CONCRETE magazine - Nashville Edition #34 by CONCRETE Magazine

6-12 .......................... Cowboy 12 .............. Waka Flocka Flame 14 ....................... Star Murphy 16 ....................... Chad Armes 18 ...............................Drupy 20 ...................... Black Catfish 26 ........................Whip Game 28 ..................... DVD Reviews 30-32 ............... Music Reviews 34 ............ Producer Profile: RIO 36 ................. DJ Profile: Jones 38 ....................... Young Chris 40 ............................ Albert J 42 ....Barber Profile: Larry Harrison 44-46 ............ The Nashville 10s The weather is nice again, and we are looking forward to a fun and productive spring/summer. Let’s get it! Published by: CONCRETE Marketing Ad Executives: Bryan Deese, Capo Art Director: Rex2 Nash10 Photography: Tavell Brown Cover Photo: Tavell Brown

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CONCRETE: What motivated you to want to make a movie? Cowboy: I had been writing scripts for a long time. It just came to a point where I felt like I’ve done a lot. I’m not going to say I accomplished what I set out to accomplish or anything too spectacular with my music and with my magazine and other business ventures that I’ve done. But, I just wanted to do something new. So I studied it. I went to about two or three different movie sets. I went to The Furnace here in Nashville and stayed on that set for a little while. I went to an urban movie they were filming down in Atlanta. I kicked it on set with the director, hanging out trying to get a feel for things. Then I researched a lot of things. And I said, ‘I’m ready to make my movie.’ It was just a matter of stepping out there and taking that next step in my business career. CONCRETE: This is your first time directing a feature length movie. Many people don’t realize how many many hours and steps go into getting a movie made. Can you give us a condensed version of the process to make a movie? Cowboy: This particular script for Money Makers I wrote just so I could film it. The script itself still took six or seven months. It’s seventy-two scenes. Typed out, it’s like a hundred pages. It took a little while. If you’re writing it, it can take a while. Sometimes you can find someone to write the movie for you, and you direct and produce it. That’s one of the hardest steps, is sitting down, taking the time and take your ideas and put it onto paper and into a script where you can put into somebody’s hand. CONCRETE: What’s the next step? Cowboy: Once you have the script, you want to assure yourself that you can find good actors that can play the

continued on pg 8

parts, the characters that you’ve created. The first step would be to start looking for actors. That’s a major part of the movie. Then you’ve got to find someone that can film it. In my case I used Charlie Brown, Northern Lights Productions. It was his first movie project also. We kind of merged our ideas together, used creativity and put the project together. You’ve got to have a lot of ambition. A lot of things I would look at it, and I didn’t know if I could pull it off. I managed to get it done, because I thought it was necessary to complete the project I started. It’s a lot of hard work. Then you got to shoot the movie. Then you have to edit. You have to get everyone on the same time schedule. There may be 20 people on the set at one particular time. Half of them have jobs, the other half, there’s no telling where they are. You have to make sure everyone knows their roles and the script. So you have to practice and work with them. You have to set up the video. It ain’t just setting the camera up. You’ve got to have the right angles. You’ve got to have the right audio, boom mics. You have to have the right equipment. It’s a long strenuous process. It can take a lot of work and a lot of money. But if that’s your ambition, your goal, something you really want to do, it’s something that can be done. I would encourage anyone that’s like, “Well he did a movie, so I’m going to do a movie,” a lot of people feel that way. But, they can’t do it. But if you feel like and you’ve got the ambition and you want to do a movie, I think it’s good to take that step. Just know there’s going to be a lot of things that you wouldn’t have even thought of that comes involved to get it complete. CONCRETE: You’re releasing new music with the movie. Is it a soundtrack or seperate? How does it tie into the movie? Cowboy: The movie has a soundtrack. I’m dropping an album too called The Definition of a Money Maker which I’ve been working on for a while. It’s my best project to date I’d say. But the soundtrack is on such a professional level, and the collaboration of artists that I put together on there, the soundtrack will probably open up a lot of doors for the movie. I featured a lot of Nashville artists on there. C.P., of course he’s in the movie too. Top Notch is on there he’s also in the movie; Deadly, he’s also in the movie. Then we got guys like Teflon Don out of Memphis. I got people from Kansas City, Atlanta, of course Allstar, Young Buck guys like this. So it’s a collection of continued on pg 10

