A decade ago, a rap group from Kentucky went platinum and nearly won a Grammy. Years later, the group reshuffled and transformed its sound while retaining its firm quality of music. Now, the group is returning to Gainesville to debut its latest project.
Nappy Roots will take the stage Friday at High Dive, located at 210 SW Second Ave., performing its latest album, “The 40 Akerz Project,” which features just two of its four current members, Skinny DeVille and Fish Scales.
“Any time we can get to Florida and rock out, it doesn’t matter if it’s on the coast, the gulf, or in the middle,” Skinny said. “Y’all have always showed us love. Gainesville is no different.”
Doors will open at 8 p.m. and tickets will be sold at the door for $15 or in advance for $13 on ticketfly.com.
The set list will primarily cater to the new album, but it will also include old Skinny and Scales collaborations and other classic Nappy hits such as “Awnaw” and “Good Day.”
“The 40 Akerz Project” marks the first time in four years Nappy Roots has released any sort of album. It catches Skinny and Scales testing new waters with their music, delving more into contemporary, urban sounds as opposed to the old, rustic twangs they were known for in the early 2000s.
Blake “808 Blake” German, a rising producer from Atlanta who created the entire album under the name of his production group, SMKA, will also join the duo on stage.
“It’s a gamble any time you do a new sound versus what you’ve been doing,” German said. “It’s just been really cool to see people taking it in and actually vibing with it.”
Nappy Roots began in 1995 as a group of six college friends making 8-track music together in a cramped living room. In 1998, they signed a deal with Atlantic Records.
By 2002, its label debut, “Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz,” launched them into the mainstream. It sold a million copies and was certified platinum. Eventually, the luster faded, revealing the tainted side of the music industry.
“We were naïve,” Skinny said. “We were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
In 2003, after its second album failed to meet the label’s expectations, Nappy Roots grew frustrated and wanted out. But leaving would prove difficult.
In a last-ditch effort, the group stopped making music for two years as a way to bait Atlantic to drop them. The band and the label finally split in 2005.
In 2006, R. Prophet left the group, too. In 2007, the remaining members formed their own label, signed a distribution deal and released “Innerstate Music,” which featured the smash hit “Good Day.”
From 2006 to 2011, Nappy Roots put out new projects nearly annually. Big V split from the group in 2012, leaving four members: Skinny, Scales, Ron Clutch and B.Stille.
Clutch and Stille collaborated to make a collegiate clothing line. The only ones who have made a song together since then are Skinny and Scales.
“I think after this one, we’re gonna get back in the studio and work on this ‘40 Akerz pt. 2’ and try to step it up a little bit” Skinny said. “We’re in talks with the rest of the guys about doing a reunion album in 2015 and possibly a tour around that.”
The rapper said he predicts creating a whole new sound will allow their music to live on.
“That’s how you live forever, man,” Skinny said. “Create something new and not bandwagon people.”
[A version of this story ran on page 12 on 6/11/15]
