CONCRETE Magazine - Nashville #43 by CONCRETE Magazine

concrete615.com 6-8 .......................... Yelawolf 10 ................................ Rittz 12 ............................Struggle 14 ................. Slumerican Crew 16 .......................... Ramadan 18 ............................ Low Pro 20 22 24 26 28 30

................... Music Reviews ...................... Kurtis Stanly ........................ Wally Clark ................ Amerigo Gazaway ........................... Prophicy .......... Nashville 10: Ms. Diva

SHOP LOCAL THIS HOLIDAY! MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Published by: CONCRETE Marketing Ad Executives: Bryan Deese, Capo Art Director: Rex2-tm Cover Photo & Slumerican Group: Tyler Clinton Yelawolf Photo pg 6: Dustin Lewis Nash 10 Photography: Tavell Brown

CONCRETE Magazine PO Box 239, Madison, TN 37116 concretebryan@gmail.com ÂŠ CONCRETE Magazine 2011

photo: Dustin Lewis - MrClandestine.com

Yelawolf hit the tipping point in 2011. His hard work behind the scenes paid off, and he emerged from the underground. You might have seen him on the cover of XXL with his new Shady Record label-mates or heard his mixtape Trunk Muzic. Maybe you saw him destroy the cypher on BET BETs “Hip-Hop Awards”. Or perhaps you witnessed the raw energy live at one of his three Nashville appearances in 2011. Regardless the skater-turned-rapper from Alabama, with strong ties to Antioch (he lived there during his formative years) has reached the public consciousness and with his major-label debut RadioActive you’re sure to see him a lot more this year. On his last stop thru Nashville, Yelawolf brought the whole Slumerican crew (including Mama and Papa Wolf) with him for an exclusive photo shoot and interview. CONCRETE: You’ve dropped the first single from Radio Active, “Hard White.” How did you decide the first single? Yelawolf: Well “Hard White” we felt was just a good buzz record. As far as first big single, we knew that it was a dope record and it could grow its own legs. But we also knew that it was a little too hardcore for certain markets or whatever. But it started growing it’s own wings. The record started moving by itself. Sometimes you just never know what a record is going to do. We personally didn’t expect too much out of “Hard White.” We just knew that it was a good record. It wasn’t our ‘best foot forward’ but it was a good burner for the streets. It wasn’t too far left of Trunk Muzic. It wasn’t alienating the fans we had created with Trunk Muzic. It made sense. It was a good burner for the streets. We shot a video. The video turned out great. It’s getting picked up. (It’s on) MTV. It’s getting picked up by 106 and Park today. I’m walking it on today (10/7). So yeah, it kind of grew its own legs. We have records we feel like our going to make leaps and bounds for me and for the album. And also for people’s perspective of what I’m capable of doing and where I’m about to go. continued on pg 8

CONCRETE: In the song “Hard White” there’s a lyric “Rest in peace Wayne Bush”, and we recently saw you send him a birthday wish on Twitter. Who is Wayne Bush? Yelawolf: Wayne Bush was one of my best friends. I tweeted that on his birthday (Sept 26). He died in a motorcycle accident a few years back. Basically he was a young dude off the streets. He was a single parent of two daughters that would wake up every morning and take them school and pick them up out of school. He sold weed for a living and was really, really good at it. He made a lot of money. But he was one of the best people in the world. He would come and help me to survive really when I was at the bottom. He put money into a studio. He would carry me to shows. He just supported me fully. He put a studio in my house on a street called South 11th Street. He would have all his boys come over and help me make money by charging them for studio time. He was just one of the best dudes. He was so involved with me musically that I know if he was alive today he would be on the bus right now. That’s who Wayne Bush is. CONCRETE: You seem real laid back when you’re not performing. On stage and in the booth you have a lot of energy. Do you have any rituals or anything you do to get ready? Yelawolf: People have asked me, ‘Man what’s wrong with you.’ And I’m like, ‘Nothing. Just chillin.’ I’m not performing right now. I’m just chillin.’ I guess because the way I see a performance, It’s a performance! Some artists would rather take the energy that they have day to day on stage. I like to transform and become a part of the record and really just rock out with the fans and to make a connection. That just comes from being inspired by it. Performers like Axel Rose, or Redman or Mystical, Triple-6-Mafia shows, Jim Morrison. I watch a lot of festival footage like Rage Against the Machine, Primus. I just try and capture that energy and make sure the shows is fun to be at and something they’ll never forget. CONCRETE: Can you break down what the Slumerican Movement is all about and who is affiliated? Yelawolf: Slumerican is a cultural brand. It’s a family of likeminded people. Me, myself I’m the President, Mr. President. Lower Managment, Jon Newport. The original Tyler the Creator, Tyler is the creative director. He did the album art for RadioActive. He’s doing the artwork for Slumerican. Basically, things we’ve always wanted to see shirts. People that we want to associate ourselves with based on their genius. It could be a skateboarder. It could be a photographer. It could be a rapper. It could be a singer, guitar player. It could be a professional beer drinker. Just rad people that came from the bottom and are proud of the American culture. Because, it’s obviously a play on words, but it’s patriotic. It just represents the underbelly of it all. The people that make our world go round, the 9-to-5ers. So we just started associating the name with people we were backing. Rittz from Gwinett County (Georgia), obviously Newport as a skateboarder, Tyler is also our photographer, an ill-ass photographer. So I actually rocked the first shirt that we put up, on the front it says ‘The Losers Win Again’ and I’m wearing it on 106 today. That’s the first shirt that we’ve made. Some more gear coming out of the brand. It’s slum patriotic.