Marco - Chris “CP” Perry

Chris - Jonathan Patterson

Marcellus - Jonathan Lyons

Cliff - Andre Lewis

Big Man - “Top Notch”

Dontay - Johnny Lovett

Writer, Director - David Keary

Cinematographer - Charlie Brown

a bunch of different artists, and the sound that we got going is real nice. So the soundtrack is going to be real good. CONCRETE: Seems like you liked the process and not frustrated by it. Is this something you will continue to do? Cowboy: Yeah. I’m very interested. I’ve been studying it and researching it a lot. I’ve always been a good writer. I’m in school now. I go to Tennessee Tech now. I’ve been to MTSU also. Throughout I’ve always been good in writing and literature. Writing has always been cool for me. That’s why I had so many scripts wrote. I’ve got five. CONCRETE: Would you rather just write scripts and sell the script, or do you like the control over the entire process? Cowboy: Well, I consider myself a film maker more than just a screen writer. I can write, and I prefer to write my own script, but I could take somebody else’s script, and I feel, make their script that much better through the ideas of collaborating. I’m into the whole process. Not just the filming, but the whole casting and finding the right people. When you write something and you have an idea for this character, and someone comes into an audition room and starts reading, you’re going to know in an instant if that’s the person. When he gets there it gets you hype, like, ‘That’s Marco! Damn, that’s him.’ You see your character come to life within the actors. I like the whole process of film making. It’s a fun process. If you can get it out there, the way it needs to be, the profits are there too. It’s not a dying industry or falling industry like the music industry is. CONCRETE: Are you already planning another movie? Cowboy: I actually am. I have two or three wrote. I don’t know which one I want to do, but I do want to film them. I’m going to start filming it in June. I just want to get the Money Makers out. Get it set up, get it flowing good, get the marketing and everything going on that. Once I have that train in motion, I’m going to start working on the new project. CONCRETE: Any last words for our readers? Cowboy: Check out the movie. MoneyMakersMovie. com. Look out for the release party right here in Nashville, Tennessee. We’re going to try and do it big with celebrity guests, and get a good buzz for the city and state. Keep pushing.

Waka clearly stated, “That’s just not my thing, I do it for fun and for Method Man to say that was shocking.” Waka went on to say he was a huge fan from a young age. But that obviously isn’t stopping him. Googling Waka will bring up his music videos, his connection with Gucci Mane and of course, his shooting. Not one to brush it off, He says it has made him a mental monster and sharper on his surroundings. His rap career was on standby for a couple of months due to recovery, but throughout that time Diddy, Rick Ross and various others have jumped on the remix hit song, “O Let’s Do It.” He says, “I love it, I didn’t expect the feedback.” Twitter has also helped get him keep updated with what’s going on, using it as an outlet while he was hospitalized. When asked, “What’s the craziest tweet you’ve received, he replies, “It’s too inappropriate,” and laughs. He also says he can’t go a day without French fries. No album in the works as of now, but fans can expect plenty of upcoming collaborations on upcoming mix tapes. Waka Flocka Flame: one hit wonder or consistent hit maker? Only time will tell. -Tatiana R.

“I f*cked my money up, now I can’t re-up”.... This first line has reached millions from heavy club go-ers to six year old birthday parties. Rapper Waka Flocka Flame, nickname mixed with what friend Gucci Mane gave him is on your radios, television screens, and heavy on the internet regardless if you like him or not. From his point of view he can careless but he says, “I love the love from the fans.” One can say his has a mixture of the best of both worlds. Born in Queens, NY and then moved to Riverdale, GA, his influences are a combination of both areas. Starting from behind the scenes filling in the blank spots of the label, he didn’t think about rapping too much until Gucci Mane suggested he give it a try. When asked to describe Waka Flocka he says, “A rock band mixed with Wu-Tang and Onyx and of course me.” Speaking of Wu-Tang, he recently stated he couldn’t rap and wasn’t into lyrics and only doing it for money. This caused tremendous reactions including Wu-Tang member Method Man. Method Man said he had a right to his own opinion but in short his career wouldn’t last long with that mindset.

