PATIENTLY WA ITING
Hoodlum K
iwanne “K-Dub” Rivers, Robert “Phamous” Jewell, Cydel “Prynce” Young, Deven “Era” Smith and Melvin “Info” Mackgatlin, the five early twenty-somethings that make up Hoodlum, are sitting inside a medium-sized office at Sho’Nuff. They’re supposed to be talking about their debut album, …late 1900s, due out on Sho’Nuff/Def Jam early next year. Instead, Era is remembering a time that McGruff the Crime Dog came to his elementary school to give a speech. “Once he left, we all went back to class but I ended up going to the restroom,” he recalls deliberately, his eyes faraway. “I saw him outside with his costume hat off, smoking a cigarette and I just watched. I went home and asked my mom, ‘Now how can he tell me not to do this?’ It’s the same thing with us. I’m not gonna tell you to do nothing that I wouldn’t do.” And therein lies the concept behind Hoodlum. With the on-wax chemistry of Nappy Roots, raw intelligence of Goodie MOB and 10-Point perspective of the Black Panthers, Hoodlum isn’t your proto-typical Atlanta-based group. “We talk about the other side of the game,” Cy explains in his raspy voice, adding that they don’t just brag about getting money and selling keys. “We talk about niggaz in the penitentiary doing 25 for that, niggas getting out that been in the hole for 20 years that don’t even know how to work a TV.” Songs like “The Package” where each verse personifies a different issue — AIDS, weed and weapons of mass destruction - and “Mr. No Face” which
Atlanta, GA
talks about a faceless junkie, father and victim of the prison system, further reiterate Hoodlum’s desire to break from cookie-cutter mold that’s become standard. “If we wanted to be super hard, we’d call ourselves thugs,” Info says. “A hoodlum is clean cut, well-mannered. Thugs die young — hoodlums are in the neighborhood. Steal from the rich, give to the poor. That’s what we on.” While it’s clear that Hoodlum is definitely on a mission, the truth is that they still have to play industry politics. “We’re not getting the Jody Breeze treatment,” K-Dub states stoically, referring to their labelmate who after three years of being signed has yet to drop his once-anticipated debut. Even still, they’re prepared to revert back to releasing mixtapes should politics rear its head, like 2006’s indie outing, Hard Labor with DJ Scream. “We ain’t tryin’ to be one of them groups that pop up and be gone after they first single,” Cy surmises. “Niggas is cool with show money, but we ain’t cool with show money. We got the type of records where if we put them out, George Bush gonna be callin’. That’s how real we speak on it.” // myspace.com/hoodlumatl Words by Jacinta Howard // Photo by Derek Blanks
OZONE MAG // 69