By: Jdagr8

Houston rapper Jdagr8 is Houston’s next big star. His raw talent and hustle like mentality, has propelled his career to new heights. Having worked with one of music’s biggest stars NBA Youngboy, he already has a hit record and plans to continue this momentum. But the one thing that separates him from the rest of the pack, is his community work as a public figure. No matter where he goes, and how much money he makes, he always bring the city of Houston with him.

I had the pleasure of catching up with the emcee for a candid interview. As he discusses working with NBA Youngboy, giving back and putting on for his city, it is clear that he was born a star. Check it out below.

Respect: What does it feel like being a hometown hero in Houston?

Jdagr8: I never really thought about it. But most heroes never look at themselves as heroes. I like to give back especially because I come from scraps. Growing up my mom had a bunch of kids at a young age so I never really got what I want. So when I give back to my community and kids I try to give them the opportunities I never had. I see myself in kids. It truly is a blessing to be able to give back to my community.

Respect: How did the record with NBA Young Boy come about?

Jdagr8: We recorded it a year ago from today. We did a concert right when he was going through a lot of heat in the press. I actually opened up for him. But it was my concert. I had a promo company to book artists and we would chop it up with the artists and then usually record music together. We booked him for a show and organically start talking. I sent him over the “Can I Trust You” record and he recorded his verse immediately. I felt like I wrote that for him so it was a perfect fit.

Respect: Why is it important for you to give back to your community?

Jdagr8: It is important because of the effort it takes for us to make money and sustain it once we get it. I did not have to work too hard for the money I have so it was only the natural thing to do. That is the way universe works. You have to give back in order to keep receiving blessings. My mentor told me to treat everyone like they are somebody. It forced me to give versus acting like I am better than people. I see everyone as an equal.

Respect: Describe the experience in working with Paul Wall and & Johnny Dang & Co?

Jdagr8: It was organic. A lot of people in the greater Houston area do not get enough press for the community work that they do. Paul Wall and Slim Thug give back so much. I kind of followed in their footsteps. It truly was an honor and being that I am kind of new artist in Houston, it was dope for us to come together. It was actually my event. I reached out to Paul Wall and he got on board right away. It felt natural working with him. He and Slim Thug both donated 200 backpacks. He assured me that if I ever needed anything including music, that all I had to do was reach out and it would be handled. Special shout out to Johnny Dang & Co.

Respect: What are you currently working on?

Jdagr8: I am currently working on some new music. My “Can I Trust You” song is on my 50 track project titled Till We All Rich. This is my breakout album. So many people said my album is too long, and that I would ruin my career before I started it. But I wanted to do it because it had never been done. Chris brown inspired me, when he dropped his 46 song project out of nowhere. I was going to do 42, I seen he had 46 and that’s how I got to 50. I had to out do him.

Respect: If you could work with any artist in the world who would it be?

Jdagr8: Meek Mill hands down because we have the same story. He got in all that trouble the same way I did. We literally have the exact same story bar for bar. I just did more time than him. He is like a brother.

His independent indie label and album namesake Till We All Rich, are two reasons why he will leave a lasting impact on the music business. Press play below to stream Jdagr8’s “Can I Trust You” single featuring NBA Youngboy.

The post Jdagr8 Talks NBA Youngboy, Giving Back and Being Houston’s Finest appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

One way was to suppport Black financial institutions and businesses. The united rappers and entertainers individually opened accounts at Unity Bank, the only black-owned bank in the state of Texas located in Houston’s Third Ward area. Houston’s big names such as Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Lil Ke Ke, Willie D and many more all participated in this cautious action.

“We don’t want to wait until there are riots in the streets ’til we do this,” said White rapper and business owner Paul Wall. “Let’s do this now. Let’s be proactive about it.”

Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner knows how impactful the actions of a united celebrity driven group could be on the people. As a result, he intensively listened to the artists’ concerns, including the urgent call for more economic opportunity and the controversial request for cops to racially reflect the communities of color they patrol.

“There a lot of people in our city that have lost hope,” Mayor Turner said. “And people are feeling helpless. People in many ways are feeling disrespected, and these individuals here- these artists- they have collectively more power than I do.”

