concrete615.com 6-8 ..............................Kap G 10 ........................ Mike Ewing 12 .................. Naturi Naughton 14 ................... Music Reviews 18 .. Nashville 10: Sophia Scandal 20-21 ............... Maüze Clothing 22 ........................ Shoe Game 26 ...............................Dee-1 28 .............. Master Barber D.L. Publisher: Capo Ad Executive: Capo Art Director: Rex2-tm Nash 10 Photography: Tavell Brown Editorail Photography: Tavell Brown Ad Photography: Visual Flavor Ad Graphics: C3GRAFX, Kyro Ink Publishing Consultant: Bryan Deese
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CONCRETE: You are signed to Atlantic records. How did that situation come about for you? Kap-G: I put out this video called “Tatted Like Amigos” with Chief Keef. One of the A&R’s for Atlantic Records named KP seen it and hit me up. He is from College Park also. I remember when he called me he was amazed cause he grew up in the same apartments we was at when he called. He liked the song and really just believed in me from the beginning. CONCRETE: Your record “La Policia” landed you on CNN, what was that experience like for you? Kap-G: My team told me I was going to be on CNN but didn’t give me a bunch of details. I’m thinking they going to do an interview with me and it will be on their website, not live TV. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous as hell. I felt like I skipped so many levels. My first time being on TV was on CNN. CONCRETE: On the “La Policia” remix you got T.I. and David Banner. What made you pick them? Kap-G: Well TIP is a legend not just in Atlanta but in the rap game. I actually had a meeting with T.I. cause he wanted to check me out, this was like three years ago. He basically just told me I wasn’t ready. I respected that and it motivated me to go harder. Three years later he is on a record with me. He actually pulled up on me outside a club and was like, “Kap I like that “Policia” record, is it cool if I jump on it?” I was like, ‘hell yea.’ As far as David Banner, I was looking for someone that was going to say some real shit and thought that was the perfect man. I already had a relationship with him from about two years ago. I’m actually on his album that’s about to drop. CONCRETE: You are early in your career and have worked with a lot of big artists. What makes them so receptive to you? Kap-G: I think they rock with me cause I’m a real person. I’m in my own lane. I feel like what I’m doing has never been done before. I’m just a young Mexican kid from College Park rapping about real stuff, but still being young rapping about having fun, girls and stuff like that also. I’ve worked with Jeezy, T.I., Wiz, Pharell, so on and so on. They like the music and they see where I’m headed. continued on next page
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CONCRETE: Tell us about your new project El SouthSide, What can we expect from it? Kap-G: Of course it’s going to have the “La Policia Remix” on there. I got production from Squat. He produced the “La Policia Remix” and the “Poppin “ record. “If you ain’t got no haters you aint poppin”. I got two songs with him on there. I got the “El Chapo” record featuring Ca$h Out also. I called it “El Southside” cause I’m just bringing you to my side. If you’re from here you’re going to relate to it. If you’re not from here then I’m just going to show you what it’s about. It’s like Outkast when they came out. Atlanta wasn’t always on, a lot of people had to open doors for that to happen. Being that hip-hop originated in New York it was hard for Atlanta to break in. Outkast always kept it one hundred and was like ‘we got something to say.’ That’s what I’m going to do. Tell you how it is coming from the south side. CONCRETE: Pharrell has made it clear that he supports your movement. How did you guys link up? Kap-G: Basically my homie KP is good friends with Pharrell, and he took me in the studio to work with him. I played him a lot of my music, and he just believed in me. We both were really excited. I dropped a verse over one of his beats, and he went crazy. He was like ‘you can get as many free beats as you want from me.’ He really looks out for me. I actually got a role in the movie DOPE, which is in theaters now because of Pharrell. He told the director I would kill the role. So they gave me the chance to audition and I got the part. CONCRETE: What was your role in the movie and what did you take away from that experience? Kap-G: I played Fidel X. Basically he is a young boss. In my scene three characters are about to make a transaction and Fidel has to make sure they are right for the position. What I took away from the experience was I’m going to pursue acting. I never knew I could do it, but everywhere I go people are saying I did good. So I’m going try and take it further.
