Music in Athens 2022

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It is said that when Robert Johnson stood at the crossroads, he made a deal which would bring him incredible fame but would cost him dearly. He would become a legendary musician but would pay for it with his soul. Real or not and so long ago, today’s music scene seems to be a series of musi cians heading down to the crossroads. Some will have promising careers. Many will burn out chasing a dream of accolades and praise beyond measure.

So what are today's musicians willing to trade for a shot at success? The music scene in Athens results in most artists ending up at a crossroads of either struggling in town or migrating elsewhere to pursue a music career. I believe this void is due to a lack of an actual venue to house black music and talent. In 2018, while Athfest allowed rock bands to play on the main stage in front of the 40 Watt, they crammed local rappers Catch One Baldie, Kxng Blanco, Cassie Chantal, and others in a closed room in Cíne on the next street over. Most hip hop performances today are in white owned venues and bars. That brings the question: where does hip hop live in Athens? Leading some to say Athens hip hop is heavily filtered through the founda tion of the past entertainment of Normal Town and Pulaski Heights.

Athens' music scene has had a stigma of not wanting to foster an equitable environment for black music because of the violence referenced in the “gangsta rap” sub genre. I believe it's naive to hold all of rap responsible for the incarcerations, violence, and mental health of those consuming and producing a particular subgenre. Aside from generational poverty, I do place some blame on record labels who lack modern artist/ character development. Labels used to keep artists from falling off the deep end. Instead labels are day trading artists and some times fueling the flames of rap beef in our communities. Thus, disapproving of the 360 deal and other controversies, artists are now going independent and partnering with new technology to make their way in the industry. Financially, this more independent mode of production is working for artists like Chance The Rapper and Joyner Lucas. They’ve made a lot of money while perfecting their craft, owning their music, and not being a slave to the record labels.

Today, venues like Soundtrak, cloud, and The Warehouse commit to provide plat

forms for artists to showcase their music. Furthermore, the new Classic Center Arena coming in 2024 will be another venue for artists to make history in. Bound to attract bigger acts and larger ticket sales, Athens rap artists have more incentive to collabo rate locally. Seeing many rapid changes on the way, national music executives want the Athens mayor and commission to consider a Nightlife Committee to review and set limits on what entertainment will look like. It is men tioned that if solidified, it could outcast artists that are controversial and continue to keep hip hop/rap under governance.

In 2018 the late Milton Leathers and I discussed how narrow the music scene in Athens was. He’d elaborate on his idea for a music center–a place that would showcase black music, teach artists the music business, and build creative relationships. Mr. Leathers acknowledged Athens music scene’s step child treatment of rap music and said "the neglect hurts Athens’ relevance and by living in the past they starve today's generations' need for diversity." Even attorney Ken Dios affirmed that if institutions, venues, and rap artists were to properly organize it would foster a positive culture and increase tourism tremendously. That led me to ask executives of the historic music scene in Athens "Why do you recommend artists and executives leave when there’s a community of untapped talent here?" The most common reply has been that Athens is not the right fit because Atlanta is known for rap; therefore, anyone wanting to make a career should go there. Exemplifying to me that Athens gave away talent to other markets for the last five decades of rap.

In summary, this issue features art ists pursuing rap as it continues to top music charts across the nation. I understand the ridicule of rap when it is sadly reduced to its more violent references. But its niave to assume that rappers attract violence. And for the historical music scene to use that to justify not building up talented artists, is only contributing to the trend of them leaving and achieving success that could've represented Athens. I encourage Athens to invest more than a name on the Athens Music Walk of Fame, because not everyone makes it back from the crossroads of fame.

Thanks for your patience, Ron Carson Jr. (770)744-6403 thehighlightmagazine@gmail.com the editor

Mojo Krazy athens

Native, producer, and producer manager

What part of Athens are you from? Tell us what it was like growing up here? What would you like to see change in Athens?

I really feel like I am tied to both sides of town. I grew up living on the west side off of Tallassee, then I moved to the east side near Ben Epps Airport. I guess you could say the east side is where I got my feet wet. It was decent growing up, nothing you wont see in other cities really. The poverty, struggles, drugs & violence. I know real people here who died or are affected by gun violence. Real people here affected by the drugs, and poverty. The government and institutions usually try to sweep us under the rug during the school semesters. It seems every year what we have here, is going to the students or tourism coming in. But hey, they spending good money so I guess you gotta pay to play.

How did you get into music? What did you do to separate your style and sound from everyone else? What have you done recently and plan to do in 2022?

Growing up I loved music, and between listening to old gangsta rap in the car with my pops and riding to georgia state for the weekends. Realizing as a kid with my aunt listening to Outkast albums, I have a love for listening to it loudly. Anybody who knows me knows I was the one walking around high school with the beats headphones you can hear across the room even when they were on my ears. Growing up I never actually saw myself doing music though. Never took any lessons or classes. Hell everything I play now is by ear. I just picked up a computer one day and tried it since all my friends were into rapping at the time, and it happened to be the best decision I ever made. When I took music seriously I produced for Young Nudy, Gucci Mane, G Herbo, Lil Keed, Foogiano who is also from Athens, and plenty of other artists. I’ve been on Billboard’s 200 multiple times, done millions of streams, and positioned some of my friends to make money in music for life. 2017 I took it seriously, got my BMI right, stamped my name and everything. Late 2018 is when things started to pick up. That's when I met Metro Boomin, Southside, 21 Savage, and Young Nudy.

After the shootings of EBE Montana, Thumpa, and Ketorian Cooper? How would you organize with the community to engage gun violence and the youth in Athens?

Montana and Thumpa dying to gun violence had the most impact on me due to the fact I personally knew

them. I went to East Athens summer camp with Montana and his older brother Ken. Me and Thumpa’s families were good friends back then so we were around a lot and kind of grew up around each other. So to see her gone to gun violence, ESPECIALLY knowing she had nothing to do with the situation, every time I think about it its just a “damn man, that really ain't have to go like that” feeling I get. I wasn't as close to Ketorian but my condolences to his family, it’s just a messed up situation to see not only people we grew up with but the YOUNG people also losing their lives to it. They supposed to be the future and now they wont even get to have one. It's sad.

In your life you’ve been through a lot of trials and transitions. Share some of the things you faced and how you dealt with them. How would you advise the others on dealing with the hard times in their lives?