The rappers plan on using their influence heavily. Putting money in Black-owed bank was a move inspired by Atlanta activist and hip-hop star Killer Mike after he was responsible for Citizens Trust, a black-owned bank in Atlanta, gaining more than 8,000 members, including ATL rapper T.I,Usher and Jermaine Dupri after he urged them to open up accounts.  Houston native, singer and record company owner Solange Knowles also has her money in a Black-owned bank.

That’s just the first step in the making change. Not only is the goal of the unified Houston emcees goal to end racial injustices, police brutality, and violence but to also educate people on the what the movement is about.

At the meeting, Houston hip-hop legend Willie D said this group’s mission is to “create an atmosphere of respect instead of discontent with our law enforcement. You know, it’s very important that people understand that when we say Black Lives matter, we’re not saying that Blue Lives do not matter.”

Pictures from the meeting:

#UDIGG

A photo posted by TIP (@troubleman31) on Jul 20, 2016 at 5:47am PDT

While some folks complaining about rappers My Bros in H Town #bankblackbanksmallbanklocal! Salutes Slim Thug, Trea, Willie D and all the H Town Leaders that are leading! What rappers and Town are next!!!

A photo posted by Killer Mike (@killermike) on Jul 19, 2016 at 7:37pm PDT

Suggsted articles:
#BlackLivesMatter: Golden Age – “What’s A Black Life Worth?”
Melania Trump Accused of Plagiarizing an Old Michelle Obama Speech

The post Houston Rappers Unite To Pledge Allegiance To Black-Owned Businesses appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

90’s revivalist hip-hop is often trite and contrived, consisting of rappers desperate for creativity who paraphrase freshness from the past without offering anything new.  Gangsta Boo and Beatking’s new mixtape Underground Cassette Tape Music is a glaring exception. It incorporates elements from Gangsta Boo’s past verses with Three 6 Mafia, while simultaneously offering fresh perspective relative to our generation of Southern trap music. It’s a genuine incarnation of the Dirty South. Beatking said in a recent interview with Noisey that “Underground Cassette Tape Music sounds like some shit you’d be jammin’ from Swishahouse in 1999, from Screw in 1999, or if you was jammin’ DJ Paul and Lord Infamous’ Come to Hell with Me II in 1995.” Beatking and Gansta Boo enhance the tape with features from artists such as Danny Brown, OJ da Juiceman, Paul Wall, Daz Dillinger and Lil’ Flip. This is a fantastic tape. Beatking perfectly surmised the style of it when he said “[his beats on this record] let you know what trap music would sound like before it was called trap and was just hard music.”

Listen and download the mixtape via the link below.

http://www.livemixtapes.com/download/29769/gangsta-boo-beatking-underground-cassette-tape-music.html

The post New Music: Gangsta Boo & Beatking drop – “Underground Cassette Tape Music” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Juan Gonzalez is all about HUSTLE. About GRIND. He warrants all caps, not only because that’s the way that he signs most of his emails, but because of the bold and brash way that Juan builds his brand and makes his capital. Mr. Gonzalez is the founder of Urban City Originals, a hard-as-nails, street-culture-inspired, God-fearing chain of hip-hop clothing stores in Texas. If those descriptions sound contradictory, that’s quite alright. Below, Juan details how he’s comfortable representing both sides of the coin; he’s lived each of them. Juan‘s business model is a formidable balance of street smarts–having fans/customers place up flyers and sell shirts in small quantities until they prove their ability to sell more–and a professional mindset–working tirelessly on new designs, promotional deals, and gaining fan loyalty. Talking to Juan was not only informative, but a staggering, unexpectedly in-depth experience. Our hour long talk ranged on topics from God, biters, loyalty, family, and Urban City‘s future. Here are some of the best segments.

RESPECT.: Hey Juan, how are you doing today?

Juan Gonzalez: Oh, grinding man. Today, we’re moving all our stuff into the new warehouse. Sittin’ on an acre, know what I mean? Let me tell you this first off: we make our own shirts. We do our own designs, we manufacture it, we wholesale it, we retail it. And our distribution was out of the store at first. Eventually it got to the point when our warehouse was 25 miles away from the store and we’re manufacturing 15,000 – 20,000 t-shirts a month.  It got to the point when we had to make the move. Now we’re just tryin’ to settle in and make things right.

Are you the idea man for the shirts, or do you have a team?

