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Speaker 1: I was back there like making the dopest intro, and

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Speaker 1: that was kind of like the way for Atlanta to

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Speaker 1: start hearing me.

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Speaker 2: The word was gangster grills and John turned.

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Speaker 3: Into the Gates Grizilrazil.

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Speaker 2: Before World Star, before all of that.

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Speaker 4: Nine As two Chains is walking in the door, He's

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Speaker 4: like this, two Chains fucking flaps that shit out in

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Speaker 4: his fucking hand, and I was like, what the fuck.

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Speaker 2: Nobody's rushing into relationships with you.

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Speaker 5: Motherfuckers want to know who you are, who's your family,

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Speaker 5: Where are you from?

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Speaker 6: And that's like how you know, Like, okay, oh you're

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Speaker 6: from Atlanta. For I ain't gotta say too much. I'm greater, baby,

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Speaker 6: shut up.

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Speaker 7: In order to understand what Atlanta is, first, you got

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Speaker 7: to understand what it ain't. It ain't tall buildings and

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Speaker 7: neon lights. It ain't palm trees and low riders. It

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Speaker 7: ain't beaches and bikinis. Atlanta's playing football in the street

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Speaker 7: until the lights come on. It's hot summers, heavy traffic,

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Speaker 7: and the smell of pine and honeysuckle in the air.

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Speaker 7: It's black excellence born from grinding grace. Atlanta has all that,

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Speaker 7: But let's look a little deeper. Let's go behind the

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Speaker 7: big names and how they came up and tell the

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Speaker 7: stories about everyday people and how they made history. Stories

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Speaker 7: about hustling heart and what it means to get too crump.

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Speaker 8: These are those stories. This is Atlanta is We.

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Speaker 7: Start on the airwaves when Atlanta tuned into its first

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Speaker 7: all hip hop station. It's where a young DJ named

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Speaker 7: Chris Love a Lover you might know, I'm Miss Ludacris

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Speaker 7: turned a radio mic into a rap career. I'm Big

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Speaker 7: Rude and Atlanta is well rap moved a din.

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Speaker 4: It's the year two thousand.

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Speaker 5: Ludacris is about to go on air at Atlanta's sole

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Speaker 5: hip hop radio station, Hot ninety seventy five to co

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Speaker 5: host this evening show. In his hand is a contract

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Speaker 5: with Depth Jam for a lot of money.

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Speaker 1: Like if we're on the air here and I literally

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Speaker 1: had my contract here and secretly nobody knew what this was,

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Speaker 1: and I'm looking at it. You know, as soon as

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Speaker 1: I signed this, I'm going to get a seven figure check.

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Speaker 1: That was the best day of my life.

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Speaker 5: His time on air was legendary to locals, but his

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Speaker 5: exit from the station was unceremonious, and I.

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Speaker 1: Told him I won't be working here in two weeks.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate everything that y'all have done for me. I'm

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Speaker 1: out this piece.

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Speaker 5: By the time he was twenty two, Ludacris had already

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Speaker 5: spent five years as a radio jockey, becoming a charismatic

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Speaker 5: and popular voice in Atlanta radio. But off the air,

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Speaker 5: he was plotting a different kind of rise when that

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Speaker 5: would make him Atlanta's next rap star. Before he quit radio,

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Speaker 5: Luda had been playing a song for months that doubled

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Speaker 5: as an Atlanta travelogue, in an ode to the joys

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Speaker 5: of sex.

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Speaker 4: Twist.

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Speaker 5: What's Your Fantasy wasn't just any record, it was his own,

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Speaker 5: his first big hit.

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Speaker 8: Yeah yeah, yeah Yeah, give it to me.

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Speaker 5: But Your Fantasy was everywhere, on school buses, in clubs,

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Speaker 5: lasting from the radio.

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Speaker 4: It was hyper local, and it pushed boundaries.

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Speaker 5: As a kid, I loved the local references and repetitive hooks.

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Speaker 5: My mom loved it too, at least until she actually

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Speaker 5: caught the part about what he wanted to do on

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Speaker 5: the fifty yard line of the Georgia Do.

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Speaker 8: To your toes and I won't up.

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Speaker 5: When Ludacris signed his contract and walked away from Hot

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Speaker 5: ninety seven, it felt like something had shifted in Atlanta's

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Speaker 5: music ecosystem. For years, Southern rappers had been fighting to

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Speaker 5: be heard on their own airwaves. Our local radio stations

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Speaker 5: hesitated to embrace the sound coming from the streets and

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Speaker 5: in teen spaces, and back then, artists needed radio.

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Speaker 4: You could have become a star without it.

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Speaker 5: In nineteen ninety five, Ludacris's former employer, Hot ninety seven

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Speaker 5: changed the game in Atlanta as the first station to

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Speaker 5: play hip hop twenty.

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Speaker 4: Four hours a day.

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Speaker 8: Good.

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Speaker 5: It was scrappy, hungry, and ready to battle the powerhouse

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Speaker 5: station that commanded the loyalty of black listeners.

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Speaker 2: For decades, the people's station.

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Speaker 5: From that point on, Atlanta's rap radio wars weren't just

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Speaker 5: about music. They were about the power to decide the

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Speaker 5: city's sound. I'm Jewel Wicker and this is Episode one

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Speaker 5: of Atlanta Is. I'm a third generation Atlanta and cultural reporter.

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Speaker 5: I've lived and documented the stories that have made Atlanta

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Speaker 5: one of the most important cultural capitals in the world

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Speaker 5: of reported on teen clubs that became training grounds for

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Speaker 5: hip hop, profiled icons from Gunna and Little Baby to Shack,

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Speaker 5: and covered the ysl Rico trial. That had the entire

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Speaker 5: music industry on edge. Now I'll be joined by two

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Speaker 5: friends and fellow music journalists, Christina Lee Angel.

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Speaker 4: And Maurice Garland.

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Speaker 2: Hey, what's up.

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Speaker 5: We'll tell the hidden stories behind Atlanta's most iconic cultural moments,

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Speaker 5: the ones that explain how the city's influence spreads from

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Speaker 5: local neighborhoods to the global stage.

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Speaker 4: The legendary big.

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Speaker 5: Group whose voice you've heard on albums, in movies and beyond,

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Speaker 5: will serve as our guide.

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Speaker 7: Operating under the cork of American system too long, outcast,

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Speaker 7: renounced outcasts.