CONCRETE: Give us some history. How did you start singing? Star Murphy: I’ve been singing all my life. I kind of got that break in fifth grade. We had a broadway production show. All my friends and family were like, “You should go in and audition.” So I did, and I got the biggest part. I sang “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.” Ever since that show I’ve been singing. CONCRETE: Where are you from? Star Murphy: I’m from Nashville. CONCRETE: You have a single that has a big buzz. It features Waka Flocka. How did that collaboration come about? Star Murphy: Last year I started recording some of my major songs like “Poker Game” and “Bad Girl.” “Swagg On” was recorded in the summer time last year. Wheezy builds really strong relationships with people. He got in touch with on of Waka’s managers. They started talking. The opportunity came along to get a feature with Waka Flocka. He really enjoyed the song. It’s one of those things when you know you’re going to do the song, I was like, “I hope he likes my part. He’s going to rap on it, I hope he likes it.” He really fell in love with the song. Everyone around fell in love with the song. Since then everything just took off. I’ve always been singing, I had a small buzz. But everybody knows Waka Flocka. Ever since then it’s been crazy. I’ve been doing more shows, and doing a lot of drops for people, radio drops, mix show drops, mixtape drops, more features and stuff like that. CONCRETE: What are some of the markets that radio has picked that song up? Star Murphy: D.C. I know definitely, Philadelphia definitely, New Jersey of course. One of the bigger ones I know is in Germany, I just did a drop for their mix show.

CONCRETE: You won the last Urban Music Challenge. How was that experience? Chad Armes: First off, for me, the U.M.C. is by far the best form of promotion and advertisement that you can have. When I entered, I obviously wanted to win, but I entered mainly because of my mixtape. That’s the night I dropped the mixtape. I knew it was going to be packed. That was a perfect way to get everyone on my project. Of course I drew number one, and I made it through the first round. Then, I went up against Get Fresh Entertainment. I thought I chose the wrong song, but I made it through that round. I had a total curve ball at the end. I got to give a shout out to my boy Squints and Brandon E, they really helped me on stage and made everything come together. It was just one of those things where everything was falling into the right place. I had entered it before a few times and things just hadn’t worked out. It was a real positive experience. I recommend that to any artist that’s doing anything or thinks they’re doing anything. CONCRETE: You record a lot of material. You’re newest mixtape Chaddy Bobby is double-disc with 42 tracks. What’s up with that project? Chad Armes: Basically, Chaddy Bobby the mixtape is a project I put out just for the fans for my people and everybody to hear. Just to keep their ears satisfied until my album comes out in June. It’s called Summertime, so I’m dropping it in the summertime.I cut those 42 tracks in less than two months. There were another twenty tracks that didn’t even fit on there, that are just sitting there. I’m just a studio junkie. That’s what I love doing. I put it out just to prove to people that I could put out that much music and not be hurting, and still have music on deck for other projects. It’s really just a promotional use type of project, just to let people know what I can do and showcase my talent, and showcasing the Show and Prove talent. CONCRETE: Any last words or shout outs? Chad Armes: ChadArmesTV.com, join it. It’s free to join. Show and Prove Entertainment first and foremost’. Shout out to all my fans. Shout out to the whole Show and Prove family. Yall be sure to get that Chaddy Bobby Bobby.

CONCRETE: Your new project, is it all original production or is it more of a mixtape type project? Drupy: It’s all original production. I didn’t want to use anybody’s else’s production, though I was kind of pushed in that direction just for recognition. When I sat down with DJ Whitey I told him I wanted this to be like a Gangsta Grillz Grillz. I wanted it to be a street album without the street part. Cause really I’m going away from that and more towards a mainstream situation. I use the elements of street and just take that in a different direction. Music is going in a different direction. People that we’ve been hanging out with like Enjoy the Zoo, Hot Shell Ray, Paramore, these are people that we’ve been around have influenced me. This is my transition from the stuff that you guys knew before. I would call this my rebirth. I took three years off. This is the new version of Drupy. I’ve taken everything from pop culture and submerged myself in that. CONCRETE: What influences from pop culture that are in your music now that weren’t before? Drupy: I take everything that’s going on from Haiti, to the reemergence of Jay-Z, the “Death of AutoTune” Lady Gaga. The way I feel about music and pop culture right now is everything is genre-less. There’s no boundaries. The dudes I’m hanging out with are white guys, and their into the same shit that I’m into. It’s not like they grew up in the same neighborhood, but we all aspire to certain aesthetics. As you get older you start to realize these lines that separate us don’t really need to be there. You realize that you put a mental block on yourself as an artist. Just being around other creative people. I can say Chancellor Wharhol was instrumental, and taking and looking at things differently, and taking it to where we should look at things in an abstract way and make art, but also keep the commerce part of it. Most people now just do commerce. They don’t really worry about the art part. But art as commerce can be done. It’s been done plenty of times over. So I was looking at how I could package my art as commerce. There’s artist who’ve set the precedent like Kanye West or Michael Jackson, like Lady Gaga or Madonna. All these people that are considered icons, they always look at the art and say, “OK I can still be artistic and still make it commercially viable.” That’s what pop culture is, taking things that are popular and applying it to the cultural perspective. So all those things influence me from music to fashion. I started to see where shit was going. It’s almost like every twenty years there’s a cycle and you have to realize when that cycle is about to come back. For the last couple of years we’ve been on this 80s thing, but now we’re moving into the 90s. Twenty years ago it was 1990. You’re going to see a lot of those things come back like plaid, grunge. I think you have to be cognizant of where life in general is going and reflect that in your art.