CONCRETE: Where are you from? Struggle: I’m from Nashville, Tennessee. West Side, a neighborhood called the nationsiu. It’s right of Charlotte Pike. CONCRETE: You have a song with Jackie Chain and Rittz. Is that from your upcoming album? Struggle: I did that song at Tree Sound (Studios) around Christmas (2010). I was in there recording this album. I recorded a handful of songs at Tree Sound in Atlanta. When we were recording this new project, we rented out Compass Studios which used to be Hillbilly Central. It’s where Waylon Jennings recorded Wanted: The Outlaws album which was the first platinum selling country album in history. They set the mic up for me right where Waylon stood and everything, so it was just a whole other vibe. But while I was in Atlanta I cut “Getcha High” with Rittz and Jackie Chain. Really I leaked it, and I don’t know if it will be on the project. I don’t think it will because this other music is so different. But it will definitely be on a project. CONCRETE: Can you talk about your new project? Struggle: It’s pretty much self titled. It’s called I Am Struggle. The label that I’ve been signed to for the last few years just gave me the reigns and said, “Make the music you want to make. Don’t worry about a radio hit. Don’t worry about anything. Just do you. Do what you want to do.” So we took it a whole other direction. This music really is the music I’ve always wanted to do. I got the producers I wanted to use like Will Power. A lot of it is produced by Jody Stevens from right here in Nashville. We mixed country and hip-hop, but in the most authentic way that we could. I mean I’m a rapper. I’m from the streets. My music was already authentic. We just took a lot of Waylon (Jennings) some Johnny Cash, some of the older, what I felt was authentic country, outlaw country and mixed them together. It’s an amazing album. It’s got features by Yelawolf. The first single is called “Outlaw Shit”. It’s me, Waylon and Yelawolf. The video just dropped. Directed by Tyler Clinton from Do.Not.Resist. A lot of great people came out and supported me on it. It’s been a journey these last ten years of grinding and doing music to really get to the point where now I’m able to do what the fuck I want to do. This album totally embodies that.

