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TREY SONGZPage 10

FEATURESPAGE 4 MAC BRE- Z

PAGE 7 ANGIE STONE

PAGE 10 TREY SONGZ

PAGE 11 JANIRO HAWKINS [SEA AWARDS]

PAGE 12 DAT BOY TRAGICPAGE 14 MUDDY SIPP BOYSPAGE 16 LIL’ SHANEPAGE 17 MISSISSIPPI MENACEPAGE 23 T.I.C. / DICK JAMES / U.T.H.PAGE 24 MAKNOLIA BOYZPAGE 26 JOHNSON BOYPAGE 29 BIG SANT

EDITORIALSPAGE 6 HEALTH MATTERS

Low Levels of Exercise Can Drive Down

Blood Pressure

PAGE 9 PUBLISHER’S POINTImage IS Everything

SPECIALPAGE 13 THE NEW POWER CHICK

KAJUANA [ Memphis, TN]

PAGE 18 NORTH MISSISSIPPI DJsPAGE 19 CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI DJsPAGE 18 LET’S FACE ITPAGE 20 DID YOU KNOW ?

Top 10 Southern Cities For Small Businesses

PAGE 22 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI DJs

Kajuana - Page 13

04 I The New Power I WWW.NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM

Reppin’ The Power

Doc 6, Aaron Colom, Brandon Colom, Tracy Gunn,Dub G., Kevin Gordon, Alan Harrison, Keeno, JohnAdkins, DJ Maximum, Ambassador’s Way, BernardWren,Red Billa, CD Cellar, Antonio Rogers, Bigg V., Be-Bop Records, Soufside, DJ Xmas, Kerrold Ellis, DerrickPettiway, DJ Finesse, Mr. Dilligence, DJ Break Em Off,Steve Smooth, Lil Half Ounce, & Alfredo Cardona

Publisher / Editor-In-Chief Anthony Colom

(Colom Media Group, LLC)

Managing EditorKevin Gordon

Music EditorAlan Harrison

Director of Marketing & PromotionBobby Colvin, Jr.

Graphics EditorsJoe DentDub G.

Artist ResearchValerie Greer

AdvertisingAnthony Colom

Relationship ColumnistNia Colom-Blackmon

Cover GraphicsGregory Spencer at misvisiongraphics.com

ReviewsJimmy Biggs, Kevin “K.G.” Gordon, Alan Harrison, Ty Jones, & V-Style

ContributorsCharlie Braxton, James Johnson, La’Juanda Knight,Singersroom.com, and Urbanconnectionz.Com

The views and opinions expressed in this publication arenot necessarily the views and opinion of Colom MediaGroup, LLC, The New Power Magazine, nor any of ouradvertisers. Colom Media Group, LLC does not claim anyresponsibility for stories, photographs, interviews, audio, video, nor any other advertising or promotional materialsent to us that has been misrepresented. The New Powerand the diamond fist are both trademarks of Colom MediaGroup, LLC. This publication may not be reproducedin whole norin part without the written permission of thepublisher. Copyright © 2008, Colom Media Group, LLC.All Rights Reserved.

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Trey Songz photos courtesy Atlantic Records

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ven low levels of weekly exercise can drive down blood pressure and boost over-all fitness according to new research from the University of Ulster.

The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, revealsthat even 30 minutes of moderate exercise, three times a week, can significantly lowerblood pressure and increase fitness levels.

Over 100 healthy but sedentary civil servants between the ages of 40 and 60 took part in the study,which involved adopting an exercise program for 12 weeks, with no changes in diet.

The group was divided into three, with one group assigned 30 minutes of brisk walking for five daysa week, another group 30 minutes of brisk walking for three days a week and the remainder were notasked to change their current lifestyle.

Pedometers were used to help participants monitor their walking and every participant recorded howlong they walked for.

Dr Mark Tully, from the Health and Rehabilitation SciencesResearch Institute at UU said: "We recorded blood pressure,blood cholesterol, weight, hip and waist girth, and overall fit-ness at the start and finish of the 12-week study.

