360: Esthero "Flipher Overture" ------> Cee-Lo Green-"ChamPain"

Yeah...time for another random column. Gonna start doing cool little posts about how songs and people borrow from each other and stuff...



Mr. Greg Street sent me this Cee-Lo "mixtape" a few nights ago before it got unleashed onto the internet. But I wasn't near a computer at the time so yeah...

But its been out for a couple days now, I haven't seen or heard an overwhelming reaction to it though. I just got around to listening to it last night, not every song on there blew me away, but the are each cool in their own little way. The title and cover of the "mixtape" are very misleading though. I guess Stray Bullets is supposed to be a play on words since Cee-Lo's upcoming album is called Lady Killer? Judging from the songs on here, it should actually be called Loose Feathers or something.

But yeah, I was just sharing the project with you in case you hadn't gotten your hands on it yet. I also felt like posting this song "ChamPain."



The song is basically about drinking, sex and escapism. The cold-hearted gentleman player vibe he's been on since '06 works well on it. Plus he does it over one of my favorite tracks from Esthero's Breath From Another album, "Flipher Overture" (flip her over...overture...flip the tape over...get it? get it?)



I remember we used to smoke and actually try to freestyle over this shit. This and that instrumental from Triple Six's The End album.

A gossip girl told me after Cee-Lo and Esthero worked together when Goodie Mob did a remix to "The World I Know" they started seeing each other off and on, which led to them eventually recording "Gone" together. If you never heard that song, know that its probably one of the most heart-wrenching break up songs EVER. Years later, it sounds like they we're probably talking to each other on that shit. But I don't know...I actually caught Esthero at the Loft a few years back and she performed the song. Since Cee-Lo was there in attendance, he went on ahead and joined her on stage and did his part. It didn't look planned, but hey, ya' never know.

But yeah, the Cee-Lo project is cool. Other songs to look out for are "Is It," "I'll Kill Her" and "Super Woman Theme Song."

DOWNLOAD: Greg Street presents Cee-Lo Green: Stray Bullets

Cy Hi Da Prynce-Prynce of Jacks (mixtape)

If you're a frequent visitor of this blog...clap for yourself. You knew about Prynce before Kanye!

Prynce pretty much just beat jacks on this tape so no originals here. This mixtape is the first of a four part series that will include Prynce of Spades (for the streets), Diamonds (motivational/bottle popping music), Hearts (girl/sex records). Get it the concept?

DOWNLOAD: Cy Hi Da Prynce-Prynce of Jacks

CyHi Da Prynce – “Popular Demand” (In Studio Performance)

"rap without me is like TV without Oprah...Brockett without Stroker's"

You'd have to live around these parts to get that line. But regardless the homie Prynce aka "Mr. Redan" goes in on the Clipse "Popular Demand" beat. Metaphors for days. Prynce of All Jacks mixtape coming soon.

Dr. Martin Luther King x Dr. Dre-"Message"

Greg Street plays this every year around this time and he asked me to share it with ya'll.

In order to "Have A Dream" you have to get some sleep...but, just because we have the day off today, don't snooze too much. Try and get out and do something productive today. If Martin spent all of his time sleeping...none of us would be "awake."

{"I'ma let you sit on that egg until it hatches" (c) Bobby Creekwater}

UPDATE: I wanted to share this video that blogger Jay Smooth did a couple years ago...its still one of my favorites from him.

Greg Street Awards 13-year old Morehouse Student With Space Jam Jordans

This just happened minutes ago. Greg Street had 13-year old Morehouse Student Stephen Stafford on his show tonight. He has a triple major: biology, computer science, mathematics. Yeah...

The Shoe Game 3 Year Anniversary Video Recap

Shouts out to the homie G-Roc from TheShoeGame.com for having a successful event this past Thursday. He had the Nike Store at Lenox on smash. Pretty much the whole top right corner of Lenox was crowded on this night because the Puma store was having a dope holiday party two doors down too.

The line was too long for me to sign up and win some free sneakers, but my highlight of the night was when Greg Street dropped the needle on this never before heard Andre 3000 song that he said was supposed to go on his Interscope album that never officially came out. Yes, I'm leaning on him folks...be patient.

