concrete615.com 6-10 ........................Key Wane 12 ...................... DJ Chill USA 14 ................... Music Reviews 18 .................. Nashville 10: Tosh 20 .........................Kiya Lacey 24 ....................... Nick Jagger 26 ............................ Chuck T 27 .......... CONCRETE Supporters 28 ............................Upchurch Publisher: Capo Ad Executive: Capo Art Director: Rex2-tm Nash 10 Photography: Tavell Brown Editorial Photography: Tavell Brown Ad Photography: Visual Flavor Ad Graphics: C3GRAFX, Kyro Ink Publishing Consultant: Bryan Deese
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CONCRETE: When did you realize your passion for production? Key Wane: It’s something I did every day and didn’t care if I got paid for it or not. I just love making music, I love sounds, I love chords, I love hearing stuff that I could only make. In high school I barely went out, I turned my mom’s basement into a studio and I hated working because I hated listening to my boss. I just took everything I knew from music and started to record. It was fun to me. CONCRETE: When did you start playing keys? Key Wane: When I went to church with my mom as a kid my choir director was really good. I would tell my mom everyday I want to play can I come to the church and he teach me. His name was Mark Willis and I’ve been trying to find him to this day. I would meet up with him two times a week and he would teach me chords in some of the gospel records. I ended up using some of those chords in a few of my songs. My mom seen me playing and ended up buying me a keyboard out of a JC Penney catalog. After that I started learning more at Cass Tech,
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the same school Big Sean went to. CONCRETE: Is that where you met Big Sean? Key Wane: I met Sean prior to going to Cass Tech, my brother and my older cousin were good friends of his at the time. They all got back from some show and came down stairs. My brother told me to play some beats. Sean was one of the coldest rappers. He was always battling and doing cyphers. I played a beat and he f*cked with it. He told me keep improving your equipment and your sound and we are going to work together. He ended up keeping his word. CONCRETE: How did you get the Beyoncé “Partition” record and what was that like for you? Key Wane: I made the beat in school. I was a sophomore at TSU. That beat was sitting around for like three or four years. I would make folders for artists just in hopes I would run into them or get their e-mail. I had a Beyoncé folder on deck. I was in L.A. working with Big Sean on Hall of Fame and Ricky Anderson hit me up and was like, “Come to the crib and play me some beats.” I went to the crib and played every beat in (continued on next page)
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the Beyonce folder and he picked the “Partition” beat. Two weeks later they hit me up and said she wanted that beat. She ended up picking another record too. CONCRETE: You also ended up working with Jazmine Sullivan on some records correct? Key Wane: Yeah. Me and Drake were working on some sh*t and he hit me up on Twitter after “Amen” came out and said that was special, send me some more stuff and let’s create some more moments. I sent him a sh*t load of beats. I sent him beats that he picked that ended up becoming songs for Jazmine Sullivan like “Mascara”. That was a beat he wanted but Jazmine ended up picking it. I did this one record called “Yours and Mine”. It was Drake’s song at first, but he told me a wild story on how it ended up in her hands. Shout out to Drake for that because he didn’t have to do sh*t, but he placed that in her people’s hands. A lot of these songs were recorded in my dorm room and my studio apartment when I first moved off campus. They were some pretty old songs, but she ended up making them bangers. CONCRETE: What’s some songs you produced that people may not know you did? Key Wane: “Amen”, I think that got looked over. “IDFWU” is one of my biggest records today. I don’t think a lot of people know I was behind the sample on that. Crazy story with the record “Amen” is, I was out in NY with Sean and Wiz Khalifa when they were on tour. My girl helped me scrape up some money for the Greyhound to get there. I only had like fifty bucks, and I had to be super wise with that because I still had to catch the Greyhound back. The next day I end up in Time Square doing an interview. As we are talking he asked do you know who that is by the hot dog stand? I was like no who is it? He said I’m going to introduce you and it was Meek Mill. He introduced us and Meek was like, “I know who you are you did the song ‘Memories’ for Big Sean, that’s one of my favorite songs.” He was like, “How long you going to be here, we working on my album tonight.” I had no money and class the next day, so I couldn’t stay. I was like I will send you some beats tonight, and ended up sending him “Amen” and that became one of my first biggest records. (continued on next page)