"Our findings showed that systolic blood pressure and waistand hip girth fell significantly in both groups of walkers.Overall fitness also increased.

"Falls of a few millimetres in blood pressure and shrinkage of afew centimetres in hip and waist circumference areenough to make a difference to an individual's risk of dying froma cardiovascular disease.

"Furthermore, the findings show that moderate intensityphysical exercise below the recommended levels (30 minutesof moderately strenuous exercise on at least five days of theweek), still makes a difference to health."

ULSTER UNIVERSITYYork StreetBelfastBT15 1EDwww.ulst.ac.uk

Source: medicalnewstoday.com

Low Levels Of Exercise Can Drive Down Blood Pressure

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HEALTH WATCHHEALTH MATTERS

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o begin by talkingto me about what’sbeen going on.Now I know that ofcourse you didCelebrity Fit Club,and that tooksome time, but

what else has been going on?Angie Stone: For the most part, I’vejust been being me. Working veryhard, and trying to come up. I’vebeen working on getting into TV andfilm, or I’ll say doing more TV andfilm. OK. I felt like I was able toreally get to know you by watch-ing you on Fit Club, and overall,you seemed like the type of per-son who is extremely family-ori-ented; so naturally, I figuredyou’d just been taking time awayto spend time with the kids andfamily. Angie Stone: Exactly, that’sdefinitely me. I’m actually out now,driving, on my way to see my kidsright now. So tell me about yoursigning with Stax? Angie Stone:Well yes, I recently got with Stax. Iasked for a release from my con-tract with J. Records. I just felt like itwas time. They have way too manypeople being signed to J. Records.I’ve been there for eight years. Aftertime spent like that, you sort ofbecome furniture. They begin to getnew furniture, and then you becomea couch for everyone else. I real-ized that there was a lack of atten-tion, and it was necessary for me tomove on. So tell me about thisalbum Angie? Angie Stone: Let metell you something sweetie, thisalbum is so fresh. I feel sorenewed. How much of the albumhave you heard? I’ve only heard

the single “Baby” with BettyWright, and that alone, soundslike you’re just so happy withwhat you’re doing now. Yousound like an entirely new per-son. It’s like, your last albumswere wonderful, but this is bril-liant. Angie Stone: Absolutely. It’sincredible. With this album, I workedwith James Ingram on a song called“My People”, Pauletta Washingtonis on the album as well. I alsoworked with a guy name Chino whois up and coming in the industry,and he just wanted a chance toshine. This album is just really in amuch better space, and it’s soamazing. I was able to record thisalbum in it’s entirety in Marvin’sRoom, which was Marvin Gaye’sstudio. I used HIS equipment. Ihave always admired Marvin Gaye.His daughter and wife gave me theblessing of recording in his studio.They said that he loved my music.So it was a wonderful experience.Let’s move onto production. Theproduction on the album is bang-ing! Who all did you work with?Angie Stone: I worked withJonathan Richman, Edrith Elbert,and a guy by the name of CoKeith.The reviews for the album havebeen amazing thus far. Right now, itseems to me the number one mostanticipated album coming out. Godhas definitely been in my favor. Sotalk about the release date? AngieStone: The release date was origi-nally scheduled for September25th, but as you know, Alicia Keys,Jill Scott, Keyshia Cole, and a fewothers were all coming out on thatday. You just really want to haveyourself positioned properly to do

the best that you can. We changedthe release date to October 16. Theonly thing with that though, is thatnow, we won’t be eligible forGrammy nominations with thisbecause we released afterSeptember 25th. We tried reallyhard to get around that though, bysecuring the digital release of thealbum. A few weeks can affect alot of things. I think this is reallygoing to be the album that’s goingto grab everyone’s attention. OK,now other things you’ve beeninto..... Celebrity Fit Club! I’msure you made the best out ofthat experience, but honestly,you didn’t really receive that fairof a shot. Or it seemed like theywere really being hard on youat times. Angie Stone: Yeah, but alot of it was planned on theirend, because they have to makethe show interesting enough forpeople to watch. Looking at all ofthe people that have been on thatshow, it is easily associated withfolks that are done and washed up.Their careers are basically over andhanging on by a thread, but I don’tbelieve anyone in the world couldsee you like that. So why on earthdid you go on there? Angie Stone:You know, they begged me to comeon that show. It really didn’t seemlike that big of a deal to me, until Igot screamed at by D’Angelo.These people are washed up!But it was a good thing in the end. Ilost some weight on there. I justwant everybody to see that this is anew beginning for me, and I have awhole new team.

