Waiting (and Waiting) For A Big Rap Moment

NASHVILLE — He calls himself All $tar, and he has what most rappers dream of: a devoted fan base, a strong regional reputation and a big-time record deal. His major-label debut, “Street Ball” (Cash Money/Universal), is one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated Southern hip-hop albums.

A darker mood: The Nashville rapper All $tar, whose latest release, “$tarlito’s Way II,” sounds more like a concept album than a mixtape.

But all that was equally true last year. And in 2006. And in 2005 too. All $tar, who just turned 23, has been Nashville’s next big hip-hop thing for so long that the title has stopped seeming like a compliment. These days if you ask him about “Street Ball,” he can still muster some bravado.

“I plan on my debut album being a smash,” he said. But a few seconds later he acknowledged the obvious: “All of that is wishful thinking.”

While waiting for his moment, All $tar has gone back underground, performing at nightclubs and releasing a series of mixtapes designed to keep the anticipation high and the bills paid. He is a lovable rapper, equipped with a witty, conversational flow. But his latest release, “$tarlito’s Way II” (Grind Hard/Loyalty), is something else altogether: an astonishing double CD that sounds less like a stop-gap compilation and more like a concept album.

He spends the first disc building himself up. (You may be pleased to hear that he is “focused on the cake like a chef at a wedding.”) And he spends the second disc picking himself apart, debating himself, wondering if he should quit. (One song offers a half-serious diagnosis; it’s called “Rap Music Ruined My Life.”) These tracks — nearly three dozen of them — follow a familiar but effective arc. With his first breath he recalls his first breath: “Dec. 15, ’84, a star was born.” And near the end, he enumerates his last wishes: “Give my guns to the goons, give my game to the lame/Let my music spread like legs till they remember my name.” Certainly these CDs should make him much harder to forget.

On Friday night All $tar could be found in the lobby of a Nashville hotel, tall but inconspicuous despite the glittering Cash Money pendant around his neck. He gamely answered questions about his bittersweet career, growing more voluble as he got deeper into the details. For starters there’s the unusual deadline “$tarlito’s Way II” had to meet. “My ultimate goal was to get these CDs out by my birthday,” he said. “As a birthday present to myself.”

All $tar was born Jermaine Shute, and he grew up mainly in East Nashville. In “Life Story,” the riveting six-minute track that begins Disc 1, he describes his surroundings: “Mama was doing hair, Daddy was smoking rocks.” All $tar’s teenage years, abridged: drug-dealing, basketball, college (Tennessee State University), hip-hop.

Nashville isn’t known as a hip-hop hotbed, and the city’s country-music economy doesn’t much help. (The country festival formerly known as Fan Fair? “The only thing that meant in my neighborhood was extra traffic,” he said.)

Just as Young Buck, Nashville’s best-known rapper, found success by joining 50 Cent’s G Unit, All $tar built his career by forging out-of-town connections. He joined forces with the Memphis rapper Yo Gotti, who in turn got him a deal with the New Orleans label Cash Money (now based in Miami), which has a distribution and marketing deal with the Universal Motown Records Group.

A lot of the excitement surrounding All $tar can be traced to “Grey Goose,” a thunderous 2005 single based on a rowdy chant: “I’m on that Grey Goose (Ay!)/Do I know you? (No!)” The song became All $tar’s calling card, and in his brash verses, you can hear the excitement of a rookie rapper glimpsing success: “They call me Cashville’s prince, Cash Money’s newest young’un/Wipe my sweat off with a 20, blow my nose with a hundred.” On a remix, Cash Money’s flagship rapper, Lil Wayne, saluted the upstart: “Give him a check and a gun, Baby, welcome to the label.”

Tag Cloud

External Information

Additional Information

Where Am I?