Like most artists from Alabama, Kenny Thomas is proud of his state and proud of his peers in the industry. But also like most of them, he knows that Alabama has a long way to go before it gets to the promised land. I recently got to talk to Kenny about Alabama’s hip-hop industry. Read on to find out what he thinks are Alabama's biggest roadblocks to success and how they can be eliminated.
WHILE WEDEFINITELY HAVE a large pool of very talented artists here in Alabama, we're lacking in just about every other important area of the music business - business knowledge, quality music, unity, radio support - you name it. If you can think of it, we either don't have it, don't know enough about it or aren't taking full advantage of it. So how can we obtain, learn about and take advantage of those opportunities that are out there? Everybody has his own opinion. And Kenny Thomas is no exception.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST problems that Kenny sees for Alabama's hip-hop industry, is that there's not enough support amongst the artists. This is kind of a two-part problem that is made up of a lack of collaboration and a lack of unity.
First of all, our artists don't collaborate nearly enough. "Alabama artists need to do more songs together," says Kenny Thomas. That's not to say that nobody's collaborating. It's just that it's not being done enough.
How do you feel about the state of hip-hop as a whole?
It's real good right now.It could be better. It could be better as far as the subject matter and the whole culture dying. Because it's more of a business now. First it was more of a culture. It was more like ours.
But now it's big business. You got cereal commercials they rappin on. Wrestling. WWF. You got wrestlers rapping. So its like they think anybody can do it, but they can't.
But it's good right now. And if you're a good artist, you can stand out right now with your talent. All you need is some good music right now. And just grind. And it'll happen.
What do you feel about the future of hip-hop?
I don't know. I really can't say. It's so much going on. I don't know how it's gon' turn out. I don't know what these younger cats gon' bring to the table.
Do you think that internet will kill the full-length album?
Nah. I don't think so.
What do you think the record industry needs to do to make sure that it stays viable in the internet age?
That's a good question. I mean I don't think it's in a decline for real cause...you can be independent now. I mean for the people that think, 'Well I'm on a major label,' yeah, it might be in a decline with them.
But what artists gotta realize is you ain't gotta do everything everybody's doing on TV. Start off in your neighborhood. Go knock on everybody's door. Ask them to buy your CD.
You gotta do stuff different ways. You can't do everything Jay-Z does. Jay-Z [has already done] what [he's] done. He's gone. He's major-major. You can't follow in his footsteps or TI's footsteps. You gotta come up with your own things, your own ways. You gotta start off small, and go from there.
So I don't think it's declining. Not to me. But I don't know. That's just how I look at it. I think it's good right now.
So, it's more-so just change and not necessarily declining. Right?
Right. At first I was like, 'Man, they're doing all these dance songs. They're snapping. They're popping.' At first I was like that till I thought about [the fact that] it's always been dancing in hip-hop.
We always had Luke Skywalker, 2 Live Crew, Kilo, Afrika Bambaata. It's always been dancing. It's always been chains or stunting. You know what I’m saying? Or Slick Rick or Run DMC. They always had their chains on and rings. So it's just a cycle. It's just being done different.
Who are your favorite hip-hop artists outside of Alabama?
Outkast, Haystack...out of Tennessee, Nas. Who else? Goodie M.O.B. People like that. Not a lot. I don't listen to a lotta people that I did listen to anymore. I like Kanye. Before he started doing all this snapping and tripping out. Spazzing out.
Well, what do you think about Kanye and his spazzing out?
Man, I don't know what's going on with Kanye, man. He might need some help. I just believe he just need some help. You know what I'm saying. He'll be alright. He need a shoulder to lean on. Give that man some help.
"I get artists all the time [saying], 'I want to do a song with you,' [but] I want to do a song with everybody over this way," he tells me. "That's the only way we gon' do it. That's how Atlanta did it. That's how Texas did it. Florida. Everybody had their own little movement."
For another thing, there is a lack of togetherness in Alabama's hip-hop scene. For example, "You got your 'Alabama Kings'. You got your 'Gods of Alabama', Your 'Mr. Alabama's'," says Kenny before mentioning the 'I'ma make it first' and 'I'ma put Alabama on the map' mentality that many artists have.
And to add insult to injury, not all artists are out there representing the state as a whole. "When some of these artists get on, they don't even say 'Alabama'. They'll say their city. Alabama is too small for you to just represent just your city like that. We don't need to segregate no more."
Kenny feels that not much good can come of this segmentation. "What will happen is Alabama will become a fad... It's like it's a joke. It's like, 'Oh, he from Alabama. Oh that's a joke. Y'all ain't ever did nothing. Y'all don't even help each other.'
OKAY. NOW HERE'S A touchy subject, but it needs to be said: stop biting ATL's style. If you want to represent The Bama, then you need to be Bama.
"We got our own culture, our own slang, our own swag, but the artists don't use it. Everybody's following Atlanta," Kenny complains. "Until that stops, I don't think we gon' really stand out. It's a lot of talent, but we just don't do our own thing for real. Just to be brutally honest. I might catch a lot of flack for that, but it's the truth."
ANOTHER BIG PROBLEM FOR Alabama's artists is a lack of business acumen. "We don't have the knowledge yet of what to do for real. I had to go to Atlanta to get the big picture of how the industry is [run]." And while moving to the center of things might be helpful, it's really not necessary.
According to Kenny, one of the best ways for artists to learn the business is to read. "What black people don't want to do," he says. "You gotta read about [the business].... It ain't about rapping, 'I can rap'. You gotta know the business for real."
And nobody's saying you have to devote your whole life to reading. Just a little bit here and a little bit there will do.
"You [don’t have to] sit there and read a whole book in one day," he says. "Every now and then, pick up a magazine. Pick up a book. Pick up a Billboard magazine. It's a lot of knowledge in there. They're gon' tell you a lot. So you'll know what you should be doing. If not, you won't make it for real. You gotta read." But if you just can't get into the reading thing, remember this one thing: "everything's on the internet. All you gotta do is punch it in, and look it up."
LASTLY, THERE SHOULD BE no faking and no taking shorts. "It ain't no shortcuts. That's what everybody's got to realize...You can do all the gimmicks you want," he says. "You can do all the gimmick songs you want to do; pay for all the magazine ads you want; pay for all the radio play you want." But at the end of the day, if you don't have true talent, you won't get far. "Yeah, you might get on for like a month, two months, but within the next 6 months, you're gone. Your ass is outta here. [That’s] what I call a microwave rapper. You’re in and you’re out.”
EVEN WITH ALL THE things we lack here in Alabama, Kenny Thomas still has positive feelings about our hip-hop industry. In fact, that lack is one of the things that will eventually get us into the big time. According to him, one of the best things about being an artist from Alabama is that it makes you hungrier.
"In Alabama, artists don't have all the opportunities for exposure that artists in other cities have. "We ain't got no DJ Clues. We ain't got no DJ Drama," he says. "We ain't got all the major venues [and] the big shows every day of the week. We ain't got all the open mics every day of the week, so we hungry over here in Bama." He continues, "[You've] got a lot more to work for. A lot more to look forward to. It's harder, so it makes you stronger. You gotta grind harder."
I ask Kenny Thomas what he thinks about Alabama's hip-hop industry, and he tells me, "It's growing...slowly." But he has no doubts that we'll catch up. "I think it's gon' get better and bigger," he says. "Cause they know. They know we got talent over here." Kenny's last bit of advice for artists who want to make it from Alabama to the big-time is simple and to the point. "Just keep grinding, start working together more, and we'll get there."