CONCRETE: You guys have a new project Fish Grease. Can you tell us about that project? Slim Chance: It came together trying to be different. We try ot pattern ourselves behind other great musicians. One thing we try to do is keep your attention. We wanted to make a “movie” album. If you let it play from the start and don’t fast forward, then you’ll definitely see a picture. We tried to do that with Fish Grease. CONCRETE: There’s a lot of songs that could be singles on Fish Grease. What songs are you pushing? 5’3”: We got a lot of good response from “Good Girl” produced by Rio. Of course “Fashion Statement” produced by Neja Beats out of Atlanta. Slim Chance: The trip part is we picked “Fashion Statement” because it best describes us and who we are. But I tend to ask a lot of people what songs they like, and everybody I asked give me a different song. That’s the good part about this. So many people have said “Underrated” so many people have said “Pop My Collar” and “Rum Pum Pum Pum.” That lets me know that we did a good job. 5’3”: It’s an album of singles. CONCRETE: You guys got a big buzz off your live shows and your energy on stage. Do the songs from Fish Grease have that same energy when you perform them live? Slim Chance: Matter of fact the energy is more calm, but it’s just as live. It’s more electrifying, but we’re so calm. I feel like the first time, we had a point to prove to the scene. “Look at me. Look at me shine. We going hard with this.” So people seen that, we got the attention, now on this second album we’ve gotten a little more mature with the sound. And we’ve gotten better with our showmanship on stage. We take it a notch down, so you can feel the emotion. We’re doing shows with like five or six songs where we have to balance ourselves, and we don’t just go overboard. I would say us calming down just a tad bit makes it look even better.

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Money Makers

This is debut film by Nashville film maker David “Cowboy” Keary. He wrote, directed and produced the movie. It is a cautionary tale of four friends who after graduate from high school are trying to figure out how to make some money. They start working at a local car lot, but decide they could make more money if they run their own detail business. The crew starts out well, but soon temptations of easy money pull them in the wrong direction. Soon their friendships are tested by of jealousy and greed. It’s a gritty story of life in the drug game. Starring in the movie is C.P. from Wicked East who plays “Marco.” He embodies his character and gives a riveting performance. It also stars Jonathan Patterson as “Chris” the basketball star, Jonathan Lyons as “Marcellus” the cousin and right hand man of Marco and Andre Lewis is “Cliff” a kid content to follow the other’s lead. “Pimpin” Ken Ivey has a few scenes as Marco’s Uncle, the manager at a strip club. The movie looks incredible thanks to Director of Photography Charlie Brown. All in all this is a great first time out movie for Cowboy. You need to check this film out.

Crips and Bloods, Made in America

This is maybe the saddest, American story ever told. It’s about how two or three generations of the African-American communtiy in Los Angeles have been wrapped in a war over nothing. Small blocks of “turf” they do not own but kill for on the regular. This film takes viewers back in history when blacks first moved to Los Angeles, and how they were segregated not by Jim Crowe laws but by housing laws. Still it wasn’t until factory jobs, once plentiful after World War II, dried up and left L.A. that the gangs really took hold in South Central. Besides the lack of econimc opportunities, police brutality in the city has always made racial tensions run high as local residents see the force as aggressors rather than protectors. The film goes into many of the other social, economic and political factors that have contributed to this epidemic, including the incarceration rate of black men, a staggering 27% in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Stacey Peralta who made the skateboard documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, and he exposes the core issues of the problem.

