What I learned from Grip Plyaz
Four members of ATL’s music community share their stories
Aleon Craft, MC
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“Grip just always told me, ‘Don’t conform,’ whether it’s in life, whether it’s in music. You’ve got a dream or something you want to do, do that shit. That’s what he always told me. He was like, ‘Look dog, if you want to put on a robe on and come out there looking like Obi-Wan Kenobi when you perform forget what anybody thinks or is going to say, just do that shit.’”
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Go Dreamer, MC/producer
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“It was Hollyweerd’s second show and we were kind of figuring this shit out. I was getting ready to play the track with my words on the track for the show because that’s what a lot of folks do. He said, ‘Don’t Photoshop the words on there. That’s not how you’re supposed to rock that.’ I went back and started making show mixes for my set. Now, my show’s on point just off of that reference.”
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Speakerfoxxx, DJ
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“Grip is a pioneer in the music industry in Atlanta and he is responsible for maintaining a sound that is so native to Atlanta and carrying it through the next generation. He’s the coolest motherfucker on the planet, just like OutKast said on ‘So Fresh So Clean’. When OutKast said that, that’s who they’re talking about.”
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Mike Walbert, Director, A3C Hip-Hop Festival
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“He was the number one supporter of all the other artists. We knew we wanted it to be a party, so we knew if we got Grip on the bill people were going to have fun. When people left shows, we knew he touched people because people would ask, ‘Yo, who is that guy?’ So many times, people who were my friends, or people who weren’t in the scene necessarily, loved him. He really connected with a lot of people.”