CONCRETE: For people who haven’t heard you, how do you describe your style? Rittz: My flow is obviously fast and double-time. I can do it the other way too, but it’s pretty much what I do. I try to be lyrical on everyhting I write. I spend a long time crafting each verse. I like all my syllables to match. I don’t go in and write verses really quick. It takes me a while. It takes me a few hours to write one verse. It’s a lot of words. I just try to retort back to when I was younger and partied and even now, and struggling. I just try and relate to everybody. Not just one group of people, something everyone can relate to. Definitely fast and lyrical. CONCRETE: Your mixtape White Jesus has a lot of tracks produced by DJ Burn One. How did you link up with him, and how did the mixtape project come about? Rittz: I met Burn-One at a Yelawolf show when he first put out Trunk Muzic. He was DJing for Yelawolf. He said he was a fan. I had heard some mixtapes from Burn One, but I didn’t know he was a producer. Then my manager told me he produced. One night at Tree Sound (Studios) he was there and played me some tracks. The tracks he played me was the shit I love. The tracks I still like, not a lot of producer make these days, a real soulful sound to it. I used to make beats, and I tried to make beats like that. So to find a producer that actually had the style of shit that I like was kind of strange. It was like some meant-to-be type shit. Working with him was cool. A lot of it was done through e-mail, sending me tracks. I like that. I’ve had a home studio for all of my life, so I kind of work weird. I like being on my own time and doing shit on my own. I don’t really get with a producer and write a song with them and all that shit. I kind of do it on my own. I record it and send it to them and go from there and make the track what it is. It was cool. Their style, it’s a team of them. It’s Burn One and four other dudes. They call themselves 5 Points (Music Group) The Green Machine. It’s their whole crew. CONCRETE: You describe “Nowhere to Run” as sort of a snapshot of your life at that point. The song is about straddling the rap game and a 9-to-5 job. Have you been able to quit your job as a cook? Rittz: I just quit that job. It was weird. I was touring with the band Rehab and my boss was letting me off work on the weekends, cause all the tour dates were on the weekends. Luckily I had gotten a new boss, because my other boss wasn’t feeling me getting the time off. He was about to get rid of me. Which couldn’t happen financially. But luckily I got a cool boss to try and solve the situation I was in. He was like, “Dude, this (music) is way more important.” I had taken so much time off that I was always gone. So the last day wasn’t as big as I thought it was going to be. It kind of just happened gradually. Next thing you know I was barely even there. Finally it was time to come and be like, ‘Look this is hurting me more than it’s helping me.’ Cause I was always missing out on things cause I had to work. It literally just happened. I just quit my job in, I think it was August or the end of July. It just happened. It’s been kind of crazy all the way up to this point just working and doing the music shit.

Self described “mirror twins” that share everything. google search: vice magazine ATL twins

DJ and helps run hip-hop blog: Baller’s Eve - ballersevenyc.net Creative Director, Photographer, designed Yelawolf’s RadioActive album cover. Fellow Alabama rapper, featured on Yelawolf’s “Pop the Trunk” and signed to Get-O-Vision. Nashville area rapper.

Lower Management and Pro Skateboarder - Arcade Skateboards, from Atlanta.

Nashville area rapper and owner of Phoenix Room Recording Studio.

CONCRETE: Where did you get the inspiration and the concept for Elite Clothing? Ramadan: It is all about change! Nothing stays the same, and with that neither does the fashion. Yes I could have just switched up the gear and kept the name, but it was more than that. The new kind of man wants to look a certain way, no baggy jeans and extra large white t-shirts anymore. He wants to look like he has something to look good for, like he has purpose. He wants to feel a certain way when he puts on his clothes, he wants to feel important. He wants to feel Elite! CONCRETE: What sets Elite Clothing apart from other boutiques in the Nashville area? Ramadan: In a perfect world or a perfect city, we would all work together to proﬁt the highest level of achievement, everyone giving and offering something different so that people have no choice but to shop in a variety of stores, but it is not a perfect world and this is not a perfect city. All I will say is, I stay in my lame and I am an expert at what I do! CONCRETE: What brands do you carry inside the store? Ramadan: LRG, Akoo, True Religion, Robins Jeans, Levis, UGGS for Men, Nudie Jeans, Mitchell & Ness, Cole Hann, Polo, Pink Dolphin, BBC, Timberland, Supra, A-Life, Palladium, Carrera Glasses, Ray Bans, Gucci Accessories, Nixxon Watches, G-Shock and more. At Elite Clothing we’re always looking for that new line that speaks to our customers. Lines that are timeless in their approach to design and use of quality materials. When we sell a garment our customer can feel good knowing they got something of real quality that will last. CONCRETE: Do you carry any local brands? Ramadan: Sure. A line doesn’t have to be nation wide to be quality, and we support those brands also. We sell local lines like Solo Altitude, Trash Bag Gang and Fresh Republic. Those lines do well with or customers too. CONCRETE: What is next for you and Elite clothing? Ramadan: Just keeping Nashville and our customers fresh. Fashion is an ever-evolving industry, and we’re always working hard to stay on top of it. We do it for our customers and they know when they leave Elite Clothing they look good.