Prynce-"Studder" x "100" video

New video from Prynce's What The Dec Been Missing mixtape. Cameos from DJ Drama and Greg Street. Shot at Standard

Previously: "The Hard Way" video

This Thursday December 10th: TheShoeGame.com 3 Year Anniversary Event at Nike Store at Lenox Square

To all my sneaker heads out there, the homie G-Roc of TheShoeGame.com will be hosting the 3 year celebration of his site and company at the Nike Store at Lenox Mall this Thursday. As you can see from the flyer they are going to have a few giveaways. So if you're trying to come up for Christmas time or get someone a gift that you didn't have to pay for, go'on head and fall through.

Check after the jump for a commercial for the event featuring Greg Street Sneaker Pimp...



While you're here check out the first clip from Greg's new webseries SoleMusicTV



Gotta get some of those Bobbitos...and yes, I do celebrate Christmas.

Prynce Performing "Studder" at Hot Beats studio in Atlanta

Last Friday night Greg Street invited me a few other folks to Hot Beats studios to check out Prynce and hear some tracks from his latest mixtape What The DEC Been Missing Vol. 2. If you've stopped by over the last couple of weeks you already know that I'm up on this tape. But I figure the purpose of this listening was to let people meet Prynce and get to know him a little. All I'll say is that dude didn't dissapoint anyone (neither did the hot wings, Ciroc and wine).

Dude can really rap his ass off if you didn't know already. He performed a couple songs in the studio and did a damn good job. He also let us hear a couple tracks from his album thats set to drop on Konvict Muzik/Def Jam sometime next year. Granted, Prynce is being backed and supported by one of the biggest radio personalities in the country, the biggest rap label in the world as well as Bu Thiam (Akon's brother) who is now VP at Def Jam...but even with all of that I'd still think that dude would make it on his very own, dude is dope. And I'm not just saying that because he reps for my side of town (hell damn near my street).

I'm slowly making the transition away from Flip cam footage but I captured some of Prynce performing what's probably my favorite song on the mixtape "Studder." If you didn't catch this song or tape when I posted it last week, here you go again.


Prynce-"Studder"

DOWNLOAD: Prynce-What The DEC Been Missing (mixtape)

PREVIOUSLY: Prynce-"Hard Way" video | INBOXication: Prynce | Prynce-"Sweet Georgia" video

Prynce-"Studder"

Prynce-"Studder"

You know its a crazy time in music when I can sit here and say "wow, its been a minute since we heard from {insert name}" when its actually only been five months. But we all know in this rat race/post first internet rap age we live in, five months feels like five years...

That said, I put a few of ya'll up on Cyhi Da Prynce back in April when his What Tha DEC Been Missing mixtape dropped. I thought it had some dope stuff on there but it seemed like after he dropped a video for "Georgia" after a month or so of doing shows around the city, he kinda fell back.

I just happened to see Prynce for the first time in a while at this industry party honoring Bu Thiam (Akon's brother) last week and he seemed and sounded to be on the up and up. So I guess it was just in the cards for Greg Street to hit me out of the blue yesterday with some new music from him.

This track "Studder" is a leak from his follow-up mixtape What Tha DEC Been Missing Vol. 2. Greg said it blows the first volume out of the water, so I'm anxious to see if that rings true. I like Vol.1 but just wanted to hear more original songs more than beat-jacks. Like I said in earlier posts, what I like about Prynce is that he tries to apply a concept in everything he writes and he does it here with a st-st-studdering flow through the whole song.

No need to be alarmed, he actually does a dope job in pulling it off without it sounding too gimmicky or worst...annoying. Its late and my mind escapes me, but the only time I can think of someone applying a studder in a rhyme on purpose was when Big Pun did it on "John Blaze" 11 years ago.

But yeah I'm rambling, check out the song and be on the look out for the video soon. Oh yeah, he mighta snapped when he said "slow to serve you like Checkers"...lawd knows Checkers is slow as hell!

