(upbeat hip-hop music) (upbeat hip-hop music continues) (upbeat hip-hop music continues) (audience cheering) (upbeat hip-hop music) - [Daisha] I like that.

(upbeat hip-hop music) - Welcome to another episode of "Slice of Community," today, I'm joined by a live audience here at Nashville PBS, and we joined by Tennessee hip-hop artist 2'Live Bre, Daisha McBride, also known as "The Rap Girl," and Tim Gent, how y'all doing?

- Blessed, bro.

- Feeling good.

- [Freddy] Y'all doing good?

- I'm feeling good, man.

- Y'all ready to represent Tennessee?

- [Daisha] Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

- You know... Of course, you know, me being from Nashville, I'm a little... You know, a little biased a little bit, you know... (people laughing) You know, we got Knoxville, and we got Clarksville, we got Nashville representing, so to start it off, and this is a question for all three of y'all, if you had to explain what the new... What the sound of Tennessee hip-hop is, how would you describe that?

I'll start with you, Tim, because you got that look like you got it on your mind already.

- I was hoping somebody else would answer, but no, this is off the top of my head, you know, Memphis has had a huge impact on what the world classifies as hip-hop out of Tennessee, but if you travel outside of that, you get a lot of blues, you get a lot of R&B, a lot of lyricism, a lot of lyricism, you know, I think rappers in the South really come with it with a pen, but just, you know, off the top of my head, I would say that Memphis sound is what has kinda set the tone for Tennessee rap.

- How about you guys?

How would you...?

If somebody didn't know, or if you wanna describe, like, the sound of Tennessee hip-hop right now, or the new sound, right?

- I think that I would just say we have a little bit of everything, right?

Like, if you like the Memphis sound, of course, you can go to Memphis and hear that, but then, we also... Like, in Nashville, I feel like there's so many different pockets just here in Nashville by itself, like, there's, you know, the people who are doing, like, the more conscious stuff, and the people... And I just feel like the production is different in all these different lanes, but I think, kinda like Tim said, there's a reoccurring theme of, like, the lyrics are there, the lyricism is there, the realness is there, so that's what I'd say just off the top of my head, - And I'ma cater this a little different to you, Bre.

You often hear, especially growing up in just Nashville, and it might be throughout Middle Tennessee too as well, it's like, we don't have a hip-hop sound, right?

What does that mean to you when you hear that?

Or what...?

Or why do you think people receive that, like...?

Or is that true?

Like, we don't have an identity, like Memphis, right?

When it comes to our region of hip-hop here in Nashville, the greater area of Nashville, - I think, you know, we Music City, so it shouldn't have a sound, we are Music City, we make music, we are the home of all music, so it should sound like everything.

I feel like when we so... We get focused on genres, it's... Causes separation in the world, like, I'm an artist first, you know what I'm saying?

So I'ma do whatever comes to mind, and I think that's what Music City represents.

You gonna see people pick up a guitar, you may see somebody pick up a 808, so what?

That's what we do, that's our sound, I think Music City is just a place where you can come and create, that's what I think our sound is.

- I mentioned earlier that everybody's from Clarksville, Knoxville, Nashville, if I'm listening to your music, right?

How do you all kinda weave in where you grew up and where you're from into either the performances or maybe your lyrics, or how would I know?

Like, Tim, oh, you're from Clarksville, how would I...?

As a listener, as a consumer, how would I know that?

How do you make sure that's a part of your storytelling in your music?

- I like to reference streets.

I think I do it for the people that's in Clarksville too, you know?

So one of my first projects that started to give me some notoriety, you know, outside of Middle Tennessee was "Clarksville Nights," and the cover is a street sign and you got Peach's Mill, and you got the way it turns in to that street right there, you know, but Crossing Avenue, Fort Campbell Boulevard, Wilma Rudolph, you know, just mentioning those streets, I think it resonates with me, of course, but it resonates with the people back at home, so when you go do your due diligence, you know, you're like, "Okay, that's Clarksville," you know what I'm saying?

So it's kinda like growing up listening to Gucci Mane and he'd always reference Bouldercrest, you know?

You don't know what that is until you know, you know what I mean?

So that's what... How I like to do it.

- How about you, Daisha, on the same question, how do you make sure you weave in Knoxville?

Because we think of Knoxville, we think of UT... (indistinct) That's what we thinking about, so where's the music in there?

- There's music there too with, "Go, Balls," but for me, I feel like where my Knoxville side comes out is, like, how versatile I am, like, for an example, the recent project I just dropped, right?

