Almane Lo

“It’s good to see a young black male doing something positive. The man’s got a future & is going to be a millionaire before twenty one”. Such positive feedback like that drives people to put in the same effort with their own personal craft. As a great man once said “Perfect practice makes perfect” & if anyone second guesses that, they must have not heard about Atlanta-based producer Lil’A the ‘Teen of Crunk’. Unbelievable? Well let’s do a background check. In the summer of 2006 Lil’A landed a song on FM & XM radio charts without even having management or a legit record deal. So how did this 18-year- old go from getting in trouble for passing out beat flyers on the Marta Train to producing for some of the hottest artist in the dirty south.
Lil’A ‘Teen of Crunk’, born in Washington D.C, moved to Atlanta at the age of 5. Atlanta is labeled the ’Music Hollywood’ where many artist come to get a shot at stardom. “When I first moved to Atlanta, I aint gone lie, I was scared of freak-nick” which was an Atlanta Celebration that took place on the streets of the city. “Here I am only 5 years old and I see folks going crazy in the streets, jumping on cars partying like rock stars,” Lil’A says. Little did he know that this was going to be the city that was responsible for his stardom ten years later.
As young Lil’A got older, his neighborhood acquaintance Curtis had a school assignment involving a music rap. Curtis wanted to use Lil’A as the rapper for his school project. “I didn’t know anything about music, all I ever did was listen to it, I never knew I would actually rap on a track,” Lil’A admits. Starting out with a tape recorder & a boom box, Lil’A recorded the song in his garage in a day. “As I listen back to the track, its really funny because I have come such a long way, I used to sound like a little girl,” Lil’A says. Shortly after the record had been circulating around the area, Lil’A made a new friend by the name of J-Dub. “I remember when I first met J-Dub, we met in Fort McPherson in Southwest Atlanta, & people were telling me that he was a rapper also” Lil’A says. “My first thought was, man this dude is trying to steal my shine,” Lil’A says. “Throughout that whole summer J-Dub & I recorded a song every week; it was my passion to do music from then on”.
As luck would have it, Lil’A shaped a buzz for himself at Mundy’s Mill Middle School located on the southern outskirts of Atlanta. In 6th grade, Lil’A passed out a numerous quantity of his rap tapes. Looking for feedback on his recorded music, Lil’A kept his ear to the hallways. “I remember people used to sing my songs in the hallway in a sarcastic way, & laughed at me when they saw me, that really showed me who my real friends were,” Lil’A says. “If people didn’t like what I brought to the table, they should have just let me know instead of trying to humiliate me,” Shortly after the tapes were leaked in the school, the tapes were unfortunately banned from passing out due to school rules. Lil’A sustained making music took his music to the next level.
That stage was a defining branch in Lil A’s life. Lil’A collaborated with a rap group called ‘Anamosity’ with rap cohorts Yung Pimp & Ve Ve. Joining the group, Lil’A recognized that he had a strong passion for constructing music. “I used to produce all of our tracks on Fl Studio. We recorded a song a song like every week.” Abruptly unforeseen trouble started lurking in his direction. With three run-ins with law enforcement, at the infantile age of 15, Lil’A had 1 felony charge and two misdemeanors. “I just used to hang around the wrong people and do stupid stuff for no reason. Seeing my mother cry those tears in the courtroom cut me deep,” says Lil’A. “I hardly ever even hang with anyone anymore. There is not much an optimistic vibe where I stay. But I learned to overcome my society. Most people don’t know that when you are locked up, you lose to the system, & that’s something I just can’t afford to do.” Lil’A notes.
Stepping back onto prospect in early 2006, Lil’A was indomitable to get his first song on the radio.” I remember taking the train downtown to 5 points everyday just to hand out flyers for my beats” Lil’A notes. “Nobody really took me seriously while I was handing out my flyers.” Later on that summer, Lil’A managed to sneak into the Hot 107.9 Radio Station. “I went up there with my boys Yung Pimp & Preach. I noticed that my home girl’s momma worked in the same building. So we took the elevator to the 12th floor & that is when I met J nicks.” Lil’A says. “I gave him a beat CD & he told me he would give me a call back if he liked it. About 15 minutes later he called me back, and asked me if I really made the tracks & ever since that day, he has been playing the big brother role in my life.”
J nicks & Lil’A took it a step further. “I let Nicks here my Shoulder Lean remix while we were in the studio & everybody went nuts. That song was my first record on the radio.” Lil’A says. The remix consisted of a sample from an Alexander O’Neal track. Many people in the music business were surprised with Lil A’s inventiveness. “This young’n has his old school music game on lock.” Says J Nicks. The game has a lot of producers in it as of right now. Several of these producers do not have the knowledge & marketing strategies to make a hit or to sell a record.
“I do what I do for my fans basically. I know what my fans are looking for with the music. They are always looking for what I’m going to bring to the table next” he states. “What I really look forward to in the future is owning my own label and producing all of my music and perhaps bringing up a couple artist of my own.” Who would have thought a teenager could encompass the knowledge of the music industry such as Lil’A? Seems like this young phenomenon is going a long way. Let’s just watch and see.