Pill – Glass
Pill’s first video, Trap Goin’ Ham, brought a lot of attention to both Pill and Pink City, Atlanta by showcasing the hardships Pill grew up around. With “Glass,” Pill presents a more serious video, but it still displays a lot of the infamous Pink City street life. As an aside, Pill has only released two videos, and both of them have insanely smooth production. He may produce the best videos in rap!
In addition to having a more serious video, Pill’s lyrics and rapping style are more impressive as well. We see Pill asking God to help him improve his living situation with:
“I ask for help,
Please, get me up off this corner,
I can’t see myself leave,
Stuck in this world of crack smoke,
And hoes on they knees.”
Keep an eye out for Pill’s upcoming mixtape 4075: The Refill, expected to drop on October 6th! This mixtape is going to be crazy!
Travis Porter – Turnt Up
This Travis Porter song was conceived off of pure crunk energy, and as an ode to going ham, it has been tearing up the clubs in Atlanta for a minute now. The only thing keeping this song from your local radio airwaves is Travis Porter’s lack of major record deal.
As far as lyrics go, we see the kids of Travis Porter give us their usual swavor-full style as they describe ballin out in the club and in everyday life.
This group is going to enjoy a lot of success once they sign a major deal and get their music out to the masses. If you don’t believe me, check out this video of Atlanta clubs going ham when “Turnt Up” gets played!
Fashawn – Life as a Shorty
The creative Fashawn visuals used in “Life as a Shorty” really add a lot to the track itself, not to mention the cast of children acting out the lyrics! There have been a lot of creative videos being made as of late, and this is no exception.
As far as lyrics go, check out the opening lines which set the tone for the story that Fashawn tells us on this track:
“Remember, living in a trailer?
Cooking dinner out a crock pot,
Or we would microwave it,
Basic, television, same seven stations,
On a twelve inch,
I had to watch cable at the neighbors,
Didn’t know how broke we was till I got older,
Never knew I had a father until he showed up.”
Fashawn gets real personal with this song.
The best part of the video is when Barbara Johnson, the girl Fashawn fought over when he was in 3rd grade, is shown with red crayon colored hearts around her head, ha! Fashawn’s Boy Meets World is slated to be released on October 20th, and if you support hip hop, you’ll want to pick up this album.
Artists Tagged
Fashawn
Santiago Leyva
Label: Unsigned
Hometown: Fresno, CA
Due to his classic hip hop style, flow, and lyrical content, Fashawn has received a number of comparisons to a young Nasir Jones. These comparisons became even more rampant after the Fresno California native released his debut album, Boy Meets World, which featured album artwork similar to Nas’ Illmatic.
The success of Boy Meets World helped Fashawn grace the cover of XXL Magazine this spring as one of 2010’s artists to watch. Most recently, he re-worked Nas’ classic Illmatic, giving it a West Coast feel in Ode To Illmatic.
Pill
Tyrone Rivers
Label: Asylum Records
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Pill’s music is refreshing, as he paints a portrait of the streets in a very natural and real way, effectively shaming all the artists who pretend to be from his part of town. The XXL Magazine Freshman turned heads with his debut video for "Trap Goin' Ham," directed by Motion Family, as it graphically portrayed the poverty taking place in Pink City, five minutes away from a police precinct and seven minutes away from the state capital.
So far all of Pill's releases have been named after the various locations in which he grew up. 4180: The Prescription refers back to the Kimberly Court Projects on 4180 Cant Street and 4075: The Refill refers to the address of Pill’s aunt’s house. His next release, hosted by DJ Drama, should be a major turning point in his career as he's sure to be exposed to a wide fan base. Gangsta Grillz 1140: The Overdose is set to drop on June 1st.
Travis Porter
Ali, Strap, Quez
Label: Porter House Music Group
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Quez, Strap, and Ali make up the hottest independent rap group in the country, Travis Porter. In just over a year, Travis Porter has accomplished more than most emerging artists with over twenty million Youtube views, a single on the Billboard charts, and a music video in rotation on MTV Jams.
The large buzz surrounding this group of 19 year-olds helped to give the boys two Twitter trending topics and placed them as the eleventh most searched term on Google following the release of their most recent mixtape, Proud 2 Be A Problem. The major labels are currently in a bidding war to acquire MySpace’s #1 unsigned group!
