DEL.ICIO.USHip-hop, rap, R&B are a huge part of the ATL scene
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, February 16, 2008
They may not be household names to some AJC readers, but Atlantans Akon, T-Pain and DJ Toomp are making their mark on the Billboard music charts and in this year’s Grammy nominations. Ask your teenager. Chances are they have an Akon or T-Pain tune on their iPods.
Akon was last year’s Billboard pop artist of the year. Grammy winner T-Pain’s “Low,” a collaboration with Flo Rida, is currently No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and rap charts. And producer DJ Toomp won a Grammy on Sunday for “Good Life,” a song he produced for Kanye West.
Sunday’s Living section featured a map showing the towns of 49 of metro Atlanta’s artists, including several nominated for Grammys. From Alpharetta to Fayetteville, the list includes jazz, Christian, country and rock artists but is dominated by R&B and hip-hop names. From icons such as Janet Jackson and Usher, to up-and-comers like Ne-Yo and Keyshia Cole, Atlanta has earned its “Motown of the South” nickname. Atlantans figure prominently in the multibillion-dollar R&B and hip-hop industries, with their own clothing and fragrance brands, businesses, recording studios and chart-topping music.
For 15 years, AJC music writer Sonia Murray has covered Atlanta’s hip-hop and R&B hit makers, as well as artists in other genres.
“People are fascinated with celebrities,” said Murray, who traveled to Los Angeles to cover the local folks in the spotlight of Sunday’s Grammy Awards. “That has always been the case. They want to know who shows up, who they show up with, what they ate, drank and wore.”
Backstage in the press room, Murray saw very little of the 3 1/2-hour show. Her job — a tough gig, I’m sure — was to attend parties and other events. She filed stories for the print edition and blogged for ajc.com.
With the newspaper’s emphasis on local news, reporters aren’t often sent to events that can be covered by wire services. But because of Murray’s access, and the large number of local nominees, she was tapped to go.
The highlight of Murray’s trip? Scoring an invitation to an intimate luncheon of music executives honoring Berry Gordy and Jimmy Jam Lewis.
What surprises her each year about the awards are “the really poor choices” made by members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
“I don’t know that ‘Rehab’ [by Amy Winehouse] should have been record and song of the year,” she said. NARAS members seem to go with the familiar rather than the deserving, she added.
Murray finds it funny that so many people lump R&B and rap artists into one category. What distinguishes R&B artists is their soulful style of singing. R&B is often a label attached to African-American artists, while Justin Timberlake — as pure a soul singer as there is — is considered a pop star.
As for hip-hop, Murray said, “It is a culture that includes rap, dance, a style of dress. It is extremely popular.”
And often controversial. Murray has written about the criticism some rappers face for the violence and misogyny in their lyrics. That criticism is a legitimate topic for the AJC to explore.
Murray has written about T.I.’s arrest on gun charges last year, and about the shooting death of T.I.’s best friend, Philant Johnson, in 2006. She’s also written about the negative influence of gangsta rap.
“We incorporate different voices in our coverage of music trends,” she said. “We have a relationship with Michael Eric Dyson, Nelson George and Cornel West, who are aware [of the issues surrounding hip-hop] and who can speak critically. We try to accurately depict what people are talking about. We also cover films and books that look at the culture.”
V-103’s Ryan Cameron is a fan of Murray’s work. “Sonia presents a knowledge of the industry and is very relevant, without sugarcoating. Her observations of the scene around the artist she is interviewing are always on point,” he said.
Murray often takes heat from readers who ask why she writes so much about black people, and more specifically, R&B and hip-hop artists.
I get the same kind of e-mails from people who aren’t interested in the topic. But I don’t buy the argument that the AJC places too much emphasis on these music genres. R&B and hip-hop are as much a part of Atlanta as traffic and sweet tea.
Just like Elvis Presley, who was controversial in his day, these artists — for better or worse — are influencing a generation.
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