Crib Notes

God bless the child that’s got his own.

From the outset of SMKA Productions‘ newly released compilation, The 808 Experiment Vol. 1, it’s clear that Atlanta has finally arrived.

Surely, you say, the hip-hop capital of the world is no newbie to rap’s all-encompassing map. And you’re right. But among Atlanta’s emerging rap underworld — filled with hipster-leaning hoppers, 2nd generation ATLiens, and otherwise unidentifiable but objectively fly MCs — that original, Dirty South sound had been all but bleached out and forsaken. Until now.

With The 808 Experiment, SMKA accomplishes the seemingly impossible: It bridges Atlanta’s slick, hipster-hop derivative with the indigenous, red clay swagger for which the A has always been known.

Beats simultaneously swim in bass-drunk, 808 kicks while dancing between melodic, pastel-colored keys. Even when SMKA dares to sample esoteric pop songs like Sting’s “Englishman in New York,” the resulting track ["Alien (When in Rome) feat. Jay West, Savage and Gilles] is certifiably stamped “ATL.”

Their secret weapon? SMKA producers Blake “808 Blake” German and Kyle “7King” King, along with in-house “hustler” Mike Walberg, are all Atlanta natives. Damn near unheard of in this day and age, right? Meanwhile, the compilation features plenty among the city’s rising crop of natives and transplants alike, including Gripplyaz, A. Leon Craft, and Young Trimm (”Caddy”), trio Supreeme (”I’m On Fire”), Wil May (”Sweet Confusion”), and o8o of T!Katz (”Fire in the Hole”). But some of the biggest surprises come from lesser known cats who turn in equally stellar performances, including Double R of Miami, Nuff Sed, J Beans, Dee Rail, Fat Tony, Niko Villamor, Jay West, Rome Fortune, J Young, Radcliff Hyphen, Crysis, Brandon Michael, Toussaint, Alexandria Lushington and Tom P of Decatur. El da Sensei of New Jersey-based Artifacts is also featured.

With only 48 hours since it’s release it’s impossible to say just yet, but here’s hoping The 808 Experiment represents a truly formative moment in what’s already proven to be a watershed year for Atlanta’s slightly off-the-radar hip-hop movement.

Needless to say, I had to talk to the guys behind SMKA to find out where the heck they’ve been hiding. Oh, and you’ll never guess what SMKA stands for?

DOWNLOAD: The 808 Experiment Vol. 1

Y’all seem to have come from out of nowhere?
Mike: I’d say that’s pretty much right. 7King has been an engineer for awhile, he’s worked out of a couple of studios around town. 808 Blake has been producing for about five years since his freshman year in college. And I went to a business school out in L.A. So it’s kind of a motley crew. But we went to high school together at Paideia, but since graduation we all started doing our own thing and then Blake kinda got us all together and wanted to get serious about it. So it started about four months ago, man, at Chik-Fil-A during lunch, and we just kinda said let’s start a company and get serious about it.

What Chik-Fil-A were y’all at?

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SEE MORE PHOTOS OF ATLANTA INDIE MUSIC FESTIVAL @ SIDESHOWATLANTA.COM

Saturday, Oct. 8

Near the end of the scheduled seven-hour Atlanta Indie Music Festival on Saturday night, I experienced an epiphany: Hipster girls have zero booty meat.

No, that ain’t it. Just one observation among many made as I stood in the half-full parking lot adjacent to the Bench, watching trains crawl by at 5 mph in the backdrop while some of Atlanta’s finest took the stage in 40 degree weather.

Soon after the smell of hot skunk wafted into the crowd from the fire set in an industrial-strength drum by a member of Mach 5, it struck me. Hip-hop needs air to breathe. Never before had Supreeme seemed so precocious, as Shaka performed “The Best Years” shirtless. And Hollyweerd celebrated its one-year anniversary by striking a balance between controlled and chaotic, perhaps for the first time.

Still, the music (Gripplyaz, Jaspects, Mike Flo, Señor Kaos, Yelawolf, Newberry Jam, Flyy Academy, Kidz in the Hall, Brittany Bosco, etc.) was secondary to the family reunion vibe. For all the talk of Atlanta’s emerging rap scene being too trendy, it was inspiring to see the next generation lose its cool.

Now somebody please feed those skinny girls some chicken.

(Photo by Alan Friedman)

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When Creative Loafing gave Supreeme the Critics Pick for best hip-hop act last year in our annual Best of Atlanta issue (which drops again on Sept. 24), it threw a lot of cats for a loop.

Not merely because of the convoluted title we bestowed upon the trio — “Best Local Hip-hop Act That’s Not OutKast” — but because they weren’t one of the many snappers, trappers or OutKast clones that uphold the city’s well-deserved rep as hip-hop capital of the world.

In other words, they’re original.

Too original, in fact, to be called a rap group, which has almost become a cliché in itself. I mean, starting a rap group is like a rite of passage nowadays. I actually quit my last one to take this day job. Ah, but I digress progress.

Anyway, back to Supreeme — the poster group for post-adolescent (fill in the blank, hell it’s Friday). The video above is for the song “I’m Crazy” from their new mixtape Silver Medallion, which predates their upcoming sophomore label release, Gold Medallion.