The Art Of Love And WarWords: James Johnson Photo: Marc Baptiste

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PUBLISHER’S POINT

Image IS Everythingby Anthony Colom

ometimes the lessons we’re taught in life aren’t handed down to us by the wise oldlady or man. Sometimes they come from those whom we are least likely to expect.The “They” that I’m referring to are children.

My six-year-old son recently made me think about something that I guess I never real-ly paid much attention to. He, like myself, is a big wrestling fan (I guess it’s in theblood). Yeah, I know it’s fake, but it’s still funny. It’s like watching a comedy series with

bad acting. But anyway, since he was about 4, his mother, uncles, aunts, and I have been buying himthe wrestling action figures. He has about 50 or 60 of em. No joke ! For Christmas all he wanted waswrestling-themed toys.

My son doesn’t refer to African-American people as black people; we’re all brown to him. If I say black,he’ll say “Naw daddy he’s brown.” That’s his observation. We never taught him that. In his eyes, peo-ple are either brown or white.

Anyway, I noticed that out of the 50 to 60 wrestlers that he had, he only had 3 African-Americanwrestlers. We were in Wal - Mart so I tried to persuade him to pick up one of the “brown” wrestlers.He said he didn’t want it. When I asked why, he told me that he didn’t like the brown wrestlers causehe liked the white wrestlers better. I immediately got pissed off and asked him what he meant. He said, “I just don’t like the brown wrestlers.” Here is this six-year-old African-American boy with African-American parents saying he doesn’t like brown wrestlers. I know it has nothing to do with the waywe’re raising him. We don’t direspect any race of people; especially black folk. His kindergarten class-room at school is probably 75 - 80 % African-American. His school is probably 60% African-American.Can’t be that. The only thing I can see it could be is television.

His favorite t.v. shows are That’s So Raven, Corey in the House, and Hannah Montana. As usual, mostt.v. shows geared toward young children have predominately-white casts with the token black or brownface. 2 of his 3 favorite shows have African-American stars, with only Raven having a predominately-black cast. As with wrestling, most of the performers are white. Maybe that’s it; not enough black andbrown faces.

I told him that I wouldn’t be watching wrestling with him anymore. He asked me why. I said becausethey’re not promoting black and brown people like the should. Of course he didn’t understand; he’sonly six. He knows nothing about promotion. Then he said, “I’m sorry, I’ll get a brown wrestler.” I toldhim that he wouldn’t be getting it because he really wanted it, but just to make me happy. I haven’twatched wrestling since, and I don’t encourage him to watch it either.

In all these years nothing has really changed much in televison and the motion picture industry. Haveu noticed that since Denzel and Halle won the Oscar that more blacks are starting to win. Yeah, we’vebeen great all along. When a movie contains a predominately-black cast it’s called a black movie. Whyaren’t predominately-white-casted movies called white movies. They’re just movies.

We as black people tend to let the media and entertainment industry define who we are and how wesee ourselves. As a parent, I’ve got to counter every negative with a positive to ensure that my chil-dren don’t get confused and caught up in believing that one race of people dictate the way the worldshould look and how they should view themselves.

When it comes to children who haven’t lived long enough to know any better, Image IS Everything.

(662) 251-0075 WWW.NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM I The New Power I 09

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s there a certain themeyou’re going for onTrey Day as opposed to Gotta Make It?

Trey: Yeah, it’s Trey Day(laughs).

Now you have made it, sowhat are the differences?

