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All the Way Live (ATW)…in H-Town
Posted by illCamille on November 13th, 2008 2 Comments Printer-Friendly
“Say No to Wack Rappers” is a slogan that has become more of a doctrine for this undisputedly un-wack duo of Houston-bred emcees
When two southerners form a rap-group you know something great is bound to happen. Case in point, Big-Boi & Andre 3000. 8-Ball & MJG. Bun B & Pimp C (R.I.P Chad) and I guess you could count Big Pooh+Phonte minus 9th. They all managed to stay true to “The Dirty” and used their music to transcend the Mason-Dixon line…the Prime Meridian and any other line you can think of. They were nothing short of legendary if you ask any music connoisuer. Perhaps that is why the partnership between Houston,Texas’ emcees Montana and Church , could only be called a match made in hip hop. No homo.
“We got back to the music and decided we needed to go all the way with it. That was it man. The name just fit.“-Church
“Sumuda Time”
Let’s trek down to Houston aka ”H-town”. Land of plenty. Gold-grills, promethazine sippin’ and wood-grain grippin’ opportunities at your fingertips. Atleast that’s what Mike Jones told you. Right? Perhaps we were all mislead to believe that the only thing a Houston rapper could offer us was hospitality and candy-painted creativity. It’s just cause we didn’t know that ATW existed. If you listen to Montana’s emceeing (and production) it would make sense to you why his style is the product of both San Andres,Columbia and Houston’s southwest side. He has an exotic flow to say the least. Beyond that, they both just have an ecclectic, very quick-to-switch-it-up-on-you type of style and that’s evident from the variety of instrumentals they chose to use. Some Lupe. Some Estelle. They have a laundry list of influences and it seemed to have nutured their limitless lyricism.
Church’s cleverness on the tracks have you convinced that hook singin’ should be considered the 6th element of hip hop. Perusing their myspace page and nodding my head to “This is It Love”,ATW’s rendention of Camp Lo’s “Luchini” ,it occurred to me that I just might enjoy their R&B-ish version as much as the original.
After sleeping on the first three of their mixtape releases, the current project D.A.R.E: Don’t Abuse the Rap Epidemic is one to wake the ears and mind. - Arize Magazine
Discography
Singles:
Take it to the Room
Mixtapes:
D.A.R.E. the mixtape
So Pohpihlaer
Photos
Bio
With the social climate being what it is today, it has been said that hip hop is not present in the South. It has been assumed that all Houston rap consists of simple catchy songs lacking the creativity that once prevailed in the art of rap. Every so often a group of trailblazers must come along to break up the monotony and set a new standard for hip hop. Evolution is only natural and the next step is to go all the way.
Atw’s music is very creative and original, and can only be described as the evolution of hip hop. The group consists of two MC’s; Church (a Houston native), and Montana (born in San Andres Isla and raised in Houston). The two artist fuse together a cocktail of memorable hooks, outstanding lyrical agility, and thought provoking subject matter that will have listeners intrigued from go, and is sure to make this group a stand out in hip hop. Their first single “Take it to the Room” is nothing more than a product of improvisational creativity. “the sample was crazy” says Church “the whole process took about an hour, it came out so naturally we knew it was right.” “It feels like all these years have we have been refining our skills to get to this level, just like a sniper that trains for years for that one shot… this is our shot” states Montana.
Now they have committed themselves to giving the public something refreshing, progressive, personal, and unlike anything else out. ATW is finally ready to present not only their work, but themselves to the world.
Links
