It would seem that there are like 7 or 9 layers to it.

By "it" I mean the ATL 'Urban' (whatever that is) music scene. You have the Acts that originate from the AUC- people that either went to Morris Brown, Clark, Morehouse and Spelman or just hung out and performed in that area. This would inlcude artists from Janelle Monae and DJ Drama to Polow tha Don, Qualm Scott, Brian Michael Cox, Wale Oyejide and Akon. There is a defined north metro scene, an Emory scene which helped birth past groups like LOA, A Transplant scene downtown, A south metro scene, Decatur, A Bohemian scene centered in the Old Ying-Yang, Sugarhill, Apache and the Afrikan Djeli as well and many, many others. In this stylistic scrum of sounds, influences, content and imagery we have Atlanta music. It's the reason why we can dominate popular, underground, heatseaking, hipster and college radio charts with groups from Collective Efforts to Rocko and Usher. It's amazing, really. When you think about the cross-pollination bearing fruit like Gnarls Barkley (both Danger Mouse and Ceelo hail from Atlanta, although DM got NO love at all while he lived here and made music at UGA) or even unsung acts like Heavy Mojo, SunToucher, Jaspects or Atlas Sound, it's inspiring. What is even more inspiring at times are artists that noone has even heard of that continue to grind. Some sell out, yes, however it could be argued that the instant you treat your art as a product, you've sold out. Others just continue to do what they do best in hopes of securing a deal like Mike Wright or in this case feared Westside Atlanta underground Battle Rapper Reggie P otherwise known as Black Boy. Maybe he's destined to forever be a battle rapper. Writing songs is a different animal from the battle/freestyle scene, but there is no doubt he has talent.