Trey: In a lot of people’seyes I might havemade it butI’m still doing my thing. But atthe same time I feel like TreyDay is going to be a represen-tation of grow th. It’s been acouple of years since my firstalbum and I got a lot of loyalcore fans. I feel like the firstalbum was an introduction andnow we’re off into it. “Ya’ll knowwho I am so let me get loosewith it.”

How are you getting loosewith it on this album?

Trey: I’m very proud of it. I triedto think outside the box in a lotof cases. On production we gotTroy Taylor, we got Brian Cox,Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, R.Kelly. We got a great cast ofproducers that brought the bestout of me and it shows growth.

Do you feel like you’veevolved on this album?

Trey: It’s been two years. I’mtwenty-two now. Not to saythat’s old but I was younger andI have been singing a lot more.My voice has gotten a lotstronger and I’ve been exercis-ing it. We recorded a lot ofsongs for this project. In the process I think my singing hasbeen taken to another level.

What was your life like beforeyour career took off? Wherewere you working?

Trey: I was trying to get into thegame. When I got my deal I was nineteen. I was fresh out

of high school. I moved to NewYork right after high school, wellNew Jersey. I moved in withTroy Taylor. I started pursuingthis as soon as I moved in withhim. I was sleeping in his base-ment and waking up doingmusic and studying music.That’s just what it was for me.

Is it true that your mom toldyou that you had a year tomake it and then after thatyou would have to go toschool?

Trey: Yeah…They said I had togo to school or get a job orsomething (laughs).

Were you nervous on yourjourney to making it? Were you worried at all?

Trey: I was cool (laughs).

You didn’t have any worriesabout it not h a p p e n i n gfast enough?

Trey: Once I decided this whatI was gonna do, I never lookedback. My momma giving me a

I was gonna do, I neveryear was cool. She was stilldoing what she could do forme. I didn’t have no job so shewas still sending me moneywhen she could. A lot of myfriends were in school. I’m outhere pursuing this music thing.So sometimes it did weighdown on me like it wasn’t hap-pening hella fast. But when Ilook back on it, It did happenhella fast.

You have worked with someJapanese artists as well. Whydid you decide to crossover?

Trey: I don’t know if it’s impor-tant for anybody else but I’mnot going to limit myself to theUnited States.

Does the audience give you adifferent feel?

Trey: It’s most definitely differ-ent because half of these peo-ple don’t know English. I don’tconform for them. They love mefor who I am so I go and do me.

NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM 10

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TREY SONGZTrey Day

Words : La’Juanda Knight

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Hang Em High Productions

Awards5th Annual

Southern EntertainmentWords: Alan Harrison / Photo: Janiro Hawkins

LET’S FACE ITWHOSE FACE IS THIS ?

Answer on Page 25

The SEA Awards have beenaround for five years, what’sbehind the events success ?

Janiro: The support from every-one: nominees, previous winners.It shows that there is a reason ofcourse behind what we are doing.It is the MUSIC that drives it. Italso gives an opportunity for peo-ple in general and consumers tohave a say in something. Thework that We put in onthis event 12 months ayear, 24 hours a dayhelps. That has a lot todo with the success.

What do you andyour staff think willput the SEA Awardson the same level asthe other majoraward shows?

Janiro: Honestly, wefeel that because of thesupport and bringing peopletogether in the South, bringing dif-ferent artists and talents togetherwith the support of everyone, weare already there, if not ahead ofthem. Rarely a lot of events cansay people can come out and net-work and build with one another.It is all for the love of music.

Are there any other projectsrelated to the awards show youall are putting together in thefuture?

Janiro: We are doing the maga-

zine now specific to the event.The magazine is an addition towhat we are already doing. Wehighlight accomplishments of peo-ple in the South. We show thepast nominees, past winners, andupcoming candidates. We onlydid two of them this past year. In2008, we will be releasing four ofthem; releasing quarterly.

With the Awards show, haveyou reach differentcultures and racesthru the event?

