When most people think of Southern hip hop, they immediately think of prominent artists from Georgia, Texas, Louisiana & Tennessee. Alabama is now making a name for itself and the leader of this new emerging talent is G-Side, the duo of ST 2 Lettaz & Yung Clova. The Alabama group, along with their crew Slow Motion Soundz, has brought lyricism to the forefront along with their progressive sound provided by The Block Beataz. With their latest album Starshipz & Rocketz receiving critical acclaim, G-Side are following in the same vain as legendary Southern duos like Eightball & MJG, OutKast & UGK. Here’s you chance to get to know the group after the jump.
Justin: Where You Reppin?
ST 2 Lettaz & Yung Clova: Huntsville and Athens Alabama. Athens is a part of the Huntsville Metro area, North Alabama to be exact. Huntsville is like a little island city surrounded by country towns and trees!!! One hour away from Nashville and about 4 hours from Atlanta
Justin: Introduce Yourselves:
ST: ST 2 Lettaz the greatest rapper to ever breathe on a mic.
Clova: Yung Clova a.k.a Superstar Hipster Hip Hop’s missing link
Justin: Current projects we should be looking out for:
ST & Clova: Huntsville International is a joint project we did with DJ Burn One at blvdst.com. It will be out November 9th. Then our next album is called Speed Of Sound and on that album we are gonna try to push our music to the furthest limits we can take it. A lot of live instruments, crazy song formats, crazy melodies really just a musical odyssey
Justin: Past projects we should know about:
ST & Clova: Our first album “Sumthin 2 Hate” (2006) and “Starshipz and Rocketz” (2008) both are considered classics in some circles. You should check em out. You can find those albums on iTunes or Digstation.com
Justin: Who are your musical inspirations?
ST: I’m big on Scarface, Jay-z, 8Ball and G, UGK, Outkast, old No Limit and that’s ’bout it. I don’t really listen to a lot of new rap artists. I’m on that R&B heavy… shouts to Maxwell.
Clova: Pretty much the same as ST. i liked that early Cash Money, Geto Boys, really anything. We didn’t have cable so the music acted as movies for us
Justin: How did Slow Motion Soundz come together?
ST: Clov and myself didn’t join up until 04 when i came back to Huntsville to go to college at UAH. I had been communicating with CP via email while i was in high school. Since then we’ve gone through ups and downs, roster changes, and restructuring of the actual company. But now its 09 we’re stronger than ever and ready to take over tha globe.
Codie G (G-Side’s manager): Slow Motion Soundz started in 1999 as a production company, headed by C.P. , that was the sound behind a local label at the time. In 2000, Slow Motion broke from just doing production and started putting out albums. With over 10 street albums, and a few spinoffs here and there, some notable releases were the V.S.O.P. album and Legends in the Making with SouthWest Connection. Both albums were carried by production of the Block Beataz and the hit single “Lacs and Caprices” which featured a pre-Trap Muzik T.I. and was a Uncut favorite on BET.
Justin: Do you feel like Alabama is the next spot to “blow up” in the South?
Clova: I really do. Only thing crazy is the music that we do is going to a bit slower and a little off the wall. Real talk, being that we on an island that sits in the middle of so many states makes our music sound great. Blowing up is the easy part but can we keep hip hop home?
Justin: If you had to pick one song that defined your career up to this point, what would it be?
ST & Clova: “Speed of Sound” from our 2nd album Starshipz and Rocketz because its all about leaving your past situation and moving forward to accomplish your dreams… we’re living our dreams rite now as we speak.
Justin: Desert Island Hip Hop: If you were stranded on an island and could only have on record to listen to, what would it be?
ST: One album: Scarface – Untouchable
Clova: Just give me Ridin’ Dirty by UGK
Justin: Any shout outs or last words?
Clova :Yo shout out to the New Circle from the UK to the USA. Ballerseve Radio, Slow Motion Soundz, 767, Block Beataz, Noz, Rob and Dave in the UK, All my Vancouver fans and Gotta send a shout to Kevin Nottingham.com for the interview.
ST: Tha whole Alabama… Everybody overseas bumping our shit, All tha blog sites for posting our shit. We thank yall for this opportunity. If you got love for us, we got love for yall.
Speed of Sound
Youth of the Ghetto
Do My Thing
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I highly recommend you cop Starshipz & Rocketz and Sumthin 2 Hate asap.
yeah, G-Side is def some quality
Thanks for the opportunity.
Good Looks on this!
Man, G-Side is the truth. Mission Control is real shit. I play the hell out of that and Starshipz.