Concrete Nashville 58

concrete615.com 6-8 ....................... Young Buck 7 ......... CONCRETE: 10 Years Pt 1 10 ...................... Bryan Deese 11 ....... CONCRETE: 10 Years Pt 2 12 ..... CONCRETE: 10 Years - DJs 14 ................... Music Reviews 18 .......... Nashville 10: LeLe Lux 22 ... CONCRETE: 10 Years - Contributors 23 ....... CONCRETE: 10 Years Pt 3 30 ....... CONCRETE: 10 Years Pt 4 Publisher: Capo Ad Executive: Capo Art Director: Rex2-tm Nash 10 Photography: Tavell Brown Nash MUA - Sherry “FancyFace” Waller Photography: Tavell Brown Photos provided by: Visual Flavour Publishing Consultant: Bryan Deese

CONCRETE Magazine twitter - @CONCRETE615 concretecapo@gmail.com © CONCRETE Magazine 2014

CONCRETE: It’s been five years since we last spoke and a lot has happened.

Let’s start at your incarceration. How did that effect your work ethic?

Young Buck: Prison encouraged my work ethic, it gave me time to dissect it.

For me the blessing of doing time was I knew I was coming home. I was in prison with guys whose paperwork said deceased, meaning they will never see the streets again. It made me realize the little time I had, and let me make the best of it. So when I do get out and get back to my career, I can give the people what they expect from me. I read a lot of books and got my GED while I was in prison.

CONCRETE: Did you write while you were locked up?

Young Buck: Honestly it was hard for me to find the motivation. One thing I did do in prison that kept me in touch musically was throwing concerts. It took sometime but once they realized there was real talent in the prison – I had a few good guards who stood up and said lets give this a try – It was a success. That’s something that means everything to me. To be amongst guys who will never see the streets again and they can have that one moment where they smile and have that feeling of being outside that gate. I’m a prison legend. My time was small but I left a big mark.

CONCRETE: Can we be expecting a solo album any time soon?

Young Buck: Believe that. It’s been a while since I dropped a solo record, but what I want to keep on everybody’s mind, especially Cashville, is you’re nothing with out your city behind you. People always say ‘damn bruh the people don’t support local artists’ or ‘nobody sticks together.’ Shit, that’s an excuse. Support yourself, cause nobody is going to support somebody that’s not supporting their self. But yes you can look forward to another Young Buck project but before that definitely look for a G-Unit album.

CONCRETE: On that note everybody wants to know about the recent G-Unit reunion. How did that come about?

Young Buck: I had made a reference at the end of a record that said somebody call 50 and tell him we need a reunion. I honestly think the time was just right.

The people wanted it. I’ve been through a lot, 50’s been through a lot and we looked at it like, it is what it is. Let’s bury that shit and if there is room to move forward lets move forward. We always been brothers. I think the situation was made bigger than it actually was. We don’t speak on it or go into detail on what happened or how it happened, cause it’s something that came and went and we are never looking for it to happen again. I think we all Banks, Yayo, 50, myself, as well as Kid Kid are just excited to be together and its showing through the music. We got some hit records. continued on next page

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Young Buck was on the cover of our 5 Year Anniversary Issue. He rolled up to the spot on his Harley Davidson.

Buck the World 3/27/2007 1+ Million Sold

This issue dropped right as Buck the World came out. Buck had us come a little market on the backside of the JC Napier Homes. We shot the whole Cashville Records squad.

Straight Outta Cashville 8/24/2004 3+ Million Sold

Young Buck was on the cover of the first issue. His album Straight Outta Cashville had just dropped and all of Nashville was feeling good about it. Getting the Buck interview solidified the magazine. Everyone else in the city got on board after Young Buck.

We wanted to get some pictures no other media could get, so we scoured Buck’s old stomping grounds and found “The Hood” building pictured on his album cover.

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CONCRETE: So when and what can we expect from the G-Unit album?

Young Buck: Honestly the album is crazy! I’m not saying that because I’m back amongst my brothers and I’m trying to sale a project to the people. No I’m saying this because you rappers can not fuck with us. I have to say that cause a lot of weak ass rappers that are in a position winning, have no respect for their elders. It’s like having a child that after raising them, feeding them, grooming them, you taught them everything, and then they get to a point where they feel like they can whoop your ass! That’s when you take the belt off and you whoop that ass. So that’s where we are at as far as rappers go. I feel the best pay back is success. But before we get to the album in late October/ November you can be expecting a G-Unit mixtape. After the album, Cashville here we come the Young Buck solo project!

