CONCRETE Magazine, Nashville #44 by CONCRETE Magazine

concrete615.com 8-10 ......................... DJ Crisis 12 .......................... Open Mic 14 ..................... Music Review 18 .......................Nashville 10 20 .............Producer: Syk Sense 22 ....................... Slimm Body 24 ....................... K.O. McCoy 26 ............................... POPS 28-30 ........Robski - NashvilleRap.com DJ Crisis is right. We can’t represent Nashville if we’re always in Nashville. Open Mic is right. Nashville’s talent can hold its own with any city. It’s up to all of us in 2012 to get outside of Nashville and put on for our city. We’re within 8 hours of damn near the entire U.S. population. Let’s ﬁll up the tank and hit the interstate in every direction. We can put Nashville back on the map of popular, urban culture. Let’s go H.A.M. on these fools in 2012! Published by: CONCRETE Marketing Ad Executives: Bryan Deese, Capo Art Director: Rex2-tm Nash 10 Photography: Tavell Brown Photography: Tavell Brown

CONCRETE Magazine twitter - @CONCRETE615 concretebryan@gmail.com © CONCRETE Magazine 2012

CONCRETE: You recently did a college tour. Can you break that tour down for us? Crisis: The college tour we started back on October 1, 2011. We actually kicked off September 24 in New York at the RockSmith Flagship Store. We partnered with RockSmith Clothing based out of New York. They was trying to really get into the college market with their clothing line. It was only right for us to merge together and go on tour. What we did was hit up a bunch of schools that we had connections with and promoters from different areas and put together the Shut Up and Listen Tour with me, Zac Boog and Dee Goodz. We did a combination of step shows, after parties for home comings. We hit most of the schools during their home comings. We went to MTSU, Lane College, UT Martin, TSU, Western Kentucky, Austin Peay, UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga and a few other schools. Basically what we did was I went in on the turntables and did my thing, Zac Boog did his hosting and comedy thing and Dee Goodz performed 1 or 2 songs with what he had going on. The whole purpose of it was to get our brands out in these other markets and do something different. Cause you can hang out in Nashville all day, but if you ain’t really getting out then you’re really not doing anything for the city. A lot of people get kind of complacent. I caught myself doing the same thing. I kind of got bothered by that. That’s why we jumped out on a limb and did the tour. CONCRETE: Which colleges did you get the best turnout? Crisis: I would say UT Knoxville. There was about 2,500 people. It wasn’t even a club. It was big ol’ sports complex they did it at. It was with the Alphas down there. It was the pre-party for their homecoming. They really brought them out. It was about 2,500 people that came out and rocked with us. It was a real good look. We got video footage. We’ve been releasing recap videos for each spot on the tour. It’s been a good look each day. CONCRETE: You’re on radio at 101.1 The Beat. How did you get on? Crisis: I hit Dolewite and Scooby up about an internship back in continued on page 10

2008. I ended up getting on as an intern. A week later I ended up getting hired as a part timer. Then 3 months after that I started training for the Steve Harvey Morning Show to ﬁll in for Jones. A month later Pam (Pamela Aniese) was like, “I want to have you on Sunday nights.” In way less than a year I was on the air. I got my own show, Sundays from 8-12. It’s working out good, cause I don’t have to be in Nashville until Sunday. I’m not limited. That’s my overall objective is to get out of the market. Really just establish the show’s brand, the DJ Crisis brand, the Fly Major brand everywhere we go. That’s the sole purpose of what I’m trying to do. The radio helps me be anchored in the city. I still have a voice in the city while I’m moving around outside the city. CONCRETE: You still do events in Nashville with Fly Major. What does Fly Major have planned for 2012? Crisis: We’re planning more unique events than the norm. At the end of the day people in Nashville want different stuff, so they can feel it’s something progressive in the city. If you hit them with the same old stuff over and over, which has been happening, people get board. They want to go outside of Nashville for entertainment.