I think the hardest thing was losing my parents. I started to create music to help put them in a better position so they wouldn’t have to struggle paying bills. When they died a part of me died, but now I'm giving my all for me. I feel like I can't lose at this point I already lost so much. But it’s always gone be trials to life I just mark it as a loss and move on. Use it as fuel. Really, how you deal with things and bad situations determine who and what you become on the other side of it. Everything doesn’t deserve a reaction or your energy. Use it towards something beneficial.

What have you learned about Athens music scene after having so many personal and professional connections to it? Is it profitable? What would you like to see done differently or gain access to? Have you seen anything in other cities that Athens should have?

Right now is the best time to invest into the music scene in Athens because its still on a come up. Nothing and nobody here is stamped musically, no matter what level they’re at or what accomplishments, not many people outside respects Athens for its rap music scene. But that is what we’re on a mission to do. It takes the right promotion, institutions, right establishments with the right equipment, and the will to want us all as a whole to be involved, kind of like how they do in Atlanta. Its bigger than us doing it right now, ten to twenty years from now it may be different, we have to set the foundation now for the next set of creatives to be bigger and better and have more opportunities.

Spiffo made it

Tell us when you got into music and the role Athens played as your interest grew. What led you to start your own studio? What are your plans for it as it grows?

I first became interested in music around the age of seven. I had an older cousin who was already involved in the industry and I would sit in his studio sessions sometimes while he recorded. Seeing how they created music really caught my attention and made me become really interested in rapping. As I began to explore this new interest I noticed that there was a lot of diversity in Athens as it relates to music, and I was able to absorb all of the different types of music and information I discovered as my interest grew.

I started my own studio, because I have always been a self-driven person and had the desire to work on my own time. I did not want to wait on others to be able to record my music. My studio started off as simply a room. I had my laptop and a microphone to record. As time pro gressed, I was able to purchase more equipment and create the room into something much greater. I eventually was able to build a recording booth to separate the recording area from the rest of the studio. There have been 1,000+ artists to record at my studio, most of them have been local artists from Athens and surrounding counties. There have also been artists with larger platforms like Foogiano, Pooh Shiesty, and Big Scarr. In the future, I plan to relocate the studio to a more public area. I would like to find a building for it and leave it open to the public for use.

How do you go about authenticating your style and sound? What did getting signed to the New 1017 do for your career? Do you have any upcoming projects readers should be on the lookout for?

There isn’t a specific sound or style I try to aim for. I just like to try different sounds when creating beats, and look for something that isn’t similar to music that has already been created. Being signed to the New 1017 created many more opportunities for me and gave me the ability to net work with other producers and artists on a bigger platform than I had prior to signing. I have a lot planned… all I can say is be on the lookout!

What was it like growing up in Athens? What problems did you run into and how did you solve them? What life moment do you feel defined you and led you down the path you’re on today?

I grew up in Athens with my mom as a single parent. My mom worked several jobs to support us and I noticed her work effort. In turn, it rubbed off on me. I became interested and determined to do music at a very young age, so I spent most of my childhood in the studio, writing raps, and performing at local parties and events in Athens.

An honest life moment that I felt led me down the right path was in middle school and high school. I always had dreams of being signed to Gucci Mane and knew I

Athens Native, producer, rapper, and engineer

wanted to be a rapper/producer. My peers would make fun of me and tease me at school. No one really supported me or believed that I would make it to where I am now. I always believed in myself and knew I would go far so I never paid them any attention. It gave me motivation to work harder to achieve my dreams even more.

What have you learned about the Athens music scene after having so many connections to it? What do you think can be done to help artists?

One thing I’ve noticed about the Athens music scene is that there is so much great talent in our city, but there are many artists who do not have the knowledge, connections, or the platform to really share their music and expand themselves for growth career wise. I feel like Athens can be a very “crab in the bucket” city, meaning everyone views each other as competitors, as compared to cities like Atlanta where everyone supports everyone because they’re from the same city. If we could all come together to share our knowledge and resources, any aspiring artist or producer could benefit and be able to learn more to further their careers.

After the shootings of EBE Montana, Thumpa, and Ketorian Cooper. How do you organize with the commu nity to engage gun violence and the youth in Athens?

I think the problem with the shootings and tragedies that Athens has faced lies deeper than simply organizing events for the youth. Gun violence is something that Athens has been dealing with since I was a child and most of them happen in low-income housing complexes. I feel that it is up to us to change our behaviors and the things we do that lead up to these tragedies. There are many people who have been putting in efforts to reduce the amount of gun violence that we experience in Athens. These efforts become a waste when we do not change the conditions and poverty that leads to gun violence. It’s going to take the entire Athens community as a whole to want the change and actually work toward it.

Tell us some of the lifestyle changes you made that allowed you to be more productive. What do you recommend the youth do to be the most authentic versions of themselves?

BE YOURSELF! The best advice I could give to anyone is to simply be yourself. Chase your dream or goal without worrying about what anyone has to say or think. If I was worried about what other people had to say and think about me making music I would not be where I am today. Also, when you think your hard work isn’t paying off and you feel you’re at a standstill with your career, keep working harder. The finish line may be a lot closer than it seems.I continue to make beats on a regular basis and further myself as an artist. If anything, signing to the new 1017 gave me even more motivation and drive to continue to work hard and perfect my craft. The sky's the limit!

Jahmori "Jay-mo Dejon" Simmons

Tell us what led you to pursue a music career?

Being the son of two music educators and a musical family overall, I’ve always had an interest in music. I think the moment that I found my passion for music is when I was introduced to music production by my father, John Simmons III, when I was 6. Being a producer himself at the time, he would let me play around on his equipment. I guess after seeing me bang on the keyboard for hours at a time he noticed my interest and found a way of getting his hands on a DAW that I could install on my own computer. That demo version of FL Studio 7 was the start of my musical journey.

What interested you in wanting to play the harp?

I was first introduced to the harp in 4th grade after my mother, Marcy Simmons, enrolled me in a program called the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble. As a child, seeing other black kids my age playing an instrument as rare as the harp was fascinating and it inspired me to keep it going. That early investment by my mother is what later got me into college and led to so many other opportunities for me over the years.

How did you end up in Athens?

My mom was born and raised in Athens and my entire family on my mother’s side resides there. So, Athens is most definitely a second home to me. I’ve spent a good deal of my life with my grandparents, Rosa & James Thurmond, and I still do till this day. Coming out of high school there were two things that I wanted if I went to college. 1.) To stay in the state of Georgia and 2.) For music and the business of music to be the center of my focus. Eventually, all roads led me to UGA. Also, being in the same city as my family played a huge role in my decision.

How did it help you develop your own lane in the music industry?