CONCRETE: What was the last project you did? When was that? Low Pro: 2008 actually. I got into some legal problems. I kind of fell back to be honest. I kind of gave up on the rap game. I didn’t want to do it no more. In 2009 I decided to give it one more try, and I started working on the Behind the Music album. Which I just ﬁnished recording the start of this year. CONCRETE: When are you releasing Behind the Music? Low Pro: I just shot videos for a couple of singles “I’m Cool” and “Money Over Everything”. I’m trying to get them to radio. I’m trying to have the album drop in November. CONCRETE: Who are the producers you worked with? Low Pro: G-Sharp he’s from Louisville. I got Fate Eastwood on the album. DJ Dev has a track on the album. For the most part the homie from Louisville did most of the production for the album. CONCRETE: Where did you record the album? Low Pro: I recorded it in Louisville. Probably 85% of the album I did in Louisville and I recorded a couple of tracks down here. CONCRETE: What are the singles from Behind the Music? Low Pro: “I’m Cool” is self explanatory. I am the coolest to do it hands down. And “Money Over Everything” that’s my motto, that’s how I feel. In the video I’m selling newspapers, I’m ﬂipping signs, I’m a bathroom attendant. I tried to bring a little comedy to the visuals. Cause you know I’m a silly dude, but at the same time I’m serious about getting to my money. I’m serious about my grind and getting to my hustle. I just tried to show them that in the video. I think everyone will enjoy it. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout outs? Low Pro: I just want everyone to know, Cashville’s coolest is back. It’s still money over everything. Check Behind the Music. You got to get the record. It’s real talk. If you know me, you know it ain’t no game. It’s 100% me.

Malaki - All I Know

Malaki is another vet in the Nashville rap game with a hot new project titled All I Know. With a a few tracks produced by Nashville hit maker Rio, this project has a smooth sound that punctuates Malaki deep, raspy delivery. This joint has a classic Nashville feel, full of boom-tick beats and crunk hooks and verses. If you’re a fan of Malaki aka Black Beast then this is for you. He gives you his best and his track record is proven. Some of the highlights are “You Don’t Want It,” “Bank Roll” and “I Ain’t Broke Yet.”

Low Pro - I’m Cool!

Low Pro should change his name to Flow Pro. Dude is serious on his new album I’m Cool Cool. He goes in from the jump on “I’m Me” a track with a Devin McGraw sample. Somehow it works perfectly -SWAG- and sets a good tone. On “I’m Cool” Low shows his ‘Rick Flair swagger’ and claims he ‘put the Cool in the Gang.’ “Money Over Everything” featuring G-Sharp on the hook is a soulful account of life’s tough times and the hustle to get ahead. Low Pro is busy rebuilding momentum and that’s what “Heart’s Still In It” is all about. “I know that I been gone for a minute, but don’t act like my heart ain’t in it.” Get reacquainted with Low Pro, this album has a lot of bangers.

C-Good & Zone 8 - Never Change

C-Good is back with a squad (Zone 8: Red Moon, Alpo-Bravo and BoBo) behind him. The mixtape goes into full swing with “Nu Shit” produced by Broadway and featuring Rocko. Besides the hometeam there’s some heavy features like Boosie on “Big Money” (which has World Star going crazy) and Project Pat on “Do It 4 Daddy” both of which were produced by DJ Dev. Dev and Broadway produced most of the tracks, and it’s a good collection of hustler anthems. Tha Zone 8 Boys really put it down on this project. Make sure you check this one out.

Quan, T-Weezy & Wilx 100 - Sluggers in the Outﬁeld

This is the newest mixtape project from young hitters Quan and T-Weezy. This time as the Sluggers in the Outﬁeld they brought along Wilx100 and Stacks also of Hit After Hit Ent. These cats are really growing as artists and showing progression from project to project. The beats are mostly industry tracks, but several are produced by WeWe, another Nashville product. Some of the songs that got stuck on repeat were “Popping Bubbly,” “Off The Chain,” and “Grandslam”. Of course it wouldn’t be complete if there wasn’t a R&B track featuring T-Weezy. Your boy can sing! This crew knocked this one out the park!

