Interview with Nappy Roots
By: Where It Begins
Q. How do you feel about where the music is right now?
A. We like it. It’s always growing as we get older. Music means something different to us. Music means to us differently than the kids we think. It’s time for Hip-Hop to give some harmony to the older generations. Even on Netflix, you got shows like “The Evolution” that are really breaking down what Hip-Hop is. If you like something different, you can go to SoundCloud, we think this is a good time.
The time is good with Hip-Hop, we like to look at how it used to be called the golden era. When I was appreciative of what was going on, and now it’s the new era. Some people complain about how things change. It evolves, and the evolution of Hip-Hop is a dope thing to see and experience while we are living within it.
Q. What have you all been up to these days?
A. Working on life, and we still make music. We been making beer and getting into the craft beer to a place we all get. We can appreciate it and the diversity. The industry and different beers are changing the world.
Q. How did you get started with beer?
A. It started with liking beer and trying different flavors that turned into a business opportunity. We drank it, tried different brewers, went to different places, and it was all about us trying different beers that led to starting Atlantucky. That is our beer brewing company. We had 2 beers that we did with Monday Night Brewing. We tour 100 to 150 days out of the year. It started as going around the country. Before the shows we would go find a brewery. We visited about a hundred or more breweries over 5 or more years. We learned more by trying new flavors and brewing in the country. We went to cool places people would never go to. We got an opportunity with Monday Night Brewing to do our first beer called “Front Porch Parallel”. It sold out everywhere.
We found another revenue stream. Beer is something that will be around forever, even if we stop rapping, beer will still be around. If we can make that, we can still be creative as an artist. We saw it as a business opportunity and a passion project. Beer is sold everywhere. The beer industry is booming. It’s a $40 billion dollar industry a year. A lot of people are bringing the urban side to it. Nappy Roots are more than just a name on a can. We know how to make it.
Watermelon Chicken & Gritz is in about 4 states. Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana, and New York. The goal is to do a collaboration as well as travel, so we can do more meet and greets. We are also doing a T.V. show about it called “40 Akerz and a Brew”. Craft beer is about creativity and there’s a science to it.
Q. What is “Nappy Roots” doing differently?
A. Being “Nappy Roots” and doing beer is different. They need more diversity in Atlanta.