Well, my music career started progressing not too long after I enrolled in college, and I must say, balancing being a student and trying to set foot in a SUPER competi tive industry as a professional was probably one of the most challenging tasks I’ve encountered. My first UK “hit” came my sophomore year of college. As you could imagine, the succeeding work that came from that record was a lot. I lost count of how many nights I didn’t sleep for days at a time working on different projects all while still trying to complete my assignments by that 11:59PM deadline. However, the opportunity in the struggle was that I was able to use a lot of the information I learned in my music business courses to help me make better business decisions in my endeavors and vice versa.

You’ve worked with a lot of artists across the world. What's been some of your favorite work?

One of the things that I am most proud of are the people that I have been blessed to work beside and the relationships that I’ve been able to build both in and outside of the States. The solid bond that I have with my team and

Platinum recording producer and songwriter

music colleagues is something I don’t take for granted at all. Together we’ve been a part of hundreds of releases, sold over 1 million copies, and have done over 200 millions streams and counting in the past 5 years. Couldn’t be more grateful for the things we’ve accomplished together.

Any sneak peaks on upcoming projects or features?

There’s a lot of BIG things in the pipeline. I can’t wait to officially share them with the world in 2022! There are definitely some deep cuts coming with that are going to blow you away.

What have you learned about Athens music scene after having so many personal and professional connections to it?

The thing that I love the most about Athens is the sense of community there. I think a lot of people that travel to Athens go to experience the big college atmosphere but tend to forget that Athens is really a small town. Growing up I always said, “It feels like everybody in Athens knows each other”. That feeling is what makes Athens unique to any other place that I’ve been to and it translates to the music scene. Every time I go to a local concert or event I see the same faces in the crowd, showing love to their community every time. That’s why Athens has a special place in my heart and always will.

What do you think can be done to help local artists?

As a child, my grandfather always told me stories about a man named Neal Pattman, who toured Europe with only one arm and a harmonica playing blues music. Pattman worked as an employee in the kitchens at The University of Georgia before his death. There have been some incredible rock acts that have come out of Athens; R.E.M., The B52’s, Widespread Panic, Of Montreal, the list goes on. Some of them have even been guest lecturers in a few classes. After hearing this over and over again, It became obvious that If you had the qualities that these rock bands had, you would in fact have a chance to make it out of Athens. However, as a student and a black man myself, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of history for the Athens natives that look like me. If it weren't for my grandfather, I would never know legends like Pattman even existed and just like him there are others. There’s always seemed to be an unspoken divide between rock music and all other cultures of music.

What got you involved at the Athens boys and girls club?

My grandmother brought me and my sister to the Boys & Girls Club when I was 13 years old. They had just built the recording studio in the teen center of the facility. I remember that being the highlight of my time there and my experience in that studio has been one of the things that has carried me into where I am now. As a college student, I was led to come back to the club as a volunteer for a time period and an employee. Being able to work with the kids for that time period was one of the best experiences I’ve had.

wix patton

Tell us how you got into music and the role Athens played. What was unique about the community here and how did it help you grow as an artist?

I always grew up having interest in all different kinds of music and writing. Playing instruments at a young age. For some reason I had always seen myself as an artist and was recording music, performing shows, and events since I was 13 years old. One night, I was a freshman in high school at the time one of my friends' older brothers ran down the stairs to the basement excited about this artist named “G Eazy” he discovered and played us his music video “Almost Famous”. It gave me a feeling inside I'd never felt where I was like yeah I could see myself doing this internally and it just gave me a new energy that I've felt to this day. Immediately after I remember vividly I told my friend “Collier” we should start rapping and after about thirty minutes I convinced him and we made a song to the beat “Pound Cake Freestyle”. We both continue to make music to this day and after that night I became obsessed from watching hours of tour vlogs, interviews, shows, and music videos that year I also filled two notebooks front to back and would walk around everyday listening to the music imagining myself performing G Eazy's songs.

Shortly after I fell deep into the art side of things. Finding the different ways of expression and how much of a blessing it can be to have a voice. Instrumentation that entices people to want to hear my message. Helping people through my transparency, relatability, and lessons I've learned trying to navigate life. Everyone on Earth has a major purpose and when you go through life using your talent to support your interests you find that. This is what peaked mine and on a deeper level it made me realize this was my opportunity to be like my father who is a preacher.

Athens played a big role in me learning how to net work and get myself out there in front of people. There is so much going on its a goldmine for any upcoming artists. There are so many diverse fans from the college kids in the UGA fanbase, the local Athens community, the underground hip hop culture, fraternities and sororities. Including a wide media base, thirty plus bars and venues, and an active downtown artists can test their sounds and learn from failure.

I learned how to build my relationships with the owners and promoters and with every opportunity I got I made sure to be good to people, be consistent, and not just leech for favors. In my time in Athens I gained the confidence of betting on myself and showed myself I was capable of. I created friendships there that led me to me being here now and I often wonder if I would have ever seriously pursued music to this extent if I had started anywhere else.

What did you do to separate your style and sound from everyone else? What have you been working on recently or plan to release in 2022?

I try to express what I'm feeling and thinking in that moment which is triggered by where the instrumentation takes me. I don't try to overstress it, learning my range early helped me learn what sounds best when I sing or say things in certain ways. The way I learned that was hearing myself a lot on the mic over time. I plan on releasing a song I began in 2019

titled "John Wix'' this year. A song I've performed unreleased over the past couple years to organically get the feel of its vibe and retouching it till it was where I wanted.

Its been over a year since you were signed to Atlanta Global Music/OOMP CAMP. What has happened to your music and career since joining them?

I've had the chance to share my story on FOX, NBC, ABC, and CBS on why I made the leap from college football at UGA to a dropout recording artist. I had my first single with the label “Move That” which played weekly on over 30 different radio stations across the country for over 4 months and its been streamed over three hundred thousand times. The song that created controversy for me “100 miles” hit over a million streams on Spotify. I had my first billboard go up in Atlanta and toured around the country with three of my own headlining tours and then a 3rd tour under Roscoe Dash as an opening set. I've also shared a stage with T-Pain, Hoodrich Pablo Juan, and will open for Big Boi at 404 Fest this year. I've also created a catalog with multi platinum producers and have one of the best in artist development, Tricky Stewart working with me. Overall my challenges created the foundation I needed to be able to step into my own identity.

In your opinion what makes the Athens music scene different from Atlanta’s? What would you like to see in Athens that could benefit other artists?

