NEW YORK (AP) - Rural rapper
Bubba Sparxxx has formed his own record label, New South Entertainment, the debut release from which will likely be from his own hypeman, Attitude.
"I will be funding it. I'm starting it now, but we're in the process of trying to get someone else to fund it. We're shopping a distribution deal right now," says Sparxxx, whose real name is Warren Anderson Mathis. "We've got a lot of major interest."
Attitude, from Birmingham, Alabama, is on the road with Sparxxx, but has already started recording with Organized Noize, Outkast's production team, which did two cuts on Sparxxx's Dark Days, Bright Nights album ("All the Same" and "Bubba Sparxxx.")
The other act on New South is Lo Down 'n' Duddy Ken from Sparxxx's "neck of the woods," Athens, Georgia. It too has worked with Organized Noize. Of course, Sparxxx adds, "Any artists of mine, Timbaland will work on. We've got that understanding." Timbaland not only produced six Dark Days, Bright Nights tracks (including the singles "Ugly" and "Lovely"), but put the album out on his Interscope subsidiary Beat Club.
Though Sparxxx is focusing on his own career, he is constantly on the lookout for new artists from the south. "I feel like this 'new south' thing is a movement," says the 24-year-old rapper who knew poverty first hand growing up in rural La Grange and has beaten the odds by dreaming and achieving. "I want to make sure that the movement gets fully and properly delivered to the world. And that can't just be done with one person. Also, you're giving people an opportunity. Timbaland gave me the opportunity. I turn around and give my people the opportunity, and each of them has people they'll give an opportunity. It's like one plus one equals two."
Sparxxx believes the movement is more than musical. New South Entertainment won't be picking up just any old hip-hop wannabe from the south. Beyond talent, there must be a shared mindset.
"We're definitely going to be at the forefront of creativity musically with New South, but also I think it's more of a spiritual thing," he says. "I tell Attitude and another guy Gee Rock -- Attitude's from inner city Birmingham, and Gee Rock's from inner city Atlanta -- and I tell them every time we hit the stage we make history because there's a lot of people who never wanted to see this day. This is Martin Luther King's dream coming to be. And we had no reason to love one another, and we set all of the pain of the past aside and move forward and, also, we're going to just keep pushing the envelope as far as the music goes."