Sneaker Friends '09: Greg Street Gives Away Two Pairs of Air Yeezys

Last Thursday Greg Street hosted the fourth edition of his Sneaker Friends event at 595 North. Overall the night was pretty good. DJ Jaycee had the party rocking from beginning to end. Some familiar faces from the sneaker community showed up as well as Andre 3000, Jason Geter, Mistah FAB, Dow Jones and Khujo Goodie to name a few. The night also had performances from Hollyweerd, Stanza, Mama's Mustache and Prynce. Some unfortunate circumstances have gone down since then that have prevented me from sharing the pictures I took at the event with you guys. But luckily I still caught some video of the event.

Even if you aren't a sneaker head like that, you know that the Nike Air Yeezys are a hot commodity right now. Greg was generous enough to make somebody's night (maybe year even) by giving away a couple pair after damn near everyone left and went home (or to the strip club). All he asked was that every dude who wore a size 9.5 to come up on stage and then...I'll let the video do the talking.

You have to see this dude's reaction when he finds out what he's won. It kinda reminded me of the Heineken commercial where the women are going crazy over the shoe closet while the men are going crazy over the beer closet...except here, the role is reversed.

UPDATE: I found the photos, view them here.

Killer Mike - "My City" x "Pay Up"

Killer Mike - "My City" [Damn near NO/DJ]
Prod. by Don Cannon

Salute to the big homie Greg Street for dropping his Greg Hustle mixtape off with me right quick. Its been out for a week but I'm assuming if you weren't at Club Primal last Tuesday (sup Nick) you didn't get this. If you did, well, good for you...

"My City" comes from the Grind Time/Grand Hustle side of things. Where this will land exactly, not sure, but its on the mixtape for right now. I must tell, quite honestly...this song is STR8 FIE!!!


Killer Mike - "Pay Up" [Damn near NO/DJ]
Prod. by Lil C aka C-Gutta

"Pay Up" is a song Mike originally recorded in Los Angeles when he and everybody else worthy of the "honor" was writing songs for Dr. Dre's Detox album. Since we all know that shit ain't ever coming out, a lot of folks are just saying fugg it and keeping the songs for theirdamnselves. This is one of those songs.

I'll upload the rest of the Greg Hustle mixtape for ya'll later tonight. I don't have access to a scanner right now and didn't want to just give ya'll a bunch of nameless songs...unless you want it that bad?

Until then, if you're a sneaker head, fall though Greg's Sneaker Friends event tonight at 595 North, doors open at 10pm. Might be giving away my extra ticket on Twitter later. Holla.

Prynce Cy Hi-"Sweet Georgia" video

Greg Street sent this over to me last night. Its the new video for Prynce's single "Sweet Georgia." If you're a regular around these parts you already know about this song and how I feel about it. Love this damn song. Me and one of my homeboys was talking about this song the other day and how roughly 90% of it sounded like our life story. The thing I noticed a lot about folks that just moved to Atlanta is they think they are having the total Georgia experience, which isn't true, especially now. Not by a long shot...

You're not going to find the freshest peaches, pecans and onions in the city of Atlanta. You have to go to Peach County or Vidalia for that. Hell, I'm confident in saying that you're probably not going to get the best HBCU football experience in the A either. You have to go Fort Valley State's homecoming or hit up Columbus for the Fountain City Classic for that. That's why at times I kinda felt where Pimp C was coming from when he said that "Atlanta is not the South." Of course it is in the South, but when compared to other towns in Georgia or other Southern cities like your Jackson, Mississippi's and Memphis, Tennessee's you get a different feel from the glitzy, celebrity-driven place my city has become over the last few years. Don't get it twisted though, I love my city, we're still the shit. But I'm sure most of ya'll know what I mean. Including the people responsible for this song. Hell, the guitar-driven melody on "Georgia" is the perfect backdrop for Prynce's town-to-town adventures. It would not have sounded right over a beat of the Shawty Redd/Zaytoven/Drumma Boy variety.

