When trap and crunk music were popular in Atlanta, The Shop Boyz (Demetrius “Meany” Hardin, Richard “Fat” Stephens and Rasheed “Sheed” Hightower) were experimenting with an edgier sound and style, layering guitar riffs, violin, heavy bass, and drums against hip-hop tracks creating a sound they call “Hood Rock.” Their breakout single, “Party Like A Rock Star” was like nothing you’d ever heard before. Three rappers from Bankhead, Atlanta’s westside smashing guitars and making mosh pit music against hip-hop beats. The Shops Boyz push even further into uncharted terrain going from hip-hop to hood rock and everything in between, experimenting with rock, country music, reggae, electronic dance music on 5 new songs that will be released digitally in 2015. “We’re hard-core hip-hop fans, but we don’t look at ourselves like hip-hop artists anymore. We’re trend setters” states Fat.
Fans of their first album, Rockstar Mentality, will be excited to hear the guitar riff again on “Born To Be Bad,” an after-party for “Party Like A Rockstar;” Sheed calls reggae inspired, “Party All Night,” an anthem for the people who work Monday-Friday but let loose on the weekend.” The party continues on “Sunrise,” an electronic rave dance track that Sheed says, “will send you into another dimension.” The Shop Boyz experiments with live musicians on the turn’t up, but down home song “Country Girl.” Meany shares, “Country Girl is about a country girl who meets a city boy for the first time and that’s exactly what the song sounds like, turn’t up country music. We wanted to capture that real country sound so we brought in a live Banjo player and an acoustic guitarist for that track.” If you think they’ve strayed too far from their hip-hop origins, then guess again. On “Dream On,” the trio take it back to their southern hip-hop roots.
“Everything we do has a rockstar mentality,” shares Fat. “Rockstars are people who make their own rules, create new lanes. That’s what makes rock stars stand out and that’s what we’re doing musically.” While the industry likes to put artists in boxes, creating categories and genres in attempt to define the music, The Shop Boyz unify us musically one chord, one verse, one lyric, and one rhyme at a time proving that you can do more with hip-hop and still be a rock star.
About The Shop Boyz!
With the #1 selling ringtone around the world and their single peaking at #2 on Billboard’s Top 200 Charts, “Party Like A Rock Star” turned The Shop Boyz into superstars practically overnight. Their video was in heavy rotation on MTV and BET and The Shop Boyz were bestowed the following nominations: Grammy Award (Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group), American Music Award (Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Band/Duo/Group), MTV Video Music Awards (Monster Single Of the Year), People’s Choice Awards USA (Favorite Hip-Hop Song), Teen Choice Awards (Choice Summer Song) and BET Hip-Hop Award (Track Of the Year). With all the accolades nothing beat hearing that “Party Like A Rockstar” was the “#1 ringtone in the country selling nearly $3 million ringtones. Not only were the people checking, the industry was paying close attention too. Soon to come was their major label debut LP, “Rock Star Mentality,” and “Party Like A Rockstar” official remixes with Lil Wayne, Jim Jones, and Chamillionaire. Lil Jon put his ‘yeahhhhh’ on it producing an unofficial remix.The Shop Boyz return with new music in 2015 that find them stretching the boundaries of hip-hop even further.
