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If you haven’t already read Cooper’s profile of Bradenton hip-hop duo Geno and Skunk Boogie, get on it. Here’s a little taste, from the issue that just hit stands:

With a deft click of the mouse, rapper/producer Geno summons up a recent track. A deafening beat floods the small studio as colorful frequency patterns dance across a wide Mac monitor. Seated on a low futon a few feet behind Geno’s torn office chair, MC Skunk Boogie snaps his head down in time with each digitized snare hit.A screened microphone stands in a corner, a section of rippled foam mounted around it. A long silver keyboard sits atop the empty box the monitor came in. Underfoot, a rectangular rug softens the room’s hard, dirty tile.

The track — still unfinished — pounds on. “Git ‘er done!” commands the tagline. Both rappers crack up, getting off on taking a catchphrase associated with pickups and Confederate flags and making it their own.

Geno (aka Eugene T. Mays III) clicks off the song and searches his hard drive for another. Full of Friday-afternoon giddiness, Skunk (aka Darrius D. Yarn) makes a bold claim: “The way we’re writing now, if we stay here Saturday through Monday, we could leave with 20 songs.”

Mere braggadocio? Maybe. Maybe not.

We’re trying to get some tracks here for you, but in the meantime, you can listen Geno and Skunk Boogie here.

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