Rapper and deejay DJ Unk (Anthony Leonard Platt) poses for photographs after his efficiency throughout the ‘Faculty Leap-Off’ live performance on the DuSable Museum in Chicago, Illinois in June 2007.
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Raymond Boyd/Getty Photos
In 2006, Atlanta hosted BET’s first annual Hip Hop Awards on the famed Fox Theatre, an unofficially official announcement to the remainder of the world that Atlanta all however cemented its place because the epicenter of rap. The nominees learn like an inventory of native highschool yearbook superlatives with Atlanta-based artists and producers current in every class, and those self same artists accounted for greater than half of the stage performances — with main label-backed hitmakers Jermaine Durpi, Jeezy, Ludacris, Lil Jon and T.I. all taking house, a few of them showing greater than as soon as. Nevertheless it was the closing efficiency from an unbiased rapper and native celebration starter that appropriately stole the present: DJ Unk doing “Stroll It Out.”
For the VIP guests within the crowd, who probably went from the aircraft to the lodge, perhaps to the luxury Lenox Mall, after which to the present, Unk’s presence on the star-studded ceremony was among the many most genuine showcases of town they’d get. Sure, Durpi and Luda carried out town’s theme tune, “Welcome To Atlanta,” that night time, and Jeezy introduced Magic Metropolis poles and dancers on stage. However Unk referred to as again to town’s wealthy dance and vogue histories and had dozens of individuals “stroll it out” down every aisle, wearing personalized airbrushed and painted t-shirts, actually throwing the power of Atlanta into all people’s lap.
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On Friday, January 24, 2025, Unk, born Anthony Leonard Platt, handed away in his sleep from a coronary heart assault at 43, leaving individuals who nonetheless have reminiscences of that efficiency and the time it represented coronary heart damaged. A proud “Grady Child” — the endearing time period describing anybody born in Atlanta’s largest hospital, Grady Memorial — Unk’s rise to stardom began as a member of the Southern Fashion DJs, a collective that labored beneath the umbrella of revered indie file label Massive Oomp Information, based by road entrepreneur-turned-businessman Korey “Massive Oomp” Roberson. Massive Oomp launched “Stroll It Out” in 2006, and the tune went High 10 on the Scorching 100 and achieved platinum standing. On the energy of “Stroll It Out” and the follow-up single “2 Step,” Unk grew to become the most important star the label ever had, standing because the temporary however beaming end result of its efforts. Collectively they represented a hyperlocal grassroots motion that mirrored Atlanta in addition to the rest, even in shifting the nationwide zeitgeist.
Impressed by the favored “Poole Palace” dance and produced by Massive Oomp’s in-house beatsmith DJ Montay, who additionally produced “2 Step” and Flo Rida’s “Low,” the synth-driven bounce of “Stroll It Out” gave listeners a passport to the hoods and golf equipment of Atlanta, coming at a time when regionalism was nonetheless a factor in hip-hop. The blatantly Southern hip-hop observe dropped in 12 months when native scenes throughout the nation have been pushing distinctive types and sounds; followers have been nonetheless capable of get a sniff of West Coast G-Funk with Snoop Dogg’s Tha Blue Carpet Therapy, a uncooked really feel for mid-Atlantic road life on Clipse’s Hell Hath No Fury, a style of NYC hardcore by means of Mobb Deep’s Blood Cash, an earful of jazz-sampling soul from the midwest with Lupe Fiasco’s Meals & Liquor and hit of Bay Space hyphy by means of E-40’s My Ghetto Report Card powered by the anthem “Inform Me When To Go” (satirically produced by Atlanta’s personal Lil Jon). Earlier than the rapid accessibility of the web performed a component in spreading the tradition broad, and flattening it within the course of, “Stroll It Out” was a shining instance of how a tune, and music video, might introduce you to a metropolis and what the individuals in it really sound like.
Unk launched “Stroll It Out” right into a rap scene in the midst of a balancing act. Outkast was all however closing the e-book on their milestone profession, releasing their ultimate venture, the film soundtrack disguised as an album, Idlewild. (One other ode to the endurance of “Stroll It Out”: the tune’s 2007 remix is the final time each members of Outkast appeared collectively on file.) T.I. and (Younger) Jeezy have been taking the once-underground lure music style mainstream, whereas Ludacris, an artist identified for his cartoonish method to rap, reduce off his braids and went for a extra severe tone to launch his ultimately Grammy-winning album “Launch Remedy.” Whereas rappers in Atlanta have been nonetheless making hits, and on the cusp of shifting the hub of your entire tradition south, the precise “enjoyable” component of the music was beginning to wane. With its hypnotic bass and synths, “Stroll It Out” got here with repeated directions that put everybody in a trance. Unk’s tunes helped preserve the celebration going whereas many have been deciding they have been changing into too cool to bop.
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Because the songs exploded domestically after which nationally, the hits on Unk’s debut album, Beatin Down Ya Block, resuscitated Massive Oomp Information as a mannequin for self-sustained success. All through the Nineteen Nineties Massive Oomp set a blueprint for the way unbiased rap labels might thrive in a metropolis identified extra for main label-affiliated R&B and rap artists. They broke artists on their roster by that includes them on Southern Fashion DJ mixtapes that have been already broadly widespread for his or her meticulously-produced remixes and added bass frequencies. These efforts have been additional supported by the DJs spinning the information on the many nightclubs they performed, immediately connecting them with the streets. Add this to Massive Oomp’s direct-to-consumer mannequin established behind varied brick-and-mortar file shops and flea market vendor cubicles and also you had an organization with its personal ecosystem.
After having fun with some native and regional success within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s — with artists like Hitman Sammy Sam, Child D, Lil C, Loko and Intoxicated — the label all however disappeared as Atlanta’s rap scene kicked into overdrive post-9/11. A lot of this may be blamed on a lot of their artists dealing with authorized troubles or dabbling within the streets, halting their outputs and limiting their visits to the studio. However the firm stayed related by means of their Oomp Camp Stay TV present on UPN affiliate Channel 69 and rising their file shops that carried Hip Hop albums, mixtapes, DVDs and magazines that you just could not discover at your native Kroger or Finest Purchase. So despite the fact that their label facet lay dormant for a spell, the infrastructure was in place to fulfill Unk’s dance-inspired tune in its second, serving to it take off throughout the peak of the “snap” period. Nearly 20 years later, “Stroll It Out” and “2 Step” are nonetheless assured celebration starters, evoking a selected time in Atlanta. Staying ready for the fashionable marathon that’s the music trade, Unk helped Massive Oomp dash to the highest of the charts by staying of their lane.
Figures like Jermaine Dupri, Ludacris, T.I., Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Future, Younger Thug and Lil Child offered themselves as rap incarnations of town’s lengthy lineage of Black mayors, performing as a conduit between town’s music and the company pursuits trying to are available and capitalize. Seen, however not at all times touchable. However, as an organization and crew, the always-independent Massive Oomp Information was extra akin to the late and beloved Atlanta activist Hosea Williams, who is commonly credited for creating the phrase “unbought and unbossed.” Capable of set their very own tempo and developments, Unk and Massive Oomp maintained an eye-to-eye, hand-to-hand reference to the group it got here from.