We’re a whole team. What it is is that we’re inspired by all aspects, from music to people to just joking around with each other to visual…current events. You could be watching the news or watching a movie. We have a graphic artist who has been with us for 6 years…I was the graphic artist at the beginning. As the operation got bigger I needed to hire someone else. Not only someone who could help me but someone who could be an extension of my self. After a little while, it got to the point where he– Henry Cantu–and I become one as an artist… My wife, Isabel, is a very creative person, and she directs our photo shoots, ads and has great ideas.

I guess you could say the type of art we create for our shirts is very “urban-aggressive”. People say, “Yea its urban but its..kinda a little bit too..” [I say,] “Too what?” [They respond,] “Too aggressive.” And I was like, you know what? That’s what we’ll label it.

Your style is very in your face, for sure. Was that intentional, or did it come that way naturally?

I’ma tell you what happened was the first couple of designs we started doin’..it was really the customers that guided us. As they were walki’n in…it was wall to wall….you name it—Sean John, Pelle Pell, Rocawear. We had everything, so then we came up with five designs, and each design had two, three colors. One thing we knew was if we had red, blue, and black we had the three fav colors of everyone that walked in. So then, when people walked in, they looked at the wall like “Maaann that’s my tshirt right there! That’s what I talk about!”

People ask, “Yo Started From The Bottom Now We Here…you gonna do a shirt for that?” And I’m like, “Nahh, that’s too easy!” Instead we did a shirt that says “Hustle Till I Die.” It doesn’t matter where I was, it’s about where I’m at right now.

And Drake is Canadian, but you guys are more focused on putting the South on.

Yeah, and then our whole thing is just to be us. There’s times when we see everyone doing a style of shirt and we think, “What would our version be like?” You know how everyone started doing the Mickey Mouse Hands? First thing I noticed about a lot of designers is that they do is a live trace on a Mickey Mouse hand that already exists and you can see the defects on it. When you do a live trace it’s not tracing it like if a brain was tracing it, if a man was tracing it. When we do the mickey mouse hands we draw the hands the way we want the gesture to look. So we did a couple of them like “OK they look good”, but it got to the point where we just wanted to kill it so we thought of another shirt. I think Lil Wayne had a  line where he says “All rats must die” . We were like “you know what that’s a good one,” so we put “All rats must die” in the Disney font, but we got Mickey Mouse in the mouse trap, dead. What we’re basically trying to say is let’s move on to something new. Ever since I was 14 years old I envisioned working in a place where I was having fun, making art, playing music, just enjoying what I do. I never thought that it would come true, nahmean?

It definitely seems like your locations are fun places to be. You’ve got a barbershop, a studio…you want to tell us more about that?

Yea, right before you come into the store, it looks like an old, underground Chicago-type marketplace. Basically a place called the Old Chicago was the amusement park when I was a kid, and I always loved it because it looked like old-school Chicago building and this theme park was inside this building. Growing up in the streets of Chicago, it was aggressive. I was always inspired by the buildings, the textures, the brick, and the colors and the pipes….I was like, that’s what I want my store to look like.

We’ve got designs that we don’t take to roads because they’re more regional. A lot of [out of town] stores are now asking to see our regional stuff and then saying hey can you do some Detroit stuff for us, can you do some Chicago stuff for us? We just landed a big account at Alan’s Shoe store in Detroit, they got like 16 stores.

But yea you go into the store, you see the gravel road..we even painted the concrete ourselves.  We tried to emulate the little tole section where you go pay. There’s a little painted road leading to the art department, and there you can get anything customized. Its not just airbrushed t-shirts, it’s vehicles, helmets.

We’ve got rappers who have been to our store airbrushed into the windows. We’ve got Paul Wall in one of them, we’ve got a local guy in another one, Bun B and Lil Wayne in another one.
When it comes to the studio…it can be anyone from a guy who’s writing his first rhyme to the most experienced guy can come to the studio and lay down a track.

We’re open in the regular mall hours from ten to nine, more than probably more than any other studio out here, even open till midnight sometimes. If people want to come to record in a clean environment where nobody’s smoking or drinking, we’re the place.

The other thing is, we’ve always go music blaring. You could be deaf and blind—when you come into Urban City you’re gonna feel the energy.

