The A3C festival was a wild place. At the confluence of hip hop, weed, alcohol, speakers, men, women, clothes, chains, rims, more weed, more alcohol, and great food… music happened. Artists from all across the globe came to Atlanta to participate. Behind the scenes, something else was happening: Live recording.
Stankonia Studios is where Big Boi and Andre 3000 made all their Outkast albums. Last week, SMKA (shoutout to Mike and Blake) and Royal Flush invited me to come listen to an album and drink with them. There are three ways to my heart: Beer, cornbread, and music. This proposition qualified on two of three counts.
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This wasn't just any album though. Grooveshark put on around 18 different artists into an exclusive mixtape. It was all recorded at Stankonia Studios over the duration of A3C, and it shows. Everything was original, with artists who had never met – collaborating and making hip hop together. It was as if someone said, "Let's get the best of underground hip hop, put them in the mecca of Atlanta hip hop, and see what happens."
What happened was varied, heavily blended, and interesting. You have harsh styles meeting silky smooth Dungeon Family style beats. Then the next song will be soft beats, understated jazz samples and biting flows and hooks. It's one of those strange ideas that shouldn't work, but actually works well.
You can stream the entire Stankonia Sessions EP on Grooveshark - or grab it on iTunes or Amazon. Whatever makes you happy. Either way, it's definitely worth grabbing if you're a fan of Killer Mike, Freeway, Ying Yang Twins, Aleon Craft, Fashawn, Kid Daytona, Termanology, Jarren Benton, 9th Wonder, Phil Ade, Thuz, Dee-1, Rapsody, Jon Connor, Joe Scudda, Rapper Big Pooh, Big Remo and Young Scolla.
My personal favorite? "No Lies In The Verses"… it's hard. Real damn hard. When the song first began playing during the listening session, I remember thinking, "Oh damn." I was sitting on a massive swing in the back of the lounge (there's a full bar inside Stankonia Studios) and Big Boi walked in the room. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised (since it's his studio), but I could tell he was feeling the song too. He started bobbing his head for a moment, then he ducked out into his office. Part of this article was supposed to be me interviewing Big Boi, but I failed miserably. A rapper (who will not be named) got me so high I started proposing a plan to explore the limits of folk music with crunk. The idea was supposed to be like Mumford & Sons mixed with Ying Yang Twins. We called it Folkrunk. Then we started loudly yelling, "Banjo bass! BANJOOOO!BASSSSS!"
In summation, all the people that worked on this are phenomenal artists, and even cooler people. Hip hop is an idea bigger than just the music – and this concept was only solidified last Thursday night.
Email me: Shane@Earmilk.com
Follow @IamShaneMorris
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