ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova of G-Side (Photo: Matt McGinley)
Aerospace hub Huntsville, Alabama, used to be about seeing stars. Thanks to G-Side and the rest of a tight-knot rap community, it's now about making them.
More From SPIN's December 2011 Issue:
• Live from the New Underground: SPIN Celebrates Hip-Hop's DIY Moment
• Odd Future: The New Underground's Loud Family Goes on the Road
• An Insanely Obsessive Infographic Tries (in Vain) to Diagram the Hip-Hop Galaxy
"There it is," says ST, easing his beige Chrysler Concorde onto I-565 in Huntsville, Alabama. "The motherfuckin' rocket."
Just off the highway, a 363-foot-tall white Saturn V points toward the heavens, a beacon for visitors to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. The Saturn V, manufactured here in the 1960s, powered all six NASA missions to the moon and still holds a storied place in the city's imagination.
Photo: Jason Nocito (click to enlarge)
"We ride past the rocket to test records out," says ST, who is one-half of the Huntsville rap duo G-Side. "That's what the city made its money off of."
In 1940, Huntsville, Alabama, was a town of 13,000, but when World War II ended, the city became home to the military's missile development program, and later NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "Rocket City," as it came to be known, is one of the nation's foremost technology hubs: Today, 180,000 people live here, sprawled across 200 square miles in north Alabama. The city's wide streets are lined with the sorts of strip malls, chain restaurants, and car dealerships that have erased the charms of small-town life everywhere, so it's easy to get caught up in the symbolic import of the Saturn V. The cover for G-Side's 2008 album, Starshipz and Rocketz, lays it out: The rocket rises toward the stars while two young black kids point to it, as if to say, We're following that motherfucker out of here. Across four albums, this has been the underlying theme not only for G-Side, but for the whole shockingly vibrant rap scene that has grown up here in the last decade.
Along with the G-Side duo of ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova, whose fifth album, Island, is out in November on the Huntsville-based Slow Motion Soundz, there is a gaggle of talented rappers who either call Huntsville home or did until recently, including the PRGz, Jackie Chain, Kristmas, Bentley, S.L.A.S.H., 6 Tre G, the Cole Boyz, and Zilla. Two veteran local producers, CP and Mali Boi, collectively known as the Block Beattaz, have provided music and guidance for these artists and have groomed a second generation of Huntsville producers that includes P.T., Bossman, R Dot, DJ Cunta, and Cees.
Most striking is not the quantity of music coming from Huntsville, but the quality. The Block Beattaz routinely match delicate, surprising samples (Enya, indie rockers Beach House, and Tame Impala) with airy electronics and trunk-rattling beats, creating a sonic tapestry that, at its best, adds emotional depth to rappers' verses — whether it's Jackie Chain's unrepentant hedonism, Kristmas' playful working-man laments, or the Cole Boyz's militant spirituality. This is less club music than riding music — a reflection of the city's enduring automobile obsession. And it's thoughtful riding music; Huntsville rappers often make staring into the cosmos feel pretty hardcore. As ST puts it on the haunting, poignant "Y U Mad," "The stars look so bright / When you come from a city with no lights."
Kristmas (Photo: Matt McGinley)
And Huntsville's rap scene is a genuine scene: The main players work, party, compete, argue, and learn together. Their successes, by mainstream standards, have been modest so far — critical acclaim, brief major-label flings, fleeting appearances on MTV and BET. But that's only fueled their underdog ethos. What they've built they've built themselves, by combining old-fashioned street hustle with considerable Internet savvy.
"In a city like this, all you get is small wins," says Codie G., G-Side's manager, Slow Motion Soundz's GM, and Huntsville's most indefatigable promoter. "If I see somebody here get some success, I feel like that's my success. All the things we're doing now are just seeds. We keep watering them and they grow."