Drupy - Fli Mu Muzik

Hip-Hop is in the middle of a cosmic shift. Drupy stays right in tune with the new and lets outside inﬂuences in and remakes himself as an artist. But, his top-notch lyrics stay in tack. Instead it’s about switching up the beats and lyrical content. Drupy states “You don’t know anybody ﬂier than me.” Then he proves it on “Swagga” breaking down his fashion game which is mostly imported. Other heaters include “Take Me Back to Chicago” (Drupy’s hometown), “Like a Robot” which features Chancellor Warhol and Robin Raynelle and is disco/dance joint. Nice to see artists evolve while staying true to the art.

The H.I.T. Squad - The Hit List

Straight out the gate the Hit Squad goes off on the “Intro” with a hype beat and tongue twisting lyrics. The track “Grown Up” is a song talking about growing up fast from street life, and who you are as a child will determine what kind of an adult you grow into. “Money Maker” is deﬁnitely a club banger for the ladies and will get the crowd moving soon as it drops. The Hit List album is a must have with quality production, strong lyrics and a story that we can all relate too. Hats off to these dudes.

Black Catﬁsh - Fish Grease

Them dudes from Manchester with the crazy live show are back with a new album, Fish Grease. It’s another fun ride with a nice mix of tempo ranging from laid-back (“Collar” & “Ridin’ By”) to really hype (“Ill Street Blues” & “Rum Pum Pum”). Regardless of the beat, these guys know how to ﬁnd the groove of a beat and ride that shit extra smooth. Their swagger in the booth and on stage is the main attraction with group, and the tracks “Fashion Statement” and “Number 2” express that. And while it’s obvious they take their craft seriously, they’re able to step back and have fun with their skits. The Rio produced track “Good Girl” is a real standout and should be going hard in the clubs this summer. The Black Catﬁsh are the truth!

DJ Wheezy - Trill Skillz 6

You want new music, and you want it trill? DJ Wheezy got you. Trill Skillz 6 is his consistent banging ass mix of the newest hottest shit out. This time up he’s got new tracks from Dorrough and Yo Gotti, Soulja Boy, Paul Wall and DevinThe Dude, Waka Flocka Flame “Hard In The Paint”, Gorilla Zoe, Birdman and Lil Wayne. There’s also new tracks from Nashville’s own Star Murphy. DJ Wheezy has been going hard and he looks to just be coming into his own as a DJ. This mixtape is off the hook!

C.O. Cakes - Caked Up

C.O. Cakes comes hard out the gate on his new album Caked Up. It jumps off tough with “I Got Money” featuring Champ Jones a hustler’s anthem. then it switches into “So I” a song about the fears and ambitions of a father stuck in the street life. “Sick Love” is about choosing money over people. Lyrically, C.O. Cakes is above most, dude can really spit. “Angels” is the song that really shows Cake’s rhyme ability. It’s an album for the trappers. Songs like “”1 Stop Shop,” “Welcome to the Trap,” and “Dopeman” break down the game both the glories and misgivings. C.O. Cake is a thinking man’s hustler.

Ka-Nine - No Rest for the Best

Every now and then something comes along and it’s so unique it’s hard to describe to people, and the phrase “you just got to hear it” comes up. Ka-Nine is that dude. From the ﬁrst song “Another League” he kills it. His ﬂow is unique and real energetic and his rhymes are out of the box different. He’s not on a gangster tip, but he’s not some softy either (‘Far from sweet like diet drinks’). It’s a mix of jacked beats with some original production. On “Exotic Things” he lets the ladies know what type of man he really is. “So Much Pain” uses an old soul sample, while Ka-Nine paints the picture of a break-up over jealousy and snooping tactics. This guy has something good going.

DJ LW - The Takeover, ver, Vol. 1 ver

DJ LW drops The Takeover Volume 1 mixtape. The track list is a who’s who of Nashville rap music. Notable names include Allstar, Young Buck, The City Paper, Fate Eastwood, Hi-C, Finess Da Boss, Casino Greene, Kid Krunk, Dave Lucci, C-Good, Darquan, Squints, Semi and plenty others. There’s also cats from other places like OJ Da Juicman, D.Colley and Da Banggaz 314. If you want to know what’s up with local scene then you need to get this mix.