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CONCRETE: Where are you from? Mike Ewing: I’m from North Nashville a couple of blocks from Tennessee State. CONCRETE: How did you get your start as a producer? Mike Ewing: I first started playing in church, just a regular church musician and then a buddy of mine Sean Miller hooked me up with Fruti Loops. Ever since then I just took off. CONCRETE: Who are some of your producer influences? Mike Ewing: “Dark Child” Rodney Jerkins is incredible second Ryan Leslie, Pharrell, Timberland and Swiss Beats. These guys are incredible producers and their work shows it. CONCRETE: Who are some well known artist that you’ve worked with? Mike Ewing: Meek Mill “My Man”, Rick Ross “Lets Talk”, Omarion “Between The Sheets”, Big Krit “The Vent”, ZZ Ward “On Top”, Madonna “Rebel Heart2” and most recently Gladys Knight “Just A Little”. CONCRETE: Madonna? How did that connection happen? Mike Ewing: Hard work. A lot of people don’t understand being a producer, artist, musician, period your taking a risk in this industry.You got to want it one hundred percent. I went in and did my thing and gave it to my production head Symbolic One (S1) the producer of Kanye’s “Power” and Beyonce’s “Best I Ever Had”. He was like, “Man you’re killing it, just keep it up.” Then eventually I got that call. Team is everything. No man can do it by himself. CONCRETE: So what advice could you give a producer trying to get placement and his business straight? Mike Ewing: I would say your team shouldn’t just be your home boys. Your team needs to be people that you don’t see everyday, people that when your sleeping they are making sure your paper is good. You have to team up with lawyers, accountants and publisher administrators. Never get with people that aren’t interested in you. If they aren’t interested, they aren’t gonna have the best at heart for you. Just make sure your team is correct and they are about you. If the team is about you then your gonna win. CONCRETE: Any shout outs? Mike Ewing: I do want to shout out my production partner here in Nashville Chino Dollaz. Thats my guy, we work day in and day out and just got a placement together with Charles Hamilton. Shout out to Chino Dollaz.
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By Mr. Joe Walker - @MRJOEWALKER CONCRETE: Actress/singer Naturi Naughton is turning heads on the hit STARZ drama Power Power. Created by writer Courtney Kemp Agboh and produced by 50 Cent, Naughton plays the commanding Tasha St. Patrick, wife of lead character Ghost (Omari Hardwick). A former member of R&B group 3LW, she first made her mark on screen portraying Lil Kim in Notorious before gaining acclaim as Kendra on television series The Client List List. Naughton also scored as Little Inez in Broadway musical, Hairspray. On Power Hairspray Power, now in its second season, her role as St. Patrick has become more hair raising. CONCRETE: You’ve done stage, television and movies. Which one made you respect character development the most? Naturi: Hmmm ... I feel like during stage, being on Broadway is a little different because it incorporated more of a skill of how to tell a story through music. Being on stage in a musical is different because you’re acting and singing and dancing. CONCRETE: Was there a learning advantage going from theater to film? Naturi: Film really, really taught me. During my first film, Notorious, I played Lil Kim. I learned about breaking down a character. Throughout the film Lil Kim grows, the character changed. CONCRETE: Theater made you a storyteller. Film taught you to break characters down. Tell us how you feel about acting on television. Naturi: I feel like with television, I’m on series where you’re doing multiple episodes, we’re on every week. The characters are doing different things. Things change because the season is growing. Every season things shift. So I feel like television has really taught me to understand and have a greater respect for character development. I think I always had a respect for it, but it’s even greater now doing a television series because these characters are forever changing.
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CONCRETE: On Power you play the lead character’s wife, Tasha St. Patrick. I’m sure we can agree she can be over-the-top. What’s her most unrealistic characteristic that causes real life reactions from the audience? Naturi: I don’t think she’s that unrealistic! The audience sure has a strong, visceral reaction to the fact she doesn’t want Ghost, her husband, to get out of the drug game. She wants him to stay a drug dealer instead of going legit with the club business. I think maybe, initially, that seems a little...weird, or off-putting for some. CONCRETE: Tasha seems like the type to get a rise out of people, which has to be difficult at times for you because some people can’t separate television from real life. Naturi: I remember Season 1 people were mad at me! I was masturbating in the backseat with the driver. These are all daring things that most of us wouldn’t be doing. But at the same time there’s a lot of women who can connect with and understand Tasha in a different way. We got a lot of reactions in Season 1 with some of Tasha’s crazy behaviors and outbursts.
Killa Kid - Killa Wit Da Heat
Killa Kid teams up with Nashville super producer Slym Got Dat Heat to deliver us his latest project. The production on the album is on point. Ranging from hard hitting street records, sample based soulful, to up tempo club songs. Not only is the production on point but the lyrics and song content is equally dope. Songs like “Rose”, “I know they hatin”, “Real Nixxx”, “Tonight”,”Pocket Full of Money” are just a few records that stuck out. Overall this is a diverse project you can bump from start to finish!