Janiro: Our event isfor anyone who lovesouthern music andits culture in theSouth. Our cate-gories are not brokendown racially or any-thing like that. We allknow that BlackAmerica is not the pri-mary consumer of

urban music. We have producerswho have been nominated ofHispanic decent. Noki Swazay vsSuave, Chingo Bling, PrincessCut who is originally from Japan,is nominated. She actually haswon our Female DJ of the Yearcategory. Our event is about themusic. We don’t inquire aboutdecent because it does not matterto us. If the public likes it, theycan nominate it. We have had alltypes of origins and nationalitiesthat have been nominated. If it isgood music, It is good music.

Janiro Hawkins

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14 I The New Power Magazine I (662) 251-0075

LIL’ SHANEBrandon, Mississippi

Words: Anthony Colom

hane, I’ve beenwatching your pro-gression and felt Ineeded to holla at u.Thanks !

So when did u become inter-ested in the business ? Mymom and dad took me to a stu-dio for my birthday about 2 1/2years ago. Then I started enter-ing little talent shows.

I ain’t gone lie. I was impressedthe last few times I’ve seen uperform. U know, consideringwhere u were when you started.U got a few hot tracks on yournew street cd. I noticed thatyou’ve got DJ Finesse co-sign-ing for u by hosting your cd. Howdid u get the president of theCore DJs to put his stamp onyour project? When he firstopened up his club, Tabu, I wasthere every Friday night perform-ing even when there was nobodythere; just me and my family. Iguess he saw that I was hungryand had a lot of potential and hecame at me one day.

How’s everything going with thatcd ? It’s called Who Dat Iz. Myfamily and I are out there sellingem in the street. I’ve sold 2,000copies so far. We’ve been toTexas, Tennessee, and a fewparts of Alabama with it. I’ve per-formed about 300 times so far.

I’ve seen your mother andfather with u. They get kindahyped when u perform. Yeah, Icouldn’t ask for any better par-ents. They been supporting mesince day one.

What do u feel u need to workon most as an artist? My lyrics.I cuss too much. I gotta stopdoing that so much.

myspace.com/lilshanedirtwhiteboy

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How did Mississippi Menacecome together as a group ?

Earl: Well, we all knew each otherfrom around the way, and we alldifferent groups. We wanted to doa compilation cd but it neverworked out. The compilation wassupposed to be calledMississippi Menace.We were tryin’ to hollaat a lot of local artists.That was back in ‘96.

What kinda hip-hopsupport do you seein your area ?

Marv: Our rap sceneis growing. they’re stillalot of artists in theMississippi delta thatno one’s heard about. It’s hard for us to getartists to come doshows in Greenville.

And why do youthink that is ?

Earl: Just keeping itreal man; when peo-ple think of the Delta,they don’t think thatthere’s anything there.

Marv: They thinkthey’re not gonna ben-efit from coming to thedelta. They feel likethey’ll get paid to doshows if they go downto Jackson or up toMemphis.

Well how do yall feelabout the DJ support overthere?

Earl: You got Bigg V outtaCleveland. He holds it down forwhat he do. The local clubs, theypump hip hop all day long. No dis-respect to anybody, but, that’sclub music and we don’t makeclub music. Honestly, we spit. Wetry to come with it with everything

that we do.

As independent artists, what doyou think you need to improveupon the most to take you tothe next level in your career ?

Earl; We been holding it down fora long time, and wefeel like we can do it aswell as anybody out

here. I think we justneed to be morevisible to people.We don’t expecteveryone to likewhat we do. But forthe people who dolike it, we gonegive em what wedo.

Marv: We need toimprove upon get-ting our productthere more.

What are some ofthe things you’redoing right nowto try and getyour music outthere more ?

Earl: DJ Smallz outof Tampa recentlypicked one of oursongs to be on hisCollege Tour Mixtape. It was a songcalled Wanna RollWith Me, and itfeatured our home-

boys Young Blacc andTitano.

How did yall hook up with DJSmallz ?