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Speaker 5: It doesn't get more Atlanta than this First the origin

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Speaker 5: story of hip hop radio in Atlanta, How the city's

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Speaker 5: first twenty four hour station was born, it's battle to

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Speaker 5: win over the city's youth, and how it shaped one

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Speaker 5: of Atlanta's biggest stars. Before Hot ninety seven, Atlanta listeners

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Speaker 5: could only catch rap on mainstream radio on Fridays from

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Speaker 5: ten pm to midnight on V one oh three.

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Speaker 2: So back then the term was fresh you know, we

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Speaker 2: go get fresh.

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Speaker 5: Those two hours were a late night show called The

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Speaker 5: Fresh Party, launched around the mid eighties and hosted by

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Speaker 5: Darren Fears, a local teenager who got to start recording

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Speaker 5: the morning announcements at his high school. Ask anyone in

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Speaker 5: Atlanta radio and they'll tell you Darren's a pioneer, a

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Speaker 5: bit of an unsung hero. The Fresh Party was a

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Speaker 5: big deal for the city and brought in DJ greats

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Speaker 5: like Nabs, Jelly and Hero Banks, a.

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Speaker 9: Lot of those artists you know that we've come to know,

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Speaker 9: like MC Hammer, Heavy d.

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Speaker 2: NWA, Pull You Down.

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Speaker 9: Possessions, Public Enemy, Cool Mode, Curtis Blow Being Rock Him,

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Speaker 9: all of those iconic artists that you would hear weekly

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Speaker 9: on The Fresh Party.

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Speaker 5: When The Fresh Party launched, VW and No. Three had

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Speaker 5: only been around for about a decade. We started as

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Speaker 5: a country station, but in nineteen seventy six, it rebrands

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Speaker 5: it to an urban contemporary format aimed at Atlanta's expanding

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Speaker 5: black middle class. City officials and local business leaders were

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Speaker 5: intentional about advertising Atlanta as a black mecca where black

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Speaker 5: professionals could thrive, and in that vision, Atlanta needed strong

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Speaker 5: representation in its media. Just a year before v's rebrand,

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Speaker 5: the city's ABC affiliate hired its first black woman news.

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Speaker 4: Anchor, Get Anything, I'm Monica Conference.

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Speaker 5: For more than a decade, VW and O three was

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Speaker 5: Atlanta's only urban station, the sole place playing music black

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Speaker 5: locals wanted to hear. It was a channel the whole

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Speaker 5: family could enjoy. It became known as the People's station.

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Speaker 10: Well trump all the music with at least forty minutes

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Speaker 10: of it got that bigot.

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Speaker 5: The business motto said it all. We play the hits,

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Speaker 5: we don't make the hits. It was a clear message.

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Speaker 5: You'd hear the biggest R and B songs, no experiments,

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Speaker 5: no surprises, Atlanta.

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Speaker 8: Three.

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Speaker 5: By the late eighties and early nineties, VW and O

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Speaker 5: three dominated Atlanta radio, but its family friendly approach left

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Speaker 5: a blind spot. It wasn't reaching the young listeners who

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Speaker 5: were plugged into the sounds of hip hop bubbling from

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Speaker 5: the streets in teen spaces. I can't overstate how important

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Speaker 5: these youth spaces were.

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Speaker 4: They were the city's incubators.

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Speaker 5: This was the era of skating rinks, teen clubs, and

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Speaker 5: legendary talent shows. I'm talking big professional productions with cash

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Speaker 5: prizes for winners. Teams traveled from across metro Atlanta to

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Speaker 5: watch or perform.

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Speaker 9: I put to you this way, everybody that did talent

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Speaker 9: shows ended up doing so.

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Speaker 2: Chris Tucker used to do the skip set Columbia right.

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Speaker 11: Silk used to sing in the talent shows, so it

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Speaker 11: was a training ground for all of us.

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Speaker 5: Sleepy Brown is one third of the production group organized Noise,

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Speaker 5: alongside Ray Murray and the late Rico Wade. Most people

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Speaker 5: know his smooth, soulful voice and its production bona fides

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Speaker 5: from his work with outcasts, Goodie Mob, TLC.

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Speaker 4: The list goes on and on, but.

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Speaker 5: He got his art on Atlanta's talent show circuit as

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Speaker 5: a dancer. To be precise, yeeking, a Southern dance style

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Speaker 5: known for its explosive finishing moves.

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Speaker 2: To be true for what you bro It was all

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Speaker 2: about getting girls, period. Everybody had talent in some form

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Speaker 2: of fashion in their mind.

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Speaker 4: This is Ray Murray.

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Speaker 2: Talent shows was fierce in the high schools.

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Speaker 8: You know what I mean fierce.

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Speaker 2: You had so much contained energy.

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Speaker 5: Hip hop was ching into the mainstream, creeping up the

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Speaker 5: charts and starting to infiltrate Radio two. In nineteen eighty three,

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Speaker 5: Kiss FM and New York had already gone all.

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Speaker 4: In with rap.

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Speaker 8: I found my New Yark Now.

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Speaker 4: V and O three wasn't quite there.

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Speaker 5: The station had to strike a balance keeping its older

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Speaker 5: loyal listeners engaged while still making room for hip hop.

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Speaker 5: So in nineteen ninety one, Ve helped launch a local

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Speaker 5: TV show called Atlanta Jams. What j It was a

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Speaker 5: teen dance program, an urban spin on a show that

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Speaker 5: started in burn. The station saw it as a way

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Speaker 5: to create more content for teens without changing their radio programming.

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Speaker 5: One of its co hosts was The Fresh Party's Darren Fears.

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Speaker 5: It had already been MCing local talent shows and parties

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Speaker 5: at teen clubs like Sharon's Showcase.

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Speaker 9: Okay, like you remember how Soul Train was for grown folks,

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Speaker 9: That's what Atlanta Jams was to teenagers.

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Speaker 5: One of Darren's co hosts was Jerry smoking Bee, a

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Speaker 5: veteran DJ from Milwaukee by way of Houston. Jerry loved

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Speaker 5: hip hop and hosted the weekday slot right in the

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Speaker 5: middle of the day from two to six pm.

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Speaker 4: But VW and O three was a family station. There

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Speaker 4: were rules.

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Speaker 3: On Friday, I played a hip hop song at four

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Speaker 3: thirty and five thirty.

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Speaker 2: I'll never forget that.

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Speaker 5: Seriously, he got to play one rap song at four

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Speaker 5: thirty and another one an hour later.

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Speaker 3: We wanted to stay mainstream to cater to everyone, So

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Speaker 3: I was a guy assigned to take the rap out

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Speaker 3: of songs.

