Nappy Roots

The best advice nearly every writer could get is to “write about what you know.” In the case of Bowling Green rap group Nappy Roots, that philosophy is what makes them unique. The eight-person group has taken a mix of geographic styles and their own country-fied view of black life and rode it to their first major label release on Atlantic Records, scheduled for this summer. Nappy Roots will also have their latest self release due on May 15 titled “No Comb, No Brush, No Fade, No Perm”, and both releases follow their track on the “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” movie soundtrack.

Life for the members of Nappy Roots — Saan, Ron-C, Fish Scales, Big V, R Prophit, B Scott, Tez, and General Lee — is changing in some ways by being on the cusp of success. But in other ways, these twentysomething guys are not much changed from the WKU students most of them are or were. One visit to the Tree House, their headquarters above ET’s Music in Bowling Green, showed this reporter that much. There is a very loose, energetic comraderie among the members of Nappy Roots, and as Big V said, “we don’t meet a stranger.”

The unique sound and perspective of the group comes in part from being geographically located where, according to B Scott, the group picks up rap styles from the east, west, and deep south — “We hear their music . . . and put it all together.” The rest comes from living it; Fish Scales said “Nappy Roots music is about the way we live — our way of life.” When asked how they describe their sound, Big V said “Reality,” and B Scott added “Our reality.”

What Nappy Roots writes and raps about, according to Big V, is “what people take for granted, appreciate the essentials of life.” Eric W., a/k/a Everclear, a big supporter of the group, said in this way “Nappy Roots is the country music of rap.” Big V said the members, who write all the songs, are people “dealing with life every day — not gangstas, not high priests, just people who get it on.”

The group has come a long way in a short period of time. Nappy Roots started in late 1996 to early 1997 (core members graduated from high school in 1993 and came to WKU). Members said they worked long and hard, often neglecting daily things like eating and classes — just “tryin’ to start a dream,” as B Scott described it. This exchange illustrates the scrabbling approach Nappy Roots has had toward getting to where they want to be:

B Scott: We weren’t born with a silver spoon — we made it silver. Tez: It’s still plastic. B Scott: Yeah, but we made it look silver.

The effort has paid off. Nappy Roots’ first self-released CD, Country Fried Cess, helped establish the group. Nappy Roots has played shows with Youngbloods, Jim Crowes, 112, Cashmoney, 8 Ball, Ruffryders, MJG, Sole, and Twista. Based on word of mouth, Atlantic Records came calling in the summer of 1998. Later that year, Nappy Roots and Atlantic signed a record deal. In 1999, Nappy Roots landed the track “Riches to Ragz” on the South Park movie soundtrack on Atlantic.

In addition, Nappy Roots has formed several business entities, the primary one being Deep Rooted Productions LLC. Under the Deep Rooted umbrella, there is Tree House Studios, Success Story Publishing, and the website Deeprooted.com. These various business entities handle recording, merchandising, promotion, and other artists such as Klientel.

For those uninitiated to Nappy Roots, the 18-track, 70-minute-plus “No Comb, No Brush, No Fade, No Perm” reveals diverse feels, many changes of moods, an earning of the parental advisory on the cover, and some refreshing self-deprecating humor. Nappy Roots vary the feel of their raps, exploring different beats and rhythms. The eight rappers can cover a variety of cadences and tempos with their raps, and that enables them to handle many different types of rap tracks convincingly, as well as a wide choice of topics.

The barbershop skit that opens the album is reminiscent of the barbershop in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming To America, with barbers and patrons raggin’ on Nappy Roots (“I hear they weak as hell,” “How could they have a record deal? Look at the damn shoes that they wear”). Other winks and nudges are sprinkled here and there on the album, particularly on “Nappy Hour” and “Pissy Er’ Day.” And then there’s the, er, candid male-female dialogue in “Sex Talk.”

Nappy Roots shows where they come from on tracks like “Country Dialect,” which aggressively presents country culture; the group can rap just as much about family as about crew, about porches as much as the streets. There’s also the confrontational “City Slicka vs. Country Nigga” pitting Fish Scales against a Brooklyn-accented antagonist. But the Nappy Roots manifesto may well be the dramatic track “Talkin’ Bout,” where they hold court on the life they live and see around them, with lines like “I’m talkin’ bout light bread and ramen noodles/When you broke, this ain’t a thing to you.” Following that track is “Toast To The Pain” which eloquently hits home about life’s strugglings. Another highlight in a similar vein is “Uglyfathahometeam” where the rapper knows he’s losing in his efforts to do good: “The Lord hates me/The Devil loves me/It’s looking ugly fa tha home team.”

General Lee thanks the fans, many of which Tez says come from Bowling Green. Nappy Roots also are quite aware of the rap groups in and around Bowling Green that are coming behind them, and the group works to help them by putting on shows and inviting those groups on the bill. Fish Scales also says Nappy Roots puts on the most diverse shows in Bowling Green; some of the area acts they have played with include Slim Island Hustlers and some of Joe Jones’ bands.

Nappy Roots did a show April 27 at Van Meter Auditorium. They are on the bill May 7 at the Derby Festival, performing at the Louisville Gardens. “No Comb, No Brush, No Fade, No Perm” will be available at ET’s Music, Disc Jockey, Mr. T’s, New Life in Nashville, and stores between Louisville and Tennessee. It will also be available at mp3.com and deeprooted.com. Fan mail may be sent to Nappy Roots, 1402 Adams St., Bowling Green, KY 42101.

Don Thomason is a writer and musician living in Dunbar. Visit him at www.myspace.com/donthomasonmusic