I think both provide premier music scenes, Atlanta is more hip hop and rand b dominated. Athens is more alter native, rock, country, and edm leaning. I think people would love to see more music festivals and bringing in all the local Athens artists along with two or three big acts. Opening doors for artists from all genres to collaborate.

Share your first live performance in Athens. What was it like performing your first tour like?

My first live show in Athens was at a fraternity called phi delt and it was super lit. Only problem was Riqque and I didn't know our lyrics like we thought we did and just didn't know how to engage the crowd that well, though it was one hundred people. A week later we played at "Shower Cap" hosted by SAE fraternity, the biggest spring party at UGA with thousands of people. It was a madhouse, they brought Riqque and I out to headline and we performed three songs and people were moshpitting. I looked to my left and saw my teammates Justin Fields, Deandre Baker, and Jon Ledbetter hyping me up.

I've been blessed to learn how to perform high energy shows. For touring I decided why post a flyer every other day for shows that no one wants to see over and over especially if the dates are irrelevant to their location and it makes me oversaturated. If I give time in advance and let people decide and plan when they can come, it was more efficient and drove hype and built a movement OVER TIME. I kept adding dates to the first tour and ended up with over 40 dates. I feel like you have to create momentum and build off that. By performing in Athens and Atlanta I was able to prepare for diverse audi ences around the country.

uga football player turned artist signed to oomp camp record label

Linqua Franqa

Share some experiences where you worked with other rappers to address issues in Athens.

In my time as commissioner, I’ve brought a lot of rappers with me into the political sphere. When I was organizing canvassing efforts for the runoff elections of now-Senators Ossoff and Warnock, many folks I knew from hip hop pulled up and put boots on the ground: Dope KNife, for example, as well as DJ Luke Highwalker. In fact, I arranged for KNife, Squalle and LG to open a rally for Ossoff on the steps of city hall just days before the election.

As well, several rappers like Wesdaruler, Squalle, Seline Haze, Travis Williams, Kid Arsenic, Caulfield have either spoken at protests I have organized, appeared in political education media I have produced, or come and spoken at the podium at City Hall in support for initiatives I've cham pioned, like preserving Hot Corner and the 50/10 plan.

Humbly, I admit that, despite a lot of the progress we have made on fare free transit, living wages, and racial equity in our economic development and contracting, a lot of the hip hop community's efforts to enact policy change have yet to bear fruit. Folks in power-- largely middle class, straight laced, older-- are still not listening to the truly least among us, the ones our government is currently failing. We don't value the input of the cats smoking blunts in their music videos, the kids who would rather freestyle in a base ment than go to class, and the many rappers I have known to be homeless at various points. We never approach their circumstances with curiosity and listen to them when they explain the conditions that created their circumstance. We never reach out to ask how we can transform the policies in this city that leave them at the bottom. Not to say our work so far has been a loss; in studying liberation move ments before us, like slavery abolition, the work of the Black Panthers and the Young Lords, the feminist and anti-war movements, I've come to see that the fruits of our struggle often take decades if not generations to become ripe.

So I continue to work with local rappers on advo cating for humane changes in our jails; funding community centers for the youth; and supporting young people in exit ing gangs and embracing non-violence. It’s still really in the organizing stage though, frankly -- what we’re lack ing in Athens is a mass movement of the marginalized to articulate policies that will actually support community transformation. And it’s no surprise, really. A lot of us are out here acting as Black CNN-- Seline Haze and Wesdaruler out here talking about mental health; KNife speaking on the rise of right-wing extremism; everybody reporting back from their dark corners on what's going on out here. Part of why I got into politics was studying the stories being told on the stages I shared with folks and thinking man, all of these issues-- the minimum wage, marijuana prohibition, lack of access to mental healthcare-- are all policy issues. We are a people skilled at articulating the prob lems but, because of our generations-long abandonment

rapper and former athens commissioner of district 2

by the state, we are less well versed in putting forward a new vision of how things can be. So prior to policy change we have to get out in the community and listen and try to understand the problems-- and generate their solutions-through a Black liberation lens, and encourage folks to use their platforms and community connections to build the continued movement we need to demand specific changes. I’m more proud of that work than any piece of policy I have passed, really. The policy might make the headlines, but organizing the community is what will make the lasting change.

What are you looking to discuss in your music?

I watched some of what’s been happening in France, where the working class regularly shuts the econ omy down through labor stoppages to fight pension cuts and tax hikes, so I rapped about the need for a general strike here in the States to demand rent and mortgage relief. I saw essential workers getting thrown completely under the bus to “save the economy” while billionaires got richer and richer, and read about how the labor movement won the 40 hour work week, weekends, and all these other rights that we take for granted, so I processed that knowl edge by writing a verse shouting out the cats working at Kroger, Starbucks, and Fedex, calling folks to join unions to fight for the wages and protections they deserve. And of course, as I angrily watched people like Nancy Pelosi kneel in Kente cloth to honor George Floyd and others, I penned bars decrying these kinds of performative gestures and centered calls for fundamental, transformative change that we really want. But it didn’t stop with simply processing and imagining what our resistance could look like, what our demands should be. I posted all these to TikTok and Instagram to educate and inspire others, too, and started conversations with people all over the country about how to enact these forms of resistance in their own contexts. A lot of this work became my recent album, Bellringer.

What are the pros and cons of being an elected official compared to a community organizer?

The range of tactics at one's disposal as a commu nity organizer are far broader than those of a local elected official. I've dabbled in them before: I've been on picket lines. I've blocked intersections. And these varied tactics also allow you to apply pressure at different points than are prescribed by a commissioner's role. For example, we as local elected officials currently can't, under state law, implement a higher minimum wage citywide. But if we as people start organizing workplace walk-offs and apply pressure directly to businesses with poverty wages until they pay up, the people can win battles that the local gover nment cannot. Rent control is illegal, but what if together we deeply inconvenienced the landlords jacking up rent? History is so full of maneuvers like these, and there's no better time than now to bring them back.

Ghosty

How did you get into music?

Athens Native, rapper, and songwriter

Music for me was a coping mechanism. I always loved music with big thanks to my pops and my cousin Quincy because they had me listening to hip hop my whole life, but I never wanted to be a rapper as a kid. I wanted to be a pro wrestler, but then I got older. I went through a lot when I left Athens too, not being able to see my family was the worse feeling as a little kid. Especially because I grew up with cousins I looked up to. It was hard for me going to a new place and having to adapt to complete strangers and how they live. I always got talked about in school for being myself, so I always fought in school. My life at home was pretty bad because of everything that went on there, my mom was in an abusive relationship so she would put that anger off on me most of the time. On top of that, she just didn’t understand me and the type of kid I was. My father and I barely saw each other, and then we would have issues that changed our whole relationship. I just couldn’t catch a break no matter where I turned. It wore me down mentally and physically. I went into this deep depression. I didn’t want anyone around me. The only thing I really could do was listen to music because it was literally all I had. Ye, Uzi, XXXTentacion, Future, and Migos were on repeat almost everyday.

