By Black Dog Bone

You recently dropped a new album, Dirty Game Part 2. What kind of response have you been getting?

It dropped November 7, 2002, and we been burnin the streets up with it. Everybody’s been waitin on this since the last one we did, the Dirty Game 1. When we put out this Dirty Game 2/Still Dirty we been getting a great response. That’s just how we do anyway, A-Dam-Shame, me and my two cousins. We been doin it like this forever, so it come easy to us.

Who’s distributing it for you?

Well, Trumpp Tight Records, that’s our label. And we got a distribution deal through Select-O-Hits in Memphis.

This is your second album?

It’s our third album. We did one called Revelations. That was our first one. We dropped it just in around Atlanta. We have Too Short on there and UGK.

How did that one do?

It was cool. We got what we wanted out of it. We just put it out there like bait and the people bit. We didn’t really have no distribution, but by word of mouth. The underground is what really made us, so it’s always love from there.

Originally A-Dam-Shame is from the Memphis area. When you put that first record out were you already in Atlanta?

We was in Atlanta. We came to Atlanta tryin to get us on. We left Tennessee together. At that time 8Ball and them was in Houston, it wasn’t no Rap scene in Memphis like it is now. Atlanta was hot so we came down here and tried to get on. That was about ’95, ’96 when we got down here. I’m from Somerville, Tennessee, that’s right outside of Memphis, and then Lil Walt and Gauge, they from Jackson, Tennessee.

At that time there wasn’t too much going on in Memphis?

No. Gangsta Blac, Playa Fly, Al Kapone—everybody was doin they thang. Skinny Pimp was doin his thang, Three-6 was really just gettin on. But nobody was tryin to notice Memphis then. Everybody was stealin styles and shit. People in different areas was takin what we were hearin forever—what Skinny and Al Kapone was doin back in ’91 and ‘92—and runnin with it. They was hatin from different regions, not givin Memphis our props. So we was like, let’s get on down and see what’s happenin in Atlanta, it was like the new Motown.

Would you say A-Dam-Shame has more of a Memphis sound or an Atlanta sound to your music?
I can’t describe our style as a Memphis style or Atlanta style. It’s more like a Universal Gangsta sound. Our style is just Gangsta. Either way you gonna take it. Back then Atlanta wasn’t really Gangsta, back 7-8 years ago. Everybody that was Gangsta was underground. Atlanta had the Gangsta shit, but it wasn’t out there. We was lookin up to folks like Scarface and Lil J and Rap-A-Lot, Eazy E. We came up on that. Of Run DMC and all them, that was where we got started, but once we started hearin people from the South puttin it down, then we was like "Shit that’s the shit we do." That’s what we related to.

How was it when you moved to Atlanta? Was it hard for you to get your footing in there?

It was hard. When we first got here we had a crib and we paid the first month’s rent, and we didn’t have no second month’s rent. We was doin dirt in the streets. We was like, "Doin dirt in the streets is why we can’t make it." So we said we ain’t gonna do the dirt, we just gonna start on the music. Once we started concentratin on the music instead of doin wrong so much things started comin together. We hooked up with our label, Trumpp Tight Records.

Who owns Trumpp Tight Records? Is that your own label?

No, Trumpp Tight Records is owned by B-Dog Freeman and JD Edwards. That’s the label right there. They was just lookin for talent. They was doin they thang, but they wasn’t runnin into the right people. They ran into us and we just clicked from there. Real recognized real.

You got your big break when you hooked up with Trumpp Tight?

Yeah, cause we was just goin from place to place, tryin to get people to hear us. My potnas G and Phil from Detroit, they had a rim shop down on Peachtree. We was dealin with them, but they was so busy, they was workin with big names, so they told us they knew some folks that might wanna work with us. So Trumpp Tight came down and checked us out. From then on it was on.

How did the second record, Dirty Game 1, do for you?

It’s like the game was still dirty. OK, we got a little fame and notoriety off the first one, but regardless how big you get in any game it’s still dirty. This whole world is dirty. You just gotta take your part. It’s like it couldn’t be no other way. The next album might be called Dirty Game 3/Filthy.

What are you trying to do with your music? Are you trying to entertain people? Teach people?

We doin it all. Just by the name of the album we’re lettin people know about the game. No matter what you do in your lifetime it’s gonna be a dirty game. From politics to government, entertainment, sports, whatever you dealin with, the game’s dirty. We might be hustlin on some songs, talkin about what we do in the streets, but then we come with something positive, a light at the end of the tunnel. Like, listen to what I say, I made mistakes, I went to jail, somebody got robbed, don’t go this same route.