What kind of records do you spin in the store?

We do a lot of the mainstream stuff, you know what I’m saying..whatever’s top 40—rap wise. We do the unedited version though. We play a lot of Zero and down south cats. We have DJs that come through on weekends from time to time. Especially when we do big releases on the lines, we have a DJ come down. We try to bring Urban hip-hop to a very commercial corporate forefront and at the same time, be raw with it.

You mentioned Bun B coming through—how’d that come about?

When promoters bring artists down to the city, they’re always calling us up, asking us, “I’ve got so and so coming through, can he do autographs and all that in the store?” Sometimes we say yes, sometimes no. It depends on the time—if it’s early march, if its December, if its august, it’s a no. Those are the craziest months for us. But when traffic’s slow, absolutely, come on. Sometimes it’s the local acts that get it going the best. We had a local guy named Kyle Lee come through. We sold over 50-60 CDs in one day, he did a live performance in the store…we had over 300 people in there.

We used to have Paul wall come into the store at least twice a month. Slim Thug, Lil Flip,  they would always come to the store. It was funny—in the beginning, we were the #1 outlet for sales in the whole country. Paul Wall had dropped a mixtape before the album had dropped, and we were selling 200 CDs every week, so I said, let’s  get a super duper deal and I got 1000 CDs at one time. We moved 1000 CDs in 30 days. They were asking us—how did you do that? We cant even sell this many of our CDs!…We wanted to makes sure that the people that shop with us aren’t just customers, we wanted them to become fans of us. And thank god that we were able to do that. When a customer becomes a fan—it’s over. He’ll promote for you, hell shop for you, will be down for you. Whatever it is you need hell support for you 110 percent. That s how we started to get big—we treated the customers like vip.

I once told Paul Wall, I’ll do you huge favors, I’ll be pushin’ your CD, you just gotta get on a track on a freestyle and shout out Urban City as if it was the destination. I didn’t want him to say “ go to urban city an buy some clothes”. I wanted it to be like “ go to urban city TX ’cause that’s the flyest place you can be.” And now, one of the most popular lines that everyone knows is “I swang through urban city and I scooped up Juan”. Everybody would come through the store and say that line. It’s about interacting not just with the customers but with the community, with the artists.

At the end of the day, I believe that we were blessed with opportunities from God and instead of us shying away from them, we came through on them.

You definitely seem like a man of god—it’s everywhere on your clothing. It’s interesting how that interacts with all the aggressive material you guys have going on. Want to speak on that?

I’ma tell you the—I heard a politician coming out of TX.. he was being interviewed. They asked “are you using the religious platform as a way to get votes?” He says “no no no, you see, God is part of my life every single day, from when I get up in the morning to when I go to sleep, when I go to work, every time I make a decision.” When I heard that, I felt so at peace with his answer, I knew e was telling the truth because that’s how I feel. There’s no way that I would live life without god ever again. For 35 I live a very selfish arrogant conceited, I though I was the ish…I thought I was so big. It wasn’t until god humbled me and made me realize I was a weak individual….And I don’t mean like I’m weak and you can walk all over me.. I mean like, the flesh is weak. Without god, we’re going to make the selfish decisions that only end up hurting us int eh long run.

When I gave my life up to god…I had the truck that I wanted. I had a brand new 2002 [inaudible] black on black, screen falling all over the place with paint on it, spinning—at that time spinners were out. I was collecting 100 dollar bills like it was a hobby. I didn’t even have a bank account, I just had 100 dollar bills racking up.

And so one time, I was standing outside my house one day, smoking a joint… and I just felt so lonely. And I stood up and I yelled out like “God, I need you!” from that day forward, things started changing for me. It was the most amazing thing. Instead of trying to chase happiness down…when you grab happiness it can leave as quick as you grabbed it. You can buy a brand new car every day and you’d still be unhappy at the end of the day. God showed me what joy was. Joy was looking at my wife and my heart being full of this wonderful emotion, it was watching my son practice football, and being thankful to god that my family was still intact. That was way more valuable than any childhood dream, than any materialistic thing I could have.