On this journey with me is my brother, Kentrell. He told me I had to find a new way to cope, and he suggested music. We made a song that same day on GarageBand and it took us like nine hours because we had no clue what we were doing. After that, I took my ability to write and used it to talk about all the things that I went through. It’s been my way of venting ever since.

What crossroads have you had to face/consider in pursuing your goals?

There are so many. The main one has got to be identity. I started making music in the middle of trying to find out who I was as a person. I had to realize that all of the phases I went through were a part of who I am. I feel like who you are as a person is pivotal in creating music. It’s important to put real and raw emotions and experi ences in your music. Learning to stay true to myself and realize that what I’m doing won’t be liked by everyone. That was hard because nobody likes to hear that, but you end up realizing that somebody got something bad to say about everything so you just use it as fuel. There is no problem I can’t overcome though. This is my passion, I’m hungry. Every crossroad will be crossed. I’m guided and protected by God. I've learned you can’t let anything stand in the way of what you’re trying to do.

What part of Athens are you from and what was it like?

I'm from the east side, but I started out in Nelly B while I was still in diapers, and then moved to Athens Gardens when I was about three or four years old. I lived there until I was about seven. After that I moved away to

Columbus for a while and would come back to see my aunt Rashe Malcolm or grandfather Rick Dunn Sr.

Growing up in Athens was pretty fun for me, I enjoyed every moment. I saw and learned a lot. I always lived in the hood so my experiences were limited to that. I had my first fight in Athens Gardens, had my first bike stolen there as well, and I got to witness jealously and envy early on too because I was the only kid on the block not having to sell. I went to Whit Davis elementary and got straight A’s so I was educated and soft spoken, the other kids not so much. I wasn't able to fit in but it helped me get through so I am thankful. It was like the training wheel period of my life. Going to the west was cool because it’s a lot quieter over there but the same stuff happens, just not as much. Overall though, being born here and partially raised here is the reason I got that dog in me. I feel like Athens prepared me for what was to come in my later years.

What did you do to separate your style and sound from everyone else?

I’m not afraid to blend styles and sounds to make it one sound. I listen to such a wide variety of music, most times I can hear in my head what two styles would sound crazy together. I also keep everything raw and authen tic. Everything I rap about in my music, you can tell it’s really things I’ve been around and experienced. Those two things play into who I am as an artist. For instance, I can talk about my experiences in the hood without really making it a trap song. I can make a song about loving somebody lyrically but musically it sounds like I want to fight somebody. I could talk about the alphabet but make it seem like I’m reading a Harry Potter book to the listener. I’m different because nine times out of ten, you know what a song by a certain artist sounds like before you hear the song. With me, you never know what I’m on. I could be angry one track, and then lit and excited the next track, and then sad on the next track, or maybe you’ll get about four or five emotions on the same song. You just never know with me. I pride myself on making people guess, I love a mystery. So when people ask me what’s the new sounds sounding like and stuff I really can’t tell them because honestly, I never really know until I am in the booth.

What have you done recently and plan to do in 2022?

My plans for 2022 have been very simple. Create music, practice performing more, and film visuals of my story, so fans can see what it was like for me coming up. I’ve been crafting, listening, learning, and understanding. My second project Ghosty Season II is keeping me busy. I’ve been creating music that my generation can relate with and promote. Understanding that everybody doesn’t have a place in this game. I want my spot to have depth and substance to go with its production. Stay tuned.

James Smith

director of the voices of truth Choir

Where are you from and what got you into music?

I was born in Athens, Georgia on April 28, 1941 to the parents of Mr. Leroy and Mrs. Vallie Barnes Smith, Sr. Athens has been my home all of my life. I was for tunate to be a member of First A.M.E. Church where music was taught to young people as well as adults. My two sisters and two of my three brothers sang as well. In my High School ( Athens High & Industrial ) there music was taught and that is where I sang in the High School Chorus. As a student in Tuskegee Institute, I had the opportunity to sing in four different groups as well as being a member of the Tuskegee traveling Choir. I have been fortunate also to study piano with several musicians.

Tell us about the mission of the Voices of Truth?

How has it stood out from other music groups in Athens? How does the group stay connected during the pandemic?

With the talent we have in Athens, and the spirit that God has put in my heart, I thought it would be a great idea to start a Community Choir. With the excellent

The Rhythm... The Boogie, The Beat.

By: Troy Copeland

Sugar Hill Gang?

I was in the car with my sisters. They turned up the volume in the old LTD, making Dad’s country and gospel eighttrack cassettes rattle on the rear deck. And my sisters were laughing along with the seminal, tongue tying nonsense of the riddle-like, lyrical refrain that would lend its name to the culture it spawned. They chanted, “I said a hip hop the hippie to the hippie/To the hip hip hop and you don't stop/The rock it to the bang bang the boogie/Say up jump the boogie, dig the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.” People like to say that this was the beginning of the 20th Century’s last, most globally relevant cultural force. Lost on many is the fact that this movement started nearly a decade before the radio hit heralding its vast, eruptive potential. You heard about how it really started, right? And where? It was at a party of Black and Latino kids. Much like the vocal performances that would most characterize the movement itself, the legend spread word of mouth—street to street…block to block…borough to borough—from the epicenter of that one New York City, Bronx, back-to-school party. I wish I could’ve been there. I suppose, in a sense, we were all there in potential—in spirit. A whole planet of youth and youth-to-be crowded into that tiny rec room of the Sedgwick Avenue apartment complex. That was August 11, 1973. Cool Herc, a teenaged, Afro-Caribbean immigrant used two turntables to loop the percussion heavy, instrumental “break” or “break down” of a song spinning simultaneously on identical records. In so doing, one “break” called and responded to the other like an arguably archetypal motif in African American rhetoric. In so doing, he extended the “groove” that fueled and drove the dance. They say that the volume of the music was overwhelming…dominating, a veritable storm of sound engineered to imitate the grand stereo systems of the Carribean islands. Know what I mean? That sound was as much a crucial part of the culture as the widely touted break dancing, graffiti, MCing/rapping, scratching/mixing/ sampling, and social consciousness were to its essentially post-modern composition. Yet, whereas many of those foundational elements of Hip Hop were to develop and evolve in time, from the very beginning was the predomi nance of the beat—the body throbbing, temple pounding breaks.