Earl: Just myspacin’ it. We alwaystry to keep our noses into what’sgoing on. We been slippin’ on put-ting an album out for a whilecause we been doing this mixtape thing to create a buzz. That’sall we been doing.

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MenaceMISSISSIPPI

HEALTH WATCHDID YOU KNOW ?

Top 10 Southern Cities For Small BusinessesCharlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, NC-SC

Population: 1,500,000Median Home Price: $174,500Hot Industries: Finance, food manufacturing, textiles,machinery, computer/electronics, paper, printing, chemical,plastics and rubber

Significant Startups: 5,686

Why Start Here?• Steady immigration of young, educated workers• Business-friendly banking community• High-quality labor force and low-cost labor environment• Unemployment insurance, tax rates and worker's compensation rates that rank among the lowest inthe nation• Charlotte is the only U.S. city to participate in the Cities of Tomorrow network: It was chosen for itsquality of life and has been used as a model for cities worldwide.

Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

Population: 1,190,000Median Home Price: $199,600Hot Industries: Life sciences, information technology andsoftware developmentSignificant Startups: 4,899

Why Start Here?• No local income taxes• The William S. Lee Quality Jobs and Expansion Act givesqualifying companies tax credits for job creation, investmentin machinery and equipment, worker training, research and development, and investment in businessproperty.• More than 40% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or higher.• A unique technology community, Centennial Campus, blends public, academic and private-sectorresearch and is the only public-private partnership of its kind in the US

Austin-San Marcos, TX

Population: 1,250,000Median Home Price: $167,200Hot Industries: Technology and business servicesSignificant Startups: 5,469

Why Start Here?• Diverse, highly trained and readily available employees• No personal or corporate state income tax• Minimal union activity• Eight area colleges and universities with renowned aca-demic programs and enrollment of more than 114,000 students

4.) Memphis, TN 5.) Nashville, TN 6.) Norfolk - Virginia Beach, VA 7.) San Antonio, TX 8.) Houston, TX 9.) Dallas - Fort Worth, TX 10.) Atlanta, GA

Source: Entrepreneur.com

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T.I.C.

DICK JAMES

Hometown: Bartlett, TexasNew Album : Confidential The Untold StoryWebsites: myspace.com/254yapboyz and www.rtrrecords.com Label : Realer Than Real Records

Being that you’re from Texas, do you have anything that’s chopped and screwed onthis album ? No, it’s a little different flow than what comes from Texas. How does whatyou do differ from what we normally hear from Texas ? Basically, it ain’t all that sip-pin’ on something. I’m telling more of a story about what’s really going on. Texas is solarge that artists and labels have been able to maintain pretty good careers withoutever leaving. Is your focus mainly on Texas right now ? We trying to take it outside thestate. Like where? Atlanta, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, Oklahoma,and Arizona. What type promotion do yall do? We got our myspace page. We got our

own website, and we got a little store called Mixtape Heaven. Plus, we doing shows as well. We performed at TheMississippi Hip-Hop Conference, and we coming back to Mississippi for The Southern Entertainment Awards. Ouralbum will be available the first part of 2008.

Hometown: Columbus, Mississippi / Columbia, SCCompany: I’m On It Man Promotions Inc.Services: Street Team Promotions

Website: myspace.com/quotdownsouthoriginalsquotinc

What exactly is I’m On It Man Promotions ? A marketing,advertising, and promotional street team. We take budgetsfrom artists, companies, and advertising firms. Whoeverwants promotion in the streets. Who are yall workin with ?Our first project was Big Bub. You know, the former leadsinger of the group Today. They had hits like Why You Gettin’Funky on Me, Him or Me, Zoom Zoom, and Tellin’ Me Stories. We got smoke from Field Mob. We gothis new project. We got Lil’ Mo, and just landed Jre’ Riley from Making The Band 4. You’re also anartist right ? Yes Sir ! Be looking for that new one from Dick James around the summer. Who’s dis-tributing it? Koch right now. Did you start this company? Yeah, me and my partner Michael“Diamond” Ross back in 2005. His father was the original lead singer of The Drifters. Be looking forBig Bub’s long awaited album, Tug of War around the first part of the second quarter.