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Speaker 5: One of those songs was Ain't Too Proud to beg

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Speaker 5: by TLC Lefto's verse was little too raw for the station.

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Speaker 3: I had to take that out at that time because

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Speaker 3: that was too vulgar for V one O three, because

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Speaker 3: it was a very black, conservative R and B radio station.

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Speaker 5: Atlanta Jams, on the other hand, was built precisely to

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Speaker 5: capture and cater to the energy of Atlanta teens at

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Speaker 5: that time.

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Speaker 4: The show hosted.

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Speaker 5: Parties inside Atlanta nightclubs, but for high schoolers. Darren and

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Speaker 5: Jerry co hosted along with Carol Blackman, who's already a

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Speaker 5: familiar voice, is one half of you and O three's

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Speaker 5: hit morning show, Mike and Carroll in the Morning.

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Speaker 3: That's crowded, Well, it's going to get hot up in here,

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Speaker 3: because I'd like to introduce.

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Speaker 5: To you PROFI close your eyes and pict your teens.

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Speaker 5: In the nineties, the high top fades, the half fastened overalls,

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Speaker 5: hundreds of teens packed into local nightclubs, sweating and showing

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Speaker 5: off for the camera.

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Speaker 2: It is like a sea of kids. It was humongous.

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Speaker 5: Big artists showed up Sheila, E Joe, to Ce, TLC

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Speaker 5: and Criss Cross.

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Speaker 4: Getting them on the show wasn't hard. I f you

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Speaker 4: and O three had leverage.

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Speaker 5: If you wanted to be interviewed on Mike and Carroll

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Speaker 5: in the morning, you also had to appear on Atlanta

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Speaker 5: Jams and We'll be.

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Speaker 2: Right back with more Atlanta Jam.

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Speaker 5: From a rating standpoint, Atlanta Jams nailed the formula. The

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Speaker 5: same teens who woke up to party on Friday nights

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Speaker 5: would wake up the next morning to watch themselves on TV.

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Speaker 5: And if you didn't go to the party or weren't allowed,

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Speaker 5: it was still super entertaining to watch all the hot

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Speaker 5: new artists and crazy dance moves. Atlanta Jams was only

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Speaker 5: on air for about a year. We spoke with several

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Speaker 5: people and no one can point to a clear reason

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Speaker 5: for this, but one thing is certain. The show was

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Speaker 5: a temporary solution to a growing problem. By nineteen ninety five,

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Speaker 5: Atlanta's hip hop scene was a deniable outcasts goodie mob.

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Speaker 4: They weren't just local stars. There were national names.

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Speaker 8: From that joint.

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Speaker 2: One of the most incredible titles of.

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Speaker 3: A record, I think ever let my man say.

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Speaker 5: Sell the play a listic Cadillac music for Yo, but

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Speaker 5: You and O three remained cautious at the time. The

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Speaker 5: Atlanta Journal Constitution music reporter Sonya Murray interviewed frustrated executives

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Speaker 5: for the local newspaper. A person affiliated with Arrested Development

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Speaker 5: told her about a time when the station declined to.

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Speaker 4: Play the group.

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Speaker 5: They said, quote, a lot of these big time nationwide

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Speaker 5: hits are coming from Atlanta, and our own station won't

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Speaker 5: even get on them first. When Sonya asked VA's programming

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Speaker 5: director why they weren't playing more local acts, he gave

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Speaker 5: her the same line he'd been telling industry folks for years.

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Speaker 4: We don't make kids, we play them.

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Speaker 5: Top forty R and B was still the brand, but

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Speaker 5: change was coming fast, and soon enough, a new radio

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Speaker 5: DJ who came of age in the era of the

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Speaker 5: Fresh Party Atlanta jams and talent shows would graduate from

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Speaker 5: playing the hits to making them himself.

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Speaker 1: Our goal and plan was to try and get my

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Speaker 1: music heard by people at these radio stations. These are

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Speaker 1: so good for you. You really look up Brocolici spots

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Speaker 1: and what they actually do.

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Speaker 5: When Ludacris arrived at our studio to talk about his

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Speaker 5: time on the radio. He came bearing a coconut and

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Speaker 5: broccoli sprokes will I searched the office for something sharp

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Speaker 5: to crack his coconut open with. I can't help but

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Speaker 5: think about how Luda's radio days and then his transition

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Speaker 5: into a bona fide global rap star, reinforced my childhood

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Speaker 5: beliefs that the world centered around Atlanta. This was the

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Speaker 5: guy I heard on the radio every day after school,

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Speaker 5: and then suddenly there he was on my TV in

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Speaker 5: music videos for number one hits like stand Up and Yeah,

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Speaker 5: then on movie screens Fast and the Furious.

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Speaker 2: Wait, Wait, Wait, Waiting, crash.

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Speaker 1: This white woman sees two black guys who look like

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Speaker 1: UCLA students strolling down the sidewalk, and her reaction is

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Speaker 1: blind fear.

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Speaker 4: Part of my back pun.

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Speaker 5: But it really is such a ludicrous rise unless you

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Speaker 5: come from a city where it isn't. Ludacris graduated from

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Speaker 5: Benjamin Bannaker High School in nineteen ninety five. The same summer,

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Speaker 5: Hot ninety seven to five, Atlanta's first all hip hop

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Speaker 5: radio station made its debut.

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Speaker 1: I remember listening to it when they first started, and

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Speaker 1: it was great because a lot of other radio stations

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Speaker 1: they never played rap twenty four to seven. It would

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Speaker 1: be like Saturday night or Friday night from six to

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Speaker 1: ten pm. So, you know, people like myself were extremely

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Speaker 1: happy and just joyous that we had twenty four seven

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Speaker 1: a radio station I was playing all rap.

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Speaker 5: Hot ninety seven's arrivals set off a radio war before

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Speaker 5: the station even hit the air. In the lead up

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Speaker 5: to Hot's launch, VW and O three brought in a

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Speaker 5: fresh new voice to lead their next chapter.

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Speaker 2: Another VO three grat Street.

