Boone County Recorder 01/30/20

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Nipsey Hussle’s Grammy-winning ‘Racks in the Middle’ has a local connection Madeline Mitchell

Nicholas 'Sunny' Race and DJ Corbett inside Corbett's home music studio in Florence. The two have formed a collaboration and are rising up through the music industry. Corbett was nominated for a Grammy in the 'Best Rap Song' category. AMANDA ROSSMANN/THE ENQUIRER

Nipsey Hussle’s ‘Racks in the Middle’ took home the Grammy Award for ‘Best Rap Performance’ on Sunday night. The award was the fi rst for Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy and second for Hussle, who earned it posthumously, according to the Grammys. If the song had won in a diff erent category – “Best Rap Song” – a Northern Kentucky man would have come home with his own Grammy for his work on the track. It was about four years ago in a Florence, Kentucky, basement studio where Dustin James “DJ” Corbett and Nicholas “Sunny” Race fi rst started dreaming of their music-making business. They didn’t make music together for the fi rst year they knew each other. They just talked. Corbett, 33, of Florence, stressed his commitment to family and faith. Race, 39, of Covington, talked about the artists he’d worked with in Los Angeles. The duo discussed politics, religion and what they envisioned for their careers in the music industry. “I think we were shooting for, like, right now,” says Corbett. This January Corbett will be heading to the Grammy Awards, nominated for Best Rap Song with “Racks In The Middle,” with Race by his side. Race says he used to think they were going too far with their fantasies of what a career in music might be.

run into. Corbett: “You’re just sitting there, like, eating Chik-fi l-A or something, and then the door opens and it’s–” Race: “Ty Dolla $ign–” Corbett: “ ‘Oh, Okay.’ I literally was walking, I turned the corner and – the studio that we work in is Chalice – I turn the corner, I’m walking too fast, and I like, I slam my shoulder into Future’s chest–” Race: “Ohhhh!” Corbett: “Like so hard. Like, and then, I didn’t know who it was at fi rst, when I looked up and he’s tall, like he was, I was like... I don’t even know if I said sorry or not. Like, I just, like, my mind went blank and I was like, ‘Uhhh...’ “ Race: “Your face said enough.” The Cincinnati boys have earned spots in those studios because of multiple years Race spent building relationships with those producers, and because of what Hit-Boy, Race and others in the community now call “The Corbett Eff ect.” “The Corbett Eff ect” is where those instruments in Corbett’s studio come into play, but mostly, the eff ect is comprised of Corbett’s own voice. When he thinks of a sound he wants to use in a song, he’ll just mimic with his voice what he wants to hear. “Well, the mic’s right here,” Corbett says. “Let me just do that. And then put all these eff ects on it, all these diff erent things to give it a vibe.”

Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Corbett

Race

“Now it’s like, dang, we’re just getting started,” Race says. “We weren’t dreaming big enough. So now it’s like, what do we dream about next?”

The Cincinnati boys The front end of Corbett’s home studio has a center table with a xylophone. A soft green light shines onto the back wall. On the outskirts of the room are three guitars and a brass instrument of some sort. “I don’t even know what kind of horn that is,” Corbett says, gesturing towards it. Corbett is not a classically trained musician. Race is not a classically trained engineer. But the pair are pulling rank in L.A. studios where Hit-Boy – a seven-time Grammy nominated producer and 2012 Grammy Award winner for Best Rap Song with “N****s in Paris,” performed by Jay-Z and Kanye West – hosts major artists of all genres. Race and Corbett say the L.A. stars refer to them as “The Cincinnati boys.” Hit-boy’s studios are full of surprises– you never know who you will

Race says that kind of approach is extremely rare. “The Corbett Eff ect,” and the eff ort that comes with it, is why he brought Corbett out to L.A. in the fi rst place. “I was like, ‘This dude is making classical sounds, like, that’s not a sample? That’s a... oh, you made that whole song just to be able to use it as a sample?’ “ Race said of his early impression of Corbett. “Like oh my god... you don’t need to be doing highlight fi lms of basketball people and, you need to be– Because I’m in these circles, and you’re better than these guys.” The same approach works in Race’s engineering. He says he can’t teach his techniques to anyone else because, most of the time, he is just listening for what he thinks sounds right. “They think, ‘Oh, he’s trying to keep it a secret,’ “ Race says. “No, I just don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just doing what works.”

The loop that started ‘Racks in the Middle’ In the studio, Corbett pulls up the fi le that ended up as the genesis for “Racks in the Middle.” The six-second loop is comprised of two sounds: Corbett’s voice and a bell. He created it in October of 2018. Corbett says the music industry is See GRAMMY, Page 2A

Dem Shannon Fabert aims to unseat NKY’s Rep. Thomas Massie Julia Fair

Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK

Shannon Fabert, 41, of Burlington Ky., is running in the Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional District of Kentucky. PROVIDED | SHANNON FABERT

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Shannon Fabert likes to keep a close eye on Northern Kentucky politics. She's watched the election cycles heat up and cool down, observed candidates and took notes. This time she decided it was time to stop observing campaign herself. Fabert, 41, of Burlington, threw herself into the Democratic primary for the 4th Congressional District to unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. “Congress belongs to the people and I think we need representation that looks and feels like us,” Fabert told The Enquirer.

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Fabert, a newcomer to politics, described herself as a moderate with a few progressive ideas. Her background is rooted in business consulting, which included a stint at Jack Casino when it was named Horseshoe Casino. Fabert will face Democratic candidate Alexandra Owensby of Fort Thomas in the May primary election. Both woman want to unseat conservative Massie who has represented the district for seven years. The district covers Boone, Campbell, Kenton, Pendleton and Gallatin, stretching into into 15 more counties. Previous Democrats haven't gotten close to beating Massie. In 2018, Democratic candidate Seth Hall got about

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34% of the vote when he ran against Massie. Fabert grew up in Memphis, Tennessee. Her work brought her to Pennsylvania until she and her husband moved to Northern Kentucky 10 years ago. The Burlington residents like to play golf and typically cook meals at home with their 9-year-old Old English Sheepdog, Hines. When they do go out, Fabert said there’s a few favorite Mexican food restaurants and places to get a good burger. Looking ahead to her policy approach, Fabert said “big ships turn slowly,” and laid out how she would approach a few key topics. See FABERT, Page 2A

Vol. 144 No. 14 © 2020 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED $1.00

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