It seems like a bygone era in Hip-Hop that will probably never been seen again.
It was the apex of the streets running into Hip-Hop. In 2006, we were down in Atlanta partying with Def Jam and Young Jeezy, celebrating the success of his debut release Thug Motivation and his pending second album, The Inspiration.
Everything was good, the parties were poppin, money was falling from the sky like a scene out of a rap video - except this was very real. Every Atlanta rapper was there - Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Lil Scrappy, Big Boi, Young Jeezy. I even recall seeing T.I. in the parking lot pulling up in one of his Rolls-Royce's.
While it was a party, there was tension in the air, because Jeezy had just dropped "Stay Strapped." In addition to the strippers gyrating around the club, there were at least 50 guys looming around the club wearing B.M.F. T-shirts. This wasn't an uncommon site at that point, B.M.F. seemed to be everywhere. Someone grabbed me and began leading me through a posse of men, some stopping and questioning me as I got closer to the center of the club. By the time we got there, Young Jeezy was clutching a bottle, looking out at the crowd with Big Meech and his assistant Yogi sitting on a couch next to him.
At the time, Yogi and I would email each other about Meech and the label side of B.M.F., and their artists, so we kicked it for a little. I gave Jeezy some dap and went over and had some brief words with Meech. For his fearsome reputation, he seemed like a cool guy. We all took sips from the complimentary bottles were were clutching and went back out to the party. By this point, the strippers were scooping up trash bags full of money, literally, trash bags full. The floor was so covered in cash that you couldn't see the ground. People were stuffing their pockets with one-dollar-bills and five-dollar-bills and they still couldn't get it all off the ground.
The next day, I paid for my breakfast with a fist-full of dollars.
Most of this is on tape somewhere, from the party to the parking lot, where gunshots rang out and sent everyone scattering. I know because I was being interviewed by a cameraman when the shooting began to clear out the crowd.
Later, we would learn that two dudes were killed in the parking lot that night. If you have read Mara Shalhoup's book B.M.F., you will understand the chain of events that shooting set-off and its indirect effect on Hip-Hop music.
Big Meech was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in running the $270 million cocaine distribution empire, which boasted connections to the Mexican drug cartels and sold tons of the drug around the United States from the late 1980's until his incarceration in 2008. I reconnected with Meech last week and had a great conversation with him.
Big Meech, born Demetrius Flenory, is being held at a Federal prison in Jessup, Georgia. Meech claims that he was not involved in the cocaine conspiracy side of things, he only ran the record label. His spirit has not been broken at all, in fact, he seemed very "comfortable" being in prison, making the best of his time, reading, exercising - and rolling with a B.M.F. crew in the prison, which he says has made things much easier. Big Meech is currently working hard on his appeal, which will be heading to the Supreme Court in Georgia for a final decision in 2011.
***PART 2 COMING SOON***
(B.M.F RICK ROSS VIDEO)
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