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Speaker 5: Exclusive, Greg Street, came from Dallas, Texas, and was immediately

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Speaker 5: given the major weekday slot two to six pm. Listeners

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Speaker 5: would now hear hip hop every Monday through Friday on

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Speaker 5: their afternoon drive. Thirty years later, he still holds down

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Speaker 5: the coveted spot. It wasn't hard to get listeners to

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Speaker 5: love Greg Street. The name Street really embodies how community

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Speaker 5: oriented he is, and he had the grit that VW

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Speaker 5: and O three had been lacking. Greg was someone young

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Speaker 5: people could actually be excited to listen to. Meanwhile, Hot

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Speaker 5: ninety seven was making its own moves and recruited a

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Speaker 5: familiar voice from V one O three. There was also Chakazulu,

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Speaker 5: a New Yorker who cut his teeth as a radio

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Speaker 5: DJ in college at Clark Atlanta University, he hosted a

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Speaker 5: hip hop show on community radio. The idea of working

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Speaker 5: at a mainstream radio station felt like the big leagues

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Speaker 5: for him, but seeing the station's office for the first

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Speaker 5: time brought him back to reality.

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Speaker 11: You would drive forty five minutes outside of the city.

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Speaker 11: You get off the exit. Now you're on a dirt

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Speaker 11: road or you're on a road. Then you turn into

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Speaker 11: a pasture, a cow pasture. You go into this fence.

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Speaker 11: You drive back maybe about a half a mile through trees,

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Speaker 11: winding road, dust and dirt, and then it opens up

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Speaker 11: and then you see there's a tower, and then you

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Speaker 11: see a trailer right next to the tower, and that

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Speaker 11: was the radio station.

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Speaker 5: There was a porter party on site, but the guys

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Speaker 5: just used the woods instead. Listeners couldn't see any of that.

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Speaker 5: Oh they knew was Atlanta finally had a twenty four

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Speaker 5: hour wrap station. Most of the staff were in their

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Speaker 5: late teens and twenties, just like their audience.

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Speaker 11: Wouldn't like the new rock stars, right. Everybody was trying

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Speaker 11: to get a job at that station. Everybody wanted to

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Speaker 11: be on the station, but still hot had to move fast.

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Speaker 11: Few and O three was the establishment and they had

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Speaker 11: just hired Greg Street, so our twenty four hours was

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Speaker 11: focused on his four hours. Street came in with Gangbusters.

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Speaker 11: He got all the personalized drops.

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Speaker 5: Drops are the short clips you hear at the top

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Speaker 5: of a program or when a radio personality is transitioning

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Speaker 5: between Secondstreet.

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Speaker 8: Did that's well, he'll be pulling in his ass. Drop

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Speaker 8: up at the.

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Speaker 5: Station where often DJs with flex by getting rappers to

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Speaker 5: shout them out or even make short custom songs. V

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Speaker 5: and O three and its on air personalities had fun,

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Speaker 5: but there was still a station of poise polish.

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Speaker 4: They had rules. Hot ninety seven didn't.

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Speaker 5: They were scrappy, relentless, and willing to do whatever it

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Speaker 5: took to snag some of the's audience.

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Speaker 11: That's where the leash was off in a lot of

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Speaker 11: ways because we had to beat the nine hundred pound gorilla.

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Speaker 4: What were some of the things you were doing to

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Speaker 4: beat the nine hundred pounds?

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Speaker 2: I mean, we would show up to their lives.

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Speaker 11: My first car was the promotions van for the radio station,

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Speaker 11: So everywhere I went, whether I was creeping to a

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Speaker 11: girl house or going to get something to eat, you

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Speaker 11: saw a Hot ninety seven to five van and I

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Speaker 11: was everywhere and if they had a live I would

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Speaker 11: just go drive through the parking lot.

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Speaker 5: Chaka is referencing when radio DJs record their show outside

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Speaker 5: of the radio station. It's a way for stations to

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Speaker 5: get out in front of the community, airing live from

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Speaker 5: a school or major event, for instance. The point is

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Speaker 5: Chaka knew Hot had to be disruptive if they wanted

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Speaker 5: a real shot against V and O three, He says.

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Speaker 5: Jerry smoking Bee, Yes, the one who got fired by

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Speaker 5: V and O three and then hired by their new competitor,

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Speaker 5: masterminded one of the biggest dishes in Atlanta radio history.

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Speaker 2: We started doing birthday bashes at Hot ninety seven.

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Speaker 5: Right today, Birthday Bash packs out State Farm Arina with

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Speaker 5: more than sixteen thousand seats. But back in nineteen ninety six,

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Speaker 5: that first show was at Variety Playhouse with room for

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Speaker 5: just one thousand. The lineup was stacked Jermaine dupri and

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Speaker 5: Puff Daddy, the Brad Biggie, Total one, twelve eight Ball

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Speaker 5: and MJG and Outcast. Chaka says, VW and O three

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Speaker 5: was also throwing annual concerts around the same time as

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Speaker 5: birthday bash. But a couple of years in HoTT decided

387
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Speaker 5: to flip the competition into open warfare.

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Speaker 2: And what happened was we got so competitive.

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Speaker 11: It's radio war one on one, so we're listening like

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Speaker 11: I'm on the air.

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Speaker 2: I turned today station and see what they're saying.

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Speaker 11: Jerry smoking Bee, who was our production director, he came

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Speaker 11: and said, you all created this commercial.

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Speaker 5: In the ad, Jerry read VW and O three's lineup,

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Speaker 5: but he broke an unwritten rule and mentioned the rival

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Speaker 5: station by name and suggested it was a lineup your

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Speaker 5: parents would listen to.

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Speaker 4: Then they had hots Intern called V and O three.

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Speaker 11: It's like, I want tickets to your show? Can you

400
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:48,359
Speaker 11: tell me who's on the show.

401
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Speaker 5: The receptionist at V listed off the names, but hots

402
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Speaker 5: Intern didn't sound impressed.

403
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Speaker 2: It's like, that doesn't sound too hot.

404
00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:00,359
Speaker 5: The receptionist, not realizing she was being recorded, agreed and

405
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Speaker 5: even admitted.

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Speaker 4: She'd rather go to hot show.

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Speaker 11: We edited that up, turned that into a promo, ran

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Speaker 11: it every thirty.

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Speaker 4: Minutes, but Chaco wasn't finished.

410
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Speaker 2: All of a sudden, I run down the hallways.

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Speaker 11: I said, yo, won't we tell everybody that if you

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Speaker 11: got tickets to the V one O three show.

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Speaker 2: You could trade them in for our tickets.

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Speaker 5: It worked, Chaka says, Hot show sold out and just

415
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,520
Speaker 5: like that, they sent a message loud and clear.

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Speaker 4: They had the youth.

417
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Speaker 2: On lock, killed them, murdered them. They we never we

418
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Speaker 2: never battled like that ever.

419
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Speaker 8: Again.

