- -_ (hip-hop music) ♪ Hey ♪ Hey - [Diom] My name is Diom.

♪ You know the vibe I'm an Afrobeat artist.

♪ And I know you wanna ride ♪ Ride ♪ Like Snoop and Dre ♪ But you rolling with the strap ♪ Stop everything you're doing because this Dioula kid got something to say.

(upbeat swing music) - We're Blair Crimmins and the Hookers.

One of the great things about playing with a band is that it's almost like a constant source of inspiration.

Good and bad.

(dramatic music) ♪ Every time - [Singer] Two, three, four.

- [Announcer] W A B E. (classical music) (gentle upbeat music) - Yeah.

How y'all doing tonight?

Let's do this.

♪ She said she wants this uncle I told her to show me ♪ ♪ Proceeded to slowly continue to dance to de voir rhythm ♪ ♪ With the hips in them, lick her lips in them ♪ ♪ So no play, made executive decision ♪ ♪ You to come now, we gonna do like in partition ♪ ♪ If you want now I gonna send you an invitation ♪ ♪ If you want a bow, I go give standing ovation ♪ ♪ You fine girl, she the like rhythm ♪ ♪ She be star system ♪ She done ride with them ♪ Them, they all been around ♪ They mad ♪ Wishing she didn't, don't mind them ♪ ♪ They mad missing ♪ Listen (Diom singing in French) ♪ Hey ♪ Yeah, yeah (Diom singing in French) ♪ But you don't know that I ♪ Can't let you walk on by ♪ I can't let you walk on by (Diom singing in French) (Diom singing in French) ♪ But you don't know that I ♪ Can't let you walk on by ♪ Hey ♪ Can't let you walk on by ♪ Hey ♪ Can't let you walk on by ♪ I can't let you walk on by (Diom singing in French) (Diom chuckles) Hello.

Hello my people.

My name is Diom.

I am from West Africa, Ivory Coast.

It is a beautiful country on the west side.

And since I was 13 years old, I've been here in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia.

And so I came here and I had a blend of both sides, my West African side and my American side, you know?

And so when I decided to pursue music, I tried to blend both sides as much as I possibly could.

And so what you heard just now is "Bise."

In Ivory Coast, whenever you're having a good time at a concert and you want to say encore, you say bise.

So I wrote a song called "Bise" about having a good time on the dance floor with someone, you know?

Dancing with them, having a great time and being like, you know what, we gotta do this again.

Encore, DJ, run it again.

You know?

And so actually what happened to me this year is that I performed at the United States version of the pageant, the National Pageant of Ivory Coast, Miss Cote d'Ivoire in DC and that was the first time I performed this song in front of a group of Ivorians.

And what I did, they automatically started singing, "Bise!

Bise!"

which is what we do back in Ivory Coast.

It was a very warm moment for me, I loved it.

So what we're gonna do now is go on to the next song.

And this song is called "West Coast African."

What I try to do here is blend as much as I could of the West Coast Hip hop sound of Snoop and Dr. Dre, people who inspired me when I was back in Ivory Coast and blend their sound, what they created, with where I'm from, what we sound like.

And that's why I have Brother Ouie, you hear that?

That's the talking drum.

(drum thuds) Ah, we are here!

(drum thuds) So the talking drum, you'll hear it throughout this track and you know brother Ouie will add accents to it, you know?

So try to go with the vibe.

Try to go with the flow.

"West Coast African."

Let's go.