I feel like there's every single genre on that one project, so it's like, there's pop, you know, and there's, like, really pop, like, something that you wouldn't expect a rapper to do, but I think growing up in Knoxville, like, I grew up playing the violin, I grew up... Like, I didn't listen to hip hop for a long time because it just wasn't around me growing up at first, but, like, a lot of... We have a lot of, like, folk music, and bluegrass, and country, so I think just growing up kind of initially being exposed to that, when I finally did discover hip-hop, it was like, "Okay, how can I fuse the two?"

Almost, so I think for me, my Knoxville, my East Tennessee roots come across in just my diversity and how I can just switch it up, and I can give you the raps, but then, also, I can make a song that's more pop or country-leaning and it still is me, so... - How about you, Bre?

How do you make sure people understand and know, being...?

Especially Nashville being seen as a country music city, right?

How do you make sure that hip-hop, or just your diversity of music in general is represented maybe just outside of country, as well?

- It's crazy 'cause I was just in the office at a record label meeting last weekend, they were just crazy lost.

- [Freddy] I like how you put that out there, I was just... - I mean, hey, I got a little flex, nah, nah, nah, no, but, like, it was just crazy because... They loved the authentic vibes because, you know, I name Bell Road in my songs a lot, I name-drop East Nashville, Jefferson Street, but, like, when you... My biggest thing is the visual element, like, my music videos, I always include our community in it from... You know, if we at Primm's Appetit, or we're at Jefferson Street, or we may be at the black market somewhere, you know, like, I just always try to include the community and my family and the people I love in my music videos because I'm telling our story, and that's what hip-hop came from, when we was beating on lunch tables and doing that, you know, like, it all came from the heart of our people, so I just try to showcase our culture in the music videos, no matter how far I go, I'ma always do that, and I think TSU could tell you that, you know, John F. Kennedy, Antioch High School, you know, I'm still going to the juveniles and John Early, I'm doing things there actively all the time, so it's like, how do we bring our...?

The future into what we're doing now?

So yeah.

- I wanna go back to you, especially when you talk about, like, community, this show is a slice of the community, so we... And this might be something... That's why I'm excited about this conversation, to maybe get y'all to talk about a little bit of something that y'all don't always get asked, especially, you know, as artists when it comes to the community piece.

When we think about music, when we think about hip-hop especially, we know that, like, there's music out there that promotes harm, right?

That promotes violence, right?

Glorifies it.

How do you all make sure with your music, with your lyrics, that you're having a balance to that or just a positive influence to the listener, understanding that, you know, there are youth, there are people that can be influenced by what you say or what you don't say?

- I can tap that real quick, a lot of people don't know this unless they really a super fans, my name, 2'Live Bre, it came from... 'Cause my dad was heavy into, like, the street lifestyle and my mom had me in the church, so I was battling as a kid, trying to figure out my identity, so I leaned on music, I never wanted to be famous, I just didn't have nobody to vent to, so music was therapeutic to me, so I understand, like, the way all sides of our community walks and it's like, I try to help a kid that may be lost in that cycle of, like, "Okay, how can I be different when, you know, my family over here is exposed to X, Y and Z, violence?"

And then, on the other side, in the church, you may think you too good, but you don't understand the struggle, so it's like, I trying to find a way to be the world's favorite outcast in my music, but trying to communicate to them kids is just trying to figure out who they are, but also unapologetically be who they are, you know what I'm saying?

So that's, like, the main thing, I think, when you go to my shows and you're seeing people get emotional, 'cause they resonate to that 'cause they understand what emotional track I'm speaking on, so yeah.

- You wanna speak to that too, Daisha?

- I would say... - Let it marinate.

- I know, I'm like, "Let me cook, let me cook," I think I would just say... Right, intrusive thought.

I think I would say... I don't know, when I'm making music, I try to just turn the world off almost, because for me, music is... I started music because it was therapeutic for me, and it was like, this is a way that, like, I just wanna talk about my life, and the things that I'm going through, and all the things, so for me, I think, if I could, like... If I could say, like, "I want somebody to get a message out of my music," just to, like, be yourself because that's exactly what I'm doing in my music, like, when I'm making songs, I'm not trying to rap like this person and be like this, but, like, I'm just doing me, and so, I think... You know, I think that, I don't know, that's just a message that I'm hearing from people as I'm out and doing... People are just like, you know, like, "I resonated when you said that, like, I felt that," and I think that's, like, the highest compliment that I can get whenever I'm doing music.

- Tim, you wanna speak on that?