420
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Speaker 5: Chako wasn't just one of Hots on air personalities and

421
00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,240
Speaker 5: lead pranksters. He was also its musical director, and he

422
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Speaker 5: was looking to expand the channel's palette.

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Speaker 11: The station basically played anything bad Boy, anything death ro

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Speaker 11: and it was so New York and West Coast it

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Speaker 11: was ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: It was a clear black Knight, a clear white moon.

427
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Speaker 2: Woma Ge was on the street.

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Speaker 5: Chaco wanted to balance that out with local Dungeon family record,

429
00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:08,359
Speaker 5: but also my mystical and other Southern artists. Interestingly enough,

430
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Speaker 5: Hot already had an aspiring artist working at the station,

431
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,359
Speaker 5: a recent high school graduate who would go on to

432
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Speaker 5: become an unlikely advocate for Broccoli Sprouts, among other things.

433
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Speaker 1: I was doing all these different talent show contests and

434
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Speaker 1: stuff because I was rapping at that time all around Atlanta,

435
00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:26,000
Speaker 1: just trying to get known, and I had a manager

436
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: at the time, and this manager went to V one

437
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:31,760
Speaker 1: O three and he got an internship, and Hot ninety

438
00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:35,040
Speaker 1: seven had just started on the airwaves, and I was like,

439
00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 1: if you're going, if you want to three, I'm gonna

440
00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:38,800
Speaker 1: go to this other station because it's an all wrap

441
00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:40,360
Speaker 1: station and it's just open. I'm gonna try and get

442
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Speaker 1: an internship over there.

443
00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:44,920
Speaker 5: The summer after high school graduation can be a stressful one,

444
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,960
Speaker 5: filled with a lot of hopes and anxieties about the future.

445
00:22:48,520 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 5: Luda was already in its plotting season though. He was

446
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 5: going to be a rapper by any means necessary, and

447
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 5: he thought this new radio station could make it happen.

448
00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,720
Speaker 1: Our goal and plan was to try and get my

449
00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:02,520
Speaker 1: music heard by people at these radio stations.

450
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:05,840
Speaker 5: That's how Luda first ended up in Chaka's office. Chaka

451
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,920
Speaker 5: wanted to break new artists and Luda wanted to be one.

452
00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:12,879
Speaker 5: Only problem, while Chaka thought he was talented, he didn't

453
00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:15,720
Speaker 5: like the song Luda played for him. He declined to

454
00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,199
Speaker 5: play it on air. Luda wasn't discouraged. He knew he

455
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,680
Speaker 5: just needed another way in Lord Judge. It settled for

456
00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,560
Speaker 5: an internship with the Ryan Cameron Morning show. Brian had

457
00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 5: been hired away from V and O three to host

458
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,760
Speaker 5: Hot ninety seven's popular morning drive show from six to

459
00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,439
Speaker 5: ten AM. Luda was juggling a lot at this time.

460
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,240
Speaker 5: He was trying to record a hit, attending Georgia State

461
00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 5: University as a part time student, and working at Pizza Hud.

462
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,879
Speaker 5: Ryan didn't give a damn. He was super strict and

463
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,200
Speaker 5: required punctuality. Luda says he had to wake up at

464
00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,560
Speaker 5: four thirty am to make it to the show one time.

465
00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,359
Speaker 1: If I look back, I don't realize exactly how I

466
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,639
Speaker 1: did it, but by the grace of God.

467
00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,160
Speaker 5: As an intern, Luda had to appear on air sometimes,

468
00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:02,879
Speaker 5: and the powers that be didn't like Ludacris as a

469
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:03,520
Speaker 5: radio name.

470
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,600
Speaker 1: Ryan was like, man, Ludacris is probably not a morning

471
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 1: show appropriate name. We need to get you a better name.

472
00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:11,560
Speaker 1: And so there was a woman by the name of

473
00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 1: Felicia Love who would work with Ryan, and she was

474
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,120
Speaker 1: kind of the person that had got me under her wing,

475
00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:18,360
Speaker 1: and I was interning for her, so I just said,

476
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 1: all right, I just be Chris Love of Love, based

477
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:21,120
Speaker 1: off Felicia Love.

478
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 5: The team quickly gained a reputation as hardworking and charming

479
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,639
Speaker 5: on the mic. Even though he wasn't aiming to be

480
00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,880
Speaker 5: a DJA, he saw the value of being in the building.

481
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:35,400
Speaker 5: Hot had upgraded and moved from their tiny trailer out

482
00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:38,359
Speaker 5: in the country to a real building in College Park.

483
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:39,360
Speaker 5: By this point, I.

484
00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:40,880
Speaker 2: Didn't really have an interest in being on air.

485
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: I kind of was up there to try and infiltrate

486
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,680
Speaker 1: the building and the system and all the producers and

487
00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 1: artists that come up there.

488
00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 2: Then all of a sudden, I'm looking.

489
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 1: At all the jockeys and they driving up in benzes

490
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 1: and all this other stuff. I'm like, huh, while I'm

491
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 1: waiting to get my music heard, why not make a complete,

492
00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:59,919
Speaker 1: cemented place for myself up here, because I can make

493
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,320
Speaker 1: some money, and worst case, in there, I could pay

494
00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 1: for my own damn music.

495
00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,119
Speaker 5: One day, one of Hot's DJs was running late. Chris

496
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,440
Speaker 5: Lovelova was asked to fill in just until she arrived.

497
00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:12,159
Speaker 4: Here's Jerry smoking Bee.

498
00:25:12,320 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, he turns on the microphone and

499
00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,880
Speaker 3: he sound like he's been on the radio for years.

500
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 5: He got the attention of Mary Catherine's me, the general

501
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:24,840
Speaker 5: manager at HOT, and other leaders at the station.

502
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,280
Speaker 10: And I remember running out in the hall saying, man,

503
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,679
Speaker 10: she better get her butt here, because if she's listening

504
00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,679
Speaker 10: that she has just started speeding down to this station.

505
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:41,439
Speaker 5: Soon he began appearing on Airmoor moved him into the

506
00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 5: two to six am shift, the overnight zone where you

507
00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 5: could mess up, experiment and grow.

508
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 2: Every single time you get on the air, you're getting

509
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 2: better and better.

510
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 5: Luda eventually got paired with another radio Ricki, a guy

511
00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:56,439
Speaker 5: known as poon Daddy. Together, they hosted a Saturday night

512
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:58,680
Speaker 5: show called Future Flavors.

513
00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,040
Speaker 2: Is Blowing Up Cats.

