CONCRETE Nashville 31 by CONCRETE Magazine

4-8 ..............................Paper 12 ............. Southern Movement 14 ..............................Infinity 18 ........................Whip Game 20 ................... Music Reviews 22 ..................... DVD Reviews 24 .....Producer Profile: Broadway 26 ............... DJ Profile: DJ 2UTI 28 .............. Barber Profile: D.L. 30 ................. The Nashville 10 We want to thank everyone that came out to our Fifth Anniversary Party at The Rutledge. The party was a lot of fun, and it was good feeling the love for CONCRETE. One of the headliners from the show was Paper. We made the announcement then that he would be on this cover. Paper has been putting in his work for years now. A methodical grind that led to the city backing him 100%. We got his back too. Published by: CONCRETE Marketing Ad Executives: Bryan Deese, Capo Art Director: Audie Adams Nash10 Photography: elitestudio1.com Cover Photo: Dylan Mire

CONCRETE Magazine PO Box 239, Madison, TN 37116

615-860-6006

concretebryan@gmail.com © CONCRETE Magazine 2009

CONCRETE: The city is going crazy for your new single “Tha City Paper.” What’s the story behind that song? Paper: Of course I got the idea from the newspaper, I just changed the “The” to “Tha.” It’s kind of like “I am the city” so to speak. I reach all people. I do it for the city, Cashville. From doctors to lawyers to the street guys, from the kids to the old people the ball players, the dope boys, everybody, the boys, the girls, the football players, everybody, I do it for the whole town. Everybody needs music, and my thing is I make good music. I touch a lot of people. This time I wanted to get the city rejuvinated, and make a song to get everybody’s attention. It shows in my video. We had 3,000 people at the video shoot. The song already had some legs. On “Tha City Paper” I’m going down and naming people, old guys, young guys. My momma she’s an attorney, and we from the projects, from J.C. Napier. So I’ve seen it. She loves my music to the crack-heads who loves my music. I do it for everybody. I went out and named the prominent people in the song, the people that’s locked up, some people that’s dead. I got a well rounded song and tied it up together. The song is doing so much for me. I never had the whole town behind me like this before. I had a few fans and stuff, but the whole town is behind me. I get calls from old men, ﬁfty something years old, saying, ‘Man young blood, you’re doing it for the town.’ Cause everybody else pumps they town up, and I think I need to be the one who pumps mine up. You heard Snoop Dogg saying LBC to Scar Face saying Houston 5th Ward to Jeezy saying Atlanta. We know everything about everyone else’s city, I want everybody to know about mine. So when you come to Nashville, you’re going to know. If you listen to that song you’re going to know about it. It’s got a good beat by Broadway. It’s doing wonders for me. continued on pg 8

CONCRETE: You got a different type of ﬂow on the record too. How did that style develop on the song? Paper: They call me a rapper who doesn’t do a lot of songs honestly. It might be a bad thing or good thing. Some people, honestly, say I’m lazy. But I think rap, it’s quality. You can go in the studio and make so many songs that sound so drowned out. I know this dude who say, ‘I have a thousand songs.’ Cause they all start to sound like one big song. When somebody makes a beat, to me, it makes me go a way. When Broadway made that beat for me, it made me go that way. As soon as he did that beat and he showed it to me, I was like, ‘dope boy swag, weed man too.’ I’m actually saying I got everybody’s swag together. I got a dope boy swag, I got a weed man swag, I got a numbers man swag, I’m all of these people in one. But, it made me ride that beat the same. Also, I’m so comfortable. So many people saying, ‘Paper, you are

one of the greatest, best rappers I’ve ever heard.’ Honestly I hear that a lot of times, so I actually have conﬁdence over the last few years to try something new, to try a different rhyme pattern or to try a different type of song format. So that’s what I’ve been doing as of late. I’ve been switching it up, trying whatever comes to my head, cause that stuff is going now. It’s going well. I got a couple of more songs riding beats like that. But honestly, that beat made me go that way. So it’s a tribute to Broadway for making the beat. CONCRETE: So when can people expect Tha City Paper Paper, the album? Paper: It’s either going to be the top of next year. We were going to push for a fall release, but I’m still trying to perfect myself. So we’re going to keep hitting you with singles. I don’t really do mixtapes, but I got a mixtape coming called The Best of Paper about to come out with all my singles, the “What’s Up Bluff,” Get Ya Paper,” “I’m a Hustler” a couple of them songs I had with Grind Hard. I’m going to put that

