Crib Notes

Is there a more self-referential genre than hip-hop? Once labeled “CNN for black people” by Chuck D, most commercial rap has long since lost that edge. But strip away the overt socio-political content and what remains is a strong sense of place — whether real or imagined.

No other form of music goes to such great lengths to lyrically represent/cultivate its environment. Despite Rakim’s claim that “it ain’t where you’re from, it’s where you’re at”; it’s actually all about where you’re from or the place you claim as home.

Your city. Your block. Your crib. Not even your lack of imagination matters as long as you substitute it with plenty of ’hood references. Because at the end of the day, it’s all about moving the crowd. And geography is often the least common denominator.

Of course, there are very creative ways to do it, and very wack ways. Over the past 20 years, Atlanta has been the benefactor of both.

The latest song to rep the city doubles as a response to the club anthem, “I’m in Miami Bitch” by LMFAO. Due to appear on DJ Smiles next mixtape, the remix “Atlanta Bitch” features Niko Villamor, o8o of T!Katz, and Gripplyaz. As far as Atlanta theme songs go, C. Will of the blog Fresh.I.Am sums it up best when he says it’s “bound to be a club hit all the way from MJQ to Halo.”

But in a broader context, it got me to reminiscing on Atlanta-themed rap songs — from the overly familiar (Jermaine Dupri’s “Welcome to Atlanta”) to the criminally overlooked.

Released 21 years ago by MC Shy D, “Atlanta-That’s Where I Stay” (see below) was produced by DJ Toomp, who has earned industry acclaim in recent years for producing mega-hits for T.I. (”What You Know”) and Kanye West (”Can’t Tell Me Nothing”), among others. On the Shy D song “Atlanta-That’s Where I Stay,” he samples DeBarge’s “All This Love” to give the track the laid back feel that, when mixed with the Miami bass sound so prominent in the South at the time, helped give birth to Atlanta’s pre-OutKast Cadillac music.

Sort of ironic when you think about it — 20 years later DJ Smiles’ “Atlanta Bitch” still has the city looking to Miami for inspiration.

Check out 2009’s “Atlanta Bitch” and 1988’s “Atlanta-That’s Where I Stay,” and let us know which one you think best represents the Atlanta you know. If neither, name your song.

Listen: “Atlanta Bitch”

Download: “Atlanta Bitch”

Listen: MC Shy D, “Atlanta-That’s Where I Stay”

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For this edition of Roll Call, we call out Thunderkatz lead, Dell “o8o” Harris.

Who are you?
Dell “o8o” “T!Katz guy” Harris — aka Mr. Masquerade

Describe yourself in three words.
T!katz’s incredulous maven

Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Jay-Z (again)

Who would you most like to slap in the face?
It’s kind of an elongated pimp slap to people who compare my band to Black Eyed Peas (in a bad way). I don’t mind them and I like their some of their songs. But comparing me to Will.i.am as an emcee is an insult deserving of a glove-off slap.

What song do you wish you had written?
Will.I.Am’s “Heartbreaker” (Irony)

Lil Wayne or Little Richard?
Little Richard — I don’t think you remember his cameo episode on “227.”

LP, CD or MP3?
Cassette Tapes: Can you say walkman, Side A, and analog hiss? Matter fact, T!Katz mixtape is gonna be a cassette tape. Check Criminal Records soon…

If you could start one trend, what would it be?
I’m pretty sure I already did. ;-)

If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Skinny jeans, my shit hurts.

With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
It’s not who that’s important, it’s where: 10236 Charing Cross Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90024

The Thunderkatz’ “3 A.M. (So So Death Klever Remix)”

The Thunderkatz headline Almost Famous Unplugged with Atlanta rapper B.O.B. and friends. 10 p.m. Sun., Dec. 21. Sugarhill, 50 Upper Alabama Road (Underground Atlanta). 404-658-0068. www.sugarhillatl.com. To attend, RSVP at rsvp@almostfamousshow.com with “AF Unplugged” in the subject line for complimentary entry all night.

(Photo courtesy Fray Wall Visual Vinyl)

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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?

(more…)

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