CONCRETE: Out of all the major records you have produced what would you say is your favorite? Key Wane: I would probably say “All Me” because that happened during one of the brokest moments of my life. Facing evection and a lot of checks weren’t on time with other records that I produced. Big Sean flew me out to LA for his birthday. I was out there just making beats and I ended up chopping up this one sample that I had and I sent it over to Drake. He hit me back and was like this is crazy, I’m in the studio with 2 Chainz and this is about to be my next single. I gave it to Sean after that because I wanted him on it. Drake was telling me I love this song it’s just verses and I don’t have a hook if you have any ideas please send them to me. So I wrote a hook and sent it to him and two weeks later it came out. CONCRETE: A few years ago you signed a publishing deal what does that mean for a producer? Key Wane: I signed a deal with Big Sean and Warner Chapell. It means they help me out in a lot of areas. Warner will get me in sessions sometimes like if an artist is working on their album they will fly a bunch of us out and put us in rooms. Even though I do a lot on my own they are like that extra push. CONCRETE: While attending TSU you were already getting placements, how did you balance school and music and did you ever want to quit? Key Wane: Hell yeah. They would hit me and be like we need you in LA what are you doing and I’m like I’m in class. I use to throw all my clothes in the middle of the room like I was going to pack and leave. I really did it for my mom because she never seen any of her sons graduate. CONCRETE: What does Nashville mean to you as a city and is there any producers/artist your rocking with? Key Wane: Nashville there is a lot of history here musically. I get a lot of inspiration here just like I get inspiration in Detroit. I get a lot of it in Detroit because it’s so soulful there. I like Nashville because there is a lot of history for me here, I went to school here I just really f*ck with it. Producer wise Bandplay is cold I think you did a story on him and Alocodaman. Kiya Lacey is dope, DJ Crisis and Dj Wheezy. I learned from them on the DJing tip. Wilx we stayed on the same floor at TSU and we have the same birthday shout out to him. I really just want to help out new talent. I really want to do some stuff with Lito, I really want to do some sh*t with Loc and Bandplay I just want to help out the community of indie artist.
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CONCRETE: Where are you originally from? DJ Chill USA: Originally from Nashville, I’m from Park Wood area but I moved out to Antioch. I went to school at East Lit for a while and then I switched over and went to school in Antioch, that’s where I graduated. CONCRETE: How did you get your start as a DJ? DJ Chill USA: I’ve been playing around with music for a minute. I was in a band back in the day and then later on I started doing cds in high school. I use to go to the DJs and give them cds and say play this because what your playing isn’t it. In college is when it really just blew up. CONCRETE: Who were some of your early DJ influences? DJ Chill USA: DJ Crucial, DJ Crisis he really took me under his wing and taught me how to market myself and really DJ. Also, DJ Scream he came to Nashville for a party and after the event I got to talk to him and ever since then it was go time. CONCRETE: What DJ category would you put yourself in? DJ Chill USA: I would say a turntablist. I do like to rock the club so I try to put them both together. I like to separate myself from most DJs because most DJs don’t like to use turntables anymore. I feel like I have to step it up. CONCRETE: You have any mixtapes or projects on the way? DJ Chill USA: I have a few that’s out. I dropped the July Madness co hosted by DJ Scream for my annual birthday bash. I have another one out called Unprecedented presented by me and a few clothing brands Unparalleled and We Prosper. I also just did Chuck T’s project Half Empty Half Full which is out now and killing the streets. CONCRETE: How do you look for what indie artist you would like to work with? DJ Chill USA: I like to sit back and watch the movement. We get music all the time but I seem to feel the music more when I can see the movement thats behind the music. For example Chuck T and Wilx have a push, my homie Goody from Chicago he has a push. I think it makes more sense when we both have a push and we bring them together to use our networks. CONCRETE: You are also supporting local artist through the TSU radio platform? DJ Chill USA: For sure, I have a really good position there. I really want to bring it back to where it use to be when Big Boy AJ and Crisis were there. I want to really help break artist through TSU radio. There is a lot of artist approaching me so I really want to use that platform to get artist heard and hopefully break someone.
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Chill - Hottest Thang Poppin 2
Chill wasn’t playing with this project. He recruited heavy hitters Fate Eastwood for the production and DJ Coop on the mix. Fate serves up some of that classic Cashville sound and Chill compliments every beat with that real street sh*t. There are eleven songs on this project and not one of them is weak. “Real Life” speaks on these rappers talking about that life but Chill is really living it. “What You Want” starts off with Fate going in on the keys and Chill letting the b*tches know he is what they want. “All My Life” is our go to record, it’s a chill laid back vibe but full of sauce. This project should be added to your playlist ASAP.
KC3 - Trap Season 2 C.O.D (Cash On Deck)
We are coming to the end of the year the weather is changing and KC3 says it’s Trap Season. This project is gas to your grind a soundtrack for the trap house. For example on the song “Ready Rock” KC3 gives a class on how to rock up coke to crack over a west coast beat and a sample of the 1980s song “Rock Steady” by The Whispers. On the song “Old School” the Nashville legend Kool Daddy Fresh makes an appearance and goes in. KC3 did his thing on this one. The production is on point, the mix is clean, and the songs are quality. Take a second to listen for yourself.
