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By Brandon Perkins   Photography by Cynthia Moore

11/06/07 :: URB 150

This summer, a song hit the Internuts like a ninja on steroids—its origin shrouded in mystery as it hauntingly echoed a tangible eeriness. On the surface, it appeared to be just another song about cars, but there was an urgency that made it feel so much more important. Under a choir of ghostly children la la la-ing a lullaby of death, there was an undeniable and soaring beauty...even as a seemingly satanic Mike Jones slurred the screwed-up hook.

Months later, we know the song is called “Wood Grain” and the artists behind it are the Hood Headlinaz on Paper Route Recordz. The ethereal vacuum where the Headlinaz made the cut is called Huntsville, Alabama—a place that’s ostensibly as unaware of the outside world as the outside world is of it. But, perhaps most surprisingly, by the end of the summer, it was apparent that “Wood Grain” wasn’t just a fluke.  

Mali Boi is one-fifth of the Hood Headlinaz and the in-house producer for Paper Route. In the wake of the South’s assembly line of exponentially redundant rappers (and the region’s arguably ingratiating over-saturation of the hip-hop market), Mali Boi’s sound is excitingly unique. Without a doubt, it’s the primary reason behind the improbable explosion of exposure for the collective. After all, he’s the one who unearthed the Children of the Corn choir for “Wood Grain,” not to mention the oft-techno’d airy keys of Robert Miles’s “Children” for “Rollin’,” the Headlinaz’s follow-up Internet smash. Mali Boi’s new work is full of chances that he avoided when producing the Hood Headlinaz’s 2006 self-titled debut mixtape. Hood Headlinaz was full of darkly plodding beats in the vein of Three 6 Mafia, and though the production was comparably banging, not much separated it from scores of other producers taking cues from Juicy J and DJ Paul. 

“I’m just trying to sound as different from these other producers as possible. I started doing less of what I thought people liked and more of what I liked,” Mali Boi says in a raspy whisper reminiscent of Jadakiss with a sore throat and a deeply southern accent. “It’s going to change a lot more from [‘Wood Grain’ and ‘Rollin’]. I’m just going through a little process.” 

Part of the process is that, like a great basketball player, he makes his team better. Although nine rappers are on Paper Route and all have seemingly been part of the Hood Headlinaz at some point, the group currently consists of five: Mali Boi, Money Addict, Mata, Jhi Ali and Gunt 1/3. On “Wood Grain,” the producer chops and screws the verses from trudgingly slow drawls to frantically quick chirps for an effect that’s absolutely dizzying. More than just a nod to DJ Screw’s infamous hip-hop trick, it makes the rappers on the song sound like superstars. It turns a standard brag about 28-inch rims—at the four minute 30 second mark—into something special.

“That dude’s a beast,” says Mata (pronounced May-tah) of his producer. “I’m glad that his shit grow ’cause it helps my shit grow. When you have that fire shit coming behind you, you can’t help but go hard.” 

And the results of that “unconscious competition” between producer and rappers certainly received its share of attention when it found its way onto the blog roll. But with such little information available about the group behind “Wood Grain,” it was easy to wonder whether the Hood Headlinaz was even aware of its growing cult status. 

“I ain’t up on the Internet like this, but I figured it was getting [attention] ’cause folks were loving it to death out here,” Mali Boi says of “Wood Grain.” “I’m kind of inner city because, real talk, I don’t know anything that’s going on outside my city. I mean, I heard ’cause folks come and tell me all the time that this shit is poppin’ on the Internet. But I’ve been hearing that for years, so it don’t really make much difference for me.”  

Huntsville, often called Hunts Vegas or Jackpot City by locals because “you either gonna hit big or lose big” according to Jhi Ali, is right on top of Alabama A&M’s campus in the state’s northeastern corner. With a population less than 200,000, Huntsville is called repeatedly described as “laidback.” Even as the home of Space Camp, a destination for aspiring geeks from upper crust America, Huntsville doesn’t exactly have a national profile...but it’s not the one-cow town blue-staters might assume, either. 

“There’s a lot of opportunity out here,” Jhi Ali says. Along with Mata and Gunt 1/3, he makes up the group X.O., in addition to the trio’s role in Hood Headlinaz. “There’s a whole lot of pleasures and a whole lot of money, so it depends on how you play it. It’s a gamble out here.” 

Mata is quick to point out that the Hood Headlinaz are about legal money. He even spells out the word for extra emphasis. But more than chasing the paper stack, the artists of Paper Route Recordz are all striving for growth. The results will be seen in full with the release of Still Headlinin’, which will feature the much ballyhooed songs already discussed here. Although dreams of their names in national lights bubble under each word, everyone seems happy with continuing the grind where artistry trumps pay checks. It might sound simple, but it’s not always at the forefront of contemporary hip-hop’s head. 

“I wanna set the standard in the South,” says the CEO of Paper Route Recordz, Dawgy Baggz. “There’s a lot of not-too-good music coming out, not just particularly in the South, but period. I really want to show that we can still make timeless music. That’s what I want the Headlinaz to be. I want Still Headlinin’ to be a timeless album that people never will forget...and to make a statement that we’re from Alabama.”

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