ATL = Good Times

What can we say about hob-nobbing with the urban industry's best and brightest over several days in the A Town, Where, let's be honest, most of hip-hop music comes from these days? We can say that we sacrificed quite a few sleep hours doing "research" for you guys out there in cyber land. Yeah, we had a few drinks while gathering facts - stuff like this takes dedication.

Let's start with Thursday night. J.I. hit the downtown club (we think we were in downtown) The Royal where Nas, Chris Webber (who's not nearly as hot as he was when J.I. was in high school. No wonder he and Tyra Banks squashed their love connections), a couple of Goodie Mob members and, wait... even Emmanuel Lewis from the tv sitcom "Webster" got their dance on.  (sidenote: We know 'Ain't that something?' is what you're saying to yourself and believe us, we said the same... ESPECIALLY when we heard that Mr. Lewis never lacks for a lap dance in the A.! Special shout to WHTA's Stix Malone for showing us around town.)

Friday night, after DJ Holiday did us a huge favor by DJ-ing The Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Awards show, we tumbled into a club called Esso's where Holiday was spinning and some of South's rappers kept us dancing all night. Say what you will about D4L (of "Laffy Taffy" fame) but Shawty Lo has a track called "Dey Know" that J.I.'s favorite song right now. The horns are perfect. Island/Def Jam's new mc, Rocko, is also getting a bunch of spins with "Umma Do Me," which was produced by Drumma Boy. He just shot his first video for "Umma Do Me" last Tuesday, and J.I. dares to say that with his early spins in Atl and Def Jam's muscle, Rocko's got an easy road to success.

We also thanked our lucky stars that Louisiana's star producer, Mouse of Trill Family, has another hit with Webbie and Boosie called "Independent." It's great while you're drinking, er, researching... and great for the chicks!

After Esso's, J.I. took our lives into our own hands and hit Atlanta's storied East Point to hit the biggest pool hall we've ever seen with the name to prove it: Grand Central. Joining up with MC Rocko, J.I. popped to the tunes until a fight broke out and we hit the streets to bring you this blog, safely and with all of our limbs in tact. Long story short, ATL = GOOD TIMES.