Strange Customz - Spontaneously Combustable

The MC duo of Mike Vulcan and Hegemonic also known as Strange Customz linked as teenagers in East Nashville, and have been a creative team for years. Recently they have started releasing gems from their vaults. They’ve dropped 2 EPs with 6 tracks total. All the beats are made in-house by Mike Vulcan (who is also a well known DJ). Tracks are dark and dirty, full of subtle vinyl pops and cracks under unconventional samples and drum patterns. The stand-out song is “Back-Up Plan”, a sharp tongued assault on slackers and idiots. It lays a synthed-out bass tone on top of the classic break from “It’s a New Day” by the Skull Snaps. The lyrics match the dark beats and are anti-establishment. It’s a unique, well-crafted sound that mirrors underlying frustrations of today’s 99%.

CONCRETE: How did you link up with producer Walter Clark and start working together? K. Stanley: It was a mutual friend Dave Meador, DJ Tommy Ill. He’s a DJ. We me t in Knoxville. Josh (Walter Clark) knew Dave. Basically we all met up in Atlanta through Dave. It wasn’t here until recently that Dave made the connection between me rapping and MCing and Josh actually making beats. He was like, “Hey you should get in touch with one of my dudes. Actually you know him, Josh.” I was like, “Cool.” He put us in touch and from there we kind of felt each other out. See the different styles and made sure it meshed. Then we immediately got to work. We didn’t even have a solid plan moving forward. We were still just feeling each other out. The first thing we recorded was “Right On” the main single from the Gummy Soul album we released. CONCRETE: What is Gummy Soul? K. Stanley: Gummy Soul is really a collective. Amerigo and Wally were already doing so many things. It started with Wally, and Wally had a radio show at UT but also the most prominent one and one he became known for was the show at Vanderbilt, WRVU. He had a great show with a wide listenership across Nashville. That’s really where the brand got it’s first recognition and starting getting a feel for what this guy is about. CONCRETE: What project are you working on now? K. Stanley: I got a lot of things in the pipeline. Because of recent things that have happened, the Fela Soul Soul, we’ve had people reach out. Also my track record just as an MC here in Nashville, there’s a lot of people that I didn’t realize recognize my name and my brand. They’ve reached out to me for collaborations. We’re trying to get heavy on the show circuit with LoveNoise and Kidsmeal. We’re working on the next Gummy Soul project with these cats. The project is close to being done. It’s about the same length as the other one. We feel good about that length. It’s like 35 minutes. It’s still meaty. It’s streamlined. For me, I live outside of Nashville, and I can put on one of our projects and come into town and listen to 90% of the project. That’s where that idea came from like, “I want to put on a project I can bump continuosly all the way on my commute from my house to work.” But it has to be solid. With the production that we’ve got it’s such a good flow, a good feel it typically works out. So far it’s been working well for us.

CONCRETE: What is Gummy Soul? How did it form? Wally Clark: Gummy Soul started when I started making beats. I took the name Wally Clark from Wallabees (Clarks shoes) and kind of as a Ghost Face tribute. And I used to go by Wally and The Champs, that was my fake band, just as a producer. I came up with the name Gummy Soul as like my fake record label. It was all right when I first started. It was just confusing to people what Wally and The Champs was, because I would say I’m Walter Clark in Wally and The Champs. Then with Gummy Soul everyone just responded to that name. It’s just been whatever I needed it to be. When I had a soul show on WRVU it was called Gummy Soul Soul. I made the website Gummy Soul. And I would try and introduce myself as Walter Clark, my original name, but I started saying Gummy Soul and everybody recognized that. Then when I got with Kurt (Stanley) he just immediately embraced the essence of what I was trying to do. We were thinking of a name for (our project), and he had kept shouting out “Gummy Soul” through the whole thing. So we were like, “Why don’t we call the album Gummy Soul Soul.” So that became another thing called Gummy Soul Soul. It’s semi-confusing to people, but I like the fact that it’s vague and not very hip-hopy. The name also reflects the production style that I do. CONCRETE: How do you describe your production style? How do you approach making a beat? Wally Clark: When I started making beats, just looking for records, I didn’t have that much money. So I was looking for records that I liked to listen to also. And I love soul music. So I naturally gravitated to those samples. When I first started making beats, I thought I was going to make dark Wu-Tang beats. But it’s just a style that has come out naturally. When I go in there I don’t want to make dark, depressing shit. I want to make soulful, almost happy sounding beats. That’s just what always came naturally. So when I pick things out, I usually take a song and I hear that it’s got a good tone. Then I chop the entire thing up into like a 100 different little chops. Then I just start layering on top, and layering and layering.