But yeah, seeing the QuikTrip on Panola and my old high school in a couple shots was a trip. Kinda reminded me of that scene at the end of "Player's Ball" when they're rolling down Candler and show that Decatur/Atlanta sign in front of the Long John Silvers. Plus that line "you really hate Dekalb when you're locked up in Memorial" is the effin truth. That can go unexplained to people knowing what I'm talking about. Plus, dude name dropping Fort Valley and actually showing footage of him both catching and missing a MARTA bus is great.

What's really a trip though is how some parts of this video tie into the Pill video shots I posted yesterday as they shot this video on Auburn during the Sweet Auburn Fest where not as many hijinks go on.

After paying a little more attention, I'm assuming that this video is going to be tied into Greg Street's x New Era's commUNITY hat line somehow because there are plenty of New Era shots in the video (we see you).

Anyways, hope you enjoy the vid. If you haven't checked out Prynce's What The Dec Been Missing mixtape download it below.

DOWNLOAD: Prynce-What The Dec Been Missing

Whats On Lucious' Leftfoot?: Big Boi Rocks Fakes?

DAAAAMN DAAAAMN DAAAAMN JAAAAAAAMES!

Ok. I guess I can't just act like this ain't happening. So...

The net is buzzing about Big Boi's "Space Jam Jordans" that he rocked during his Sneaker Pimps performance a couple weeks ago. As you already know, I was at the show. Front row even. And like I told you there, they call out folks rocking Fakes. So when I saw Big Boi hit the stage in these J's I was like, ehhh, they don't quite look right.





I swear I started to roast Lucious' Leftfoot, but I was like nah, I'm not super sneaker head like that. I didn't want say something and be wrong. Plus, at the same time I was like, shied, this is multi-millionaire Big Boi, ain't no way in hell this man has some fake Jordans on. They must be some super-duper rare exclusives or something. And between the shows hosts, Dave, DJ Clark Kent and Greg Street's jonin ass, surely one of them woulda called him out. But again, this is Big Boi we're talking about, even if they are fake, who was gonna call this man out, on stage? He warrants too much respect. That's like going on stage during a Parliament Funkadelic show and asking George Clinton "you been smoking rocks tonight shawty?" Even though its a harsh truth, I've both seen and heard of Mr. Clinton with pipe in hand, and this Clinton does inhale.

However, I shoulda known something was up when C-Bone asked Big "whats those on your feet?" and when he replied "oh, some of them...Space Jam Jordans" the crowd gave a collective Scooby Doo "huuggghhh???" and laugh.

But yeah man. I don't know if all of this warrants me hopping across the street to ask this man "Where'd You Get Those?" But damn, if I do happen to see his car parked out front today, I will be tempted to.

But yeah anyway, lets end this on a good note. If you happen to be on the Eastside today, fall through South Dekalb Mall and check out B.o.B.'s Reebok release. Once again, I reiterate, Reeboks were the shit growing up. Hell, its what kept alot of kids who couldn't afford Jordan's, Deion's and stuff like that in style and away from having to rock XJ900's, Pro Wing's and Hoop-It-Ups. Folks that went to Miller Grove remember those fake ass sneakers. Instead of the Jordan logo, they had two dudes going for a jump ball...hellllll naaaaaawwww.

Killer Mike-"Man Up"

Yeah, its been a minute since some new (not just unreleased) Mike leaked out. Well this one is from an up coming Grand Hustle x Greg Street collaborative project that should be hitting the streets soon. I was asked to hold onto this until Monday. Since I was up I figured I'd go ahead and put it out there for ya'll.



UPDATE: Greg Street just sent over the cover art for the mixtape

"Shine Blockers": Big Boi and Gucci Mane Recording at Stankonia

"Veeeeeedy interesting" (c) Arte Johnson. Big Boi recruited Gucci Mane and Project Pat to hop on a song called "Shine Blockers" for his Lucious Leftfoot: Son of Chico Dusty album. In typing that just now, I kinda realized that Project Pat '99 = Gucci Mane '09. I don't know ya'll but I was jamming to some Pat pretty damn hard back then. I guess that's what my slight disinterest in Guccimania stems from. Feels like I've heard it before. Same way I felt about Jeezy at times. I came up listening to Top Authority. So when I hear something years later that's either a direct byproduct or mimic of it, I just be like...I've heard this before, and better...