continued on pg 10

together and push that for the rest of the year. I’ll stay hot with hot that with some new exclusive songs on there. DJ Whitey is going to chop it up for me. Then at the top of the year I’m going to drop Tha City Paper Paper. It should be a heavily distributed album. Powerful songs with beats by Fate, Coop, Broadway, Street Symphony the best-of-the-best producers around here. I believe in using my producers from around here, just like I believe in pumping my people up. The producers around here are excellent. I don’t believe in spending a lot of money for beats some where else, cause them dudes got hot by a local guy pumping them. It’s going to be a real hard impact album. CONCRETE: What’s the next single? Paper: The next single is “I’m Gone Ham” featuring Sosa tha Plug, and that’s a real hot one in the ballot box. I’m trying to let “Tha City Paper” die down a little bit, but it ain’t dieing down. I don’t want to confuse nobody. I’ll probably ride out the rest of the year with “Tha City Paper” to all the country towns, and then hit them with the next single. You know 101 The Beat Jamz is behind me a whole lot, shout out to them. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout outs? Paper: Shout out again to Ramadan. Ramadan is my man. Hang Time make sure ya’ll get down there. And to all my fans and supporters, I’m so appreciative of everybody that’s sticking behind me and staying behind me. “Tha City Paper” that’s what it’s all about. I’m almost changing my name to Tha City Paper cause I’m doing it for the town.

CONCRETE: How did Southern Movement form? Todd: It was two crews. One was called Urban Legends and one was called Crowd Pleasers. We were all MTSU students. MTSU had a “You Got Served Battle.” After that battle we decided to compete together and do shows together. We opened up for John Legend, 112 and some other local Murfreesboro, Nashville shows. This was around 2005, and we weren’t called Southern Movement at that time. We auditioned for AMBDC last year, and we went under a different name. They told us, “Y’all from Nashville, you ought to come with something country.” So that’s how Southern Movement came about. So we’ve been together since ‘05. CONCRETE: So you auditioned last year ... did you know you were going to audition again? Todd: We knew we were going to audition again. We knew we were going to come with the country gimmick. The producer of the show hinted on that. “Y’all from Nashville, y’all should have come with something country.” When we audtioned first we had on swets and fitted caps. We thought it was mainly about the choreography, but of course to get on television you have to come with something, some kind of gimmick or style. For this dance show we came with this Southern Movement, hickhop thing, cause it had never been seen on the show. We wanted to make sure we got on the show. CONCRETE: Are all the crews styled by MTV? Todd: Yeah, everybody is styled. And we can’t just let the public know that. You would think, ‘oh these guys are choosing their stuff.’ Now I can say it, cause I’m off the show and the season is about to be over. If I was giving this interview and I was still on the show, I would have to have their publicist right here listening to what I was saying and he wouldn’t allow me to say that. It’s basically how the show wants you to be portrayed. CONCRETE: Within the crew, were you guys happy with the producers’ choices for your style and music? Todd: Nah. No. I wanted to wear the hats, but some of them clothes were definitely janky. Those clothes I did not want to wear every time. However, I’m not that shallow. Attire is a costume. It’s a performance, it’s a play, it’s a musical, it’s a stage, so to wear something like that didn’t bother me as much. Other members in the crew had a problem with it. But for me, I’d rather you worry about the dancing than what I had on. But that did bother a lot of people, and I can see how, because it is representing the South, so it does make the South look a little country. We voiced that to them like, “Can y’all make it more urban, cause we’re not just country.” So, certain people had problems with it, but you don’t wan’t to piss the producers off either. It’s a give and take thing. You have to give up something to get something. CONCRETE: Do you have any shout outs? Todd: Shout out to the Riverdale Halftimers. That’s where I come from. MPAC, Middle Tenn. Performing Arts Company and CAT Choreography. And to all our fans.