Really Nashville has enough stuff here for people to be in the city and enjoy themselves like they would anywhere else. What we’re trying to provide this go round in 2012 is that new vibe from musical acts to something of everything. We have Fridays over at the new SoBro Nightclub, formerly The Place. Even with me as a DJ, I’m trying to get more in touch with the community. I’m just trying to help the city get back to where it was before I got here. When I got here I was hearing stories about how Nashville was. That makes me more anxious to get it back to where it was. I feel like I’m as responsible as anybody else from Nashville. CONCRETE: You have a mixtape series Shut Up and Listen. What’s the history behind that and what’s the latest news with that ongoing project? Crisis: Shut Up and Listen was actually an idea that came into my head back in high school. That’s how I got my DJ name Crisis, by just selling mixtapes in high school. Then I got to TSU. It was always in the back of my head to do, but it took like a year and a half to actually just go ahead and do it. I felt that I was ready to do it. It started off with just one volume. I had a bunch of songs that people liked. It was a response bigger than what I thought it would be. I always said I just wanted to do a mixtape, that’s it. But the response that it got kind of made me have to go ahead and start a series. From Volume 2 to Volume 3, then I linked up with DJ Drama one of my longtime inspirations. Now he’s one of my biggest mentors and one of my good friends. It took time me doing mixtapes and staying consistent and working so hard to get to that point. So it went from working with DJ Drama to Drumma Boy. I did one with him. Now I’m working on a tape with Buck, Live Loyal Die Rich. That’s going to be my ﬁrst artist (tape) that I actually collaborate on with a Shut Up and Listen. From there I plan to work with other artists. Just big names that I can help with my brand and merge it with their brand and make something real big. That’s what I did with the mixtape series.

CONCRETE: What projects have you done to date? Open Mic: The ﬁrst one that we actually did and really tried to create a tape with was A Different World World. I put that out freshman year of college, I’m a senior now. After that we put out For The Rebels which was 2011. We just released Molotov last November, and it’s done real well. Three under belt now. The fourth is on the way. CONCRETE: On your project Molotov you worked with Ducko McFli. How did you guys link to put that project together? Open Mic: This wasn’t supposed to be. Molotov Molotov, originally from that relationship wasn’t supposed to be Molotov. Molotov

It wasn’t supposed to be Mic and Ducko. It was supposed to be me looking for some beats. (laughs) Ducko wouldn’t e-mail me any beats. He was like, “Just come to the house. Come to the house.” So I was like, “Aight.” I was basically being stubborn like, ‘No you’re going to e-mail me beats.’ And he’d say, “Come to the house.” That goes on for a minute, and I’m like, ‘OK we’ll get up eventually.’ Finally I go to his house and listen some beats, and I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ It was some of the most off-the-wall beats. Ducko is extremely talented. At that moment he gave me a CD with 8 beats on it. I took those beats home for maybe two days or so, and I had songs ready to go for like 6 of them. I came back to lay them down and did all 6 in like an hour or two. He was like, “Yo, we should do a whole tape.” And I was feeling so good about the music at that point I was like “Let’s do it.” At that moment once we finished the last song, it was like, “OK let’s start making some more beats. Let’s go ahead and knock it out.” Cause I was only going to be there for so many more days. I was fixing to go out of town. The same session I brought him what I had back for those songs, the verses back, that was the day we decided, ‘Yeah we’re going to do a tape.’ CONCRETE: Do you get the credit you deserve for your music? Open Mic: I work really hard. I study music. I study everything from lyricism to time changes to the iconography of like A Tribe Called Quest and what Wu-Tang did for the culture, everything. I really feel like a lot of people in hip-hop period, underground, commercial, whatever, aren’t doing the types of things that I’m doing with the people around me. It’s not just me. From the videos to the graphic design to the pictures we put out, I don’t think people are really in tune with it. Once we find the middle ground the level of exposure is going to be really crazy. Plus, I want to be one of the greatest rappers that ever lived. I’m just going to keep working extremely hard. I encourage everyone that’s in the Nashville underground culture we have that’s exploding right now to continue to go extremely hard. Cause being in New York, these guys ain’t no better than us. I could have brought 3 artists from Nashville with me to New York and just murdered every show that I went to. So everybody man keep going. Keep going crazy (laughs).

Bezzeled Gang - Tha Music City Miracle

Bezzeled Gang has hit their stride with the Music City Miracle. A double disc album that features artist such as Young Buck, Project Pat, Tha City Paper, Starlito, Rio, Black Catﬁsh, Star Murphy and the list goes on. With power house production from Fate Eastwood, Broadway, Rio and Syksense to name a few, both discs are jam packed with heat. “We Got It” is a certiﬁed street classic and probably their strongest track to date. The only reason to change this cd is to put in disc 2. They’ve gone HAM with the videos too. Do yourself a favor and check their YouTube. BANG! BANG!

Slimm Body - The Life Of A Hustler, Insert 2

Slimm Body’s Life Of A Hustler is just that. His smooth delivery over southern, soulful tracks and his vivd lyrics paint pictures of transactions, jail sentences and the street life. His lyrical ability is on point, and he shows out for the city and his crew. This project is ﬁlled with up beat songs that will motivate anybody out here hustling trying to provide.