*steps away from soapbox*

But yeah, I'm posting this video because I found it interesting to see how Big Boi is attempting to bridge a gap of sorts by enlisting Gucci on his album. Only other time I can remember a DF member doing something like this was when, hell, Gucci featured Khujo on "Corner Cuttin'" on his first album.

Big Boi's been doing this for a while now though. Him hopping on remixes to Gorilla Zoe's "Hood Nigga" and DJ Unk's "Walk It Out" are proof. I'm also posting it because it shows that as much as Atlanta Hip Hop seems to be segregated at times, there's still some sort of unity. Which brings me to something else...

Not gonna be doing any name dropping but, I had a talk with two friends about the same subject. It was about a year and some change ago when Atlanta's "Otherground" was really popping with Proton, Hollyweerd, etc doing shows every weekend. One friend was saying that the Outkast's of the world should reach back and give these groups a much-needed co-sign. While my other friend was saying they're not going to co-sign them because hell, they probably don't relate to what they are doing. I saw both sides of the coin and they both made equally valid points. I tended to lean more in the direction of the latter though.

Mainly because, some of our elder statesmen in Hip Hop prove to us again and again that while they may be fans of the groups that seem to be inspired by them, that don't always mean that they are going to or are even supposed to co-sign them. Being so close to what's come before you, could actually backfire at the end of the day.

Example, there used to be this group called Da Wascals. When they came out, folks immediately called them the baby Pharcyde, because they had the same producer (J-Swift) and they was signed to the same label. Aside from the fact that the group wound up breaking up, folks wasn't messing with them as much as they might have if they didn't look and sound so much like Pharcyde. Did all of that make sense?

Plus, 'Kast over the years have always co-signed what is probably considered the polar opposite of what they had going on at the time. Ya'll remember Aquemini Records? Killer Mike, Slim Calhoun, TCP and Konkrete. Them niggas was raising hell back then. So much to the point they started calling them "AquemiTHUGS." That's not really what comes to mind when you think of the Stankonia-era 'Kast, now is it? Plus, up until recently, Atlanta was always a slum-type place. And, in the late-90s/early 2000s the DF was setting things up to catch that impending wave of Atlanta street shit that Pastor Troy was kicking off, T.I. picked up and Jeezy ran with.

Like me and some friends were saying on twitter yesterday. Cool Breeze was T.I. before T.I. and Backbone was Jeezy before Jeezy. Plus, if ya'll go back and listen to that Slimm Calhoun The Skinny album, you'll hear that he was doing everything that is cool now, back in '01. So, that being said, seeing Big Boi gravitate more towards Gucci Mane instead of the stuff he may be expected to co-sign, doesn't really come off as much of a surprise.

But yeah, as far as the "Shine Blockers" song itself? Judging from the clips of the song that's playing in the video, its probably not going to be my cup of tea. But, its interesting to see and hear nonetheless.

Shouts out to Zach Wolfe (and his super camera) and SnortThis.com

Wish/Supra x New Era/Tradition Re-Cap and Photos

above: Stevie Williams, DJ Don Cannon and Terry Kennedy

Last night I hit up a couple events last night and pretty much saw the same people at both, all good though.

First I stopped by Wish in Little 5 Points to check out the Supra/Terry Kennedy Event. They were releasing TK's latest SUPRA sneaker called the "Society."



I can't mess with the purple ones, but the black/red joints are cool. There were a few familiar faces floating inside and outside the venue.


Dow Jones and Henny of Tha Bizness


Terry Kennedy and Stevie Williams


TK, Stevie Williams and Angel (founder of SUPRA)


When all of the pictures got taken, liquor ran out and "different" looking cats started falling in, folks started making their way over to New Era for Greg Street's event.



Greg is teaming up with New Era to put out a hat series called commUNITY Neighborhood Collection. The hats will feature the names of different 'hoods in Atlanta. The party also doubled as a pre-party for the Sneaker Pimps show at the Tabernacle tonight.



As I said before, pretty much everyone just left Wish and came over to New Era. I was kinda disappointed because they were supposed to be debuting the video for Prynce's "Georgia" but there wasn't any sound playing...so they said effit and turned the game back on.