Hometown: Baton Rouge, LouisianaNew Album : H.O.M.E.Websites : myspace.com/iikolerecords and myspace.com/homeuthMembers: Willie Wayne and Mic TLabel : II Kole Records

What are yall trying to accomplish with this new release? Wayne: U know, u got a lot of cats coming outta BatonRouge now, and we just trying to leave our mark in the game. We ain’t just focus-ing on trying to make hits; we trying to make classics. What’s it like for youraverage independent artist in Baton Rouge ? Is anyone besides Boosie andWebbie getting any spins ? Wayne: You got a couple other cats here gettin’some spins. There’s a movement going on here ya dig ? But unless you knowsomebody you ain’t really gonna get no spins. Has Katrina slowed you or thelabel down from working the New Orleans area in any way? Mic: It actuallybrought us together. People from Baton Rouge and New Orleans started to click-clack together. We’ve seen yall out hustling in Mobile, Alabama, and here inColumbus, Mississippi. What’s your promotional goals? Mic: Just to makesure we’ve got all our t’s crossed and i’s dotted. We want good product. Wewanna hit all these conferences. We been getting a lot of love at the ones we’vebeen to. It’s all a learning experience for us. We definitely tryin’ to network.

a k n o l i aBoyz what’shappening ?You got itman.

Let’s start off with somenames. You got T.O., P Dawgslash Baby Lotto, and P Dub.

Tell us something aboutyourselves. T.O. : We startedout grindin’ about 2 years agoin Tupelo, Mississippi. I hookedup with my boy P. Dub. Webeen doing a lot of local showsaround Tupelo with Yo Gotti,Kia Shine, La Chat, and DavidBanner. We just tryin’ to keepGod first and get up outta here.

Tell us what u have to offerus as far as some material tolisten to. P-Dub: We got an

album that we’ve completedc a l l e d W e l c o m e T o

Mississippi. It’s off the hook.Yall need to check that out. Wealready started on another proj-ect.

Are yall doing anything spe-

cial to promote your currentcd? P Dawg: We just out herein these streets trying to grind itout. We out here doing it like usuppose to do it.

U guys seem to be someyoung cats. What age group

are u trying to target with thiscd ? P Dub: We really tryin tohit all ages..... from 10 to 80.

T.O: We got songs for kids,ladies...... we ain’t disrepectingnobody either.

P Dawg: They playing us rightnow on 92.5 (WESE) inTupelo. And it’s a ClearChannel station.

Are yall marketing your-selves outside of Tupelo andLee County ? P Dawg : Yeah,we through with Tupelo. It’stime to hit Columbus, Jackson,Hattiesburg, Gulfport, NewOrleans, Baton Rouge.....wherever.

myspace.com/maknoliaboyzent

24 I The New Power I WWW.NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM (662) 251-0075 Follow The Leader !

M

MAKNOLIA BOYZTUPELO, MISSISSIPPI

Words and Photo : Anthony Colom

P Dawg/Baby Lotto P-Dub T.O.

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LET’S FACE ITAnswer from page 11

LL Cool J

ohnson Boy, whoare u and whereare u from ?I’m Johnson Boyand I’m fromS h a w ,M i s s i s s i p p i .That’s in the

Mississippi delta area. Theycall me ”The Star of The Delta.”

Oh yeah ! Why do they call uthat ? They’ve been calling methat ever since I went out toHollywood and performed atThe Hittmenn DJs Retreat.

How did that come about ?Well, u know, my man Bigg V ispart of the Hittmenn DJ crew.

How long have u been in thebusiness? I’ve been at since2004.

How many CDs have u doneso far? Zero. The CD approachis not my approach. I don’t doCDs. I do singles.

How many singles have ureleased ? I’ve done 4 so far.

What’s your strategy behindthat? It’s cheaper and quickerfor me to do singles to create abuzz and keep it moving.

