Macon Magazine

ou no doubt have heard it. The song has become a thumping an- them for Macon: "Rockout." On "Rockout," the artist known as 2win – pronounced "twin" – raps with propulsive, staccato fluency: "I'm going to keep popping it 'til I make it / came a long way from the southside of Macon / come through Houston Avenue in a burgundy Chevy..." BUILDING A BREAKOUT STAR While serving in the Army, 2win – born Miciahi Kendray McClain – needed something to occupy his mind and express his feelings, he said. He found his outlet in the studio. Soon he started releasing singles and mixtapes. A er putting out his first album, "I'm Alright," in 2019, 2win began building a growing fan base. On Christmas Day that year, he released the "Rockout" single. The public's enthusiastic response to the song caught the attention of a new Macon company tapping into local talent: Guap Records. After signing with Guap, 2win re- corded the remix to "Rockout" (2021) with Atlanta artist Young Nudy. Today, over 400 radio stations are spinning the remix, and it has racked up more than 6.5 million views on TikTok, almost 2 million views and streams on YouTube, and was among the top 10 most searched songs on the Shazam music service in Atlanta. United Masters is courting 2win for a partnership. So get ready to hear a lot more refer- ences to local landmarks on the radio. 2win is just one of several artists putting Central Georgia – known to kids and audiophiles as "the 478" – on the hip-hop map. "Macon is mic'd up!" he said, crediting the nurturing, high-energy visionaries at Guap Records. "Guap saved me, man, saved my life," 2win said. "If it weren't for them, and their amount of knowledge, I don't know where I'd be. They believe in you, so you have no choice but to grow and learn. It's a beautiful thing. It's the best, what Guap is doing. I didn't really take my rapping seriously until they believed in me, and now I've gone from 'local rapper' to 'star.'" THE GUAP LINEUP It's all in a day's work for Guap Records, a consortium of friends in their 30s pursuing some big dreams and taking as many local art- ists with them as they can wrangle. Most of them grew up together, calling themselves the "guapmores" because of their handsome- ness, and later truncating that to just "guap." Guap colloquially means "money" (usually in the stacks-of-cash form); this meaning originated with East Coast rap and may have had its roots in the Spanish "guapo" for handsome (think "pretty penny"). Nowadays, it's common parlance for hip-hop lovers. With 15 staff members across four recording studios, the compa- ny handles artist management as well as bookings. Guap specializes in hip-hop, but not exclusively. They also have R&B artist T. Royal and soul singer Mike Clark in their stable. Guap is also in the pro- cess of building a spacious venue for performances and a wide range of community events. The company is owned by Bud Dupree, Atlanta Falcons line- backer and philanthropist who has not forgotten where he grew up. "There is so much talent in Middle Georgia, so many resources," he said. "This all started simply enough as a way to give opportunities to my friends, to help them succeed, to li them up, and help them achieve some major goals." Ray Wilson, the president, said "Bud could've used his suc- cess to fly around the world. But he wanted to give back. It takes money to make money. We're investing not just money but time and knowledge in our community, and in the process, we're spreading Y 56 maconmagazine.com | JUNE/JULY 2023

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