama throughout the year: When it rains lemons, make lemonade. After DJ Drama, widely known as the uncrowned king of mix CDs, was arrested, he pressed up T-shirts that read, “Free DJ Drama.” Hot 107.9 (WHTA-FM), the station that once hosted the Aphilliates’ “Gangsta Grillz Radio” program Saturdays at 8 p.m., temporarily took Drama off the air. Now Hot 107.9 features the program five nights a week: Monday through Thursday at 10 and the original Saturday time slot.

When police raided the offices, they seized the master copies for DJ Drama’s Atlantic Records debut, Gangsta Grillz: The Album. After DJ Drama re-recorded some tracks and commissioned new material, the album will finally drop Dec. 4. He talked about the album, his friend Tip “T.I.” Harris’ ongoing legal troubles (Drama is T.I.’s DJ), and why he calls mix CDs “the veins of hip-hop.”

CL: This is the same space that you had last time, right?

Drama: Same space. This is where they came. We’re still here.

CL: It actually looks like it’s cleaner, and there’s more stuff here than there was before.

Drama: They took everything, so we just had to rebuild. Basically, we went out, got new stuff, and went back to work. You know, we do our Sirius show from in here, so they had taken all our ISDN lines and everything. So we just had to put everything back together and get back to work. But I’m happy to say that we’re doing the show live here. We finished up the album and everything.

A lot of people were, like, “You’re going to stay there? Don’t you feel like it’s negative energy?” But it would only be negative energy if I felt as if everything turned out in a negative way. I’m the type of person where my glass is always half-full. This is our home. This is where we built a lot of things. So for me to feel like the energy wasn’t good in here, I mean, it is what we make it. It’s back to business.

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