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The Atlanta stop of Pepsi's DJ Division campaign took place Wednesday night featuring an evening full of talented deejays, celebrity performers, celebrity spectators, & a packed house of fans at Sugarhill. Doors opened a little behind schedule Wednesday night, yet upon entrance we were treated to a tight ass deejay set by DJ Rastaroot who rocked for about 2 hours. One of the most popular deejays in Atlanta, Rastaroot is also the deejay for Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest & co-hosts the "Classic Example Show" with Jayforce on XM 65 The Rhyme on Satellite Radio. Big up to Jayforce who was also seen backstage as well as many other deejays & celebs watching such as Jermaine Dupri who was visible from the balcony area. NYC to ATL transplant Diamond D was also in the place as well as popular female deejay Princess Cut & producer DJ Montay from the Big Oomp camp. Showcasing his skills by scratching, beat juggling, & perfecting seamless blends of quality hip hop music, DJ Rastaroot also utilized the new serato function of mixing videos during his set. If you missed him at this event, you can catch him spinning at MJQ friday night mixing videos & the music for the party.

Following DJ Rastaroot's set, the Aphilliates took to the stage running various tunes popular on your favorite local commercial radio stations before DJ Drama came on stage to get the performances started. Serving mainly as the host of the show & leaving the DJ'ing duties to his comrades this evening, he introduced the packed house to a relatively new female artist on interscope records (yeah we forgot her name) who performed with male & female dancers on the tight stage. Drama later introduced different artists on his Aphillites music group label such as Willie The Kid & LA the Darkman who performed a number of songs fans maybe familiar with from his Gangsta Grillz mixtapes. They had a lot of dudes on stage with them that didn't really do much but provide support we guess.

Philly native & ATL transplant Asher Roth later took to the stage with his band beginning with his mixtape remake of Jay-Z's "Roc Boyz" & flipping it with "Roth Boys". The new signee to Steve Rifkinds's SRC label rocked with his band for about another 30 minutes more before Big Oomp Camp's DJ Unk took to the stage with his crew & performing various dances made popular by his hit singles "2 Step" & "Walk It Out".

Not long after DJ Unk's set, Bobby Valentino took to the stage with some R&B flavor running through his verses from his collabo with Lil Wayne "Mrs. Officer". After his brief set, Bobby let the crowd know about his new album he's about to drop & his new label situation with EMI before exiting stage right.

Sitting in a dark corner of the stage smoking a huge cigar, Ne-Yo swaggered to the front of the stage to the loud screams of the females in the audience. Moments later the instrumental to the "A Milli" beat drops & Ne-Yo rocks his R&B freestyle to arguably the most popular beat this year. Making the performance even better, Fabolous later walked out on the stage joining Ne-Yo for a brief run of their popular hit from Fab's album "Make Me Better".



With a horde of "snow bunnies" with them backstage, the 3 6 Mafia later that evening followed to the stage running through their catalog of hits & occasionally stopping between songs to clown & interact with the audience onstage. One chocolate female in the crowd even exposed her "tig ol bitties" to DJ Paul & Juicy J to the delight of many a male & photographers zooming in & snapping shots of her "breast-test-ess." The word is Gucci Mane was scheduled to perform either before or after the 3 6 Mafia set, but not at any point did we see the ATL rapper in the building.

DJ Kid Capri was to close out the night very strong but there were many technical difficulties that interfered with Kid Capri's set. Trying to work through the issues like a true professional you could see & understand Kid Capri's frustration as he repeatedly had to stop several times as the music dropped out completely. Despite all of this the Atlanta crowd was still with Kid Capri & supported with various shots from the crowd such as "Take Your Time Kid!" & other screams from females in the crowd.

Despite the many technical difficulties & various delays, the night went very well as the Pepsi DJ Division moves on for Miami on August 7th.

Check out the exclusive pics courtesy of ATLStatus.com

One of the most popular events that was birthed in Atlanta returned
home Friday night at the The Foundry at Puritan Mills. Jack Daniel's
Art, Beats, & Lyrics was originally founded by Jabari Graham a few
years ago prior to Jack Daniel's Whiskey becoming it's large corporate
sponsor. This year Jack Daniels has taken ART, BEATS, & Lyrics on
tour to various cities beginning with the Charlotte event that took
place in April. The purpose of ABL is to adequately merge all the
elements of hip hop culture that often times get overlooked such as
graf art, deejaying, emceeing, & breakdancing. With the huge
turnout, great performances, & visual displays we can see that
the ABL stop back home in Atlanta was another success.

ABL is hosted by Jayforce who is a popular mixtape deejay &
radio show host on the Beatz & Lyrics Show in Atlanta (WRFG)
& as a co-host of the "Classic Example" Show on XM Satellite radio
with DJ Rastaroot. The night got started with the fine ass
DJ Princess Cut who spun a diverse musical mix going from current
hits to urban rock to ATL classics & true school themed hip hop.
Public Enemy's DJ Lord got on the 1s & 2s & showcased his turntable
skills & tricks while various breakdancing crews such as the
HBO Crew, ATL FunkLords, & the Burn Unit got down. DJ Rastaroot f
inished the night strong with a collaborative set with "Alien" who
definitely had the hottest performance of the night. Alien is a
drummer who dazzled the crowd with him playing the drums to
various instrumentals Rastaroot played from Lil Wayne's "A Milli",
Jay-Z's "Jigga My Nigga", 50 Cent's"What Up Gangsta", &
Jay-Z's "U Don't Know".



In addition to large amount of beautiful women in the place, there
were quite a few notable artists spotted at the event just hanging out
such as Killer Mike. Killer Mike's new album "I Plege Allegiance To
The Grind Pt 2" was just released three weeks ago. There was also a
special surprise performance from atlanta bass music legends Raheem
The Dream, DJ Tazz, & Kizzy Rock. Overall the night was very
successful & the artists whether musical or visual didn't disappoint.
ABL is scheduled to return to Atlanta again later in the year after
making stops in St. Louis, Baltimore, & Jackson, Missippi, among
others.

Check out the pics below!