Managed to have fun last night.

1. It was hot.
2. There were about 15 acts that came on stage while all the while the host claimed Wale was coming up next.

What saved the night? Colin Monroe, Bobby Ray as well as Cameos from Killer Mike & T.I. The DJ wasn't a real DJ. That sucks. I'm kind of tired of seeing Serato/CDJ "DJ's" get up there and fumble around in the dark for tracks without an understanding of music, timing or how to mix.

The Host claimed to have hosted several parties here in ATL and could rip off a list of many venues but he didn't know any music from Atlanta dating before late 2007. I'm sorry, but when you say "Are we in ATL?????" and the only two artists you can think to ask for songs from the DJ to play are Jeezy and Gucci Mane with the DERTH of artists we have here in Atlanta and have had even in the past 2 to 3 years, that is just shameful.

It was hot.

I'm going to say it again because it can't be repeated enough: There were lackluster performances from filler acts, AND the DJ was off point. Thank goodness for Bobby Ray aka B.o.B and Colin Monroe. T.I, Killer Mike, Big Kuntry all had great cameos as did Playboy Tre. I can also attest to sleeping on Mums FP who had ME rocking. His production is terrific.

Haziq stepped out and did a few songs. He seems to be getting alot of love here in the Atlanta underground scene but I just didn't get it. I wasn't impressed, but maybe I need to sit down with his music and give it a strong listen. It's easy to be wrong when you first hear something new. That said, I'm a transplant. I make no bones about it. But the last thing I'm going to do when I'm in a city is shout out whatever city I'm from before I shout out the city that I'm in. That's just disrespect.


Bobby Ray. He was fantastic. I've seen him live about 5 times in the past calendar year and his show just continues to grow. He's added a guitarist and Drummer ALIen aka Ali Warren aka Alien1 who has played here in ATL with HEED, Era of The Stereograph, Spree Wilson, The Radiant Kidz, Dj Wreckineyez and other acts. The show is out of this world, really. If you read this blog often, you know what kind of energy Alien brings. I've only seen two leads be able to hang with him: Spree Wilson & B.o.B. aka Bobby Ray. Bobby Ray not only hung with ALIen but he seems to feed off that energy.

His show is leaps and bounds beyond where it was at A3C last year. Last year you could see that he had so much energy but with only a DJ backing him, there was nowhere for him to put it other than getting crunk on stage by himself. It didn't translate. The first time you saw him live, you could be blown away by his ENERGY. After that? You'd wonder why he had itat all. Not now. Now his show has balance because with live instruments he has a proper outlet for that energy. He has an energy twin in ALIen that he can spar with on stage as well. You could see the artistic glimpses of promise before from Bobby Ray with the Winehouse record and with songs like "Gangsta" you could see he wanted to bring music that actually says something to the people. The new Bobby Ray is a fully fleshed out visage of those promises. I couldn't be happier with his progression. I feel like we're witnessing greatness emerge.

T.I. came on stage and did a "freestyle" which tore the house down. I put freestyle in quotes because now-a-days so many people spit written rhymes. I can't tell if it was or not. Bobby Ray then followed with one of his own that was clearly a freestyle and just continued the energy. Mo Garland has been trying to put me up on Playboi Tre for like a year now. I was sleeping on him. Wow. He's a lot better than the first time I saw him at A-town day 2008. He's got prescence on the stage and rocked the mic well. He can actually spit lyrics, which is a welcomed relief in today's Atlanta Hip Hop scene where folks have reverted a bit to the stripped down, bare-bones lyricism of our not too recent BASS music past.


Once again, ATL shows that we have live artists that can do a great live show, and we also showed just how shallow of a pool of talent that can be at times. Overall it was certainly worth it because Bobby Ray and Colin Monroe were worth the price of admission.

While standing in the ticket line, I heard Yelawolf playing. I'm not sure if that was the DJ or a set. If it was a set, I'm kicking myself for missing it because he's one of my favorite acts in Atlanta.

Wale? Oh, I don't know what happened with his part. I got tired of clothing line commercials and filler acts so I left. I hear Bun B made a cameo during his set, though. I'd be mad about missing that had I not seen Bun B a few months ago.

And y'all know it had to have been wearing me thin for me to miss Wale. I've been blogging about him for 2 years.

Peace, family

Saturday night is a toss up, really.

You can either go to MJQ and catch the Foreign Exchange + Smalleyez, Darien Brockington, Stacy Epps and more OR...

Spree Wilson, Colin Monroe & Proton are playing Lenny's. Can't lose, huh?

Who is Colin Monroe? Find out more about him next week on Analogue Atlanta. Until then, here's a great introduction. His mixtape "Unsung Hero"