Ducko McFli - Ducko’s Modern Life

Ducko McFli is one half of the N.O.B.O.T.S. and the rebirth of Charlie Duckets. He’s on his next ish with this one. His style merges the MidWest with the South. The beats have more of a techno feel, but still keep things like screwed down hooks and lyrics about bricks and getting throwed. The best example is probably “Choosin” which features Chancellor Warhol (N.O.B.O.T.S.). Even the beat by Fate Eastwood featuring Rio has that feel. There’s a lot of piano chords in the beats like on “The Glory” featuring Sissy. Other’s featured include Future, Mr. Green and Julie Green. It’s a nice look at the new school of hip-hop and where the art is headed the new decade.

Chancelor Warhol - Japanese Lunchbox

Chancellor Warhol is the other half of the N.O.B.O.T.S. and he takes you down his hip-hop worm hole. The next generation of hip-hop is actively carving out a fan base in Nashville. They bring a whole new vibe and sound to the game. Chance states at the beginning, “They on that same old twostep. We built them new steps.” Techno beats have completely replaced the boom tick that deﬁned Southern rap the last decade. Lyrics about love and romantic escapades displace raps about trapping and Escalades. “Reckless” which features Rio on the hook (and production) is a crazy, love letter explaining why each in the relationship is feeling reckless. You owe it to yourself to check this out.

Malaki - Night Shift

Malaki (aka Black Beast) is back with probably his best work to date. The city has reason to be proud with this one, especially the song “TN Stacks” which features Cruna on the hook, and Young Murda and Paper. It goes hard. With Malaki the voice is always powerful and reaches out from the speakers and grabs your attention. Rio shows up hard again on “Trance” and “Take You Home” which takes Malaki in a whole new direction, and their collaborative efforts are hot. The song “Ratchet” is only a hook and one verse (2:05 total) but he does a lot of partying in that time, you might get a hangover just listening. He and Bohagon take that same theme even farther on “Fired Up.” Malaki always brings it.

CONCRETE: There’s a lot of Nashville artists out there right now whose hottest song is a track produced by you. Who are some of the artists you’ve been working with lately? Rio: I’m doing a lot of work with Stixx Iza right now. Stixx is about to have a big push with his mixtape. We just did an underground cut where we used “Party All the Time” by Eddie Murphy. That joint is super-super funny. I did the Black Catﬁsh joint that just came out – I got two cuts on it. I did one with Bezzeled Gang. A lot of the people that are featured on my mixtape is people I’ve been working with. I have a lot of female artists that I’m producing right now too. That’s awesome always when they’re in studio. There’s a new girl named Camrin W. She’s doing her thing. I’ve got Leah whose was featured on the “Broken Hearted” song on my mixtape. I’m working on Vida. I’ve got a new girl named Esery who’s country-pop. I just did a song recently with The Lost Trailers, they’re country. There’s Kristen Nicole, there’s Bre. A lot of females that are trying to get out here this summer. I’m doing a record right now with a girl named Ya Za who was in The Nashville Scene as one of the “10 Artists to Watch in 2010.” There’s a lot of stuff going on. And Chance from the N.O.B.O.T.S., he just put out his mixtape. CONCRETE: What equipment do you use when making music? Rio: When I get in, I’m used to using a lot of Korg stuff. Mainly what you’re hearing is Reason. I make a lot of my sounds. I go in and I might have a bucket and some drum sticks, I might grab a real tambourine, I might have heard the door slam in a room and it sounded cool through the microphone and I might manipulate that. Most of the sounds or the splashes on the track are sounds that I make. I try to make it really original instead of factory things. I go through Reason and I use this new program, but I’m not going to tell that one. CONCRETE: When you work with an artist, what’s the process? Rio: I have a pretty original process. I know a lot of people make tons and tons of tracks and ship them off like a freeze-dried package deal. But what I do, I like to vibe off the energy of the artist. So usually I get the artist to come in, and I get the tracks started while the person is sitting right there. I usually tailor make them to whatever they got going on. I’m a real big guy on the song, not just the hot-ass beat. Because to me it can be impersonal especially if you’re a singer. If you’re a hiphop artist it’s the same thing too, but you can almost get away with just spitting to a hot track. Where as if you’re a singer you want the energy to vibe with what your idea is. To personify the idea that you’re having. You want it to all marry. That’s why I do everything in the studio impromptu. If it’s my stuff, I usually don’t even use a pad and pen anymore. On my mixtape I was calling it ‘No Paper, No Pencil R&B.’ That’s because I’ve been recording for a while, so when I get in I set up a microphone and I’m going line for line, just whatever comes out. I usually make my song right there. I don’t want to walk away until I’ve got two verses and a hook. A lot of that stuff is fresh, even when people come to me. This guy named Lil Larry, he’s one of the ﬁrst R&B artists on Curb Records, a big country label in town. Shout out to John Ozier one of the A&Rs there. Larry comes through and every time we get it in, he comes in and eight hours go by and he’s got a new song for Curb. We did that four times, so he came back with four songs. Mike Curb played his song at one of their big label meetings and said, “If we keep making hot music like this, then we’ll be alright,” in the midst of all these other labels closing. So look out for him too.