They shot it in one day using VHS, which gives it a real grainy, vintage look — like a bootleg horror flick made by a couple of film school dropouts. You’ll recognize such classic Atlanta stomping grounds as Little Five Points and the club, Drunken Unicorn. Tom Cruz, King Self and Negashi are supposed to resemble criminal-minded zombies of some sort (per the setup, which you can pause the video at the beginning to read), but mostly they just look like themselves.

Rappers without anti-perspirant. Now take that and fill in the blank up above.

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By Negashi Armada of Supreeme (Winner’s of CL’s 2007 Best Hip-Hop Group That’s Not OutKast)

DISCLAIMER: When you read my spiel, don’t go calling Fox News because all of a sudden CL is a radical news organization furthering the sick twisted liberal media’s mind control over the people. Because they’re not doing that at all. The views expressed here do not reflect CL, Crib Notes, or anyone but me and possibly Bizzy Bone. I am out of control and way to young and dumb to be allowed a public forum for my not so humble opinions. I hope you will still take them seriously, consider them and research some of my FACTS for yourself.

Hey wassup, my name is Negashi Armada and I am a member of the extremely un-famous yet critically acclaimed rap group Supreeme (Supreeme Supreeme). But that’s not what this is about. This is about attempting to expose possibly groundbreaking connections between race, class, gender, climate and … music.

I’ll make hierarchical music lists that may upset people, I’ll talk shit about musicians I know personally (but only from a creatively critical standpoint), and I’ll try to not get beat up by some gangster rapper that I might run into someday. Hopefully I’ll inform you on a bunch of music you don’t know anything about but will love. I think I’m really smart, but I’m really immature and I’m Ree De La Vega’s brother so feel free to hate.

Welcome to SPRING BREAK FOREVER.

WHERE MY DOGS @?
So let’s get into something racy. The other day I was chilling with some friends of mine, all of whom were white (don’t worry race will become significant). They ordered Amores Perros on Netflix because it was cool, hip and foreign and all the things the artsy kids love. Little did they know the movie was about dog fighting and featured a lot of dead and bloody dogs. (more…)

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While you’re listening to the podcast Supreeme recorded with Music Editor Rodney Carmichael, download Cruz Control Vol. 1. It’s a mix from Tom Cruz that previews his upcoming Sloppy Seconds appearance Saturday, Jan. 12, at MJQ, and blends Birdman’s “1,000,000 Ones,” Shawty Lo’s “Dey Know” and random esoterica. You can download the mix here.

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SUPREEME SUPREEME: Performs with DJ Klever, Mano and Jordan Jeffares of Snowden at Sloppy Seconds, Sat., Jan. 12. 10 p.m. MJQ. 736 Ponce de Leon Ave.

Click here to listen to Off Beat #1: a podcast with Negashi and King Self of Supreeme.

Negashi and King Self of Supreeme — our ‘07 Best of Atlanta hip-hop winners — stopped by the CL office right before Christmas with a coupla stocking stuffers: a copy of the new mixtape, American Badass; and a six-pack of Guinness.

So, I did the professional thing and popped a coupla cans with them while we proceeded to shoot the shit.

We recorded it for posterity’s sake. Don’t call it a podcast, though; it’s more like a blabcast. We sorta rambled with no destination in mind, so the conversation doesn’t really get focused until about halfway through when Negashi starts talking about the group’s meager beginnings in Atlanta.

“I was the freaking middle-school freestyle champion at Inman middle,” he says, adding that he and MC/producer Tom Cruz (aka Dope Pope) were already in the works to form a group when mutual friend Sam (aka King Self) approached.

“What’s up, you gotta be black? I got freckles,” Negashi recalls Sam asking.

The rest is history. They also play songs from a few of their influences and favorites, such as Neil Young and Deerhunter. Currently, the trio awaits a scheduled summer ‘08 release for the already completed album, Gold Medallion. They spent a lot of time recording in N.Y. and L.A., but you can catch them performing live this Sat., Jan. 12 at Sloppy Seconds. 10 p.m. MJQ Concourse. 736 Ponce de Leon Ave.

To hear the podcast, click here.

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(photo by Austin Peters and Nick Darmstaedter)

Atlanta natives Supreeme are coming home to Atlanta this Sunday for one quick show at Drunken Unicorn before returning to NYC. Members Tom Cruz, King Self and Negashi Armada will be performing new songs off their latest mixtape, American Badass. Negashi gave me a quick rundown of the mixtape, saying, “American Badass is an irreverent, rebellious freedom party … with raps that are simultaneously genius and childish, and infectious beats that are stripped down to the bare essentials.”

American Badass features guest spots from Murs, Taz Arnold (of Sa-Ra), J Young, Killa T and Mickey Factz. Free copy to anyone who comes out. Check ‘em out, they just got named Best Local Hip-hop Act in Atlanta in our recent Best of Atlanta 2007 issue. And it makes sense — they’re young, fresh, energetic and always put on a fun show. And this Sunday night, you know they’ll be on point and feeling the hometown love.

Supreeme performs with Proton, the Dreamer and Mach 5 at 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 30, at the Drunken Unicorn. $10. 18 and up. Check out their latest songs and what they’ve been doing at www.myspace.com/supreemesupreeme.

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