(upbeat music) ♪ Hey, hey ♪ Yeah ♪ Listen, listen, come on ♪ You know the vibe, West Coast African ♪ ♪ I know you want to ride like Snoop and Dre ♪ ♪ But you rolling with the trap ♪ ♪ Now kick back ♪ We gonna make you feel out all right, hey ♪ ♪ You know the vibe, West Coast African ♪ ♪ I know you want to ride ♪ Like Snoop and Dre, but you rolling with the trap ♪ ♪ Now kick back, we gonna make you feel all right ♪ (Diom singing in French) ♪ When we gonna get though ♪ Yeah, you know we going to get the goal ♪ ♪ 99 problems getting him money worst of all of them ♪ ♪ Hop up on the flight, take a player where he want to go ♪ ♪ If I want the vibe, that's the player how he wanna roll ♪ ♪ And get the stress off my neck for even just a sec ♪ ♪ Just so I catch a breath ♪ And take a step out this mess with the best ♪ ♪ That success like the rest, right ♪ ♪ Oh God, yeah, you know we gotta thrive ♪ ♪ And be rolling with the tribe ♪ ♪ Going and lean onto the side ♪ Don't start with we, go until we ride ♪ (Diom singing in French) ♪ What it is big homie, what it do ♪ (Diom singing in French) ♪ But you know we gonna make it do ♪ ♪ Keep it thing tight, keep it smooth, make it do the two ♪ ♪ Keep an eye out for the Lord because they hunting you ♪ ♪ Hope you stack up plenty racks and your dreams come true ♪ ♪ So you can step out this mess with the S on your chest ♪ ♪ A necklace around your neck (Diom singing in French) ♪ Right ♪ Hey ♪ Oh God yeah ♪ You know you gotta stride ♪ Have you rolling with it, right ♪ ♪ Go and lean up to the side ♪ Don't start, we'll go until we ride ♪ (Diom singing in French) ♪ Oh God yeah you know we gotta stride ♪ ♪ And be rolling with the prize ♪ ♪ Go and lean up to the side ♪ Don't stop, we go until we ride ♪ (Diom singing in French) Alright, this the part, gotta do a little crowd participation, you know what I'm saying?

So it's like this.

I say, "Mua, mua, mua, mua, josei," all right?

♪ Mua, mua, mua, mua ♪ Josei That's on you.

All right?

That was "West Coast Africa."

I just took you to Ivory Coast right there.

That's what that was.

So a couple things about this song, right?

Raush B, first Ivorian rapper that I saw, right?

So by all means all accounts, he's the OG when it comes to Ivory Coast, right?

All right.

And then the next step is that the first time I really saw like American hip hop period was Snoop.

It was Snoop and Dr. Dre, it was Snoop and Dr. Dre.

So you could tell that there's been a heavy influence there.

Atlanta has influenced me in many ways in its production style.

I can think back at at a moment in hip hop where the 808 was prevalent, but it wasn't the majority of what you heard, right?

It was prevalent, right?

But the 808 and the way Atlanta has turned that into an instrument that you can tune, right?

It reminds me a little bit of African percussion, of the talking drum actually, that comes straight from me being here and being influenced by the music that Atlanta rappers, Atlanta producers make.

This next one we're gonna do for you is called "I Got The Juice."

For a long time I knew that I wanted to mix, to make a song, that had such a particular and unique sound that when people would hear it they would just know, "Oh, this is Diom."

They was just know like this is his style, this is Diom.

And so I work really hard to try to own something.

And again with Brother Ouei here, hey, he is here with the talking drum because that is an instrument that is very popular in West Africa.

His tribe has it, my tribe has it.

And several other tribes that I didn't even know have a version of this drum.

And so, because I particularly love this sound and because it is also a sound that is now known to African Americans and the world period because of the uses of it during the Black Panther film and its soundtrack, I've decided I was going to use this sound and try to craft something around it.

So this next song that you hear is called, "I Got The Juice.

: And in that song I go from English to French to Dioula, which is my native tongue and it is probably one of my most favorite songs.

And I get so hype every time I play it.

So Brother Ouei's here.

So it is just gonna make me get even hyper 'cause we got the actual talking drum.

DJ, you ready?

Let's go.

(upbeat music) ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ I got the juice right now ♪ I got the juice ♪ I feel like the truth right now ♪ ♪ I feel like the truth ♪ I'm finna get loose right now, finna get loose ♪ ♪ 'Cause I got the juice right now ♪ ♪ Hey you mother suckers got me twisted ♪ ♪ Put me on anything and watch me kill it ♪ ♪ My cousin Vinny gonna get me acquitted ♪ ♪ Though I'm guilty of walking like Scott Free ♪ ♪ Travis out here on this bop ♪ Throw muddy water out here when I rock ♪ ♪ Though it gets hotter than waiting on this block ♪ ♪ I'm on fire, burning fuel for my rocket ♪ ♪ Bless it, beat a child like its spit ♪ (Diom singing in foreign language) ♪ That African energy that I've been on ♪ ♪ Got enough to run you over and then some ♪ ♪ 'Cause I got the juice right now ♪ ♪ I got the juice ♪ Feel like the truth right now, feel like the truth ♪ ♪ Finna get loose right now, finna get loose ♪ ♪ 'Cause I got the juice right now ♪ ♪ Yeah, I got it ♪ Hey, here we go (Diom singing in foreign language) ♪ 'Cause I got the juice right now ♪ ♪ I got the juice ♪ 'Cause I got the juice right now ♪ ♪ I got the juice ♪ Woo Hey!

