Because Liquor's Quicker

Elite Tha Showstoppa Brings Good-Times Rap To The Athens Stage

originally published February 21, 2007

One of the problems with hip-hop both nationwide and locally, as well as in circles from backpack to gangsta, is its frequent over-seriousness; either there’s too much of an emphasis on social problems, or there’s what might be seen as the creation of them. It’s not that it’s a grand statement or a prestigious stance to be in favor of simple partying, but c'mon, Athens, it’s something we do well. Shouldn't Elite tha Showstoppa be raised up on our shoulders for his ability to promote that attitude?

With a mixtape out early this year (A Hater’s Motivation Vol. 2, with enough guest appearances to require footwear removal to tally them up) and more to come, the local teen rap group A-Frame signed to his RCP Music Group label, a full album due in the summer (The Heist), a new push for his “Liquor” video and more videos planned, two movies (Hard Candy, a drama about a female gang, and a comedy called Funny Bones) and a stage play in the works, you may know Elite's name a little better by the end of 2007, even if he accomplished only a fraction of what’s on his agenda.

If you didn’t go to the Sprockets Music Video Showcase at last year’s AthFest and don’t generally follow local hip-hop, you might be wondering, “Who is this fellow with the nose ring? And what makes him worthy of coverage?” If you did go, you know exactly why, as Elite went toe to toe with Elf Power and ended up taking the big award home by the narrowest of margins, due to the amiable crunk bounce of his song “Liquor,” its crowd-pleasing hook "I'm drunk off my ass and I know it!" and the comedic focus of its well-produced video.

Since Elite doesn't have any kind of official or unofficial recorded music out yet, the best way to hear his stuff is to visit his myspace page (www.myspace.com/elitethashowstoppaga), where four tracks and the video for "Liquor," directed Andrew Fazakas, are available. It's cheerful stuff, especially the track "Happy Go Lucky," which runs on cute triplets of keyboards and vocals that have that curious Southern mix where the actual tempo isn't very fast, but the deft switching up of rhythms makes the overall song's speed seem quicker.

Pleasantly, there's nothing that sounds like the current overdone penchant for metallic 1980s samples, chopped into bytes of practically nothing. Instead, there's a softer, more groove-oriented tone to all of it, better suited for those of us who can't or won't actually do that robot dance.

Ellison, originally from Athens, has been working on his music career ever since he used to cover Jackson 5 songs as a kid. “I was Michael, of course,” he says; he’s been writing songs and acting since the age of nine. It took until 1998 before he got into it in a more official capacity, forming a group called Runaway Slave with members from hip-hop, R&B, gospel, rap and alternative musical backgrounds that signed to a label in Atlanta. To make a long story short, as Ellison puts it, “I got screwed with no lubricant.”

The group broke up, but determined to keep trying, Ellison stayed in Atlanta for a year, living out of the Suburban Lodge and the back of a 1973 Impala, without much luck. After a two-year break from trying to accomplish his goals, he realized, “I am destined to do what I do. So now I am back to being the struggling artist, and loving it. Very poor, unemployed, but happy.”

So for now, Elite says he's committed to staying in Athens. “Atlanta is a good place to network, but the advantage for me is that it’s not too far away. I have made a lot of noise in Atlanta, but I can make just as much noise here and have a bigger impact. Plus, the hip-hop scene in Athens is finally getting the recognition it deserves. I am proud to be a part of the movement. Everybody and their granny - including myself - runs to 'The A' in hopes that they will be discovered because that’s what we were taught, but that’s not too true.”

Basically, while Athens is small and the scene is still growing, it seems more cooperative than Atlanta: “I want to have a home-team backing. You can’t lose with the whole city pushing for you,” Ellison says.

But isn’t the Athens scene occasionally a little bit serious when it comes to hip-hop, with the party music Elite pushes far from the forefront? “For the most part, yes," says Ellison, "but to be real with you, I want to rhyme like Ishues. I admire that cat. Or Badkat. Or Son 1. Trill Spit. I used to do a lot of anti-governmental music. Runaway Slave spoke a lot on black awareness, inner-city issues, and the sort, but we were a human movement. It was about freeing yourself from mental slavery.”

In Atlanta, he says he found that sales were the name of the game over consciousness, but after considerable disillusionment, contemplation and observation, he says, “I came to the conclusion that people do want to hear something worth listening to, but for the most part they just want to dance and have a good time. So I went in the booth and clowned around. I walked out smiling because  I, too, had fun.  I didn’t have to save the world that day. I didn’t have to warn people to look out for the conspiracy and the economic destruction we were facing or the reminder of how racism still exists. I just said, ‘Get a beer, grab a dance partner, fuck your problems for a little bit and be happy.’”

And it’s true. If you spend all your time trying to create world peace, solve the disparity between rich and poor, educate the youth on social issues and so on, you’ll burn out in a hurry. That doesn’t mean you can’t be serious sometimes, but it’s about balance. Ellison says he never knows what will come out when he starts writing: “I just love music," he says. "Anything inspires me. Anything and everything. So sometimes  I  am that rebel revolutionary, but even a revolutionary loves to have a good time. Drinks on me.”

Hillary Brown

WHAT: "The Insurgency"
WHO: Nobody Famous, Bear, Ya Boy Brell, C-Fre$h, Big John Burbon, Fist Full of Steel, Elite Tha Showstoppa
WHERE: Tasty World Upstairs
WHEN: Friday, February 23
HOW MUCH: $5