Tim Gent - Clarksville Nights
Tim Gent has been creating a mjaor buzz on the underground circuit and now on national platforms as well. The Clarksville Nights project is something serious that gives you a 90’s boom bap feel mixed with a vibey new age sound. This kid can rap his ass off and doesn’t hold back on this project at all. From dope bars to catchy hooks and quality production, if your a lover of hiphop then “Clarksville Nights” is a must have.
A-1 - Certain Uncertainties
A-1 gives us a new project filled with that Cashville sound. The album starts out with the title track giving you a cool laid back vibe with an auto tune voice talking bout police serving warrants and being paranoid. The majority of the production is smooth laid back melodies, hard hitting drums and trunk rattling bass provided by Og Tha3. A-1 goes in talking a lot of street sh*t and gives the listeners a look into the life of an artist stuck between the music world and the trap life.
Artillery Squad - Target Practice
You may have never heard the name Artillery Squad but after you listen to Target Practice you will be sure to start paying close attention. Artillery Squad runs through some of your favorite industry beats. The project takes you back to that gritty mixtape feel, full of creative concepts, dope beats and crazy word play. Take a second to add Target Practice to your playlist, you won’t be disappointed.
Kiya Lacey - Fail In Love
Kiya may be a new voice to the Nashville music scene, but the impact she has made in a short time is that of a artist who has been pushing for years. Her sound is pure, soothing to the soul and has a jazz like feel. Kiya Lacey teases the listeners with this six song project giving you a peak into a young ladies heart searching for the right love. Kiya’s vocals and amazing production blends perfectly to make Fail In Love nothing less than a well polished gem waiting to be found!
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Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Turn on: In life, someone who has the knowledge to teach me about things I don’t know, someone who is confident and filled with passion and someone who makes me laugh. I wear heels a lot so a genuine foot massage would do the job. Turn off: Showboating is definitely a turn off. I want to see you for you. Unless you’re going to over dose me with your gentleman ways. Favorite designer: I appreciate all designers in the fashion world. For me to choose only one designer would be unrealistic. On a daily bases I wear multiple brands. Three artist in your playlist: Tropkillaz, Pimp C, Serani
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CONCRETE: You’re behind Maüze. Can you introduce yourselves? Maüze: Mykel Lyles from Murfreesboro Tennessee born and raised. Houston Burrus Nashville born and raised. CONCRETE: What made you want to start a clothing line? Mykel Lyles: Actually this was my brothers vision, he was murdered in 2002. He was doing music since I was a teenager and his plan was to use the music and clothes to reach the world. After his murder it took me about ten years to get it off the ground and ever since then its been history. I’m just carrying out his vision. Houston Burrus: Almost simultaneously in Nashville me and my homeboy were doing the exact same thing. We had drawings, sketches and pretty much an idea were fashion was going in the next ten to fifteen years. Thats how I got into it on my side then me and Mykel crossed paths and made Maüze . CONCRETE: Can you explain what Maüze means? Mykel Lyles: My brothers name was Maz and everybody called him that. So you have the Maz, I added the U because he always united with different people. Houston Burrus: I added the E cause he was excellent at everything he did, so now you have Maüze which stands for Music, Art, Unity, Zeal and Excellence. CONCRETE: What sets you guys apart from other brands? Mykel Lyles: I was exposed to fashion at a young age. My inspiration for the Maüze print came from vintage Gucci or Louis Vuitton. It gives us the opportunity to go from street wear to couture. Houston Burrus: Another difference is, say your a indie artist with thousands of followers and you can guarantee a hundred of those followers will purchase something from your brand. Well Maüze will create something specifically for your brand. It’s still Maüze but with your twist and now we help the artist make money. We say its for artist by artist because we help build each other up. CONCRETE: How would you describe the brands style? Mykal Lyles: It’s free spirit. We have the elephant logo which is one of the most elite animals from Africa and symbolizes what my brother was and what we are now which is wisdom. The elephant is white which symbolizes royalty in the Asian culture. Houston Burrus: We want to give a special shout out to our home team: Team Maüze, Face The Troof, and Arowgant. All the creative artist worldwide. Join the movement!