Okay, I always do too much whenever I play this song.

Too much energy is the way I close all my live shows.

In this last part I go into Dioula, right?

And what I say in there is, (Diom speaking Dioula) what that means is I'm gonna do my thing.

You hear my sound, move, you know what I'm saying?

Move.

(Diom speaking Dioula) It means stop everything you're doing, 'cause this Dioula kid got something to say, if you couldn't do it, I'm gonna figure it out.

And then the next section is, (Diom speaking Dioula) Right?

(Diom speaking Dioula) means I'm bad.

That's what this means.

(Diom speaking Dioula) it means it's bad, I'm bad.

Wen you're saying like (Diom speaking Dioula), I'm bad, right?

Now, (Diom speaking Dioula) is like the way to say power in French is "puissance" but if you say it with the Dioula accent is, "puissansee" right?

So my power, my power, right?

Is bad.

I'm a bad man, basically.

That's the translation.

So thank you all.

Thank you all.

I wanna say thank you to my brother right here, Brother Ouie for coming with the talking drum.

I want to say thank you to my brother right here, Brother Aaron on the percussion, you know, for helping me come together and put this whole performance for y'all.

And again, my name is Diom, Afrobeat artist living in Atlanta from Ivory Coast, West Africa.

And this has been Sounds Like ATL.

Thank you.

- One, two, three, four.

(bright ragtime music) ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Two-timin' lyin' woman, have you no shame ♪ ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Sweet like a peach but you've got ice in your veins ♪ ♪ I fell in love, I was on top of the world ♪ ♪ I went to tell my best friend about this brand new girl ♪ ♪ She don't smoke, she don't drink ♪ ♪ We met at church in the pew ♪ And he said, wait, that sounds like my girl ♪ ♪ Her name's Angela too ♪ We started talking on a bottle of gin ♪ ♪ Every night she wasn't with me, she was out there with him ♪ ♪ And now we curse the girl's name every time that we pour ♪ ♪ All the kisses from the bottle turned out sweeter then her ♪ ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Two-timin' lyin' woman, have you no shame ♪ ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Sweet like a peach but you've got ice in your veins ♪ ♪ That's right (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) ♪ The night went on and we were drowning our pain ♪ ♪ And I was a-steamin' and a-chuggin' ♪ ♪ Like a southbound train ♪ I noticed a man was walking into the room ♪ ♪ With the same sad face, the same expression of gloom ♪ ♪ I turned around and then I noticed real fast ♪ ♪ That every man there in the bar was cryin' into his glass ♪ ♪ And they were drinking for a girl and shoutin' her name ♪ ♪ Everybody in the bar all shoutin' out the same thing ♪ ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Two-timin' lyin' woman, have you no shame ♪ ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Oh Angela, oh Angela ♪ Sweet like a peach but you've got ice in your veins ♪ ♪ That's right (bright music continues) - Thank you everybody.

That was called, "Oh Angela."

Song is pretty self-explanatory, if you were listening, you know what it's about.

Some songs write themselves and that's one of them right there.

Anyways, we're Blair Crimmins and The Hookers.

To my right on trumpet we have Justin Powell, on clarinet and saxophone we have Luke Weathington, David Tyberg on the bass.

My name's Blair Crimmins and I'm a hooker too.

And this next song is called, "This Modern World."

It's a song about having too much to drink on New Year's Eve.

What a novel idea.

But in this case, I was actually writing this stone cold sober at home while my friends were calling me, telling me to come out and join them.

And I got this song out of it.