Official Money Gang - Blurry Nights
OMG links up with DJ Sir Swift to feed the streets some of that dope. This project is full of that trap talk, loud smoking, lean sipping, money getting music. The production helps set the tone and OMG paints the picture. “Shout Out To My Scale”, a five minute song praising the digis’s and triple beams lets you know what this project is all about. “Blurry Nights” featuring Luii V, “RRR” ft Crisis Tha Rhyme Don and “Loud” are some of the records we kept in rotation.
The Captin - Injured Reserve
Tha Captin isn’t new to this game he stays releasing dope content. This time around he links with OG Bigga Rankin to give you the sound track for his recent movie release Injured Reserve. The project starts with somewhat of a feel good record called “Flip It” which has a catchy hook, smooth beat and the title should already let you know what he is talking about. “Wake Up” is the stand out record of the project, one of those songs you can hear in the strip club and on your local radio station. “Out The Window”, “Knots”, “Slow Grind” and “Playaz Circle” are some of our other suggested plays.
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CONCRETE: HomeTown? Tosh: Maysville, KY CONCRETE: Three artists we would ďŹ nd in your playlist? Tosh: Rihanna, Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj.
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Styled by: Jonah PM
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CONCRETE: Where are you from? Kiya Lacey: I’m from Nashville TN. I went to Harpeth Hall fifth through twelfth grade, it’s an all girls private school. I started singing in my church first but I was always nervous singing around people I knew because I knew they were going to see me again. I really had to work on my nerves. CONCRETE: How do you describe your sound? Kiya Lacey: I consider my self alternative R&B or electronic R&B. I do have a jazzy soulful background but paired with more of hiphop and electronic beats I really like bass, I like drums, its got to hit even if it’s a slow track the 808 still has to knock. The music is really important I want people to naturally move to it and with my singing paired with it, it creates a different sound. CONCRETE: How is the balloon you carry a part of your brand? Kiya Lacey: I started off with me being like oh, I like balloons and they look cute. I started to bring them to the shows with me and it became a part of me almost to where its like, where are my balloons. I have to have them! It’s my reminder that it’s going to be ok. When you see a balloon you don’t think of something sad you think it’s somebody’s birthday or it’s a celebration. When I come to the stage it’s a celebration, I’m lit, I’m happy and excited no matter what else is going on. CONCRETE: Can you tell us about your project Fail In Love? Kiya Lacey: It’s a six song project. I started working on it with the Wonder Twins. We started meeting up at the Cumberland Park where the stage is this was before they had anything else built out there. We sat on that stage and were like one day your going to perform out here and everybody in Nashville is going to be out here. I actually ended up getting a show there opening up for Mint Condition and Bilal. I was crying cause this time last year I was sitting on that stage writing songs thinking about Nashville being out there seeing me perform and now I’m out here performing the same music on that same stage. CONCRETE:Tell us about your new project you just dropped? Kiya Lacey: It’s called Earth, Wind and Fire. It’s a three song project and it’s about the stages of unhealthy relationships. Similar to Fail In Love but this breaks down each phase. Earth is the foundation that’s what your expectations are what you really want from the person thats the ground work. Then wind is when things start to shift and you realizing this may not be the person for me. Fire is going to be the single it’s about lust and even though there is a million reasons why you shouldn’t be with a person but you still stay with them anyways. It’s coming early November with an awesome visual.
CONCRETE: Where are you from? Nikk Jagger: Nashville TN, East Side from the bottom. CONCRETE: Your single “Kicken in” took over the city, did you expect that kind of reaction? Nikk Jagger: It was all premeditated, when I was in jail that’s all I was thinking about. Nobody knew who I was so it would of been foolish for me to drop a whole mixtape and everyone over look it because they don’t know who I am. The whole point was to do a lot of promotion to get my name hot. CONCRETE: We did a showcase with DJ Scream this summer and you won, what made you get into the competition? Nikk Jagger: Man I went into it thinking I’m going to win this sh*t! Fear is something nobody needs in their life it will keep you idle. If you have fear in your heart you will be stuck in one spot, you will not be active and you wont even try because your scared of failing. It’s about what you put into it and I didn’t care who was up in there I was going to win that sh*t and I did. CONCRETE: Your gearing up for the release of the Kicken In project hosted by DJ Scream, what can the fans expect from it? Nikk Jagger: As far as this project most people want to brag and boast about being rich but not everyone is rich most people are out here struggling. I feel like Kicken In is drug crazed, because I’m mentioning pills and codeine and lots of drugs but that’s not all it’s about it’s about the over all ora of the music and how it makes you feel. It’s going to be gas! The music is going to take people from the point of giving up to keep going. It’s not all motivational sh*t but it’s going to get you hype. It’s something new and refreshing and it’s going to give people life. CONCRETE: Where did your name come from? Nikk Jagger: Well Jagger is actually an acronym which means “Just Another Guy Gaining Extra Respect”. My label is called Igorab which means Invent Groups Of Respectable Articulate Brothers. I’m trying to bring people together because what’s going to keep people from coming together is the hate, the jealousy, the greed and all that negative stuff which keeps people from working together. Teamwork makes the dream work.