Meanwhile, over the microphone, the genesis is the spoken word. Hype man MC Coke La Rock began extem poraneously rhyming over the calling and responding breaks. No singing, but chanting in “free styled,” flexiblemetered, couplets. But La Rock wasn’t in the room with the DJ, the ecstatic dancing, the turn tables and the speakers. Like Alec Banks said in the article “The Anatomy of the 1973 Party,” he was in the adjacent room like “The Master of Ceremonies meets The Wizard of Oz.” Let me elaborate. He was creating his image and identity with the imaginative performance of language. Know what I’m saying? His pres ence was entirely a matter of words and wording compared to which and through which the actual body was displaced on one hand and transformed on the other by a kind of fiction. Think about that. This is a party crammed into a rec room of an apartment complex by teenagers striving to avoid the stark and tragic realities of street violence with which hip hop would later grapple, comprehend, and express as fictions so profound, prolific, and “hard core” as to be considered “reality.” You with me? The “reality” of the gangsta rap to come—terrifyingly, hyperbolically violent and criminal as it was—was something that people could engage and accept…address and consider…cri tique and evaluate. It seems to presume that the horrors of poverty and the hatred and apathy that systemi cally sustained it could not be directly handled, not even if not especially by those most intimately impacted. In the words of Naughty By Nature’s lead rapper Trench, “If you’ve never been to the ghetto, don’t ever come to the ghetto, ‘cause you wouldn’t understand the ghetto. So, stay the f&*k out of the ghetto.” Thus, ends a classic track in the “Golden Age” of Hip Hop about the life of a stereotypical black male for whom “the ghetto” is home. Wherever we live, wherever we’re from, the listener has just experienced what he or she can of said “ghetto” in lyrics rapped over the music to Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” (“Don’t Woman, Don’t

Cry”) in which the refrain “Everything is gonna be alright” insists and promises survival of, if not redemption for, said ghetto.

You down? You feel me? As portrayed, the ghetto (and the presumed otherness it entails) that can be sur vived or redeemed both is and isn’t real. At once. It’s the psycho-social rather than the material experience. It’s Hip Hop.

See? Right there you’ve got a thematic element of the genre—the idea of performing absence and escape as a kind of fiction more meaningful than material reality.

On the other hand, that fiction also engages with material reality more constructively than what passes for, or can be understood as, non-fiction. For Coke La Rock and the performing MCs that he would inspire and engender, the fictional Black person—the Black person as character— stands in for whatever America (including Black America) can’t otherwise see, hear, or confront in itself. Whether as party music, ego trippin’, political activism, or the fantasti cally murderous, criminal narratives of gangsta rap, with Hip Hop, you’ve got a form of shared experiences each calling and responding to the other—fiction to non-fiction and back again—as a kind of “marking” as old African American rural vernacular puts it and Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates, Jr testifies. For “marking” is a kind of imitation of a thing that evokes and, somehow, possesses the thing’s essence while transforming (and, perhaps, transcending) it. In the exchange of fictional experience and whatever can be defined as lived experience, the performance creates and sustains the dynamic tension between the signifying and the signified. And that performance is more substantial by far—more legitimate, even—than either the subject or

the object that it binds. I wonder, though. Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the cradle of Hip Hop rocks in the impover ished communities of struggling immigrants—communities largely broken by the flight of suburban-bound, middle class families avoiding the plummeting property values of inarguably white supremacist real estate practices? Does it have something to do with the fact that said immigrants were prey to the obstinate, relatively stiff-necked refusal of policy makers to meaningfully or effectively address and avail the desperate hope of those abandoned by the very same urban manufacturing jobs for which they left every thing and risked everything to acquire? DJ Cool Herc’s family was Jamaican. And while Coke La Rock was born in the Bronx, his family originated in North Carolina. Too many people don’t think of the multiple waves of America’s Great Migrations--Blacks from the rural, agricultural South settling and seeding the urban, industrial North with their descendants and dreams— as deepest sense emigrations. Nor do they tend to characterize the relentless millions who composed and performed those migrations as deepest sense immigrants. But for the fact that they were of African descent and, therefore, thought to be inherently foreign to everything legitimately American or “White,” they were American, after all. However, where blues, jazz, and rockn-roll were children of the rural South carried afar by Black immigrants, Hip Hop was born in New York City. Look at it this way—bebop jazz was the highly com plex, urban and Northern interpretation of migrant Southern culture. Like Hip Hop, it was also uniquely “Black” in the sense that “Dizzy” Gillespie and “Bird” Parker and others understood that what they were performing was a char

acterization of race in response to the ways differences had been racialized. All art and its artists interpret and portray experience as critical realities. But Hip Hop voiced the Northern (and then the Western) frontier of the Black South—the vanguard of flight from and resistance to white supremacy. As such, it performed a kind of meaningful distance from the past and all that represents it.

It’s why even among avid fans of the genre, there can seem to be relatively little knowledge or esteem for “old school” rappers or the “old school” form. While that doesn’t apply to the art of “sampling”—borrowing and looping measures of older songs (from varying genres) for “the beat” over which MCs rap—even that is a form of what the eminent T.S. Eliot once called “contemporane ity.” That is to say that the artist uses the past only in so much as it can be expressive of the present. Back near the beginning, in the midst of the era we now call “old school,” we were perpetually starved for whatever was new, remember? The term “fresh” acknowledged it. If a track was “fresh” it was not only good, it was relatively new. In the rural South, we heard the mixed tapes made by DJs with connections to DJs with connections to the streets of The Bronx and Brooklyn. You remember? This was back when we heard very little rap on radio stations—back when you were lucky to find Hip Hop albums or cassettes in what used to be music stores. You heard it when the drug dealers blasted it in the expensive component sets at their house parties—you could hear it while sitting in your own house if your parents didn’t drown it out with conversa tion or the televisions. The stuff you heard from down the street whenever you were outside playing with toy trucks or action figures or hiding and seeking or kickballing or footballing or basketballing. That’s where we first heard Afrika Bambaatta and the Soul Sonic Force. “Planet Rock” sounded like a starship blasting laser cannons, descend ing the bright summer sky. That’s where we first heard Newcleus, too. Cosmo D veritably drags Superman in a rap battle in which he declares himself, like the Kryptonian, an alien, “I’m Cosmo D from outer space! And I came to rock the human race.” Futurism was a critical element of the genre. Much like the mythology of funk whose musi cal breaks later DJs were to sample and MCs were to rap over, Hip Hop anticipated a kind of unearthly space age into which Black youth could project the humanity of Black life and art. Partly because of all that, contemporary young Hip Hop fans don’t revere pre-Tupac and Biggie Smalls the way that youthful fans of rock once evaluated the authenticity of their fandom by how conversant they were about rock’s earliest artists.