People always are asking—how can you say you’re having  relationship with god and then be making a shirt that says Get It How You Live. The reason I designed that—on the one side it had the legal hustle. It had barber clippers, had a tattoo gun, had a microphone. And on the other side it had drug paraphernalia—had a little joint, had a sack of powder, had a marijuana leaf, and uh it had a razor blade. This is more of a political statement: the government has completely brainwashed us to rely on them. I’m not gonna just blame the government, but people rely on government so much that they’ve become lazy.

The post Interview: Juan Gonzalez talks Urban City’s “Urban Agressive” T-Shirts, Finding God, and HUSTLE appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

RiFF RAFF recently stopped by Hot 97 for a noticeably intense interview. Sitting down with radio hosts Peter Rosenberg and Ebro, RiFF was subjected to some tough questions regarding his authenticity as an artist, particularly from Ebro. The uncomfortable exchange was recorded and uploaded to Hot 97’s Youtube channel. Before continuing, watch below.

Saturated with tattoos, sporting flamboyant jewelry and speaking with a twang that’s half Texan, half mouthful-of-Listerine, RiFF RAFF is certainly an odd spectacle to behold. In that sense, it makes sense that radio personality Ebro confronted RiFF so aggressively. For Ebro, RiFF is the latest manifestation of a troubling history of white artists rising to prominence through ridiculing black artists. The example par excellence is Vanilla Ice, who is infamous for being one of rap’s first “perpetrators.”

While Ebro’s tenacity is heartfelt and understandable, there are some serious issues with his comparison between Vanilla Ice and RiFF RAFF. First of all, like RiFF RAFF, Vanilla Ice wasn’t a joke. The story that he fronted as a gangster in order to be a “credible” artist is half true. While there were efforts to alter his history to make him more street, these efforts were on behalf of his label rather than himself. SBK Records, the label that he was signed to during his meteoric rise to fame, published unauthorized biographies about him and sold them, notably altering his history to “justify” him as a rapper. Ice didn’t even know about these biographies: he found out about them while he was on tour. So Ice technically isn’t even an example of a perpetrator.

Beyond the myth of Vanilla Ice perpetrating, the bigger flaw with the comparison between him and RiFF is the implication that RiFF and Ice are similar simply because they’re both white rappers. This is a shallow understanding of race. While race is hard to look past, an important thing to remember is that it is always intertwined with other social categories, especially where you’re from. At one point during the interview, RiFF RAFF, who is from Texas, mentions his affiliations with famed Texas record label Swishahouse. Swishahouse’s heyday may be over, but it is well known for introducing the world to Paul Wall. Although Paul Wall and RiFF are far apart on the spectrum of flamboyance, their common origin in Texas suggests that in Texas, what might be seen as mockery in other places is completely normal. In other words, by Texas standards, RiFF isn’t so odd. The same goes for Vanilla Ice, who is also from Texas. Ebro doesn’t even consider this. For him all white rappers can be compared to all white rappers. C’mon Ebro, didn’t Yelawolf already solve the white rapper conundrum?

This isn’t to suggest that all white rappers from Texas get a pass, but merely to highlight that race isn’t this free-floating thing. Location, time period, gender, nationality, class and various other social categories should always come to bear on the assumptions we make about race.

And beyond that, the simple things that people want for themselves are important as well. Just because RiFF says he isn’t a joke doesn’t mean we have to believe him (Full disclosure: this writer believes him), but it does mean we should at least take his reasons for not considering himself a joke somewhat seriously. Ebro didn’t do that. He looked at RiFF RAFF, made up his mind then berated him for what he thinks RiFF RAFF is doing. That’s disrespectful.

For more on taking RiFF somewhat seriously (but not in a dumb, pretentious way), check out these essays by Cameron Kunzelman.

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Yelawolf continues his string of freebie releases, getting back to his roots with the return of trunk muzik.The project features guest spots from Killer Mike, A$AP Rocky, Raekwon and even Paul Wall. Stream below and download here. This is one for the ages.

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Game continues with his #SundayService series as he gears up for the release of his album Jesus Piece on December 11th. “Rollin” did not make the album but features a star studded line up featuring Kanye West, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Trae The Truth, and Z-Ro. The lineup adds to the soulful, Texas feel of the track. It may not have made the album, but it’s definitely dope. Take a listen below.

The post New Music: Game feat. Kanye West, Trae The Truth, Z-Ro, Paul Wall & Sim Thug – “Rollin” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.