CONCRETE: Your father (Gary Gazaway) is deep in the jam band scene. How did you discover hip-hop? Amerigo: It was through my older brother and sister. They were into hip-hop when I was in middle school. My brother left for college and went to UT Knoxville. I found this shoebox of hip-hop cassette tapes that he left behind when he went to Knoxville. Except none of the cassette tapes were in it. It was all empty covers for Black Moon and Gang Starr, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest. I was in middle school when I found it, and was like, ‘I’m going to go out and buy these.’ So I started buying these albums I’d found in the shoe box. I got into hip-hop that way. Then I got my first DJ turntable set, and started collecting any records I could find. CONCRETE: Can you break down your new project Fela Soul Soul? Amerigo: Basically what I did was took samples from Fela Kuti, the father of Afro beat music, and made beats with it. Then I took De La Soul a cappellas and put those on top of it to create new songs or remixes. CONCRETE: How did you pick material from each? Amerigo: I was kind of limited in terms of the a cappellas I could find for De La. It was hard to track down some of those a cappellas. I had to order Stakes Is High off e-bay and wait like a month for that to show up. It was worth it. I knew that I wanted to have that song, and it ended up being the first track on the album. I’m really glad I waited and actually got ahold of that. I was kind of limited in terms of that. And Fela Kuti is all over the place. If you listen to his music it’s really different and cool, but it’s really difficult to try and marry the two together and get it to sound right. We had the idea for it last year, fall 2010. Then I forgot about for a long time, cause I was busy with school. It was some time this summer I sat down and started making a beat and I started humming a sample from a Fela Kuti song, and I just remembered. The whole idea and vision for it came back to me. So I obsessed over it for two or three weeks and did it. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout-outs? Amerigo: Shout out to everybody who downloaded Fela Soul and reposted it. OkayPlayer.com, OkayAfrica.com for getting the ball rolling. All my Nashville peeps and people who have supported me over the years. My brother (Rickey Mindlin) he’s my manager and he’s been a huge help through all of this. And my parents.

CONCRETE: Where are you from originally? Prophicy: I was born in Tennessee, lived a little bit in D.C. and Chicago, finished growing up in Milwaukee. CONCRETE: How long have you been in Nashville? Prophicy: I’ve been in Nashville and Tennessee in general for 5 years. CONCRETE: The name Prophicy, how did you pick that name? Prophicy: It just fell on me while playing some PS2 with some friends back in Milwaukee. One thing I believe in and my father taught me about was a self fulfilling prophicy. So I talk a lot about myself and records so it kind of fit together. CONCRETE: How do you describe your style? Prophicy: I finally figured out a definition for it. It’s head-nod music. Something you can just sit back, ride in the car, sit at the house and listen to. It’s got a nice flow to it, content. Something that will make you think. Something to have fun with. CONCRETE: What 3 songs did you perform at the UMC? Prophicy: I did the song “Bout My Business,” “Get Away,” and “Runnin.” CONCRETE: Have you released those songs already or were they new material? Prophicy: “Get Away” is a song for the ladies off of my last album Inception. It’s on iTunes and everything like that. “Bout My Business” and “Runnin” are from a project I’m working called Reign Man. CONCRETE: What can you tell us about Reign Man? Prophicy: It’s going to be a full album 12-15 songs, somewhere in there. It’s predominately my own production. The only other producer I’ve worked with up until this point is a friend of mine named Bobby Drake out of Milwaukee. He taught me everything I know about making beats. So the styles are somewhat similar. He has a more live feel to it. I did all the writing as far as the lyrics are concerned and most of the hooks. If I have any singers come down and do anything then I let them put their own spin on it. I recorded it all at my house. Then I might get it mastered and properly put together and have it ready to go by December.

Photo: Tavell Brown, Brown Photography, Make-Up: Sherry Waller