Clear The Air: Hip Hop Helps Heal Lung Cancer

ArtLoveMagic is once again partnering with H4 - a local collective of hip hop musicians who donate their time and energies to put on shows that raise money for local charities. In the past H4 and ArtLoveMagic have partnered on shows to help those dealing with breast cancer and domestic violence issues. Now we are tackling Lung Cancer.

Justin Griffith (known on stage as G.O.A.T.) is the founder of Hip Hop Helps Heal. In only the last few weeks, his grandfather passed from Lung Cancer related issues. This show is being thrown in his memory.

H4 will supply the rappers and the DJs. ArtLoveMagic will supply the live artists and the spoken word poets. The show will be Saturday Night August 28th at a rrrreally cool new club in Deep Ellum called ARNETIC (Elm & Malcom X). Today was just the first meeting of the production crew and already the lineup has some of the best street artists and hip hop acts in town involved. A full list will be announced soon. We’re going to move fast on this one and put together an incredible show in just under a month.

Mark your calendar for the 28th.
Live art, hip hop, a worthy cause.
Breathe Deep.
The air will be fresh.

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Tales From The Road

“There were some rough moments,” admits Justin Griffith (aka GOAT). “But we’re all good dudes so it worked out. We really became a family.” It is unusual in the hyper-competitive rap industry for multiple artists - in this case six - to hit the road for two weeks of non-stop “togetherness,” including sleeping six on the floor in a small extra bedroom someone afforded them. Such was life on the Southern Elements Tour this past month.

Along with GOAT, the 2010 tour included MC Astro, JackRabbit James, Kilo Art-of-Fact, DJ Trek, and DJ Croix. They covered five states and nine cities in a 14-day span, sharing some of our area’s best “intelligent rap” with the folks to our left. “We were really embraced everywhere we went,” Griffith says. That had to feel particularly good to the singer/rapper who lost family members twice during the tour. Maybe the only man alive that could handle it all - grieving, multiple plane trips, and blowin’ up the mic four or five times a week - GOAT never missed a gig. He even called the experience “the best of my life.”

“No one went to jail,” offers DJ Trek as a personal highlight, jokingly, sort of. “In San Francisco, Jack and I made our way out to Baker Beach at like 4:30 in the morning,” he continues. “We watched the sun come up over the Golden Gate Bridge. Then like 45 minutes later, a couple of our buddies show up with a case of beer, so we’re all drinking beers on the beach as the morning joggers go by. We saw some pink elephants that night.”

That was not a pink elephant! “DJ Trek and a buddy were standing in front of a house in Colorado, smoking, when they see this black figure moving [past] them,” relates JackRabbit James. “It turns out to be a mama bear and two cubs about four or five feet away!” LIT is guessing alcohol was involved as the story has DJ Trek and friend following the deadly beasts down the road with a video camera.

Like everything in the world of GOAT and his mates, plenty of video footage will be posted by the time you read this. Start your trip into the hip-hop woods by visiting MusicByGOAT.com.

News: Tour Announcement

Local rappers G.O.A.T., JackRabbit James, MC Astro, & Kilo Art-of-Fact are heading out on a West Coast Tour. The cats will be reppin’ D-Town in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and all over Cali.

G: I’m a solo act that works closely with my friend and partner three6t. We formed The Intelligent South in 2009, which is the beginning of a small indie label based in Dallas, Texas, USA. Three6t and I started working on music as a duo in 2004. We knew each other through a mutual friend. I was finishing up the recording of my solo release Absolute Truth and I wanted to feature a DJ on 3 of my songs. So three6t came through to lay down some cuts. I also wanted to start aggressively attacking the live music scene and I needed a DJ to back me, so he was in. We’ve been working closely ever since. At this point, we’re a self-sustaining machine. Between the two of us, we can conceptualize, write, record, engineer, mix, produce, create graphic designs for album covers and flyers, build and maintain our web presence, do video editing, deal with bookings and promotions, and push our products.

LR: How would you describe your sound?
G: Soulful indie hip-hop with an emphasis on self-discovery, but still not what you would expect. I say my sound is the illegitimate child of promiscuous genres.

LR: Your musical influences?
G: There’s so many artists that have influenced me, but my main lyrical influences are Brother Ali, Cee-lo, and Outkast. My main musical influences are Organized Noize, Alice in Chains, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

LR: Your hopes for the listener?
G: A connection. Peace of mind that they’re not the only people going through hardships, trials, and tribulations. I hope my music opens doors in people’s heads that help them cope with the cards that they were dealt.

LR: Visit www.musicbygoat.com to see his entire solo discography, as well as other projects that he has worked on. The most recent CD is Mileage, released in November of 2009. You can find GOAT’s music on iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, as well as www.musicbygoat.bandcamp.com.

G: I also have several free downloads at www.musicbygoat.com. To stay informed, sign up for our email alerts. Another thing, I dig communication with my audience. Shoot me an email or message with any thoughts or questions: goat@musicbygoat.com | booking@musicbygoat.com

LR: Also find GOAT on Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, Twitter, and Sonicbids.

LR: Your future hopes?
G: I hope for health and positivity. As for everything else, I work towards making it a reality. Music is my entire life. With that being said, you can expect constant progression from me. My main goal is to make a living from writing, recording, and performing music. As long as I continue to make steps up the ladder, I’m happy. I feel great about where I’m at right now and I appreciate everyone’s support through this long road of self-discovery and struggle. The ride ain’t over yet.

LR: Gothic Vogue would like to thank GOAT for consenting to this interview. Now go visit this multi-talented artist and show some love.

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