Along with that general aversion to the past—its own past, not to mention the history of popular culture— the Modernist/Post-Modernist sentiment of Hip Hop, in time, resisted the South. And that element of the genre demanded reckoning. It’s what the brilliant Andre 3000 of Atlanta’s Grammy winning duo Outkast outspokenly condemned at the ‘95 Source Awards while being booed for winning the magazine’s honor for Best New Group. Remember that? Hip Hop had become mainstream—not yet the very definition of pop culture, but well on its way. The white kids were listening, now. Nearly 70% of sales

were to the predominantly white suburbs in a nation that is only 13% Black.

“The South has got something to say,” Andre 3000 proclaimed. You might say he prophesied. And from New York to L.A. to Atlanta, the genre would find its counterclockwise way “back to the future”—back to the fertile loam of African American origins. In what was being called a “New South,” it finally achieved a kind of transracial quality that was also, “always already” ines capably Black. For also inherent to the form—something that is perhaps undeniably Northern in the sense that I’ve discussed it here but remains something Southern blacks must have known all along—is the ongoing notion that there is simply nowhere else to go—no escape from the attempt to escape…no material alternative—however rich or educated—to the psycho-social-historical structures of white supremacy pervading all of the United States. So, what has remained most emphatically “Black” about hip hop despite its now global reception and besides the vigor of its ongoing resistance to levels of appropriation that so ravaged jazz and rock as to nearly utterly obscure their African American roots, is that sense of otherness—that commitment to characterizing the complex significances of alternative and competing realities that always mark the experience of meaningful difference. You know what I mean? And that’s even, if not especially, when one’s perception of and esteem for his/her own difference or uniqueness seems fully embraced by the world. So, perhaps that’s what Southern Hip Hop has to say. The South is where Hip Hop implicitly grows up, maybe. It’s where the genre reimagines the role of the rapper/artist. Know what I mean? Going back to what I said about signifying and marking and calling and respond ing, it’s where the genre signifies on itself, marks itself, responds to itself. To the degree that I’m right, where once the object—the signified…the marked—was “reality,” in the Southern iteration, it’s now Hip Hop. And with that comes the deepening and complicating characterization of the fictional Black person and the concept of racialized otherness, difference, and repressed potential (“Black ness”) common to all of humanity. As such, it just might be fully realized as the unintegrated, preconscious shadow of the American heritage. Perhaps the rapper/artist has always, both implicitly and explicitly, signified that like no other type of entertainer in all of American history. If so, that part must better acknowledge the responsibility for the degrees to which it has been embraced and performed by a world that both loves and fears all things either Black or American. Then maybe that world can better understand the fact that it can never be whole or complete without accepting the depths to which it has racialized, repressed, and marginalized its unconscious potential for being most alive, most present…most entirely human.

As Chuck D of Public Enemy—the self-proclaimed Black Panthers of Hip Hop—famously rapped, “The music’s hittin’ you hard because I know you’ve got soul, brothers and sisters.”

Ya dig? You’ve got “soul,” he says. Not “souls.” One soul, one world, one rhythm, one boogie, one beat.

the sounds of athens: by Kennae Hunter

If one were asked their opinion on Athens, the answer will be different depending on who is asked, whether that be an Athens native or a college student. One undeniable, universally acknowledged factor is that Athens’ music scene is not only unique, but the connector throughout a town with so much cultural diversity.

“When you are at a party, nobody is there to judge you,” Burgess said. “Everybody is there to have a good time, vibe, do whatever they do and listen to good music. As a dj, I just want to bring the music. It kind of just feels natural to me when I am up there djing”

Athens has birthed artists that have not only reached the industry and signed record deals, but has so much other talent that is up and coming. Inspired by each other’s success, there are so many people in Athens breaking into the music industry with a handful being young teenagers. It starts right here at home.

With different famous talents being native to Athens, it is an inspiration for those who are dreaming of being in the field to take that leap of faith to start putting the work in to accomplish those goals.

“If you see someone so close to you make it, you think you can do it too,” sixteen year old rapper of East Athens Darius Thorton said.

Cemaya Stone is a fourteen year old aspiring music producer from Athens. When asked about how she was influenced to do so, this is what she had to say.

“'I always had a thing for music,” Stone said. “First, it started out with dancing, then learning the lyrics to every song. It kind of came easy to me. Then, I hit middle school classes and music technology was one of those classes and it just took me in from there. Beats-wise I would say it was one of my teachers Mr. Stegall.”

The Downtown Athens party scene is a space invites thousands. Whether it is a student looking for some fun or a Athens native looking to grab a quick drink, there is an automatic draw to the Downtown scene that everyone in the city will experience once no matter the reason they are in Athens.

“I would be at parties and people asking me to hop on the aux,” Burgess said. “Then I go to college and I start going to clubs and I see the dj booth. Somehow, some way I always end up in the dj booth.”

Matthew Burgess, better known as DJ Sublime, consistently works at Cloud on Saturdays. Although he is

an Athens native, this experience allows him to entertain not only natives, but the college students as well.

“When I go into Cloud it feels like home because I have known the bartenders there for a while from when I was just going out and partying there myself,” Burgess said. “Like you said, it’s local citizens there, so people I Grew up going to high school with and then it’s like the students. The students always bring a different vibe. It’s hard to explain, but it is different how they react to the music. It feels a lot more free because they're just being students, being kids and just out to have fun.”

UGA sophomore Kweisi Borland, has been attending the school for a year and a half. Although he does not have many friends that are local to the city, he still finds his way out to bond with them over music and the different events around town. He has friends in a band that introduced him to-

“The Downtown scene is kind of unmatched with all the activities and all the stuff that they have going on,” UGA sophomore Kweisi Borland said. “Also the fact that everything is within walking distance. When I came up here my freshman year I didn’t have a car, but my parents weren't too worried about it because anywhere I needed to go I could just walk anywhere around campus and it's like a 20 minute walk anywhere off campus downtown”

Athens and UGA are often separated. The experience the college students would express they had in Athens would most likely be different from that attested by an Athens native. Mostly, this has to do with the convenience of everything needed from students being around the campus in the Downtown area.