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CONCRETE: Where are you originally from? Chuck T: I’m from Nashville, TN the southside. My family has roots in Louisiana so I’m connected to that too. CONCRETE: How did the southside influence your sound? Chuck T: How did it not influence my music? All the OG’s that I grew up around. I was around a bunch of dope dealers and they messed with my family. I would spend the night at their houses, with their sons and we seen a lot of stuff that I feel influenced me. The Southside has an ora about us and people can tell when your from out south. My uncle was a legend from the southside named Terry Watson, he worked at Napier center. If you hooped out south from 1995 to 2003 you played up under him and he was your mentor. CONCRETE: Tell the people what they can expect from your latest project Half Empty Half Full Chuck T: This is for the dirty south lovers, this is for the people who are tired of the same old trend that’s going on in today’s music. Not saying it isn’t hot, it’s just all the same. This project is going to have you bouncing, it’s going to have you thinking and have you rolling up. Just expect a new sound. I’m bringing back some of that old feel but still mixing it with what we have going on today. CONCRETE: What’s the meaning behind the project title? Chuck T: It has to do with the way I think. Years ago I was rapping with my Mom and I was telling her about a situation and she told me not everyone is going to see it how you see it. Some people say the glass is half full some say it’s half empty. A light bulb went off and I said that’s going to be the name of my next project. I just gave music from my perspective and let you know how I think. CONCRETE: Who are some of the producers and features on this project? Chuck T: Two producers on this project that I worked with tough. Greedy Money and that’s literally my family, we went to middle and high school together. Then there’s Big Dew that’s a producer out of Oklahoma. Features we have Tanya Ali who is a very dope female artist out the Ville. Then there is Trigga Scope he was actually one of the first people who started recording me. Shane Means, Matic Lee and Royce The Poet are all engineers who worked on this project with me. CONCRETE: What do you think of the local hip-hop scene? Chuck T: Nashville is very dope. I think we are the best, we have it all here. I look at it like a basketball team and once we all figure out what our roles are as the team of Nashville that’s when we will win. Everybody is trying to be in every lane, once we figure out what lane we belong in then we can attack full force because we have every lane covered.
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CONCRETE: You have a huge social network following, what do you think draws people to you? Upchurch: I use to work construction and at work I would get bored. I would always make videos making pranks on people I worked with. One day some one shared one of the videos and it ended up getting shared a bunch of times. I ended up being the red neck guy that b*tches about stuff and it became really big. After we got to about three hundred thousand fans I started to release music and videos and it blew up. CONCRETE: Three hundred thousand fans later and you ended up getting on billboard what’s that like for you? Upchurch: To be honest I didn’t know what it meant so I didn’t care. They told me and I was like that’s pretty cool but I’m going four wheeling with my friends later. Then I didn’t know it was a big thing but I know now. It’s cool but its not cooler than four wheeling. CONCRETE: Can you tell us about your project Chicken Willie? Upchurch: A lot of people don’t give my genre a chance. It’s a cross breed in it’s own way and there are so many people in the game that make it sound like a joke. If you haven’t heard my music give it a chance. To me rap is rap it can’t be fake unless you’re talking about something you don’t know about . If I was talking about selling dope and robbing people that would be me being fake but I’m talking about going hunting and the trouble me and my buddies have gotten into in our small ass county. That’s real music because it really happened. CONCRETE: Is it true you have turned down some deals? Upchurch: I’ve turned down single deals, I’ve turned down album deals and I’ve turned down record deals. I’m already signed, I’m signed to my fans. These record labels in Nashville think I’m a dumb ass from the sticks. I know when someone is trying to f**k me. I have a platform bigger than most of these labels trying to sign me and they want to give me a sh*tty deal thinking I’m dumb and I will put my John Hancock on it, well they can suck my John Hancock. CONCRETE: How do you like being on the road? Upchurch: I really really love it. If I could live on the road I would. I love meeting all my fans and meeting all these people from different states, it feels like I have known them forever. My shows aren’t like shows it’s like big ass family reunions. CONCRETE: Musically, what can your fans expect from you next? Upchurch: Bad ass sh*t. I think everybody was expecting me to flop after Cheatham County and then it came out and they were like he is pretty good. Then heart of America came out and people were like he stepped his game up and then I dropped Chicken Willie and it’s even better. This next album Bad Mother F*cker will make you want to head bang, do a burn out, pop your tire, get drunk and go crazy this album is high octane.