CONCRETE: So who are the members of Iniﬁnty? K.O.: There’s K.O., that would be me, Phancy and Memi. CONCRETE: How would you describe your style? K.O.: We’re R&B Pop. We are like a TLC, Destiny’s Child, Escape mixed with the Pussy Cat Dolls and Danity Kane, Britney Spears type. CONCRETE: How did the group from? K.O.: We have been a group now for four and a half years. We weren’t put together. I was in the ninth grade and I started singing in the studio. I’ve been singing ever since I could talk, but I was always scared and shy. So have the other girls. I met Phantasia ten years ago in the ﬁfth grade, and I met her again in the ninth grade (at Antioch High School). She was like, ‘Yeah we should catch up on things.’ And I was like, ‘I can’t really, cause I’m always in the studio.’ She was like, ‘Oh you sing.’ I was like, ‘yeah.’ She was like, ‘Me too. We should do something together.’ So it was me an her. And then I was on the cheer leading squad with Memi. She was always shy and didn’t really talk. She came over to my house one day with another girl on the cheer leading squad, and Phantasia and I were sitting on the ground writing and my friend Aston said, ‘Oh she can sing too.’ And we were like, ‘Come over here and sing this for us.’ And ever since then we’ve been together, stuck to each other like glue. CONCRETE: So what was your experiences with the Urban Music Challenge?

K.O.: Our ex-manager knew those guys, and she submitted us, and we got into it. The reason we got into it was she said there was a great promotional package that you could win. So we were just ready to perform. As far as preperation, it was a lot of hard work. We practiced for two months straight, every day, no breaks. I think we had one day out of each week to just chill. We were constantly moving. At S.I.R., in little gyms, practicing and working on our choreography. We were on our stuff when it came to practice. As far as the competition, everyone was great. We made really good friends with everyone. We’re just really grateful that we got to be a part of it. CONCRETE: So when do you plan on dropping an album? And, what can you tell us about it? K.O.: Our new album, we’re supposed to be releasing it in April. Everything is hot. We know people are going to like it. We can’t wait to see the results. It’s self titled, so Inﬁnity is the name of the record. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout outs? K.O.: Thank everyone for their support. We appreciate and are very grateful for everything everyone has done for us. Don’t let anyone bring you down or take advantage of you. Keep pushing for your dreams and what you believe in.

‘72 Oldsmobile Cutlus 22” Torque Rims Lime-Gold Candy Paint from Marco - Luv’s Automotive

‘85 Oldsmobile Delta 22” Drop Star Rims Custom Grille & Interior

Allstar - I Love You Too Much

Allstar brings you the latest in his Starlito series, I Love You Too Much. This one is mixed down by DJ Folk. It’s that quality you’ve come to expect from Star. He is one of the most lyrical MCs out today. He shows and proves this on a couple of freestyle tracks. His take on a dance song is “Do The Middleman” (really another hustler’s anthem) and features Yo Gotti, Nashville songtress Robin Raynelle and is produced by Drumma Drama. He teams again with Fate Eastwood, but also has beats from Broadway, Coop, NYSE, Celsizzle, Street Symphony and a slew of other young producers. What always stands out with Star is the word play, dude kills it again, start to ﬁnish.

Young Buck - Only God Can Judge Me

Buck comes right back with another great mixtape/street album. This one is hosted by legendary boss Freeway Ricky Ross. It’s mixed down by DJ Bigga Rankim. He comes hard with songs like “Sellin’ Dope Again,” “Bill Time,” “Grind Don’t Stop,” and “Anticipatin.” He comes with some creative production and ﬂows on his biker themed track “Burn Out.” He teams with Allstar on a few tracks including the street anthem “You Know I Got It.” Other guest features include Yo Gotti, 8Ball and MJG and Cruna. Nothings going to stop Buck!

Nam White - Nam White

Your boy Nam White spits that new style on his self titled joint. He gives you that grown man on “Benz Coupes and Babyseats,” “Watch Me Go To Work,” “My Life” and “Live In My Dreams.” The teacher drops a hip-hop history lesson and a tech class on you with “ipod.” The latin inﬂuenced “Hola” is a fun party record , so light your cubans and pop bottles. This whole record comes from a hip-hop point of view. Meet your new role model son, Nam White.

Dyversity - The Main Event

Dyversity, a new group out of Murfreesboro comes out swinging on their debut record The Main Event Event. This group of twenty-somethings, Looney, C. Scott, E. Pistol offers a look into the collective-mind of a new generation of Southern Rap. Inﬂuences run the gamet of popular culture. There’s a nice selection of production styles from synth heavy beats to sample driven beats. Their lyrical delivery reﬂects a Southern upbringing. Tracks like “Da Banga,” “Hands Up” and “V.I.P.” show just how dyverse this group is. It’s mixed by Tim Hill so you know the sound is right on. Be looking for big things from this group.