It has been often acknowledged that the local music in Athens contains some negativity surrounding personal beef. Some of this prohibits the artist from gaining full local support and gaining the ability to progress forward.

“If the music scene was more professional and got out and you know, market themselves,” Burgess said. “If a lot of them got out and did shows because a lot of them just make music videos. If they got out and did shows and got out and did the groundwork instead of just staying in social media, Athens and UGA could merge with the hip-hop stuff”

There is a lot of musical talent in the city with the opportunity to reach a diverse audience. As previously mentioned, with the right city connection, there is potential for a lot of artists to reach the stardom they seek.

STEM Workforce development excursions

Get Stemulated LLC is a comprehensive STEM educational program with workshops designed to engage students. Founder Monique Sanders, who has a background in bioengineering, started the orga nization to provide students with a hands-on approach to the opportunities available in STEM. Their summer long tour gave students a behind the scenes look of IFLY Atlanta Delta Flight Museum, Mercedes Benz Stadium Steam Tour, W&A Engineering, Athens Municipal Court, and The Georgia State Capitol Museum. Getting the chance to talk with W&A CEO Jon Williams and Athens Court Judge Ryan Hope on how STEM applies to their careers. For more info on programs go to https://www.getstemulated.com/

Sounding Board panel music session

The Sounding Board Panel is a community of creatives that host talented artists seeking professional opinions on how to improve. They also provide a framework of Athens' music scene and possible ways to elevate beyond the Classic City. The performance line up for their most recent panel were Ghosty, Kive, and JBake. Honorable attendees were Ishues, Elite Ellison, Cassie Chantel, Squalle, Kaliko, Sam Lipkin, Andrew Shearer, Rashe Malcolm, Montu Miller and Dr. Darren Rhym.

Photos by: JaiKal Photos

Chess and Community Summer tour

Chess and Community programs develop youth through community engagement and civic empowerment. Their Pawn Accelerator program this summer consisted of community-centered robotics, coding, and, of course, chess. The students toured the University of Georgia's Innovation Lab where engineering students study vir tual reality and CAD design. While being exposed to advanced technology, students got a taste of what it's like preparing for the future workforce. For more information, go to www.chessandcommunity.org/pawn-accelerator

Sheriff's Office back to school event

Before the beginning of the school semester. The CCSO held their second annual back to school haircuts and supplies giveaway. They hosted nine barbers/styl ists that provided seventy three haircuts and provided more than one hundred book bags with supplies to students. Local businesses Athens Orthopedic Clinic, Grahl Construction, LLC , Landmark Properties and Wiltshire Defense sponsored the event. Hats off to Sheriff John Q. Williams for continuing the offices tra dition of keeping the sheriffs in the community. For more programs go to www.accgov.com/1267/Com munity-Programs

music services Directory

Highlight Magazine intends to add depth to the representation of other minority artist in Athens. This list is of creatives and vendors organize the current music scene. Search their handles on social media and offer support/feedback on their latest projects. For more go to www.highlightathensga.com.

Name Service/Industry Location Contact

Baby Osama Rapper Athens, Ga @1babyosama

BirdDaGreat Rapper Atlanta/Athens, Ga. @birddagreattv__ Bridget David Publicist/Public Relations Atlanta/Athens, Ga. thebdavidagency.com Crestgang Whoo Rapper Athens, Ga. @Crestgang_whoo

Crowning Tier Group

Accounting Services Athens, Ga. (706) 461 - 7746

Dare Public Relations Media Relations Atlanta/Athens, Ga. thedareagencypr.com

DJ Sublime Event DJ Athens, Ga. subzero.prod@yahoo.com

DJ PJ Event DJ Athens, Ga. (706) 247 - 1346

DJ Kountry Boy Event DJ Athens, Ga. @djkountryboy

EA Beezo Rapper Athens, Ga. @eabeezo Foogiano Rapper Atlanta, Ga @Foogiano

Gansiry Mireya Braids

Hair & Beauty Athens, Ga. (706) 540 - 4432

Glizzy Shot This Videography Athens, Ga. @glizzy.shot.this Grizzly Delivery Transportation Services Athens, Ga. (706) 352 - 3638

Harp Szn Harp Cover Videography Athens, Ga. harpszn.com

Jo Fickey Musician Athens, Ga. @Jofickey_4life Kive Rapper Athens, Ga. @kive49z

KPthewolf Musician Atlanta/Athens, Ga. @kpthewolf Kxng Blanco Rapper Athens, Ga. @Kxngblanco

Lil Darius Rapper Athens, Ga. @lildarius

MEU Radio Internet Radio Athens, Ga meuradioathens.com

Partyz R Us of Athens

Party Supplies / Rentals Athens, Ga. (706)461 6159

Cleaning Services Athens, Ga. (706) 248 - 4601 Michelle K. Pearson T. - Edward Jones Financial Advisor Athens, Ga (706) 543-7952

Peachy Green Clean Co-op

Petro Rapper Athens, Ga. @bossmanpetro Photos By Bryson Photography Athens, Ga. @photosby.bryson

Pops Socks LLC Clothing Brand Athens, Ga www.popssocks.com Rashe's Cuisine Catering Services Athens, Ga. rashecuisine.com

RL Carson Jr. & Associates Photography / Videography / Marketing Atlanta/Athens, Ga. (770) 744-6403

Seline Haze Artist/Rapper Athens, Ga. selinehaze.com

Shai Directs Videography Atlanta/Athens, Ga. shaioriginalfilms.com

Simba The Ripper Artists/Engineer/Videographer Athens, Ga. @simba_the_ripper

Top Dawg Beard Essentials Natural Oils Athens, Ga. topdawgbeards.com

Trend'Setta Kutz Mobile Barber Athens, Ga. (706) 207 - 1519

Troy Copeland Copy Editing / Writing Athens, Ga. troyofathens36@gmail.com

Upscale Services Construction Company Athens, Ga. (706) 621-1900

Val's Daughter Southern Meal Prep/Catering Athens, Ga (404) 661 - 6108

51 Bally Musician Atlanta/Athens, Ga. @51Bally 706Dee Rapper Athens, Ga @deaundraa__

WUGA is the Athens, GA NPR affiliate housed on the campus of the University of Georgia. Our mission is to make a difference in quality of life by delivering programs that inspire curiosity about engagement in the world, the arts, and the human condition. Just before 6:00 am on the morning of August 28th, 1987, WUGA-FM signed on for our first day of broadcasting. For 35 years, many members of the Athens community have worked to provide local news and entertainment. But the most important member of the WUGA family is you, the listener.