Do you see things getting better in the future or is it going to get worse?

Maaan. The way of the world, you never know. You just gotta be patient. You live one day at a time. Money is the root of all evil. It’s gonna always be dirty. You just gotta balance, choose the right road. Sometimes you might choose the wrong one. You gotta go on. The whole meaning of our name, A-Dam-Shame, is how our parents saw us. Like you fallen on your ass, you quit school, you a damned shame. What we doin with A-Dam-Shame is tryin to take something negative and turn it into something positive by makin something with this music. Only way it’s gonna get better is if we make it something.

I just wanted to ask you, because different people do music for different reasons.

Like when we talkin about hustlin everybody look at us like we glorifyin hustlin, but we ain’t glorifying. It’s good parts of hustlin and it’s bad parts of hustlin. It all comes with the territory. I’m gonna tell you I did this and I fucked up. Hustlin ain’t no glamour, you gotta take it upon yourself to make the hustle work.

What about the music side? Do you work with different producers or do your own music?

Once everything get to rollin you will hear production from A-Dam-Shame. But right now we’re just connecting with folks, tryin to make moves. On this album we worked with Nitty, he did some stuff for 8Ball. We got some tracks from Shawty Red. Then my homeboy Derrick Liggons 1-2-1, he from Tennessee, he did a lotta production for us on the first Dirty Game too. He tight. He’s up and comin, but he’s a force to be reckoned with. We got with him. Then my homeboy Bar-None from Nashville, he did a track. And Mr. Ku from Decatur, he’s a Decatur legend, he did a track.

Where do you sell most your music, in the South?

We been checkin Sound-scan, and the South really support us cause that’s where we from, but anybody that hear our music gonna feel it, no matter where you from. Cause we spittin it real and we come with skills. Just cause you can rhyme dog with fog don’t mean you can rap. You gotta be able to say something, you gotta put more into this shit.

You got so many rappers out there just filling up the space. They don’t have anything to say.

It’s disgusting man. Everybody wanna rap just to get they paper. A lotta people just wanna get some fame, but people want some music they can feel and relate to. A lotta rappers just takin Rap for a gimmick—OK, it’s hot, just put something out there and get the money. But it ain’t really about the money. Cause I could hustle and do better than what I’m doin with Rap. It’s all about sayin something. Niggaz wanna be remembered by "he’s sayin something, he might not be rich as another person, but they saying shit that’s way deeper than another person." I wanna say something that will carry on for years and years.

What have you been listening to lately?

I been hearin some good stuff Down South. Scarface, his last album was tight. People needed that in the Rap game. I been listening to E-40—he’s from the West Coast, but he always lays it down. Lil’ Flip been puttin it down. Lil’ Flip, Underground Legend, that shit’s ballin. Then Three 6, they gonna always put it down. If you puttin it down and you real, no matter what region you from, we gonna feel it. There’s folks that’s representin in ATL and we down with that as long as you keep it fresh. Lil Jon keepin shit fresh. Trick Daddy, his shit last year was tight. David Banner, he puttin it down from Mississippi. We boarder states. And UGK—give a shout out to my nigga Pimp C, he locked up. Bun B’s still layin it down. 8Ball & MJG still doin it.That’s another legend right there. Pimp C put us on at the beginning when he did that song with him, him and Too Short.

How did you get your sound? What makes you different from the Atlanta and the Memphis sounds?
It ain’t so different cause we deal with a lotta Atlanta producers. The sound ain’t so different, it’s in the lyrics. Our lyrics are different cause we sit down and take time when we write. It’s all about what you say. You can get in the club and get someone crunk by hollerin and screamin, but did they get a message ‘bout what you sayin? Can they live by your words? That’s what it’s really about.

Do you have a crunk sound?

We have that, we got crunk songs. That comes straight from Tennessee. That’s just part of us. Even before Three 6, Tennessee was just crunk anyway. Gangsta walk and all that, it’s still like that. Triggaman and all that shit, Al Kapone came with the "Lyrical Drive-by". We got all that in us. We do songs where we talk about the women. And all women ain’t women, some of them bitches. We talk about all that.

Did you feel like you did what you wanted with this new album? Are you happy with the out come?

Yeah, with whatever we put out we lookin at the big picture. Like we ain’t even scratched the surface. We just lettin y’all see what niggaz got. We ain’t even hurt y’all yet. We just getting a feel of the industry. And we ain’t sellin our songs just to be famous. We doin our way. It’s slow, but it’s for sho’.

BG
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