Street Flavor Records - Street Gold, Volume One

Can you believe it’s been ﬁfteen years since Pistol, DJ Dev and Street Flavor Records put Nashville on the hip-hop map?! Well it has, and just in time Street Flavor Records has dropped a compilation record with a lot of their early hits. Some of the bigger hits, including Pistol’s “Rollin’ In My ‘64” have been remixed, but just slightly. Other classics like Boogie’s “Concrete Jungle” are the original bangers. One of Young Buck’s earliest recorded songs “Love For My Block” is on there too. Other artists like Rude Awakening, Haystak, Lo’ Down, 1known and Mystro are included. There’s also a couple of joints by Grad Master Flash. Nice history lesson right here.

Mr. Untouchable

This is a classic street documentary! The film focuses on 1970s New York City heroine kingpin Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. All roads led to Harlem and all of Harlem led to Nicky Barnes. Early in life he was a junky, and eventually landed behind bars. While in prison for petty crime Nicky met mobster Joey Gallo who helped him link with an Italian drug supplier - Matthew Madonna. Then the film follows his rise to power, his excesses and ultimately his downfall. The New York Times put him on the cover of their magazine with the title “Mr. Untouchable.” He became so powerful that President Jimmy Carter personally sought to see him brought down. Ultimately after going to prison for life, NIcky Barnes testified against his friends seeking revenge. With so many great interviews including Nicky Barnes himself and top lieutenants Jazz and Scrap, his defense attorney David Breitbart, the police and prosecutors and reporters. It’s shot well, with lots of old footage and photographs. The film is scored by producer Hi-Tek and contains classic jams of the era including hits by James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Al Green and others. You need to see this ... it’s amazing.

Thuggin’ It and Lovin’ It

This film shows you them boys down in Louisiana. It is a grimy depiction of life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana also called Jigga City, the capitol of Louisiana. It goes from one hood to the next with folks showing off their cars, cash, drugs and guns (lots of choppers). The usual script is to turn the camera on and let everyone yell at the camera at once. It is hard to make sense out of any of it. There is no outline followed to tell this story. It is one clip to the next with no organization. There are some hilarious chick fights. Every so often they show a rapper from the area including Triggerman, Max Minelli, Big Scoob, DCF, Networkin Records, Millionaire Entertainment, Jimbo, Candy Cane (the porn star) and others. They show an extended interview with local celebrity and film maker Nussie. Then the next scene is folks giving him love at his funeral. That’s the grim reality of the streets. It’s almost two full hours and by the end you feel like you have met the whole damn town.

CONCRETE: You made the beat for Paper’s “Tha City Paper,” how did you formulate that song? Broadway: I had made the track and had a totally different kind of song in mind when I made it. I heard it as more of a club song maybe a chick song, like a sing song kind of beat. But when he heard it he was like, “Watch what I do to it! Everybody in the city is going to be behind it!” And he was telling the truth, no mistaking it at all. He said he was just going to name a bunch of people around the city that everybody loved and throw ‘em on there and everybody wold get behind it, and he was right. CONCRETE: So besides Paper, who are some of the people you have done production for? Broadway: I started off doing music with Stix. I probably have more music with Stix that with any other artist. Working with him I got some work in Charlotte with Envious Entertainment. I’ve done some work with Tru Life, J-Hood with D-Block. I’ve worked just about everybody in Nashville. I got my own artist named Ego. His album should be coming out second quarter in 2010. It’s going to be called Ego Trippin’ Trippin’. Stix album Northern Lights is coming out. Recently I’ve been working with All Star a lot more on his Cash Money Laundering album. CONCRETE: So what equipment do you use to make beats? Broadway: An MPC (Akai) and any keyboard I can get my hands on. CONCRETE: How did you get into making beats? Broadway: I’ve always done music. My whole family does music. I play bass, my brother plays drums my other brother plays keys. I play a little bit of everything. But when me and Stix were rapping we didn’t have any original tracks. So I was like, ‘I’ll start doing the tracks since I can do music.’ I really never started rapping again. I just kept making the tracks and let him do the rapping. That was like 2000 or 2001. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout outs? Broadway: Shout out Rondell and my big homie Lowe and Ego, Grenade, Stix and Paper. I want everyone to know I’m putting real music back in hip-hop. And vote for me, Broadway for producer of the year in the SEAs.

