ILLA DAY!

Peep the flyer for a good time.

Seriously, The Cold Crush Brothers...

I'm tremendously excited about this show. I jumped at the opportunity to design the flyer and was honored to be invited to play drums at this historic event. The homey Methuzulah is always on the grind and came up with a real banger this time. If you run in the ATL undergound you already know this. The Cold Crush Brothers are legends. They're among the handful of people that actually created hip-hop. They helped form the style, attributes, conventions, etc. They got yanked by the music industry in rap's infancy, but mainted an incredible amount of credibility. Atlanta's indy rap stars will also be appearing so make sure you're there to celebrate Hip-Hop History Month.

ATL HIP-HOP FRIDAY!

THE ROCK BOX AT THEBLUE FROG IN EAST ATLANTA VILAGE

FEATURING

G.R.E.A.T. SCOTT

TRANSISTOR FIST

TOMMY BOTTOMS

ACE RON THE MC GODFATHER

HOSTED BY METHUZULAH

DJS BLACK SNO, SIZZAHANDS, BLACK MOSESAND PP ARMSTRONG

THE BLUE FROG CANTINA: 469 Flat Shoals Ave. - East Atl. Village

METHUZULAH'S BDAY BASH

The homey Methuzulah's annual born-day celebration is Friday, May 21 at the city's long time "in-the-know-place-to-go," MJQ. He's also celebrating the release of his stellar new mixtape project, "Kemetic Aha," which yours truly designed (along with an illustration by Lord Yata). Zu's b-day jams are always a blast, even last year's event at The Bench, which was rained out but fun no less. This party tags on to Fantastick Fridays, which my long-time ace, DJ Fudge, holds down regularly with DJ Majestik.

Remembering Nod Factor

In digging through my hard drive I stumbled upon a folder of old design work that I have not seen in years. Every job is engrained in my memory, but the following really stands out because it was for my homies DJ Fudge and DJ Sky at the begining of a new era in Atlanta's indy hip-hop scene. I can't even remember when exactly this was, but for many years our insular little scene only existed at Apache (Mic Club) and Lenny's (Second Sight) and both events were on Tuesday night! Other than random events at MJQ or the Cotton Club, those were the only places the scene found itself. And honestly, the only place for the DJs to get busy was at Lenny's. Fudge and Sky were always there and records and needles got demolished. A gang of turntablists (Creation, Damn, Dainja, Fari, Synthesis....) would tag team all night to a small, but dedicated group of hip-hop heads. As time went on and everyone got a little older the old basement hang-out feeling got stale and Fudge and Sky sought a new outlet where turntablism would be at the forefront, while co-mingling with art, conversation, food and drinks. They had an idea for a weekly event that would be continuous, cyclical, constantly moving (read: the flyer's arrow pointing left flipped 360 degrees as you'd flip the flyer over). So they put together Nod Factor at the 5 Spot in Little Five Points. They brought in painters to work live with the music, pushed food and drinks (not just the giant cheap PBRs at Lenny's) and culture. BBoys would stop by, but so would writers and artists. They'd always have guest DJs stop in. Just bring your records and get on. Sometimes there would be musicians playing along. I would bring a drum on occasssion and sit in. Fudge even had me DJ a time or two. They'd also have shows from time to time. I remember Transistor Fist playing at the first anniversary show with Psyche Origami and Dylan's first ATL incarnation, Intellect and Dirty Digits. We played with Methuzulah one night when he had just changed his name from Solace Morner to Mojo Swagger. Nod Factor lasted a few years. It was the height of Myspace and the beginning of a new mode of promotion. You could post about an event and people would really show up. Nod Factor was bigger than Fudge and Sky. A lot of people latched on to the energy and helped promote the Wednesday night event themselves. For the first time, I remember seeing new faces at a local event so it was good while it lasted. Plus it was free!