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11/27: Hot 107.9’s Dirty Awards & Peachtree TV’s Drumroll
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I wrote an advance piece on Dallas Austin’s new reality show on Peachtree TV “Drumroll: SWD”, which documents the life and times of the Southwest DeKalb High School Marching Panthers, considered one of the best marching bands in the country. The show is Peachtree TV’s first original series.
The series is only being aired over four one-hour episodes, a relatively modest bet. It’s an offshoot of Austin’s successful 2002 film “Drumline,” except this time it’s a reality show and focused on a high school instead of a fictional college. The most interesting aspect about the show is that DeKalb schools had final edit on the show, meaning anything that might hurt the image of the school was cut out.
Austin himself said he wanted a positive portrayal of the kids, most whom are under age, so he was sensitive to that self censoring himself, cutting out bad language, references to sex or drugs or anything along those lines. The focus is on the band, the intense rehearsals, the dedication the students have to uphold a long tradition. Does this mean a less-than-scintillating show? I’ve only seen the first hour so I can’t say that would be the case for all four hours but that first hour features a lot of background and a relative lack of enticing story lines or character development.
And since our hip-hop specialist Sonia Murray is on vacation this week, I stopped by the third annual Dirty Awards organized by Hot 107.9. It’s a great concept, a wonderful way for Hot to brand itself as the mecca for Dirty South hip hop. The ballroom, which fits at least 2,000 people, was packed and the production values high. Among the stars there included Big Boi, Soulja Boy, Young Joc, DJ Unk, Chamillionaire and Young Jeezy. Hip hop has had troubles with sales of late and Hot’s ratings have been weaker than normal but the station is still a solid No. 2 among 18 to 34 year olds behind V-103.
The winners included T.I. as Dirty Boy of the Year, who obviously could not be in attendance because of his arrest on weapons possession.
Dirty single of the year: T-Pain’s “Buy U a Drank.”
Best dance song: “Crank Dat.” by Soulja Boy
Best R&B male: T-Pain ’ Dirty Chick of the Year: Ciara (not in attendance, unfortunately)
Best rap group: UGK
Best DJ: DJ Khaled
I did like the fact the station acknowledged bootlegging by citing best bootlegged CD of the year: Young Jeezy’s “CTE.”
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