CONCRETE: How did you get the name 2UTY? DJ 2UTY: It originated from my original name WE2, which means we together forever. I just took 2 and we because everybody called me 2UTY, branching off of WE2. CONCRETE: How did you get into DJing? DJ 2UTY: I started DJing when I was 12, my brother is a professional DJ so I used to go down there and mess with his equipment, break needles. I didn’t really get heavy into it until I got to college simply because I wanted to focus more on my music than my DJing. I make music to save lives, DJ to make money. CONCRETE: So you are at school at TSU. If people wanted to see you DJ, where are you at? DJ 2UTY: Every Tuesdays and Thursdays at tsuradio.com. In the radio station I have my own college radio, I’m DJing at different clubs and venues. I don’t have a set genre, so you can just ﬁnd me everywhere. We do live broadcasts from everywhere. You can see me at Hang Time on Saturdays. CONCRETE: Do you do mixtapes at all? DJ 2UTY: My ﬁrst mixtape will be DJ 2UTY and Hang Time Presents The Homecoming. It’s a homecoming edition and that will come out homecoming weekend. CONCRETE: What are some of your goals for 2010? DJ 2UTY: I want everybody to know me as a different DJ. I believe that talk is cheap and sound is real. A real DJ can come off making people reminisce off the music that they are playing and relate to what they are doing in the sense in that people can’t brand me as just a club DJ. I want to say I DJed everywhere, on a boat, different rock concerts, rap concerts. I just want to be a versatile DJ. At the end of the day I’m an artist being that I’m an artist I know music. CONCRETE: Any last words for our readers? DJ 2UTY: I want everyone to know that Music Lives.It’s a clothing line that we started, and it’s something I want to push, The Music Lives Movement. And shout out to Wetoo and The Truth, that’s me and my band. And Hang Time, I can’t forget Hang Time.

CONCRETE: This year has been a break-out year for you nationally. Talk about what you accomplished in 2009? D.L.: We just decided after the last Bronner Brothers show in February just to go hard. We took it out to Los Angeles to the Spectrum International Beauty Expo and got First Place there. The next competition was the Twentieth Anniversary of The Proud Ladies Show in Chicago. We got Third Place there. It was my first time ever doing a runway show. I didn’t even know we were supposed to do it. We still ended up getting Third Place. Then we brought it back to Atlanta, and ended up getting First Place in Atlanta (Bronner Brothers). We went to Dallas, Texas to my guy Silk the Surgeon’s hair show in Dallas. They flew me out. We did real well there judging the competition and doing a little exhibition work as well. We also did the Music City Hair Battle here in June at the State Fairgrounds. We had a real nice turnout there. Here it is now, we got nominated to compete for $20,000 at the Grand Barber Battle in Atlanta, February 2010. That’s going to be super exciting. CONCRETE: What is the Grand Barber Battle that you will compete in? D.L.: This is a theme driven production. You have fifteen minutes on stage. You cut three models. It’s a lot of chereography. You’ve got to have characters. You’ve got to put together a show. Just like you were at a concert. You’re not just a barber, you’re a barber entertainer. And if anybody knows me they know I’ve been in that type of stuff for a long time. We’re ready for it. It’s a work in progress. It’s going to be a lot of work, but for $20,000 we’re going hard. CONCRETE: So what is it you love the most about your profession? D.L.: I love the people man. I love the people, being able to service people. I love being able to see the finished product, making people feel better. That’s the motivation that really drives me. All the competition stuff, that’s cool, that’s the cherry on the top. But just being able to service people with what God gave me, the gift God gave me, is what I love about it. CONCRETE: Any last words? D.L.: I’d like to say that when you come to me down at East Side Barber Shop I provide the best service that I can possibly give somebody. I’ve made a couple of comments saying that I’m the best barber in the city. There’s a lot of good barbers here, but I can only speak for myself. I feel like I provide good, quality service. I’ve got trophies, I got things that prove that I’ve been putting it down. When you’re at the top of the mountain, there’s always people that will try to pull you down. Regardless, nobody will ever stop my motivation to be the best. Like I said, this is a gift that God gave me. Nobody is going to take that away. Nobody is going to steal my joy on this.