CONCRETE: Away from music you recently launched a clothing line called Dope Boy University how did that come about?

Young Buck: Honestly sitting in prison I thought of a lot of different things I wanted to do outside of music and I’ve always liked designing things. For me I wanted to come up with a line to represent who I am and where I’ve come from as well as be catchy and still have meaning to it.

I ended coming up with Dope Boy University and the first thing most people think of is something illegal. For me dope is not only used for illegal stuff you may see something you like and be like that was dope. So what ever it is you do you’re DOPE BOY.. Its doing very well, I’ve been blessed.

Shout out to City Gear one of the first chain stores to reach out and give me a chance of carrying us in their store.

CONCRETE: If you could go back in time what’s some advice you may give yourself?

Young Buck: To be more focused on the business side of things. My career happened so fast and at the age I was at, the time and the things I was involved in, in the streets, it allowed me to pay more attention to the opportunity than the business.

I’m forever thankful from where I came from to even have the opportunity, but I didn’t give the business enough attention.

This is a business. It’s 90% business and 10% talent. The good thing about all that is I’ve been blessed with a second chance.

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CONCRETE: How did you go from art/design to starting a hip-hop magazine?

Bryan: It was after high school, I went to Knoxville to study graphic design. I started doing zines in high school and kept doing that in college for fun. I did a pretty serious zine and it wasn’t high production quality but had a lot of good content. I got with Tower Records and Books and got world wide distribution. After that I worked for some magazine companies here in town and learned magazine layout and business. I went back to UT to finish up. When I was up there I wrote the business plan with Kevin Anderson, and we eventually started Concrete Magazine.

CONCRETE: Issue #1 had some great stories, was it hard for you to get everyone on board or did they understand this is good for Nashville?

Bryan: The timing of issue one was perfect and really we give ourselves some of the credit, because we had a business plan sitting there parked for about a year. We knew that Straight Out Of Ca$hville was going to be dropping. So I sent a e-mail to Interscope saying, ‘Hey we’ve got this magazine and our first issue is coming in September, it would be perfect to have Young Buck as our cover story.’ What we offered was kind of like a vehicle to Bucks’ hometown streets and we presented distribution numbers that looked good to them.

They went ahead and green lighted the interview. I looked over to Kevin and I was like, “Dude we are starting this magazine.”

Once we had Buck for the cover everyone else kind of fell in line.

We also had Lito who had just signed with cash money with his very first deal. People were like you’re official, we’ll do it.

CONCRETE: What are you doing now outside of the magazine?

Bryan: I have always been into graffiti since I was a teenager and making a living as a visual artist to me was almost like the NBA or something. But I’m painting murals now. Some of them incorporate advertising and some of them are just murals about Nashville history. I’m also doing some traditional sign painting which is a dying art. One of my favorite phrases is, “yesterday’s technology is today’s art”. A whole generation of sign painters are gone and they weren’t able to hand that knowledge down. Some of that I know just from my hobby of painting graffiti. So I’m doing a lot of that and that’s a lot of fun for me too. I’m just trying to make a living off my hands and being creative. You know I still love Concrete and being involved with that, but I put it in some real capable hands when I stepped back from the day to day operations, and I love seeing where it’s going.

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CONCRETE has been cool with Three-6Mafia going back to 2005. DJ C-Wiz was doing a lot with them and he made the introduction happen. We hit the road for Memphis and hung out in their studio in the shadows of 201 Poplar. After photos and interviews they played us the classic but then unreleased “Stay Fly” single!

This cover story was a big deal for CONCRETE. Project Pat had some CONCRETE legal troubles in the early 2000s and went to jail for a few years. We were the first media to get an interview with him after his release. The only way we could get with him was go to his work release job. So we showed up at an office complex, found Pat and got the interview and photos!

We had been working on getting with 8-Ball and MJG for a while before it ever happened.

We showed up at The Plush Club in Memphis and there was another magazine there. But when Ball & G showed up, they rolled up and got with CONCRETE magazine first. We were still distributing heavy in 8 cities at this point, including Memphis, so we were like a Memphis magazine.