514
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:04,280
Speaker 5: You might not know Poondaddy if you're not from this

515
00:26:04,359 --> 00:26:07,199
Speaker 5: era of Atlanta, but you might have seen his teeth.

516
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 5: His mouth is transposed on a dog for Ludacris's two

517
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 5: thousand and one album Word of Mouth.

518
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 1: So you know, when you think about gold Grills, he

519
00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,440
Speaker 1: was that original dude. Smokes like a chimney, Like he's

520
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:19,960
Speaker 1: that guy that wakes up in the morning.

521
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,960
Speaker 2: First thing roller blunt.

522
00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:25,480
Speaker 5: Well, Ludacris delivered suaveness. Poondaddy was the rawness that the

523
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:26,480
Speaker 5: station needed.

524
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,200
Speaker 2: Tonight. It's like Beavis and butt Head almost.

525
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:32,080
Speaker 8: It was kind of weird.

526
00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,480
Speaker 10: It was magical. I mean, Poon would do the traffic.

527
00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 10: He would paint the picture that he was on a bicycle.

528
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 5: Mary's describing a bit Poon would do to make the

529
00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:46,160
Speaker 5: traffic report more interesting instead of just reading it off exactly.

530
00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 5: He was reporting live, pedaling his bike through Atlanta traffic

531
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,399
Speaker 5: and shouting what he saw back to Luda at the station,

532
00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:53,120
Speaker 5: but it.

533
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,760
Speaker 10: Sounded so much like he was pedaling a bike down

534
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 10: seventy five. You know, they did stuff like that all

535
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 10: the time.

536
00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 5: The stick was clever and showed that the pair could

537
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:09,040
Speaker 5: reinvent even the most mundane radio segments. Hot's audience took notice.

538
00:27:09,680 --> 00:27:13,000
Speaker 5: Poon and Luda became so good and so popular that

539
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:15,920
Speaker 5: the station moved them from Saturday nights to the coveded

540
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 5: weekday slot of six to ten pm. That meant one thing.

541
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:22,520
Speaker 5: They were the guys Hot trusted to go toe to

542
00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 5: toe with Greg Street, the V and O three heavyweight,

543
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 5: not a clock.

544
00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:27,040
Speaker 2: Cut up man.

545
00:27:27,119 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 1: We up here doing it so makes y'all listen out

546
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:29,959
Speaker 1: for that sound to two.

547
00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 2: Somebody gonna get broken off.

548
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 5: Evening radio was prime time, high traffic, high pressure, but

549
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,159
Speaker 5: Poon and Luda knew how to stand out. That meant

550
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:42,400
Speaker 5: playing music that listeners couldn't hear anywhere else station.

551
00:27:42,359 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 2: War Blaze and hit popular.

552
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:45,359
Speaker 1: You know, what it's say, a lot of the cash

553
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:47,479
Speaker 1: money records when it was big timers and when it

554
00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 1: was you know, BG and Juvenile and Lil Wayne and

555
00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:52,600
Speaker 1: all these things, when they first started putting out records,

556
00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,400
Speaker 1: before the hits hits hits came.

557
00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:56,760
Speaker 2: We were the first ones to play stuff like that.

558
00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,200
Speaker 5: As soon as the mics were off at ten PM,

559
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 5: Luda hit clubs. He wasn't even old enough to be there,

560
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,679
Speaker 5: but that didn't matter. He was already a local celebrity

561
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,880
Speaker 5: with a lot of access. From Magic City to the five,

562
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 5: five to nine in southwest Atlanta. Luda was constantly partying

563
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:16,800
Speaker 5: and performing at local clubs. Then the next day he'd

564
00:28:16,800 --> 00:28:18,800
Speaker 5: bring that culture back to the airwaves.

565
00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 2: You could just relate to us a lot easy, you

566
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:21,320
Speaker 2: could tell.

567
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,040
Speaker 1: You could tell that literally was before we came on

568
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: the mic, and after we left, we were back in

569
00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:26,280
Speaker 1: the street.

570
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,320
Speaker 5: But the more successful he became, the more he started

571
00:28:30,320 --> 00:28:31,840
Speaker 5: to feel unappreciated.

572
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:34,680
Speaker 4: He says that he and Poon were never given a contract.

573
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,399
Speaker 1: I feel as if the people who kind of ran

574
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,959
Speaker 1: the radio station wanted to downplay how much of an

575
00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: influence that these two young guys really had for obvious reasons.

576
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 1: They're like, they don't want to tell us how great

577
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 1: our ratings are, because then we would be over there

578
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 1: asking for.

579
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:51,360
Speaker 2: The right amount of money.

580
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 1: We young, and like we settling for whatever the hell

581
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: they'd given us.

582
00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,959
Speaker 5: The lack of paperwork was about to come in handy

583
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:02,880
Speaker 5: very soon. Luda never stopped plotting. Even as he worked

584
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,760
Speaker 5: at Hot, he was recording music, and while Hot wouldn't

585
00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,920
Speaker 5: play his early songs, he found another way in. He

586
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 5: convinced several of his colleagues to let him create personalized

587
00:29:12,080 --> 00:29:13,120
Speaker 5: drops for their shows.

588
00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:15,280
Speaker 1: It's not like they had to do it, but that

589
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: was my goal. I was back there like making the

590
00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 1: dopest intros, and that was kind of like the way

591
00:29:19,520 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: for Atlanta to start hearing me.

592
00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:22,800
Speaker 10: Question take us out in your blab.

593
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm rotten to the core, like an apple rejuice,

594
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,640
Speaker 3: like a snaffle blessed from my head to my feet.

595
00:29:30,040 --> 00:29:32,360
Speaker 5: He was hoping one of the city's music execs, the

596
00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:35,040
Speaker 5: same folks he partied with and interviewed on a error,

597
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 5: would hear these drops and take notice. He often joked

598
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,840
Speaker 5: to Jermaine Duprix that he was the embodiment of the

599
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:43,479
Speaker 5: Socio Deaf mascot you know, the one with the afro.

600
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,480
Speaker 5: Jermaine listened, but he never signed him. By the late nineties,

601
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 5: Luda had been working at the station for a few years,

602
00:29:51,640 --> 00:29:54,920
Speaker 5: and he'd also convinced Chakazulu to manage him. One day,

603
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,960
Speaker 5: Chaka got a call from Timbaland, the legendary producer was

604
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,360
Speaker 5: flying into Atlanta picked him up from the airport.