- Yeah, I think as artists, we become leaders, even if it's on accident, you know, the... Like they said, it started as a outlet, and then, people flock to it and you become a role model, influential figure, I think it... For me personally, I attempt to give myself positive advice and allow it to resonate with me, and then, if it resonates with someone else, cool, like, my forthcoming project "Change is Good" is a story about... It's, like, a maturation of man, and going from a young man who was, like, full of, you know, drinking, a lot of drugs, lust, whatever-woo, and transitioning into, you know, the man I am today, I'm married, you know what I'm saying?

I got a little boy and I'm a family man now, so I'm not attempting to tell somebody else to live this way, I'm just giving my life through the music, so I think it's important to just be honest and, you know, whether you are, like... If your lifestyle is like that and you're being honest, and it has a negative effect on the children, put that parental advisory sign on your joint, you know what I'm saying?

But just... You know, just be honest, I think honesty is how I navigate that.

- I wanna invite the audience, at any moment, if y'all wanna come up to the mic and ask any of our amazing guests a question, feel free to do so at this time or any time during the remainder of the conversation.

Community, when it comes to... We talking about music and hip-hop in general, what role do y'all believe that music can play, or even yourselves can play as artists when it comes to social change, whether it's throughout Tennessee or throughout the nation?

Do you see yourself...?

Do you play a role?

It's like you said, are you a leader whether you want to or not, or do you stay away from the things that's like, "Ah, maybe I don't..." "Maybe I don't wanna speak up," do you feel like you have a...?

Some type of social responsibility to be a part of that?

- 100%, you know, I think it's our duty to do so, you know what I'm saying?

You know, even if it's not your music, I think it's... You know, musicians, we have to have other projects that we work on, and I think, you know, with me, I'm... I have a heart for the kids that's in the justice center, you know, that's just something I've been doing for the last four years, I created studios where they go into every Saturday, you know, and through... They can get out of probation through my program, you know what I'm saying?

And I think through the music, you know, just giving 'em the opportunity, all my last sold-out shows, I had people from the juvenile detention center open up for me, letting 'em know, "I seeing you in the inside, but when you get out, I give you an opportunity," and I think that's what we do, you know, that's what us artists are supposed to do, you know, we're supposed to amplify our culture, and I think, for me, it's not... It's bigger than music, it's about the whole creative arts of Nashville, especially for us black artists, I recently just put one of our films on Tubi, we was trying to get on Peacock and all that, but it was a director that started here and I had a resource, and I called my friend up in LA and said, "Hey, put this out here," because I wanted to give more opportunities to the black actors here in Nashville, and if I had a resource, I'm gonna give it, so I think social justice is, yes, about standing up for something, but it's about creating opportunities so people don't go back to the same things that put 'em in a downfall, so yeah.

- Yeah, I mean, I think, as an artist, I think it's always important to just give back and pay it forward, a lot of what... I resonate with a lot of what, you know, Bre was saying, and I feel like nowadays, you gotta stand for something, like, you gotta stand for something, if you ain't... - [Freddy] Gotta pick a side.

- Pick a side and stay there, but, like, I think you gotta stand for something, and I think in a perfect world, I would love to say, like, "Yeah, I'm just an artist," but, like, it's bigger than that, it's so much bigger than that and I think when you realize that, you know, I... Like Bre said, like, I didn't start this because I wanted to be famous, I wanted to... I just did it 'cause I like writing raps, but then, that's kinda just what comes with it, people look up to you, people listen to what you gotta say, and so, I think it was... I think it's, like, Spider-Man, like, "With great power comes great responsibility," uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever it is, so I think just, like, recognizing that, like... - [Freddy] That was Uncle Ben, wasn't it?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Don't get me started.

(people laughing) I'm waiting on "Doomsday."

- Yeah, and so, I think for me, you know, I... Off the top of my head, there's not, like, a specific thing that I'm, like, really leaned into, like, right now, but I don't think I've ever shied away from, you know, standing up for what's right, like, my grandmother, she was a civil rights activist and one of the quotes that... You know, she's passed away now, but one of the things that she said... Long story short, she was in Mississippi when they were trying to desegregate the school system, she ended up getting arrested, going to jail, doing all this stuff, but then, when she got out, the local paper had interviewed her and they were like, you know, like, "You knew you were gonna get arrested, like, why'd you stand up and do this?"

And she said, "Whenever I see injustice, I just can't hold my peace," and I feel like that's kinda how, like, I embody that, so, like, I have no problem speaking up about whatever if it... You know, if it comes to it, but yeah, that's just kinda what comes with it.

- Hey, Tim, what do you enjoy most now about making music?