The movie Hustle and Flow put Memphis hip-hop in the spotlight in 2005. Three-6-Mafia crafted the film’s main song “It’s Hard out Here for a Pimp”. The song won an Oscar (78th Academy Awards) on March 5, 2006. Paul and Juicy stayed to party and work in L.A., so we we got with Frayser Boy, who wrote lyrics and got his own Oscar.

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CONCRETE Magazine has had a DJ Profile in every issue. C-Wiz was the first DJ we reached out to. He had solidified himself in the Southern Mixtape game and dosed out knowledge daily from behind the counter at New Life Records. Wiz specialized in artist mixtapes, and he had national distribution. That also meant he had contacts with a lot of major players. He was always down to help us get a good interview. Thanks C-Wiz! DJs are as important to hip-hop culture as rappers. The good ones pack dance floors and introduce people to the newest music. CONCRETE Magazine has always respected the DJ. When we first started DJ Drama’s mixtape series Gangsta Grillz was hugely influencial. We were one of the first magazines to ever have him on the cover.

In 2009 we undertook the task of covering the entire DJ scene in Nashville and put 10 of the best on the cover. We profiled over 30 DJs in the issue, and we researched and interviewed some of Nashville’s very first hip-hop DJs. CONCRETE continues to spotlight the most current party rockers and we won’t ever stop!

The whole city was shocked and saddened by the passing of Curtis “Scooby” Senior. CONCRETE Magazine did what we felt was right and dedicated our next cover and a big story as a Scooby memorial. We first profiled Scooby in 2006, and we continued to work with him (and his DJ partner Dolewite) until his death. We were lucky to know him.

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Killa Pablo - Tale of 2 Cities

The intro of this project starts off with news reporters stating facts about TN like it has the highest crime rate and the highest poverty rate in the nation. Immediately it is clear Killa Pablo is about to take you on a journey through the darker side of Nashville and Memphis. The first song “Two Cities” pulls you in with a eery melody and Killa Pablo starting his verse off with a classic quote from 2Pac, “I ain’t a killer but don’t push me”, following with his story on being incarcerated and facing a life sentence. This is a strong street record, with quality production and deep story lines. If your a fan of reality rap and can relate to the struggle than this album is for you. Some of our favorite songs were “Two Cities”, “My Life,”Killa”,”They Goin”, and “Ya Feel Me”. Go get a copy if you haven’t already!

Dee Goodz - Don Jovi

AHHH Sh*t!! Dee Goodz is back with the Don Jovi project. His smooth, cool as a fan delivery seems to compliment the production on almost every song. The project opens up to a piano loop and Dee Goodz immediately goes in running all over the Ducko McFli produced beat. He seems to deliver an anthem for every person out there on their grind. The hook for “It Couldn’t Be Done” is super catchy and will be stuck in your head for days. But this seems to be the trend from number one to eleven with catchy hooks, dope melodic beats, and Dee Goodz cool guy approach. He follows up with other songs like “Moneyville, “Positive Vibes”, “Windows Down”, and “All in the Wrist” were just a few songs that we really enjoyed. “Been Down That Road” features ScottyATL and let’s you know not to give up on your dreams. Honestly their wasn’t one song we skipped, this is a start to finish project. Go get it Nashville. #AllGoodz

Maurico - I Am Maurico

The Tennessee Recording company presents this six song EP titled I Am Maurico, an introduction to their newest artist. By the sound of it Maurico has been working hard at creating a master piece right underneath Nashville’s nose. He gives only a small sample of what’s to be expected from his full length album but even this small dose leaves listeners excited for what’s coming next. The song “City Come Alive” is the first single released with a visual that will automatically have your head bobbing, with a catchy hook and a feel good vibe this record gets you in the mood to either get out and grind or just hit the club and turn up. Maurico flexes his lyrical muscle on “HipHop Architect” and makes it clear he is versatile rapping over a up tempo dance track on the song “All The Way” ft Kyle Cook from Match Box 20. He doesn’t stop there, “Reckless and Dangerous” features Shannon Sanders on a heart felt track with a soulful hook. Maurico shares his story of struggle that many of us can relate to. This is a great project. Nashville get familiar.