605
00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,520
Speaker 11: I called the radio, so I said, YO, play at

606
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:05,720
Speaker 11: Ludacris promo.

607
00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:08,880
Speaker 5: Chako was also working as the station's music director, so

608
00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:10,160
Speaker 5: he had some pull Me.

609
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 2: And Timblin vibbing.

610
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,480
Speaker 11: I turned the radio up and we just riding in

611
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 11: my truck and so Ludacris starts rapping and Timberlin is like, yo,

612
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 11: who is that.

613
00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,440
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, that's my artist. So I was

614
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:23,560
Speaker 2: like yo, I said, wen, he's at the radio station.

615
00:30:23,600 --> 00:30:24,480
Speaker 2: We can go there right now.

616
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 5: Timblin goes into the production room and Shako plays him

617
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:28,720
Speaker 5: the demo and Tim was like.

618
00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:30,840
Speaker 2: Yo, I love this kid, Like whoa.

619
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,320
Speaker 5: The producer didn't know much about Luda at the time,

620
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 5: but he knew talent when he heard it. He invited

621
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 5: the rapper to attend one of his studio sessions in Virginia.

622
00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:41,840
Speaker 5: Luda would have to take a day off work, but

623
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,240
Speaker 5: he was scared to ask for one. He says not

624
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:46,040
Speaker 5: having a contract made him feel like he could be

625
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 5: fired at any moment. Maybe the station would listen if

626
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 5: it was something super serious.

627
00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,120
Speaker 1: I had to make up an excuse that my grandmother

628
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: had died and my grandmama was still living. But I

629
00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,760
Speaker 1: was like, in my mind, my grandmama will not blame

630
00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:05,320
Speaker 1: me for telling this damn station that you are gone,

631
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: just so I can go to the Vizia and work

632
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 1: with him. I took that forty eight hours where I

633
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,240
Speaker 1: told him I had to go to my grandmother's funeral,

634
00:31:13,320 --> 00:31:14,840
Speaker 1: and the rest is history.

635
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:20,080
Speaker 5: Luda and Timbland recorded the song Fat Rabbit. It featured

636
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 5: a signature Timbaland beat in those sensual, braggadocious lyrics that

637
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 5: Luda would eventually become famous for, and right at the

638
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,760
Speaker 5: beginning of the song, he spells out his radio moniker,

639
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:31,360
Speaker 5: I'll bet that.

640
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 6: Nigga ain't Luda aka llov hey ylov a buck that

641
00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:36,200
Speaker 6: nigga what you winna fa one.

642
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 2: Time sut left fire.

643
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:42,120
Speaker 5: This was Luda's first time working with a producer, he idolized.

644
00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 5: It was also his first big commercial release, Fat Rabbit

645
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 5: was a raunchy deep cut, not a single, but they

646
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:51,440
Speaker 5: played it on Hot ninety seven because it was a

647
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,080
Speaker 5: big deal for one of their radio personalities to be

648
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 5: on a Timbland album. The song became so popular that

649
00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,000
Speaker 5: even Luda's direct competitor began to play it.

650
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,480
Speaker 1: Somebody text me and was like, Yo, Greg Street is

651
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 1: playing your song, and this is while I'm on the air,

652
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:05,440
Speaker 1: because we're competitive.

653
00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 2: I couldn't believe it.

654
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,400
Speaker 1: So during commercial break, I went and listened and I

655
00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:11,400
Speaker 1: was like, showing up, he was playing my record. That's

656
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:14,520
Speaker 1: when I was like, Okay, something's about to happen.

657
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,360
Speaker 5: Fat Rabbit was a win, but to most of Hot's

658
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,760
Speaker 5: listeners it probably felt like a cool one off, like

659
00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:33,320
Speaker 5: a popular radio personality made a good rap song, and

660
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:35,480
Speaker 5: technically it wasn't even Luda's.

661
00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 4: He was a feature on Timbaland song.

662
00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,680
Speaker 5: Unless you'd seen Luda in the club performing night after night,

663
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:48,120
Speaker 5: you probably didn't realize what was coming next. About a

664
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 5: year later, in two thousand, Luda finally dropped his debut single,

665
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:56,480
Speaker 5: What's Your Fantasy NAT. He signed with def Jam and

666
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,360
Speaker 5: from there his career took off fast. He went from

667
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,800
Speaker 5: Interviewinglanta's music stars to collaborating with them.

668
00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:07,920
Speaker 8: Send the Club Looking So Cutch, Big You louss.

669
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 5: Atlanta finally had an ecosystem to develop and support its rappers.

670
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:18,480
Speaker 5: The city already had college radio, it had producers, and now,

671
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,040
Speaker 5: thanks to Hot, it had commercial radio in the mixed too.

672
00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:25,360
Speaker 5: The station transitioned from ninety seven point five to one

673
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 5: oh seven point nine in two thousand and one. Station

674
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,520
Speaker 5: it's still around today, still delivering hip hop to the city,

675
00:33:33,640 --> 00:33:40,440
Speaker 5: alongside its longtime competitor of U one O three dep

676
00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 5: Jam South, an offshoot of the larger label, set up

677
00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,520
Speaker 5: shop in Atlanta. Shakazulu served as vice president. By then,

678
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,840
Speaker 5: he'd been fired from Hot. He says he never got

679
00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 5: a reason why other labels like Bad Boy's Southern Division

680
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 5: had a major presence here too. The face so So

681
00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,200
Speaker 5: Deaf and rowdy records. They'd spent the nineties proving to

682
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:02,880
Speaker 5: the world what locals had been seeing at talent shows.

683
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,080
Speaker 5: It felt like nationally, decision makers were finally listening, like

684
00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,560
Speaker 5: the South wasn't just an afterthought to what was going

685
00:34:09,600 --> 00:34:12,760
Speaker 5: on on the East and West coast at the nineteen

686
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,120
Speaker 5: ninety five Source Awards. When Andre three thousand proclaimed the

687
00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:18,759
Speaker 5: South got something to say to booze, it was a

688
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:20,440
Speaker 5: timely word for folks here too.

689
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:21,719
Speaker 9: Did the South got something to say?

690
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:22,640
Speaker 2: That's all I got to say.