(bright ragtime music) ♪ Happy New Year, girls ♪ I said your prince has arrived ♪ ♪ With my head hung out on the passenger side ♪ ♪ Howlin' like a dog at the moon ♪ (all howl) ♪ I know the clock is gonna strike here soon ♪ ♪ Oh, I see the signs of desperation ♪ ♪ Through the holiday gloom ♪ And all the smiles from medication ♪ ♪ Through the fog in the room ♪ And my dollar isn't worth a dime in these peculiar times ♪ ♪ Oh, and I'm gonna find myself a woman ♪ ♪ I'm gonna stop myself a fight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna hate myself tomorrow ♪ ♪ But I'll love myself tonight ♪ You know me, I'm the toast of the town ♪ ♪ And this modern world it won't bring me down ♪ (Blair scats) ♪ I'm an optimistic guy ♪ No, I don't dwell on the past ♪ ♪ The good news is this year can't be worse than the last ♪ ♪ I don't know why I came here at all ♪ ♪ 'Cause every day I go on droppin' the ball ♪ ♪ Oh but I sing like Sinatra ♪ And I move like Fred Astaire ♪ Drinkin' champagne, dancin' on the tables and chairs ♪ ♪ And knockin' over bottles and cans ♪ ♪ Baby, I'm your man ♪ Oh, and I'm gonna find myself a woman ♪ ♪ I'm gonna stop myself a fight ♪ ♪ I'm gonna hate myself tomorrow ♪ ♪ But I'll love myself tonight ♪ You know me, I'm the toast of the town ♪ ♪ And this modern world, it won't bring me down ♪ (bright music continues) ♪ Sometimes I think this world's gonna spin so fast ♪ ♪ That I'm gonna fly right off into outer space ♪ ♪ But tonight, I'm gonna hang on to a telephone pole ♪ ♪ And just enjoy the breeze, you know what I mean ♪ ♪ And this modern world, it won't bring me down ♪ ♪ No ♪ Well this modern world, it won't bring me down ♪ ♪ It won't bring me down ♪ It won't bring me down ♪ It won't bring me down, no - I had no idea when I started this band that we were gonna get the kind of support that we have and that it would continue for as long as it has.

It's been a really great ride.

Starting out from the early days when we had a Star Bar residency and we were playing every week there really helped us like get a following and get something started and also get a lot of great practice and learn all our material and everything.

The EARL and Venkman's and all these local clubs that have helped us and supported us through the years and of course the people.

Atlanta has been so inspirational to me and my career and my songwriting and just having the great venues and the great fans that have supported us throughout the years.

There's no place I'd rather have as a home base.

This next song is called, "I Love You That's all" ♪ Two, three, four (bright ragtime music) ♪ I don't need a silver screen ♪ To show me all those hopes and dreams ♪ ♪ I can see those kind of things in your eyes ♪ ♪ And I don't need a song of love ♪ ♪ To tell me who I'm thinking of ♪ ♪ I'll just write my own ♪ Because you're mine ♪ Other guys sit on the fence ♪ And they take their time to comprehense ♪ ♪ But for your love, darling ♪ I'm convinced I've fallen for you hard ♪ ♪ I don't need a reason ♪ I love you, that's all ♪ I don't need a deck of cards ♪ To see that hand that holds my heart ♪ ♪ Take it girl, it's clearly yours ♪ ♪ I never even had a choice in this game ♪ ♪ No I won't bother ♪ The night grows so much longer ♪ ♪ I want only to be with you ♪ But I won't try to complicate ♪ ♪ I won't shake my head or cogitate ♪ ♪ Place my bets or speculate ♪ 'Cause I've fallen for you hard ♪ ♪ I don't need a reason ♪ 'Cause I love you that's all (bright music continues) ♪ Other guys sit on the fence ♪ And they take their time to comprehense ♪ ♪ But for your love, darling ♪ I'm convinced I've fallen for you hard ♪ ♪ I don't need a reason ♪ 'Cause I love you, that's all ♪ ♪ I don't need a reason, baby ♪ 'Cause I love you, that's all ♪ ♪ I love you, that's all ♪ I love you, that's all ♪ I love you, that's all right ♪ That's all right ♪ Hey Thanks so much for having us everybody.

We're Blair Crimmins and The Hookers.

Thanks for listening to Sounds like ATL.