CONCRETE: A lot of people know you from 101.1 The Beat in Nashville. How did you get to be an on-air personality? Jones: It’s been an uphill struggle man. I hit every stage. I started off volunteering with the station trying to get an internship. I got an internship and I was trying to get on part-time, minimum wage and just pay my dues and being anxious about it. From there to getting fired, to getting re-hired full time. But the whole time really wanting to be on air and real eager about it from the beginning stages. It did take a while. It was a five year type of thing before I even touched the mic. I was down here with the station since ‘02. CONCRETE: Where are you from? Jones: I’m from New Rochelle, New York, right past the city. It’s five minutes past the bronx, but still the outskirts of the city. CONCRETE: How did you make your way to Nashville? Jones: I came out here for school. I went to Fisk University. I came here back in ‘98. CONCRETE: A lot of on-air personalities can’t DJ in a hiphop sense, mixing, scratching, etc. You do though. How and when did you pick that up? Jones: It goes back to New York. I started when I was 14. My homie Logan, he stayed in my neighborhood, he had a set of turntables. At that time I was just rapping. I’m kind of like the Jack of all trades when it comes to hiphop. I do a little bit of everything, even down to graffiti. I play around. I might be kind of like a “toy” but I got my respects. I’m still humble with it. But we were rapping at the time, but we didn’t have a way to record. So by Logan having the records and the sampler we would just loop those records up. That summer, ‘94 or ‘95, I got my hands wet on the turntables. It started to come natural to me. My homie showed me the basics. From there it became an art form. I enjoy scratching. I enjoy mixing. I enjoy transforming and learnign new cuts and techniques. I was battling back in the days. It was like a hip-hop movie, like Juice or something. We had beef with different crews around the way. Somebody might of heard me say I was the best DJ or something, and they’d be like, “You can’t beat my homie.” The next thing you know I’m getting punched in my face. CONCRETE: Any last words for our readers? Jones: Aim and shoot. It’s OK to skip steps, and you don’t have to start at the bottom.

CONCRETE: Can you give us a quick intro on who you are and where you’re from? Young Chris: I go by Young Chris The Captin. I got that name back in high school, when I moved back home to Johnson City, Tennessee. That’s where I’m from. I lived in nashville for a couple of years and went to Hunters Lane. I graduated in 2007 from Science Hill. I moved back to Murfreesboro to go to MTSU. I’m a junior now. I started rapping about a year ago. I made my first mixtape in about four studio sessions just freestyling. Everyone was telling me I should just do it. So I said, ‘Alright I’m going to do it.’ When I dropped the mixtape, I got some good feedback to it, so I decided I’d get serious with it. I just started making a lot of music. So that’s what I’m pushing now. I like doing it, and it’s something that I want to do. CONCRETE: Your most recent mixtape was called School Boy Street Mood Mood. What is that all about? Young Chris: It’s about the school life. A lot of people think, “ You got to be from the hood.” And that you can’t do nothing with your life. You’ve got to sell drugs and never make it out. But I took it a whole other way. I was like, ‘I’m going to stay in school and do what I got to do.” Make my money either way it goes, but stay in school and get my education, and make that my main plan. I’m a school boy, but I got a street mood. I’m always in the streets, that’s what I do. That’s where I got the name from. I went with DJ Trap on that, cause he’s from where I’m from and has the same mindset as me. He went to school at UTC and graduated from there. It came out cool. CONCRETE: we know you have a lot of tracks on deck. What do you plan to do with those? Young Chris: I’m about to drop three mixtapes, the U Already Know Wat It Iz Volume 2 will be Fly the DJ. That’s going to be a double disc project. That’s going to have about fifty tracks on that. I’m going to come out with the Blowing Cool Mixtape with DJ Prez and DJ Young Breezy. That’s going to be a MTSU edition, cause we all go to MTSU. We kick it hard. That will probably have about twentyfive tracks. Then I’m going to another one with DJ 31 Degreez or DJ Crisis, and it will have about thirty tracks. All the tracks are getting mixed down right now. They’re finished. I’m pretty much ready. And I got a bunch of tracks that I’m making right now. Ten or Twelve tracks that I haven’t done. I got a lot of stuff lined up. I’m going to hit them real hard this summer.

