Nappy Roots: Timeless Material

[STILLDRE IS THE GODFATHER]

Nappy Roots: Timeless Material
Thursday - September 11, 2003
K.B. Tindal
Wood>n. The tough fibrous supporting and water-conducting tissue beneath the bark of trees and shrubs, consisting largely of cellulose and lignin.

Leather>n. The dressed or tan hide of an animal with the hair removed.

The similarities in both of these worldly materials are clearly evident with a little analyzation. Wood and leather are both materials that will last a lifetime if they are taken care of regularly. Sort of like a good old 45 record or a 12” from the early days of Hip Hop.

Nappy Roots have released their sophomore effort to the public entitled Wooden Leather, meaning a timeless crafty piece of music that they hope will stand the test of time. I got the chance to talk with Skinny Deville from Nappy and his attitude was one of a humble man with smarts who is in this rap game to make a difference and stay on ground level like a normal person.

“As artists good music is good music to us. Practice patience and persistence is what we have. We want people to grow with us and we try to always stay creative because as artists it’s a challenge to come with a good idea.”

Now we in the rap world have seen many multiple persons groups come and go so what makes Nappy different? “A lot keeps a grounded we keep ourselves grounded if one of us bullshits or lets our ego get in the way we let him know about his ego. Family keeps us grounded also. It’s a balance because you get things that make you feel famous but in Kentucky and Tennessee there is still racism and we see things like that so it helps us realize that this is just a period in our lives and there is a much bigger picture.”

Very true statements from Deville let’s us see that Nappy is not a flash in the pan group and they do have future plans that will sustain them and their families when and if their rap careers fizzle out. For now the only fizzle they are experiencing is one of success.

“We have a DVD coming out called “Half The Truth” and that will show a lot about us. We plan to venture into different business things. Some of us want to pursue acting. I’ve always had a fond love of music. We all always had a green thumb for business from when we were back in college when we had our own record store. I plan to open up a rim shop. So we all have things that will go on after music.”

They say that great minds think alike and it is apparent that Ron Clutch, Scales, R. Prophet, B. Stille, Big V. and Skinny Deville all have their focus in the right place. “Our concepts have gotten more vivid. Were moving more as a one-unit group instead of as individuals. Our thing is not talking about what we don’t have but to talk about what we know so fans can look to us for guidance. As Nappy Roots and as college students we wanted a piece of the pie but we don’t let it influence us. We talk the talk and we walk the walk. We can go to movies, malls and stores but we don’t do it to the point where we have problems from it because rap gets a bad rap sometimes, so we don’t live that thug way because to us life itself is an obstacle.

An obstacle indeed life is hard enough without adding more complications to it but it is what it is and we all know that only the strong survive. And to be an artist in this day and age with all the temptations out there one has to remain strong just to be a success and after the success is achieved one must maintain it and that can be harder that the gaining the success itself.

“When we are away from family sometimes we get harassed after shows but we had to follow our dreams. We stuck together and we stayed on the road all year even after the funding from our label ran out and we went platinum and we are still saying true even after 1 million records sold. People around us changed but I’m staying true.”

So with six men in a world of success how is the spirit of Deville? ‘I feel like I’m in purgatory in a sense. Sometimes I ain’t livin’ right. Sometimes I feel like I need to be with my son but I’m glad to make it home at night. Sometimes it’s just the same shit. Record store, do a show, go to the after party and I wanna call my son but it’s too late so I can’t. This is my everyday life and I’m appreciated but my spirit is in between but I’m cool…the Lord will use me as he wants when the time is right.

[mauzip]

Nappy Roots are from Kentucky, not from the West Coast.

[Trauma-san]

I like what they're trying to do, and I like a few of their songs, but they haven't moved into 'gotta hear' status with me yet.


Funny story I've told before on here, one day my sister in law (to be) was driving down south blvd., and this fucker just NAILS her from behind, half-totals the car.  He gets out, it's one of these fuckers from Nappy Roots, and apologized and was really nice.