Like, what makes you...?

Like, what is that motivation?

What makes you just like, "Ah, I wanna get in and just make...?"

'Cause you can get exhausted, right?

You can get burned out, right?

But what keeps you going?

Like, what's the most exciting part about making music now, today?

- The most exciting thing for me right now is hearing something back and I'm like, "Yo, this slaps, like, this is good, I like this," you know what I mean?

Like... - What's the percentage of that thought?

Like, is that a 10-out-of-10, you think?

(laughs) - Nah, nah, nah, nah, there's a lot of records I make and I'm like, "Yo, that's trash, man."

(people laughing) - [Freddy] At least you can be honest with yourself.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like... - [Freddy] That's good.

- "That's trash," yeah, but just that feeling of... Because when I started making music, it was, like, maybe, like... I ain't trying to, you know... Like, probably, like, 2011, something like that, and at that time, I wanna say, like, DJ Khaled and, like, Rick Ross, they were, like, running the radio, you know, and they had this song called "Arab Money" or something, and I was like, "Yo, this song is so trash, like, this is terrible..." - [Freddy] But it's on the radio!

(indistinct) - No offense.

I just said, you know, some of my stuff is trash, but it was so bad and I'm like, "Yo, I wanna make something that, you know, I like," you know?

And I'm influenced by other artists and stuff like that, but yeah, that... I get the gratification from, like, hearing something and being able to see my idea actualized, you know what I mean?

Like, the way that I heard something or the idea I had coming back to me through the speakers and it making me feel something, that's the most satisfaction I get right now.

- That's cool.

Daisha, who are some of your influences today?

And that can be from where you grew up or just in general.

- I mean, I'm always gonna say Missy Elliott, she's number one for me, but I'm... A lot of black women, honestly.

- [Freddy] Okay.

That's enough, enough said.

(laughs) - Yeah, I mean, I love Lauryn Hill, I've been listening to a lot of India Arie lately, but honestly, I'm... Right now, I just... I love good lyrics, like, I'm trying to take genre out of the way and just... I'm here for whoever's writing a good song that I'm like, "Hmm, I can feel that."

- Right, so I gotta ask you this as a lyricist, have you ever been, like, on the track and like, "Yeah, they got me on this one," type of, like...?

- Oh, yeah.

(indistinct) - [Daisha] Yeah, I think everybody gotta take the L eventually.

- I ain't never took no L on no track... (indistinct) Just to be clear.

You know, just to let y'all know I'm undefeated... Undisputed.

(people laughing) You know what I'm saying?

I don't know why you scratching your head, Bre, we can go after this.

At any moment, we can go, you know, at any moment.

- [Bre] We ain't gonna go down.

- [Daisha] Drop the beat.

- [Bre] Yeah, drop the beat.

- [Daisha] Drop the beat right now.

- [Freddy] Drop the intro again.

- Yeah, drop the intro.

- After this, we can figure that out, you know what I'm saying?

At a different time, at a different time.

Bre, man, when you talk about different genres, especially the diversity of music, you're a writer, you can be... You can do anything, right?

You can write anything, you can make any song a good song pretty much, and a video, how do you stop yourself from being boxed in, right?

'Cause I feel like a lot of artists feel like sometimes, they have to stay in a particular lane and don't vary... Or don't want... Or being told, "Don't, nah, you stay right here, you don't need to do anything else," how do you stay so open and free with the music that you create without shame?

Like, "Hey, if it sound good, it sound good, if it'll go, it go."

- Yeah, I mean, shoot, you know, I grew up listening to, like... Looking up to, like, Michael Jackson and Prince, and then, you know, got the Outcasts and Nelly, and all these different characters, you know, that's, like, characters, so it's just like, I understood that you can't listen to the outside noise, you gotta block out everything, anything that's negative in my life, I block it out immediately just because it's like, I know that I really understand that everybody is special in they own way, and every thought, you cannot think what I'm thinking right now, so if I just stay authentic to that moment of whatever thought comes to my mind authentically in that moment, I put it down on paper, I put it down in the studio, it's just gonna be magical because nobody has the same brain or ideas as you, and I try to... When I'm working with other people, I always say that, like, "Go off that, and move and watch how special this would be."

- Oh, we have a question.

Yeah, here we go.

- [Bre] Oh, snap.

- [Person] So kinda... Is it on?

- It's on, yep, it's on, yep.