CONCRETE: Where are you from originally? Albert J: Actually, my father was in the Air Force, so I grew up all over the world. I was born in Hawaii. I lived in Georgia, Spain, Germany , Turkey, Virginia, Nebraska, Alabama, D.C., Texas and then I moved to Nashville. The longest I’ve ever lived in one place is here in Nashville. I’ve been here six years. Ever other place I was there two to three years. CONCRETE: What projects and music are pushing right now? Albert J: Well the mixtape that just dropped is Who Is Albert J presented by DJ Whitey. That’s what’s out there right now. I’m pushing songs by “The1 & OnlyS” Michael Dale and Jon Denney, with an EP coming shortly. Of course my extended family here in Nashville, I’ve got stuff coming with Black Catfish as well. We got a bunch of different little mixtapes. We just continue to make hot music, which is what it’s all about. As of now, my main focus is to get my EP solid with about six no-brainer hits and a real solid video or e.p.k. and shop it around. CONCRETE: You want six songs on that, how many are complete? Albert J: The EP is all produced by “The1 & OnlyS” Michael Dale and Jon Denney. Jon Denney has produced for a bunch of big people like Bone, Thugs and Harmony, 50 Cent/GUnit, Joe, people like that. He’s been in the industry for a while. Michael Dale who’s a drummer also, a songwriter, he’s been collaborating with me. So we’re kind of going three ways on that. I’ve already got about five songs done. I want one or two more to finish up. CONCRETE: Will that EP be available to the public, or will it be for industry people only? Albert J: It will definitely be for the general public, but it will almost be like a series of my singles. Probably the first song you’ll hear on the EP is “Nana Puddin” it’s just a smash hit. It’s something that the first time you hear it, you can’t forget it. That’s definitely the first single that we’re going to be pushing this summer. It’s a summer banger. Hot girls in swim suits and fun in the sun. CONCRETE: How would describe your style? Albert J: It’s hard to put me in a box. I feel like the moment someone tries to sum me up, I want to venture off and do something else. People who have definitely influenced me are artists. There’s a lot of great rappers out there, but I wouldn’t just call myself a rapper. I’m someone who likes to involve melody in the hoooks, and just has a lot more influences from other genres than just rap. That carries through out my music and you can tell.

CONCRETE: How long have you been a barber? Larry: Professionally, about six or seven years. CONCRETE: How did you get into cutting hair? Larry: I started back in high school. I started off just cutting my own hair. Then it led to cutting the neighborhood. Once I graduated (high school) and started working I left it alone, because I got burned out. But after working for companies and in warehouses, I just felt like I wanted to do something on my own. So after that I decided to go to school. Not to long after I graduated I got a call from a friend of mine, the former owner, and he asked me to come in and cut for him. After that it just progressed from there. CONCRETE: You own Platinum Cutz now. How long did you work here before transitioning to owner? Larry: We opened in 2005. I took over after thirteen months. CONCRETE: What do you enjoy about running your shop? Larry: I enjoy the interaction with people, cliental, networking. And you can set your own schedule. Of course if you’re not at work, you’re not earning money. But you still have the ﬂexability when it comes to family , kids to set a schedule to go out and take care of business. Or take care of business for the shop. CONCRETE: How many people are on your staff? Larry: Currently I have, including myself, eight. Six barbers and two stylists. CONCRETE: You have a lot of repeat business. What keeps people coming back? Larry: I think a lot of it is the atmosphere. We try to keep it friendly. We try to keep it business and professional. Our cliental is so diverse. We have white clients, hispanic, blacks. We just have a diverse set of cliental. We have single mothers and families as a whole that come. I want everybody feeling comfortable and nobody singled out. Even with our white clients they can come in and sit comfortably and not feel out of pocket. Even single mothers come in and drop their little ones off, while the kid waits they go and run their errands. So I like the fact that we have a family oriented and professional atmosphere.

photo: Tavell Brown