Jazze Pha Busy With Cee-Lo, Yung Joc, Clothing Store

[Damien J.]

Producer Jazze Pha has partnered with Tamara Knechtel and longtime friend and business partner Ryan Glover to launch the clothing store Knitch, which is scheduled to open Nov. 16 in Atlanta.

Pha will serve as "Head Sneaker Pimp" for the shop, which will carry couture jeans for men and women, casual wear and footwear, among other items. "That's somebody who's really on top of the whole sneaker game," Pha tells Billboard.com of his title. "It's kind of like a competition with these sneakers [to see] who got the flavor. We gon' have some special designs -- like an after-market thing where I [redesign] Air Force Ones or adidas."

Pha, who will co-host the November grand opening of the Atlantic Station store, views his involvement in the venture as a natural extension of himself. "I'm really into style [and] clothing period," he says. "It's just really a big part of hip-hop and I believe that me putting my name into it is going to [shed] a whole other light onto the store."

The Atlanta-based producer recently helmed records for Sammie, Lil Scrappy and Lloyd as well as "Stop & Go," the lead single from UGK's upcoming double-disc album, "Underground Kingz." Next up, Pha will head to the studio with Yung Joc, Cherish, Young Dro and Jody Breeze of Boyz N Da Hood.

As for "The Happy Hour," Pha's as-yet-unreleased collaborative effort with Cee-Lo, the duo has completed roughly 20 tracks and is waiting until Cee-Lo finishes up touring with Gnarls Barkley until releasing new material.

"We were thinking about trying to do a mini-movie and making the album the soundtrack to it, but the album is pretty much done," says Pha. "I imagine we'll probably record a couple more songs but I think the records that we did are pretty much timeless."

The new offering is set to feature guest appearances from Nate Dogg, Keith Sweat and former Guy member Aaron Hall, among others. "We like to call it 60 minutes of well-dressed drama," says Pha. "It's grown music [but] young soul -- that's what Cee Lo likes to call it. It's refreshing and nostalgic."

This report is provided by Billboard.com