his office, near his old stomping grounds. As soon as he and his stable of artists step out of the company van, kids appear from out of nowhere asking for autographs and pictures. Always prepared, he hands out posters and markers, and doesn’t leave until the last picture is taken and the last poster is signed. “Atlantic got me an office downtown that I’ve never set foot in,” admits the burgeoning CEO, who has nicknamed himself after the late community activist Hosea Williams whose claim to fame was his year-round Feed The Hungry initiative which fed thousands of homeless people, especially on Thanksgiving. “It’s getting to the point that I can’t do business here, because I gotta make sure that I don’t just do ‘nigga business.’ There’s gonna be a time when I can’t come around here and do what I used to do. I just want to be able to say that I gave back and helped out in anyway that I can.” Why do you call yourself Hosea Williams, Jr.? When I was 11 I used to be at Buddy’s corner store and Hosea used to come through there since his house was around the corner on 2nd Avenue and Boulevard. My aunt worked for him too. He used to tell us that since we’re out here making money, we should do something with it. He always mentored me and told me what to do with my bread. He used to tell me about him being with Martin Luther King and almost getting killed over freedom, while we out here getting locked up and losing our freedom. He was a real nigga that took no shit and rode for what he thought was right to him; he was a backbone and he loved his people. So I look at it as an analogy. I see myself as one of the niggas in Atlanta with a backbone. I’m feeding niggas in the street. If you trying to get something, Block Entertainment is the way to go. Instead of naming myself after a drug dealer I chose to name myself after a man who cared about his
people, a man who is in the history books for real. We see a lot of people aspiring to be rappers now, but not many are trying to be community leaders or freedom fighters. Why do you think that is? Money. King died with hardly no money. I think people are more influenced by glitter and shit. More people chase their dreams than look out for their people. Muthafuckas will kill for their dreams instead of their rights. People wake up every day to sing, work to pay for studio time, but they won’t vote. People are more focused on their dreams instead of their rights. That’s ignorant. And do I think there will be another King or Andrew Young? Hell naw. We don’t have the upbringing no more, we take too long to be real men nowadays. Those dudes were men. Then you got Chief Pendleton letting cops kill 88-year-old women, Red Dog police busting in people’s houses. He’s talking about becoming mayor of Atlanta. He’ll never be mayor if I have anything do with it. I’ll be a problem to you, pa’tna. I got the youth. Do you think the door is wide open for rappers to be the next leaders? Yes, but who is it? I’ll name three people from back then: Jesse Jackson, Andy Young, and Martin Luther King. We ain’t even talking about Ralph Abernathy and Joseph Lowery, just those three. Name three people that’s making a movement like theirs right now, on a worldwide scale. You’ll get a dude in Atlanta that will do something, but New York niggas don’t know him. But like I said, niggas won’t fight for their rights no more.
The Block Entertainment family includes (clockwise from below) Boyz N Da Hood (l-r Gorilla Zoe, Big Duke, Jody Breeze, and Big Gee), Yung Joc, Southern Girl, DJ Black, and Dee Jay Dana
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