A couple folks came through here as well:

D. Map of Convertible Bertt, Cedric King of Dap Rugget and Chilly-O (three of the city's dopest fashion designers...stop sleeping on Dap Rugget though)


Don Cannon, Tim, Chilly-O, Jerome Warren and Bem Joiner


Sneaker Pimps founder Dave and the rest of his crew


They had some lovely ladies in the house as well




As always, you can see the rest of the pics, maybe even yours if you were here, in the galleries.

Lost & Sound: Big Zak-Major Visibility (2006)

You ever been riding around and some song you haven't heard in a long time just pops in your head? It happens to me all of the time. Thing that sucks for me is that its usually a song from an album that I haven't heard in forever and have no clue where to find it.

The latest song for me was Jazze Pha & Ceelo featuring Aaron Hall's "Share."



The random collaboration came about from that Goodtime Guys project that Jazze and Cee-Lo were supposed to put out 3-4 years ago. Since that project never dropped, I guess they just start leaking songs out and putting them on random CDs. One of those CDs was Shonuff producer/songwriter/artist Big Zak's Major Visibility.

Since I was on a roll last week of finding old CDs, I figured I'd start searching for this one. It didn't take long for me to find it actually. It was on a CD spool in my closet, stuck between an advance press copy of dead prez' RBG and a CD that I will be featuring for Lost and Found next week ;-)

Now, the homie Big Zak is very talented cat. That 2004-2007 run that Jazze and his "productshizzles" had were due in large part to Zak's ghost and hook writing. Everything from Ciara's "Goodies" to Lloyd's "Get It Shawty" Zak had something to do with. He's always been one of those dudes that you always seen in the studio, but never quite knew what he did. Only thing I ever knew about dude prior to meeting him was that he was the guy who raps Greg Street's show intro. But when you'd see him out and saw how everyone kinda flocked to him, you had to know that he was doing something.

Sensing that, I guess Zak figured he'd put himself out there as an artist to show and prove to people that he wasn't just some dude hanging around Jazze Pha collecting checks. So, he put out a project called Major Visibility. If I remember correctly, they launched the campaign for this project in Houston during the 2006 NBA All-Star Weekend. I wound up interviewing Zak for Ozone on Labor day weekend up at Patchwerk Studios.

Up until then, I don't even think I heard the CD. I think I'd only heard his music through his myspace page. It was one of those type albums that was dope, but only got passed around in the industry. It never really made it out into the mom and pop stores and flea markets where the common folk like me get music. But anyway, Zak gave me the CD and I don't think it left the car for good little bit, the shit was riding.

Big Zak feat. Jazze Pha-"We Livin"


Big Zak feat. Jazze Pha & Cee-Lo-"Yeah Girl"


Going back listening to this, I'm gonna go ahead and say that Zak was making Atlanta swag music before "swag" became a code word for "I really can't rap, I'm just trying to look cool." Of course "swag" wasn't the popular thing to say in 2006, and folks that truly have swag don't have to self-proclaim it, but Zak's music is what comes to mind when I think of some cool-ass Atlatna-player shit. Just some ridin'-ass lifestyle music for the Players who Only Live Once. You know, people who don't have to wear expensive brands to look fresh, and they chose to, would still look good anyway.

Big Zak featuring Jazze Pha-"Show Off"


I think another thing I liked about Major Visibility was that even though it produced by Jazze Pha, none of it sounded like that industry standard Jazze Pha. Jazze Pha production fans from day one know what I mean. For a minute when Jazze was peaking, you could tell when someone just came at him with a check saying "give me that 'Jazze Pha shit'." But here, you could tell that Jazze was really trying to make the dopest music possible and not just trying to land a single. It probably helped that Zak and Jazze were actually music partners, so Zak knew what to do on Jazze's beats and Jazze knew what beats to give Zak.

Big Zak featuring 8Ball & MJG-"Colors"


Anyways, this post is getting lengthy so I will wrap it up now. The rest of the CD has features from Too Short, Slim Thug, and Blackowned C-Bone to name a few. I haven't seen or spoke to Zak in a hot minute, so I don't know what he's up to exactly. But according to his myspace page, he sprinkled some magic on Keri Hilson's "Turning Me On."