691
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:26,280
Speaker 5: It's crazy to think about it in hindsight, but Atlanta

692
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:29,440
Speaker 5: had only had Hot, the city's first all rap station,

693
00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 5: for one month at that point, and according to Chaka,

694
00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,919
Speaker 5: Hot was all in on East and West Coast rap

695
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:39,680
Speaker 5: out the gate. In just five years, Atlanta went from

696
00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,600
Speaker 5: a city where local rappers struggled to be heard and

697
00:34:42,680 --> 00:34:44,920
Speaker 5: hip hop only got a few hours on the radio

698
00:34:45,360 --> 00:34:48,319
Speaker 5: to a rising rap mecca where young artists could hear

699
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:53,560
Speaker 5: themselves becoming superstars on the cities airwaves. Here's Jerry Smoking Bee,

700
00:34:53,719 --> 00:34:56,840
Speaker 5: the DJ originally hired to spend just two rap songs

701
00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,080
Speaker 5: during his set on VU.

702
00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 3: And O three, Ludacris was, It's a blessing and a

703
00:35:01,200 --> 00:35:03,040
Speaker 3: curse at the same time.

704
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:04,440
Speaker 2: And I'm gonna break it down to you.

705
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:07,799
Speaker 3: It's a blessing that a young guy can start as

706
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,640
Speaker 3: an intern, fulfill his dream in broadcasting, and then really

707
00:35:12,680 --> 00:35:16,320
Speaker 3: get to his major dream through the same portal.

708
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:18,799
Speaker 2: That's the celebration.

709
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,040
Speaker 3: And it's somebody that you know that's receiving a Grammy

710
00:35:23,480 --> 00:35:26,719
Speaker 3: an award. It's like it's almost like your child is

711
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:31,960
Speaker 3: receiving that award. And so the curse is every intern

712
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 3: that comes through the radio station now wants to take

713
00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 3: this huge leap in a couple of weeks and be

714
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,040
Speaker 3: a superstar for all the.

715
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:41,200
Speaker 4: Young dreamers tuning in.

716
00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:44,240
Speaker 5: Back then, Ludacris wasn't just a voice on the radio.

717
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 5: He was a proof that Atlanta could make its own stars.

718
00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 5: In the years that followed, the city's sound would stretch

719
00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:54,239
Speaker 5: far beyond its ear waves, shaping with hip hop and

720
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,759
Speaker 5: pop culture would become because once Atlanta found its voice

721
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 5: on the radio, the rest of the world starts listening.

722
00:36:08,480 --> 00:36:12,840
Speaker 7: Coming up on Atlanta is Maurice Garland brings us to

723
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 7: the West Side into the Locals Only club where Crunk

724
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:16,640
Speaker 7: was born.

725
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:18,880
Speaker 2: I was stop at the Little Xon right across the

726
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 2: street from there.

727
00:36:19,600 --> 00:36:21,840
Speaker 11: Man, give me a couple of double duces, give me

728
00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:22,840
Speaker 11: some black and Biles.

729
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 7: Hey, bro, you get your simp a little bit, and

730
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:26,600
Speaker 7: then you get in line, one of.

731
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 2: The barstools hit the mirror and crack the mirror. So

732
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 2: that's why they were gonna take us to jail.

733
00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,280
Speaker 7: Later Christina Lee takes us to the yard of Morris

734
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,200
Speaker 7: Brown's legendary drum line as the HBCU fights to keep

735
00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:39,040
Speaker 7: his doors open.

736
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,680
Speaker 2: How do you get people to believe in something that's dead?

737
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 8: And there's more.

738
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:46,879
Speaker 7: After that, we meet the dreamers who turned Atlanta into

739
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:48,280
Speaker 7: the new Hollywood of the South.

740
00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 4: My agent started calling me and they were like, Hey,

741
00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:51,200
Speaker 4: I'm flying down.

742
00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,040
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go see your client. Hey, this place isn't

743
00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 2: so bad after all.

744
00:36:55,239 --> 00:36:57,960
Speaker 3: We like fanaggled our way into a meeting with Jermaine Duprix,

745
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,719
Speaker 3: and we faggled our way into a meeting with Awesome, like.

746
00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,279
Speaker 7: We were hustlers and post up on the street where

747
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,280
Speaker 7: black entrepreneurs compete for their own slice of peach cobbler.

748
00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,759
Speaker 4: Let me be real fucking clear, nobody walked around with

749
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,239
Speaker 4: a piece of paper and told motherfuckers like pay them rent, Like.

750
00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:12,880
Speaker 2: This is not how that happened.

751
00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:14,960
Speaker 8: We meet the preachers who go viral.

752
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,560
Speaker 2: I've had to live my life out loud.

753
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 8: And explore the past and future of Atlanta hip hop.

754
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:23,680
Speaker 9: I never forget Missy Elliott was there and I was like,

755
00:37:23,719 --> 00:37:25,240
Speaker 9: why is Missy Yllio from this environment?

756
00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 5: I believe Andre three thousand came for like Weeks on

757
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 5: End You.

758
00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 2: Really the first lady to have a guest.

759
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,360
Speaker 6: The girls take and then left Jeordiana like Oh what

760
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,400
Speaker 6: is your wife?

761
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,759
Speaker 7: Atlanta is a Well pack of Media production in partnership

762
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:47,719
Speaker 7: with Idea Generation and Complex. This episode was written, reported,

763
00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,280
Speaker 7: and produced by Jul Wicker, with additional production from Maurice

764
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 7: Garland and Christina Lean. Our Supervising producer and editor is

765
00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,880
Speaker 7: Shiva Bayat. Our managing producers are Rose through Lini Bacon,

766
00:38:00,160 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 7: Omari Graham, and Shamara Rochester. Editorial support from Sean Setero

767
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:11,480
Speaker 7: and Jack Irwin. Original theme music by Aman Solta. Sound

768
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,560
Speaker 7: designed by Shiva Bayat and Amn Solter, mixed and master

769
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:16,880
Speaker 7: by a mind Sota.

770
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,720
Speaker 8: Fact checking done by Sean Setero.

771
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:25,800
Speaker 7: Clearance counsel Donison Khalif, Perez, Lisa Khalif and Jacqueline Sweat.

772
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:29,759
Speaker 7: Executive producers for will Packer Media are Will Packer and

773
00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:34,000
Speaker 7: Alex Bauder. Co producer for will Packer Media is Nimy Mohun.

774
00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,680
Speaker 7: Executive producers for Complex are Jack Irwin and Noah Callahan.

775
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,480
Speaker 8: Bever Head of Talent Relations for Complex.

776
00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:47,520
Speaker 7: It's Anthony Alred Special thanks to Tyler Klin, Tarre Harrison Chris,

777
00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 7: Senator Nolams Griffin, and Candace Howard.

778
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:53,400
Speaker 8: I'm big rude Beeace