IUM Presents: 2011 Music City Rap Up

IUM promo teamed up with Joerilla.com to put together this mixtape featuring some of Nashville’s heavy hitters. The project was mixed by DJ RawTune and hosted by 101 The Beat’s Dolewite and Scooby. The mixtape features artist such as Jelly Roll, Tha City Paper, Dee Goodz, Chancellor Warhol, Semi, Young Rell, Ice Cold Jay, Open Mic, Stix Izza and more. A classic mixtape that is a must have if you rep the 615. Download for free at concrete615.com

Mac L - Raw Material

Mac L’s Raw Material is for the hip-hop lovers. A project ﬁlled with sample driven tracks, strong punch lines and concept songs Mac L proves himself a true MC. On the song “Overdose” Mac L delivers a lyrical assault on the current rap game and artists in it. On the song “Back in the Day” he reﬂects on his childhood days in the 90s speaking on the subjects Sonic, The Cronic, Saturday cartoons, three way calls and more. Raw Material is a must have for hip-hop heads.

Big Mook - Trap Party Party, Vol 1

Big Mook is representing for the hustlers in Clarksville. His delivery is a deep and raspy whisper like he’s chain smoking blunts in the booth. He recounts tales from his hood and the way he holds it down. His break out track “James Worthy” is a look at Mook’s swag which is similar to ‘big game Jame’s’ clutch performances from the late 80s Lakers. He’s rocking purple and gold converse, rolling white owl grape cigarellos and his goons are always lurking. “I’m a Beast” is a more upbeat street anthem with a blasting horn sample. Mook is not playing, he’s eliminating competition.

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

CONCRETE: Where are you from? Syk Sense: Nashville, Tennessee. CONCRETE: How did you get into music? Syk Sense: Yeah. As a kid I was always listen to the beat before I even knew what the lyrics meant. I always get captured by the production of everything. As I got older I just started feeling like I could do that. I started doing it. My grandfather has been into music. He got me a keyboard when I was like 2. Every kid in my family gets a keyboard. So I was kind of raised on it. CONCRETE: How do approach a song when you go to make a beat? Syk Sense: I usually hear the whole song in my head. I’ll just kind of sing it all day. That’s with the really good ones that I come up with. It’s really weird. I’ll hear a tune that pops in my head, and I’ll just go off of that. I’ll build off the smallest thing from a snap or some kind of rhythm. When I get the studio later I add to it. Hopefully, if I don’t forget it I create something really good. It’s weird how it comes to me. That’s kind of how I got the name Syk Sense, cause people that see me create music they say I’m in another world when I do it. CONCRETE: You were in a beat battle, and afterwards got signed to Boi Wonda Productions. How did that all happen? Syk Sense: We got second (in the contest) but he signed us the next week. Well it took a few weeks. It was fast. The very next day after the battle, I woke up and in my e-mail I see Boi Wonda. I was like ‘What?!’ So I’m reading it he’s liek, “Hit me up I want to talk.” CONCRETE: How has it been going lately? Have you guys gotten with any big names? Syk Sense: I’ve heard things. The writing group Rock City, they’ve wrote songs to beats. Of course Drake hears the beats. It’s so crazy the process it has to got through to get picked. We do have a few placements coming out. Working with Boi Wonda gives us the opportunity to work with Drake, Wayne, Bird Man, everybody in that camp. I’ll get text messages at 5:00 in the morning like, “I need a beat for Bird Man now.” That’s amazing in itself. The ﬁrst year is just al work, work, work, work. We’re through that now and we’re starting to see a little bit of money. That’s on the way now. Not sure what this year will hold, but I know it’s going to be pretty big.

CONCRETE: What label are you with? Slimm: I’m the Owner/CEO of Wholesale Entertainment. I had the idea for W.E. back in 2006. But I founded and solidified it around 2009 after a year long “Vacation”, if you know what I mean. After that I knew it was time to get the ball rolling. CONCRETE: What is the Wholesale Ent. movement is all about? Slimm: My homeboy Jay Dee of Untouchable Records and Joerilla dropped a lot of jewels on me throughout the years and showed me the ins and outs of what and what not to do in business and presentation of your product. So I took there info. mixed it with the stand up guys around me and my own loyalty, ambition, and swag and translated it into our label Wholesale Entertainment. So, if I was to define our movement it would consist of increasing your finances, taking care of family, and being the best at what you do, while trend setting. The Kobe System, minus the divorce.(Laughs) CONCRETE: What projects are you pushing hard right now with Wholesale Ent.? Slimm: One of the two most recent that we are pushing is The WHOLE Team Mixtape. It’s a project that features all of our roster and talent. The second is The Life of a Hustler, Insert 2, my most recent solo effort. You can download them both on www. wholesaleent.com. CONCRETE: What producers do you work with? Slimm: Mostly our label producer, the guy I mentioned earlier, T-Roca. I know a lot of people throw the musical genius title around, but he’s that. He made the music to every track on The Life of a Hustler, Insert 3. That’s coming early 2012. He’s giving our label its own sound, so we can eventually become a brand. That’s what a lot of artist and labels lack by shopping around for beats. But as you skim through our catalogue you’ll hear tracks from Capius, Epidemic and a few other locals as well. CONCRETE: Who is on The WHOLE Team project? Slimm: Our entire roster Black, Big Haz, Trappa, Lil Qui$e, Fresh Legendary, Young Blow, and myself. CONCRETE: Any shout outs? Slimm: Free Young Blow, Free Fresh Legendary, Free Bradley, and Free my cousin Scooter in the Feds. Wholesale.