But before I go, I have to share another one of my favorite moments from the album. I guess during a session Greg Street fell through and anyone that's been around dude for longer than 10 minutes knows that dude loves to jone. So, I guess after while him and Jazze Pha's stylist Perry got into it and...I'll let you listen for yourself:



DOWNLOAD: Big Zak-Major Visibility

Sights and Sounds From Sweet Auburn Fest

Just checking in briefly with some pics and video from the Sweet Auburn Fest. I went down there yesterday evening and hung out for a little while. Figured I'd break the camera out and take some shots here and there.


Greg Street




This was easily the shot of the day though:



"Futuristic" water...I bullshit you not. When I saw this, I just knew some "swag" water was going to be around the corner. I didn't see any though. If you are wondering what "Futuristic" water looks at taste like, visit your local grocery store, go in the bottled water aisle and pick up some Deer Park, because that's all it was. Maybe the blue ice cooler they kept it in is what made the water "Futuristic."

Oh yeah, in case it didn't go out on twitter, I got some Qik footage on what was supposed to be a Slam Dunk contest. Very entertaining.

INBOXication: Prynce

Prynce-"Georgia"


So after talking about rappers from Texas and New York the last couple of days, I'm about to just talk about a dude from my side of town, hell, around the corner actually. Which is something that I don't mind doing.

See, for as long as I could remember East Atlanta and Decatur have kinda been the bastard children of the Atlanta Hip Hop scene. When people think of Atlanta Hip Hop most of what they identify with comes from either the Southside or Westside. Not hating or complaining, just saying.

I remember when I'd go out of town to visit family they'd always ask me if I ever just saw Kriss Kross or Outkast or anyone in the Dungeon Family walking around in the neighborhood. When I'd reply with "no, but I saw Ghetto Mafia at South Dekalb Mall" or "no but me and Kizzy Rock go to the same barber shop" they'd look at me all crazy and befuddled because they had absolutely no idea who I was talking about.

Same thing applies to the last few years as really The Eastside Boys (SMH) are the only cats from my side that really got any worldwide recognition, if that shit even counts. Well, I guess you can count I-20 too, but I mean, I ain't about to sit here and act like folks didn't literally speed past I-20 to get to whatever Luda was talking about.

People slept on Da Backwudz. My nigga Noah never even came out. Baby D locked up in Ohio somewhere. But I can at least say that with B.o.B., Playboy Tre, Yung LA, Gucci Mane and OJ Da Juiceman people are paying attention to rappers from my side of town as of late.

So I say all of that to say, pay attention to this cat named Prynce. Dude is dope as hell to me and I always thought so. Yeah he went to my high school alma mater. Yeah he's from right around the damn corner. But that's not the only reason why, I genuinely like dude's music.

He used to be in this group called Hoodlum a couple years ago. They were signed to Jazze Pha's Shonuff Records. I was hired to write their bio (sup Donald) and really looked forward to their music coming out. All six of them could rap, offered different perspectives and they were very, very conceptual...even to a fault at times. But, I say that's a good problem to have.

Hoodlum put a couple records and a mixtape or two out, but pretty much disappeared. I ran into Prynce a couple times at the QuikTrip on Panola (the same one he namedrops on "Georgia") and when I'd ask him what happened he's just say they was messing with Akon now. So I guess his new mixtape with Greg Street is the first fruit of that relationship. I gave the tape a listen this morning and its pretty good. Granted it has some moments that I could do without, but that's mainly due to him rapping over other people's beats, not because he came with wack verses. As evidenced by "Georgia" and what I said about Hoodlum earlier, Prynce's conceptual game is still on par.

"Competition"


Here's another joint called "Dear Def Jam" where he briefly speaks on what happened over at Shonuff. I for one would like to know what's really good over there? They either let talent slip through their hands or just get bogarded for it. What gives?

"Dear Def Jam"


If you like what you've heard check out the rest and download his mixtape What The Dec Been Missing.