Casino Greene - East Side Story

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What can we say, Casino has done it once again. East Side Story is full of energetic flows, hi-hats and trunk banging low end beats. Casino Greene goes in on every song staying in the pocket while delivering raw stories through clever punch lines and a gravely voice that captures your attention. It was too hard to pick out a few of our favorites cause the project is full of heaters. There is only one song on the whole project that has any features (Jo’shua Odine, STAN, and Rikki Blu) so you have plenty of time to get to know Casino Greene and soak in everything he has to say. Just know this, Casino Greene seems to have found his lane and that could be a problem for some of these rappers. This is a quality project, a great dose of reality hiphop, mixed with that southern sound and strong lyrics. It’s a must have Nashville.

CONCRETE: Whats your biggest Turn On/Turn Off? LeLe: My biggest turn on would be height. I love a tall man. My biggest turn off would be someone who is a liar and not upfront. I’m a very blunt person so I expect the same in return.

CONCRETE: Favorite Designer ?

LeLe: Michael Kors CONCRETE: 3 artists in your iPod? LeLe: 2Chainz, Yo Gotti, and Young Jeezy

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Photo by: Tavell Brown - Brown-Photography.net | Make-up by: Sherry “FancyFace” Waller

HomeTown: Birmingham, AL Measurements: 36C-28-44

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Bryan Deese and Kevin Anderson founded CONCRETE Magazine in 2004. They met at UT Knoxville in 2000 and wrote the business plan for CONCRETE Magazine in 2003.

Originally 10,000 copies were printed and distributed to Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Birmingham, Huntsville and Louisville. In 2006, after he accepted a job offer, Kevin Anderson sold his half of the business and moved to the Washington DC area.

CAPO - Publisher

Bryan Deese and I met one day and the subject of working for CONCRETE came up. He said you hustle hard and would be a good addition to the team. At first I was just an ad rep selling ad space and doing promo. Soon my opinions and ideas were being heard. I was blessed to start applying my work ethic to something that held such weight. I was a fan of CONCRETE Magazine long before I joined the team. Now I sit here as the new Publisher of Concrete Magazine. Hard work does pay off! I promise to keep providing Nashville with quality content. Much Love!

TAVELL BROWN - Photographer

I’ve worked with CONCRETE Magazine for over 5 years. Initially I worked with the Nashville 10 section, but I quickly advanced to shooting the majority of the magazine. For me CONCRETE means consistency. In my career I have had the opportunity to work with platinum selling artists, Academy Award winners & local legends all because of CONCRETE Magazine.

JOERILLA - Videographer

CONCRETE has always let me shoot how I want with very little direction. My artistic view, what I see thru the lens and my attention to detail brings out the best in anything I shoot for them. My joerilla style of capturing an event or interview just fits well with what CONCRETE Magazine is all about. Them taking a chance on me always meant a lot. I’m glad I play a roll in the progression of this publication and hope to keep it going for the next 10 years.

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Hatin’ Aint Healthy VOL 4 2004 Included “Grey Goose”

CONCRETE had Lito in our first issue. His single “Grey Goose” was huge. He came by the office in August 2004 wearing a t-shirt with his newly signed Cash Money Records deal on it, his AllStar chain and a Cash Money chain!

We’ve enjoyed watching his artistry grow over the years. Hopefully we get him on the cover again soon.

At the end of 2008 Nashville’s hip-hop scene got pulled into some street beef. Lito and Paper have always kept close with the communities they grew up in. Lito is from east Nashville. Paper is from west Nashville. Some of their childhood friends were rivals, and the Nashville TV News twisted it into a sensational rap war. CONCRETE got them in the same room to set the record straight.

CONCRETE has interviewed some of Tennessee’s rap legends. But maybe our proudest moment, was when Haystak dissed us on a track saying “But Stak they gave you the cover, and I barely fit on that little, ragidy motherfucker.” We knew we mattered then.

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We worked hard to get Yelawolf on the cover. He was getting cover by all major media, so we pitched it as a Slumerican cover. Yela got excited about the first Slumerican cover story ever and brought in the whole crew. He introduced CONCRETE Magazine that day to Rittz, DJ Dirrty and the ATL Twins and everyone else in Slumerican. Struggle got locked up right before the issue dropped.

Gamblin’ On a White Boy VOL. 1 11/2004 Photo taken at Cross Traxx Studio

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Jelly Roll was already known as the city’s best freestyle rapper when we went to find him in 2004. We had to go to Cross Traxx studios. It was a little block building next to the Andrew Jackson Homes, and Jazz was shocked that we just knocked on the door and asked about Jelly. We were also on hand in 2010 when he made “Pop Another Pill” with Lil Wyte.