- Okay, so kinda circling back to when you started kind of talking about just Memphis really put Tennessee on the map, so as far as... 'Cause I'm sure all of y'all are into the Nashville blogs about music on Instagram and everything about a lot of the Antioch artists and Nashville artists that kinda just aren't making it out, or, like, blowing up, or whatever the case is because Memphis really is the "sound of Tennessee," music-wise, so just question individually for all three of y'all, how did you...?

I know, but how did you network yourself enough to have eyes outside of Tennessee on you enough to, like, be able to have the platform that all three of you guys have right now?

- For me, it was output, when I was... Before I moved to Nashville... I moved to Nashville in 2017, and before I moved to Nashville, I had like, eight projects out, eight or nine projects already, and that was... At that time, it was, like, the blog era, so you had, like, Two Dope Boyz, HotNewHipHop, a lot of discovery was transpiring through platforms like those, and I was just always dropping, I was just consistent, and eventually, those platforms, those blogs started to kinda pick up on it, around that time too, Isaiah Rashad had signed TDE, so a lot of eyes were looking in this direction, so... And also, like, I started getting paid for shows and stuff like that, but I didn't turn down opportunities if pay wasn't involved, I understood that some currency isn't in the form of money, and some of it is exchange and networking, and, you know, I just prided myself on that, and then, when I got into songwriting, just kinda... The floodgates opened... (indistinct) - If you want a free show... Tim, you doing a free show?

(people laughing) So not now.

(laughs) - [Tim] They told me to maintain my intensive thought.

- All right, we're... - [Tim] Crazy.

- We got... Let's go to another question for time.

- Hi, I'm Jay, I live in East Nashville, question's kind of for all of you guys, Bre, we... Me and my son were kind of looking you up and just kind of... Actually, all of you guys and, like, learning a little bit about you guys, but you said something about you'd like to tour around the world and maybe do community service, you know, in some of those countries and such, and it really made an impression on us, and so, is there something you guys would like to see the community do for the hip-hop community?

Like, Nashville, Clarksville, Knoxville, is there something that's missing?

Is there something that you would say, "I would love to get this organization, this...?"

"Something together and marry it with music, and that way, we can really bring a lot more awareness to this?"

And I... There's all kinds of... You know, breast awareness and such like that, but is there something that you say, "It's missing in my city, it's missing in my city, and if we just had this and meld it with the music, it would launch something?"

- So just because of time, we're gonna let one of y'all take it.

- [Bre] Can I do it?

- You can... Yeah.

- 'Cause I'm working on this, so I believe that... And Freddy would tell you I've been... Like, "This is what I wanna do," all right, so... - [Freddy] I'm mayor, Mayor Freddy O'Donnell.

- You're Freddy.

(Freddy laughing) Oh, so, like, I think, like, we're a music city, I definitely wanna tour around and do community service around the world, every state, every country, I wanna do that, but starting here in Nashville, I wanna do it where, like, we embrace Music City, and I feel like we can hire creatives to be mentors to other creatives, and we mentor that kid up to be another mentor and that's how we create jobs for a music city, I feel like we can go into schools and give them opportunities to be engineers, mentors and have stipends, we got nonprofit funding... Government funding that we can do that we can create these programs because all these kids need a place to just talk, like, when I talk to these kids, they're not really... They wanna do music, but realistically... I remember playing a song for a kid's mother and she was like, "That's the first time I ever heard my son talk," so it's power in music, it's not just about us getting on the stage and doing our thing, it's really about connecting these families back with their kids, and I think we can do that and pour it... And pass it down and really embrace what Music City represent, we saying we Music City, let's really start funding the artists and funding, you know, these type of programs in the schools and the community 'cause kids are not going to community centers no more.

We need real community leaders in place, and paying mentors and leaders to start pouring back into the community, that's what I think we need.

- All right, so look, I got one more exercise, we got 30 seconds, look, I got 30 seconds, I got one more exercise, there's four of us, I want us to name... Each one of us to name an artist to create a Mount Rushmore, okay?

So you go first, we gotta be quick.

- Create a Mount Rushmore?

- Mount Rushmore, uh-huh, four people, so you gotta name a artist.

- Michael Jackson.

(Daisha exclaiming in indecision) - [Freddy] Come on, 10 seconds.

- Beyonce.

- [Freddy] Okay.

- André 3000.

- Okay, I'm going Boosie.

- [Bre] What?

- "A Slice of the Community," thank you all for tuning in, give it up for our guests.

(audience cheering) We'll catch y'all next time.

You can watch us on YouTube or www.nationalpbs, so appreciate y'all.

- [Bre] That's crazy.

(upbeat hip-hop music) (upbeat hip-hop music continues) (upbeat hip-hop music continues)