In the world of rap and hip hop — traditionally dominated by performers from New York — a new breed of rappers has successfully proven that, to put a spin on the cliché, the “Dirty South” will rise again.
Among others from Arkansas and Alabama to Texas and Tennessee, are rappers like “Uncle Luke” Skywalker and 95 South of Florida, Master P and Juvenile from Louisiana and Georgia’s Goodie Mob and OutKast, who bring a home-grown, collard-greens-and-cornbread funk to urban music.
Now, it seems that North Carolina — specifically Salisbury — might be next to make the list.
Listen closely enough, and you might hear the underground rumblings of serious hip hop “heads” who are working hard — holed up in at-home studios or spread out in small, inconspicuous buildings — to perfect their craft.
One of those buildings is a little blue structure situated in what looks like a deserted lot on South Main Street. But it’s not abandoned. In fact, on any given day, that is where Lonny Morgan, a.k.a. Low Key Morgiano, can go to “really get down.”
Morgan, a native of Salisbury, is the owner of hip hop label Mafioso Records. He and partner Tacuma “Bone Daddy” Hopewell, a duo known as Under World Incorporated, are finishing their CD, “The Rebirth,” which is the third in a trilogy of Mafioso records that includes the experimental “Welcome to the Underworld”and “Global Warning.”
The new CD is a “resurrection kind of album,”the title alluding to a new, improved Mafioso label that has been reconstructed to support serious products of U.W.I. and other performers who pay for studio time.
Once, in the not-so-distant past, Morgan had a number of performers who were featured on the label — hence the name Under World Inc., which refers to his one-time desire to have a “network of people I could depend on to work with.”
But that vision changed when he found Hopewell, a Philadelphia native who moved to Salisbury from Atlanta, through a mutual friend.
“When I formed the record label, I was scouting talent to put together a compilation album, and (Hopewell) popped up. Since then, I kicked everybody else off the label,” says Morgan, who runs the company with CEO Nelson Diaz, better known as “Nel Dog.”
“It was just too many people for me to deal with,” Morgan says. “So I narrowed it down to the moneymakers. Since then, a lot of things have turned around and we’ve been getting way more recognition with two people than we did when we had eight.”
“Low Key’s” musical interest was piqued as a middle-schooler when his uncle introduced him to the guitar. He fronted a few local rock bands and then retreated to a sound he was comfortable and familiar with:rap.
Twenty-six-year-old Morgan says he grew up listening to rap and hip hop. Rap started to become a popular form of entertainment in the late 1970s and early ’80s with New York rappers like the Sugar Hill Gang. As did many youngsters growing up then, Morgan got hooked.
“I was one of those kids who was pop-locking on the linoleum floor in the kitchen,”Morgan fondly remembers, “and beggin’ to see (the movie)‘Beat Street.’”
He says his, like many parents of teen-agers, didn’t pay much attention to his fascination with rap, but he took it seriously and started producing music in 1992.
Over the years, rap has evolved with technology. What started with vinyl albums and turntables has progressed to drum and beat machines that produce sounds that are recorded to a computer software program and can be burned on compact discs. And Morgan is keeping up with the times. His studio is filled with high-tech, music-making toys hooked up to a MacIntosh computer.
“We’re in the generation of convenience,” says Morgan, who is also a graphics/Web designer.
Hopewell says he is influenced by the styles of the Roots, OutKast and the Goodie Mob. And although Morgan says there are no artists who are a real influence on his music, his style is often compared to that of Eminem.
“I get compared to him, I think, only because he’s the quickest thing a person can think of, affiliating one white rapper to another white rapper,”Morgan says. “And he’s the most notorious white rapper.”
U.W.I’s sounds combine frank, and sometimes funny, lyrics with slick beats. The songs on “Rebirth”include “90 Barz,”which has been getting airplay on radio station Power 98, and “Get Crunk,”featuring rapper Titan, being played on 92.7 WCCJ.
“‘Get Crunk’ is like feeding people adrenaline,”Morgan says.
Though they have enlisted the services of a professional management company, the two have taken U.W.I. promotions into their own hands, with their Web site, www.mafiosorecords.8m.comand by burning short promotional CDs to give to “anyone who looks like they listen to hip hop”in a tactic they call “guerrilla warfare street promotions.”
“That’s us out there shamelessly promoting ourselves,”Morgan jokes. “If you don’t have the resources, you have to do it yourself.”
They’ve made their first few steps outside of Salisbury, doing shows with rappers the Lost Boyz and Mystikal in Florida. But their goal is to reach even further.
Although they do love what they do, Morgan and Hopewell are not business just for the love of the craft.
“I ain’t gonna lie, it’s about the money,”Morgan says.
“We’re trying to survive,”adds 22-year-old Hopewell, whose bread and butter is a job as assistant manager at Pizza Hut. “I’m an artist. I would love to spend more time in the studio, but I’ve got a kid and I’ve got bills.”
“When I was 19, I was making it for the love of the music,”Morgan says. “But as I get older, this has become what I do for a living. Yes, it’s about the money and if anybody tells you differently they either have no talent, or they’re rapping on street corners, doing it as a hobby.”
For now, producing records is making ends meet for Morgan. “I seem to be pulling it off, so I’m not out looking for another job yet.”
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