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Vans Syndicate - MISTER CARTOON
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the Vans Syndicate collection. Vans Pro Skate’s celebration of the diverse heritage of ideas, attitudes and influences that make up skateboarding’s unique culture. Vans pays tribute to this milestone by returning to several original Syndicate collaborators to represent a decade of iconoclastic style and heritage. Vans Syndicate kicks off the anniversary with renowned tattoo and graffiti artist MISTER CARTOON. As the first of five projects in commemoration of the anniversary, MISTER CARTOON pays homage to the first official Syndicate project back in 2005, Season 001.01. The inaugural Syndicate collection turned to MISTER CARTOON to pen the original Syndicate “S” logo and script for his collaboration debut of three Authentic “S” styles. #BreakYourNeckAndMakeYouHumble
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CONCRETE: You make music with substance do you feel that is a hinderance in todays industry? Dee-1: Not at all, I feel its needed. That’s the only reason I’m in the industry. I don’t need to be a rapper. I have a college degree. For the people that don’t know, I use to be a middle school math teacher and life skills teacher. CONCRETE: What made you go from teaching to full time rapper? Dee-1: I started to realize that as a rapper I’m pretty much doing the same thing that I was doing in the classroom. I’m teaching and reaching people. So I thought, ‘Do I stay in this classroom and reach thirty kids a day or do I go out and reach thousands upon thousand of people as Dee-1?’ CONCRETE: You have a situation with RCA records, how did that come about? Dee-1: I earned it. I didn’t have a co-sign, I didn’t have a Lil Wayne, T.I. or Ludacris. The reason I mentioned those specific people is because their was a time I was pursuing them for a deal. I kept grinding. I went on tour with Lupe Fiasco, Murz, Grand Hustle and Macklemore which made labels be like, “Who is that dude?” That’s how the RCA situation came about. I actually turned down a deal with Cash Money before RCA cause it felt like a booby trap. CONCRETE: You said you didn’t get a major co-sign but Mannie Fresh was pushing you pretty hard right? Dee-1: I have to give Mannie Fresh credit cause he was rocking with me before my deal. I met him inside of an Autozone and gave him my mixtape. It took him four years after that to call me. So we linked up and ended up doing a lot of music together. Fresh was pushing me but didn’t want to sign me cause he didn’t have a team behind him like a major label does. He didn’t want to sign me and then just have me sitting there. He said he had me on beats, co-signs, or whatever. I met with Universal Records at one point and he told me to call him during the meeting so they could hear him say he got me on whatever they need him to do. Mannie’s been rocking with me and thats not going to change. CONCRETE: You had a record called “Jay Fifty Weezy” calling those artist out, do you know if they heard the song? Dee-1: They all heard it. Jay-Z, I know some of his people. They said he heard it but didn’t give me his thoughts on it. 50 Cent, heard it cause I did an interview with his site and they asked me about the record but didn’t say how he felt. Lil Wayne, heard it cause it was a hit in New Orleans and some people on his team told me he heard it. He wasn’t too happy about it cause it called him out. “Your always repping our city but what are you actually doing to help our city.”
CONCRETE: You opened a barber college, Why? DL: Well being a barber pretty much saved my life. If it saved my life it could help out a lot of other people as well. CONCRETE: How does one enroll at Music City Barber College? DL: You will need the want to do it and have a high school diploma or GED. We’re an accredited school, so we have financial aid for those who qualify. I want to succeed in barbering as much as I want to breathe. I’m serious with my craft, and I try to instill that into our students. Our board of directors are extremely experienced and have all the knowledge in the world. We know what it takes to succeed in this business. CONCRETE: For someone unfamiliar, what’s your back ground? DL: I was born in Woodbine, South Nashville. Then later on I moved out east, Inglewood to be exact. I seen people I knew from the streets going to barber school and I decided I’m going to go. Once I got in there I built a passion for it. My mother use to say I would be a great barber, and when I got in school she passed away. Life smacked me in my face. I used that as my fuel to guide me in my career. The rest is history. CONCRETE: How do you stay ahead of the curve with todays hair styles? DL: You have to stay up to date with the industry by attending hair shows. You have to be connected to your cliental. You have to look and pay attention to the music industry and TV. In the movie Barber Shop Cedric the Entertainer talked about back in his day the barber was a style coach. That’s what you really have to be to stay connected. Before anyone does a video, movie, interview or anything they have to come see the barber. CONCRETE: You mentioned Cedric The Entertainer. You appear on his TV show Cedric’s Barber Battle. How did that come about for you? DL: I bumped into a guy I know at a hair show in New York. He said, “I’m filming a trailer for a reality show, I want you in it.” They asked me to send a video submission, so that’s what I did. After I sent them the video they called me back in like two days and said you made it to the next round. I flew out to New York then to Austin, Texas to start filming. They pitched it to a bunch of networks. Then it finally got picked up by The CW. It was a lot of fun filming. I enjoyed representing Music City and look forward to Season 2.
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