I’ve heard u say that u don’twork a regular job, and that udo this full time. So are udoing well enough to supportyourself, or do u have some-one backing u? Naw, I ain’tgot nobody backing me. I’malways getting calls for shows. Istay busy with this. Just a whileback I performed in Leland,Mississippi, left there and didThe Mississippi Hip-Hop

Conference in Columbus thenext day; then performed inJackson at the Down SouthDJ’s Music Day the next day(Sunday). Then on Monday Iwas in Atlanta at The BET Hip-Hop Awards. So I get out hereand work these streets man. Iflood the streets with my music. I’ve hit the delta, Jackson,Memphis, Lousiville, Kentucky,they were big on my single I’mFresh. I sent a case up thereand my workers flooded thestreets with em. I went up there2 weeks later and saw theresults I was looking for. Thegulf coast is the only placed inthe state I haven’t touched yet.

Anybody helping u with theproduction? Yeah Mr. Mottfrom Shaw, and D Neeze fromClarksdale. Man, I wanna saythat I support all of my DJs, likethe Hot Jocks DJ crew. They’rea local DJ crew. The DJsaround here put in a lot of workand go out of their way to try tobreak music, but they don’t geta lot of recognition for it.They’re about to start a move-ment in the Mississippi delta.They’re link from Greenwood toGreenville, to back over tosome parts of Arkansas. Bigg V. and DJ Kool - Laid are helpingme with my decision making.

Are u pleased with the direc-tion? Awh yeah ! These guysare actually trying to help otherartists in this area. They’re HotJocks by the way.

What are u working on rightnow? I’m doing a mix tape withDJ Kool - Laid for The SouthernEntertainment Awards. I thinkit’s gone be called Menace ToThe Industry. My new singlecoming in January called I’m ABeast.

Words: Anthony Colom

myspace.com/johnsonboy754

SHAW, MISSISSIPPI

26 I The New Power I WWW.NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM (662) 251-0075 Be Seen Or Be Forgotten !

JOHNSONBOY

J

THE HIP-HOP CONGRESS and M.A.P. COALITIONPRESENT

HAL and MAL’S / NOON - UNTIL200 Commerce St.

[ Downtown ]

JACKSON, MS

$25 Advance Tickets / $30 at the doorContact: 601.817.6005 / E-mail: mapcoalition@gmail.com

29

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YOURSPACESum Serious Cartel Down South DJs Wave Lab Studios

To purchase a copy of this cd send $5 to :

Sum Serious CartelP.O. Box 8428

Columbus, MS 39705

Listen to tracks at : myspace.com/662compound

Studio Rates: $35 HR6 HR Block Time: $180

12 HR Block Time: $30024 HR Block Time: $480

1st Monday Deal 4HRS: $100

Call For More Details901.346.1650

Memphis, TN 38116

Meeting every 3rd Sunday

Club Tabu 426 W. Capitol St.

Jackson, MSDJ Meeting - 8 PM

Artist Showcase - 9 PM

To perform call: (601) 961-2250

finesseentertainment@gmail.comwww.downsouthdjs.com

Independent Artists and Private Businesses

Get your cd cover or business logo with your myspaceor website address displayed on this page for only $99

Give us a Call at : (662) 251-0075 or log on to :WWW.NEWPOWERMAGAZINE.COM

Send Check or Money Order To: Colom Media Group / P.O. Box 8465 / Columbus, MS 39705

Mail cd cover and information to: artwork@newpowermagazine.com

THAT’S THE TICKET50 Cent allegedly said before the release of his and Kanye West’salbums on September 11, 2007, that if Kanye’s first weeks sales werebetter than his then he would retire from making music.

1st Weeks Sales

Kanye West : 957,000

50 Cent : 691,000As of the last week in December ‘07, Kanye’s CD was 2x platinum and 50 was still at gold status. 50 Cent’s album, Curtis, sat at #99 on Billboards Top 200 List. Kanye’s Graduation was not in the Top 100.

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myspace.com/quotdownsouthoriginalsquotinc

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