Photograph courtesy of AJC Films
Thanks to the amped up beef between the West Coast and East Coast rappers in the room, tensions were already running high at the 1995 Source Awards held in New York City. And then, in the upset of the evening, Atlanta’s OutKast took home the award for Best New Rap Group. As they strode to the microphone to accept the award, Big Boi and André 3000 were booed. Attempting to talk over the crowd and annoyed by the disrespect, André 3000 gave voice to all of the unheard Southern hip-hop artists when he told the room, “The South got something to say.” The moment immediately put the South and Atlanta on the hip-hop map. Filmmakers the Horne Brothers wisely use this dramatic tension to open their instantly engrossing new documentary of the same name, the inaugural project from AJC Films.
The 90-minute feature film, directed by Ryon and Tyson Horne and written by AJC journalists Ernie Suggs and DeAsia Paige, had its world premiere Thursday night at Center Stage theater in Midtown and began streaming on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website on Friday. The doc features exclusive interviews with T.I.; Jermaine Dupri; Arrested Development; Goodie Mob; DMC of Run DMC; Lil Yachty; Atlanta mayors Andrew Young, Kasim Reed, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Andre Dickens (who acknowledges that Dupri, the owner of So So Def Recordings, is indeed the real mayor of Atlanta); Sleepy Brown; DJ Toomp; and many others. Among the film’s archival surprises? Footage of 1984’s Fresh Fest, largely acknowledged as the first national hip-hip tour featuring a 12-year-old DJ named Jermaine Dupri.
This week, Ryon and Tyson Horne sat down with Atlanta to discuss their latest film, the music from their childhood that influenced the project, and the art of interviewing your idols.
Photograph courtesy of AJC Films
Who came up with this idea and how long did it take to make?
Ryon Horne:…
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