CONCRETE: Last time we interviewed you, you were part of a group. How did you transition from a group to solo artist? K.O. McCoy: It’s one of those things with creative differences. Everyone grows up and everyone has a different plan, a different life plan or journey. CONCRETE: How did you link with Allure Entertainment? K.O. McCoy: It was kind of like I fell in his lap. I was basically with Allure before I was with Allure. As soon as (the group situation ended) I was already there. There was no where else to go. CONCRETE: You dropped a single “U Can’t Stop Me” featuring Young Buck that got a lot of attention. Can you tell us about that song and what it did? K.O. McCoy: It’s been riding a wave for 5 months now. Which is really, really good. It’s gotten picked up in Texas, Illinois and of course Nashville. It was produced by Broadway. We shot a video to it. It’s on World Star. It touched on a lot of things. You have to really listen to the song. It’s one of those songs where you’re venting, but it goes somewhere. We chose Young Buck, because we felt he was in a similar situation, and he could vent too. CONCRETE: You’ve got another video on your next single. What song is it, and what’s the video like? K.O. McCoy: “Second Wind” is Shannon Sanders and I. We co-wrote that song together. He produced the track as well. That was a really good song. That was the third song I recorded. I’m excited about it. It’s more me. It’s who K.O. McKoy is. The Young Buck song is me and was fun, but that was more to get Nashville behind me. Now it’s time for K.O. McKoy to do her thing, and I think you can see that with “Second Wind” and the video. We had a lot of fun shooting that by the way. CONCRETE: Can you tell us about the video? K.O. McCoy: It’s like an innocent, sexy type thing. Along the lines of what Janet (Jackson) started off doing. Shout out to the model that was in the video, Shane. He’s my boyfriend in the video. It’s a lot of nature shots on the beach. I really like water. I’m a pisces. I like to do stuff like that. CONCRETE: Are you working on an album, or just getting good songs and putting out singles? K.O. McCoy: Singles. Because we have a couple of labels looking at us Virgin Records, Universal and Warner Brothers. So we’re trying to see who is going to follow me. So we’re more focused on singles. CONCRETE: Do you have any shout-outs? K.O. McCoy: I would like to give a shout out to Allure Entertainment, because this has been the best year, time, and experience growing as an artist and as a person. They have really helped me come a long way. I want to say Big Shout outs to Dolawite and Scooby at 101.1 the beat for believing in the song and in me. I want to give a shout out to Shannon Sanders, Broadway, DJ Dev. My mother and my brother, they do a lot of promo for me. And Falan my make-up artist.

CONCRETE: Where are you from? POPS: I’m originally from New York. I lived all over New York, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Then I moved to Georgia for a little while. Then I went off to the army. I did that thing and came back. Now I’m staying in Clarksville. CONCRETE: Can you break down your discography, projects you’ve done in the past? POPS: I got Ruck Beats vs Pops that I just did not too long ago. Extreme Take Over which is still out right now. Perfect Chemistry More Fire Volumes 1-3. I got about three more I Chemistry, can’t even think of right now. A couple I worked on in Korea, and ones I’ve been working on recently. I’ve got Above the Influence which is about to drop soon. CONCRETE: How would you describe your style? POPS: My style is I’m a lyricist first. That’s guaranteed. You’re going to hear a lot of punch lines. Even the stuff that’s not punch lines it’s stuff that will make you think. I’m big on word play. I don’t like to just rap a verse, and it just sounds like the same thing over and over again. It’s got to make you think and make you want to go back and listen again just in case you missed something. That’s what I’m giving you a hard core lyricist. CONCRETE: What can you tell us about the project you are working on Above the Influence? POPS: I got production from Verb-L Messiah, Ruck Beats out of Georgia. It was all original tracks. The tracks all have a live feel to it. The way album is going right now is it telling a story of how I started rapping, where I’m at now as far as my family, my life and music. The people I’ve had along the way and people lost along the way. My experiences over seas and my experiences here. It’s a description of everything I’ve been going through. It’s a real personal album. I named it Above the Influence because I want it to depict me being above what everybody else is doing as far as the music. You’re not going to hear the same heavy snares in the track, a million high hats in the track. I feel that’s going to drown out what I’m saying. So it’s above the influence of the mainstream, the industry, commercial music. I’m not looking at that as the goal I need to hit. I’m just trying to give you the music that I know how to. I’ve got to feel comfortable performing it. I’ve got to feel comfortable playing it for somebody or rapping a 16 for somebody. I don’t feel comfortable doing what every else is doing.

CONCRETE: A lot of websites and blogs don’t create much original content. They more curate the culture based on their taste. You’ve always been a great creator of original video content, going behind the scenes and interviewing hard to find people. Will you continue to create content for NashvilleRap.com? Robski: There’s going to be a lot of original content. That’s basically what it’s going to be. Original content is how we’re going to do it this time around. CONCRETE: What are some thing you’ve seen people (here in Nashville) do that sometimes holds us back? Things that frustrate you when you see it happen? Robski: It’s just the whole platform of artists. We’ve got a lot of raw talent out here, but you’re only seeing the same individuals on these other sites. I don’t know if the other (websites) ain’t fucking with these guys or what, but it’s the same old type of artist that they’re dealing with at this point in time. It’s saturated man. Nashville is flooded with raw talent. I’m going to go out and seek all the raw talent. I tell you once I get out there watch how the other guys slowly but surely start to get with the ones we’re fixing to touch bases with. Which is cool, ain’t nothing wrong with that. Just know where it came from. CONCRETE: Do you think the love that these artists get or don’t get from blogs is because the bloggers aren’t trying to help certain types of artists, or is it because the artists themselves aren’t savvy enough to connect with the blogs? Robski: I don’t think they’re savvy enough. You have to get out there and really communicate (with the streets). A lot of these bloggers, they won’t go out and deal with some of these people. Just do something (based) off of what they’ve heard. You know me, I’m right there in the mix. I want to be right there with them when they’re doing whatever it is they do. I may not show some of the shit they do, but I want to be right there with them. I get a thrill out of that. (Laughs) CONCRETE: You seem like you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder. Anything you want to get off your chest? Robski: I guess I got a small chip on my shoulder. When I was really out there, really moving, you had your guys that was out moving. Not for once did any of them cats reach out, and be like, “Dude you out here moving. We could add you to this puzzle to keep it moving.” I didn’t get those type of calls. It’s cool. Like I said, don’t nobody owe me nothing. But at the same time it’s always been in mind like ‘why didn’t such-and-such do that?’ Cause I was out moving man. I can honestly say I was out moving. I didn’t get those types of calls. I guess that’s a chip on my shoulder or bitterness. I’m cool with everybody though. I’m getting some of those calls already this time. We’re already working.

CONCRETE: You’re doing a re-launch of NashvilleRap.com. Can you tell us about it? Robski: The whole relaunch and re-birth of the brand is me introducing myself again to all the newer cats. We’ve got this slogan and this whole movement we’re starting to push called Saving Cashville. So that’s how we’re going to put it out there. CONCRETE: Break down Saving Cashville, what is it all about? Robski: At the end of the day, I was sitting back observing things. And I just ain’t really liked the way I been seeing things go. Not to step on anyones toes. But the ones I consider that’s running things, got control of things, they ain’t representing the way I was, when I was. That’s just real man. So I feel like it’s time to save Cashville, before they fuck it all the way up. It ain’t no money being made out here with none of these artists. One thing I can say about myself when I was out there moving and relevant, artists were eating, even DJs. I got several artists you can call today, and they can vouch for that. I was out moving and I made sure them guys were getting shows in other places. These other guys is not doing that. CONCRETE: Can you be speciﬁc on who you mean? Robski: Nah, it ain’t no one in particular. It’s just the simple fact I’d like to thank them for keeping it moving. (But) They ain’t doing it how I was doing it. There’s no way to compare it. A lot of that is me. I ain’t no better than nobody, but that’s my shit. I’m coming back to get whatever change is left on the ground. CONCRETE: So when people go to NashvilleRap.com what kind of stuff are you going to have for them? Robski: It’s going to be real exciting. It’s going to be young and fresh just like hip-hop. We’ve just re-done it. It’s going to be live. I really don’t want to give too much out. continued on next page